I did the "follow for follow" thing once, and then I looked at the dude's content. Crap. Immediately unfollowed. I do use the minnowsupport/banjo bot though, as it does give me some votes. But of course none of those votes have much steem power, so the system is taking care of that well. I post quality content and so have made some money. I take pride in my content. The "follow for follow" stuff doesn't mean crap. I may not have a lot of followers, but when I get an upvote from a whale for my good content, it means something to me and it pays out. The concept of whales and minnows is a good one. Whales generally have good taste. That might be the smartest aspect of Steemit. It's not just about getting followers and upvotes, it's about getting upvotes from people with Steem power. That is the genius tweak that gives this site some interesting potential.