I have just reduced my following list by 40+
I have read SO MANY perspectives on voting and following in my short time on Steemit, and while for a newbie it can be super confusing, this had led me to some preliminary thoughts. As I read more my views and ideas will most likely evolve.
HONEST personal reasons why I find myself here
I discovered Steemit via a post from Jeff Berwick. The very first thing I noticed was the MONEY. I was intrigued, and we all have our little tales of desperation. Soon though, I came to grips with the concept of whales, dolphins and minnows and the reality of how things work here. (Which I might add, the posts go on about ad nauseum!) Also, you will only receive curation rewards if you have at least some steem power. I was fortunate that two of my articles did okay which increased my steem power and now I have started receiving occasional curation rewards of 1c! I am converting the money I earned into steem power in order to increase my curation rewards.
That (eventually) brings me to one of the reasons for receiving my follows and upvotes. If you are consistently doing well, firstly I would like to know why (your articles provide clues) and I would like to eventually receive curation rewards.
I do like to blog and it is more productive than playing online Scrabble! I think a lot about the world, and Facebook is the home of my family and friends of many decades, whose views do not necessarily correspond with those of mine. I live in a small conservative town, and run a business and would like to still be able to earn living! Over the years I have actually unfollowed most of the "duty" friends as I found their posts depressing. I have unfriended almost everybody that I don't personally know, except for the special few that I have become firm friends with. Now my fb feed consists of many pages that I am interested in and a handful of friends. For me, a MUST on Steemit are posts that I find interesting and that are not bigoted or offensive. I will gladly follow and support those accounts, as it is relationships, more than money, that sustain us.
Why I unfollowed certain accounts
I have noticed that some accounts are indiscriminately following masses of people in attempts to gain a following themselves. If I see that you have followed over 1000 accounts I most probably won't follow back.
Then there are the accounts that don't seem to have any common thread linking their articles. I realise that many are trying different things to see what works and understand that. My concerns are about plagiarism and find it horribly unfair when well written and researched articles that have taken hours to write, fall by the wayside, and the dodgy content gets the votes.
Personally I am not crazy about (most) photo's, crafts or recipes. I know these accounts add great value to Steemit, but they are not for me. You may also be brilliant, but if I don't understand your language, I can't follow you.
I would like to support those who support me, but now that I have unfollowed many accounts, it is more difficult to see who my new followers are. If you comment on my blog, I will definitely take a look at your profile. I would like to build a network of interesting, supportive and kind people. I have been posting my articles on the appropriate groups on Steemit Chat, but other than that I am not really a "chat" kind of a person, but will answer messages.
Aaaargh, voting!
I understand you have a limited amount of votes if you want to receive curation rewards. This is a very conflicting issue, as I am grateful for every comment I receive on my blogs, and it means more than money to me if something I wrote touched someones heart. I know the power "words" have had when I have been suffering through difficult times. I will always vote for something that touches me, regardless of possible curation rewards, and insightful comments, even on blogs that are not mine.
I read another article where someone was offended if their blog was commented on, but not upvoted and I understand that. But the person also did not like it if their comment on a blog was not upvoted. I can appreciate a comment without upvoting it.
Personally, I will not downvote or flag anything unless it is the grossest violation of human rights or blatant plagiarism.
I am still learning and hoping to build relationships and do well on Steemit, as I am fascinated by the concept.
(And I did it, I wrote one of THOSE Steemit articles!!!)