Stop following hubbers just so they'll follow you back...

1. 75

   Bendo13posted 13 years ago

   In my years on this site I have seen so many people randomly follow me in hopes that I follow them back.  And then as soon as I do, if the topics they write on interest me, they delete me from the hubbers they're following?
   
   Do you guys really think this makes people want to read and comment on your hubs?
   
   I had one guy on here even leave me fan mail and then when I clicked to follow him.. poof he's gone from my followers!  How do I know?
   
   Well every time I end up in the top could pages of hubbers with a score of 99 to 100 this guy adds me back to the hubbers he's following!  So the last time he did it I send him a message telling him to stop and he no longer accepts messages.
   
   I'm only mentioning this because I hit my 500th follower today and was quite pleased... even followed the 500th person and thanked them... HubPages sent me an email alerting me of the milestone... I go look at my profile again and nope... one of the people who just added me recently (I have a hub score of 99 today) deleted themselves!
   
   Following someone just so they follow you back isn't going to get you a quality following and might look nice as a number on your profile but really people... stop doing this!

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   1. 60

      yolanda yvetteposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah, that's tacky.  And asinine.
      
      Just like some people who you see filling up page after page of hubtivity following everybody they can find.  It's not a good look.

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      1. 75

         Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah I'll have to start doing what wilderness does and check first to see if they write on topics that interest me (as I always do anyway) and THEN scroll down and see if they've followed like 10 people back to back.

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   2. 0

      cookingdivaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Does having more followers is good? I am new but some of followers I have do not leave comments on my hubs or possibly read my writing.
      
      I got one follower and one left me. Maybe something I wrote they did not like or maybe they are just trying to simplify I am not sure. I am rather bit confused about it all.
      
      Bendo13, I suppose I would not like it, if people only followed me so I will follow them and then drop following.

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      1. 75

         Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah it's good to have followers that comment on what you write, helps get the conversation going.
         
         If there's no interaction between you and your followers then it's not that beneficial for either of you.

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   3. 60

      guymclarenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Being a relative noob to Hubs, I will only be following people that contribute value to me. I only expect you to follow me if I add value to yours. I use the same principal on Twitter, facebook and other social media sites that I frequent. I follow those that interest me. Reciprocal following is folly. I have no need to have twenty thousand hundred followers or a need to follow eleventy hundred that I am unable to pay attention to.
      
      If you follow me hoping for a reciprocal, you better have something interesting to offer

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   4. 61

      Dave Mathewsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      How else do you get fans reading your Hubs??

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      1. 90

         Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         They find them.
         
         People notice you in the forums and will check you out. I have found Hubbers I follow that way but also found at least two because of Google searches I did.
         
         I also check out those who leave intelligent comments.  Well, heck, I check out those who leave foolish comments too, but not because I expect to follow them

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            lyndreposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Agree with you.Let your hubs do the talking.
            
            But I would like to put a twist to the subject.
            
            Most of the posters have followers in the 3 figures.
            
            How many hubbers do you follow? and do you think there is a link?
            
            You can see on my avatar how many followers I have and I follow only 20 hubbers at the moment.

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            1. 90

               Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               I follow 186.
               
               I don't know if that helps or hurts your theory.

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               1. 60

                  lyndreposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks for the figures.I thought there might be a link, but Website Examiner just blow that idea right out the water

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                  1. 0

                     Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Sorry, I had written and then deleted the post that I follow less than 10 hubbers. I think following others is an easy way to get started, other methods may require more activity.

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      2. 61

         Brie Hoffmanposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         A lot of hubber read the hubs and if they like what you write they will follow you.  That's what I do, I never follow someone just because they are following me.

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         1. 61

            Dave Mathewsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I have over two hundred followers whose hubs I read when I receive them. Some are on Christian faith like most of mine are but others have different interests. A lot of what they  write I find interesting and all that I read I will leave a brief comment for. This saves me having to hunt down new readers, instead they come to me to see what I am all about, and I might refer some writings to friends I know would find theme interesting. It's sort of a mutual admiration society.

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      3. 79

         Aficionadaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         I would actually prefer to have organic traffic (rather than fellow Hubbers) reading my Hubs.  I DO appreciate very much the Hubber-traffic and their comments, though!  Comments help to keep content fresh and noticed by Google.  And they can be very affirming - sometimes .
         
         I don't do nearly enough reading of the people I follow or who follow me. (Sorry, followers and "followees" !) I tend to read more when I see something interesting on the front page (unsigned-in) of HP and an occasional interesting title in Hubtivity.

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   5. 82

      David 470posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think people I have done this to me before...

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2. 86

   KCC Big Countryposted 13 years ago

   Can I follow you because I want to see you back at 500?  (Too bad, I did it anyway).

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   1. 75

      Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Haha thanks!  Not really what I expected but I do hope that this fad dies off... People should aim to communicate back and forth.

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3. 42

   Mikeydoesposted 13 years ago

   Yeah, I'm not sure what is up with those people, like it is a game or something.

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      Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Hubbers, mon... gotta collect them all! haha
      
      Good to see that the forums are alive and well though!

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4. 93

   wildernessposted 13 years ago

   Nice to see that someone else feels the same.  Every time I hit 100 I get a handful of followers.  I usually check their activity and if I find they have just followed a bunch of people I ignore it. 
   
   If not, and their hubs sound interesting I'll check out a couple or so and maybe follow them, maybe not.
   
   Don't know if anyone has stopped following me, though - I just don't pay that much attention to the numbers there.

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      Rochelle Frankposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Just so you know-- I bumped you up to 300.

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5. 73

   relacheposted 13 years ago

   I never ever follow someone just because they followed me.  If I'm going to follow someone, it's because I like the majority of what they write, not just a Hub or two.
   
   And that method has not impeded me in any way from getting followers of my own.  Stop obsessing about followers and just leave them to do their thing for their reasons.  Making Hubs and following people whose work you genuinely like is so much more productive.

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   1. 75

      Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yep!  I just write and write and the followers come because they're interested.
      
      I usually only follow people if they write about fitness, internet marketing or traveling since that's what I write about most of the time and I'm actually interested in it.

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   2. 63

      Debby Bruckposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Good answer. I haven't noticed this type of activity on Hubpages. I just have my regular friends and those I admire. Trickery here and on Twitter used to be commonplace. Follow-Unfollow. I don't bother with it and just stick to the high road.

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6. 42

   Mikeydoesposted 13 years ago

   followers don't pay the bills, google does.

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   1. 75

      Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yep! and your followers aren't normally your "clickers" that's why I don't get why people do this.
      
      I'm happy with my slow increase of followers because they read almost everything I post.  I love quality back and forth in the comments.

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      1. 0

         Sophia Angeliqueposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         At this point, I will go once a week and check to see who has followed me. I will then go through their work. If I like what they write, or if I can learn from them, I will follow them.
         
         However, it is something I've learned to check. I don't want followers who are just hoping I'm going to click back. I just delete them if I see that.
         
         Same thing on facebook.
         
         They're only kidding themselves anyway!

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7. 88

   WryLiltposted 13 years ago

   Yep I get sick of people doing that. Fortunately I don't notice anymore, since I seem to pick up about 10-15 followers per week. I don't even look at the names anymore, since only about 1 of those followers will bother to leave a comment.
   
   If they leave comments I try and reply or have a look at their hubs, but otherwise I just ignore them. Too many bad apples out there.
   
   EDIT: I just added the following message to my profile, which I plan to enforce:
   
   Please note that any fan mail or comments you leave for me that request mutual reciprocation will be deleted, as I consider this very rude and bad etiquette.

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   1. 75

      Bendo13posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      A good note to have... I noticed that some of my "fan mail" was asking me to add them and rate up their hubs.
      
      I like things to build naturally, I guess others like to try to cheat the system... even though it won't do them any good.

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8. 61

   Lisa HWposted 13 years ago

   The only "investigating" I do if someone news shows up as a follower is to check out their Hubs to see if they write about stuff I think is the kind of stuff I generally like to read.  Stuff I "generally like to read" is a pretty narrow kind of writing, though (at least for my purposes on here).  Still, I'm always interested in seeing new stuff that might interest me run by me.  I don't want to be taking time to see who has what hubtivity etc. etc. to get a reading on whether it's a "real" follower or just someone looking for more followers himself. 
   
   Since there's the follower thing, I'd kind of like it if we knew that followers were really interested in what we write.  I know that x percent is (but don't know what that "x percent" amounts to).  That's not how it is, though - and that's OK too, I guess.  The only ones I don't want are the really, really, obviously, spammy ones (and it doesn't take any investigating to see the kind I mean).  I figure, if someone thinks I'll automatically follow them, if I don't, and they stop being a "follower" - that's fine too.  The only thing I pay much attention to in the "follower-type department" is when someone sends what seems like a genuine compliment as "fan mail".  It's nice of people to be bothered sending that kind of message.
   
   In fairness to some of those people who follower and then say, "Now look at my Hubs,"  ()   I think a lot of them come from other sites that operate that way.  They just may not realize it's not how things are generally supposed to be done on this site.  I don't know...   I'm not sure those "bad apples" need anyone to look at their Hubs or follow them back in order to do their "bad apple-ing".   

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9. 40

   liswilliamsposted 13 years ago

   Yeah, I stopped following people back now who have 1 hub and 50 followers. That's not the way you build up a fan base guys

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10. 82

    Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago

    I came here from a brief spell at Facebook where it seemed having lots of friends was the deal.  No.  They just bombarded me with marketing stuff.
    
    So having arrived here I have not played the follower game.  I follow a few - some of the most successful because I want to learn, and one or two that I like in terms of forum interaction and their hub quality / interest to me.
    
    I am new, but I am not sure that the number of followers adds anything to the hits on your hub pages, or your hub/author score - and it certainly doesn't add anything to earnings.
    
    In some ways it is misleading - because if I take out hubpage traffic and get a clearer picture of who is visiting my pages - t'aint many.
    
    Finally - I'll just apologise to those who have followed me and I haven't followed back.  It isn't meant to be rude - I'm just not into that stuff.

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    1. 78

       Karandaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       That's alright Ewbie, I'd follow you anywhere, 'cos you make me laugh.

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       1. 82

          Mark Ewbieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          You're very kind, and I am flattered and all those things.
          
          It's just I do not have time to follow and read stuff much.  Honest.

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11. 61

    logic,commonsenseposted 13 years ago

    I only follow those I find interesting.  Sometimes I leave a comment, sometimes not, depending on my time available and my motivtation.
    Don't worry about my score or if anyone follows me.  Appreciate it when they do and more so if they leave a comment, but hey que sera sera.

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12. 77

    sofsposted 13 years ago

    I hardly follow anyone so my numbers keep going up and down.. I don't follow people just because they follow me.. it is crazy for I cant honestly do justice to everyone, though I try to leave comments once in a while for the people I like to follow and read..

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13. 59

    Pandoras Boxposted 13 years ago

    I feel guilty sometimes about my lackadaisical attitude towards following people. I definitely don't bother following back the friend-reapers who follow dozens of hubbers at a time.
    
    But there are alot of people here I would follow, mostly forums people, and I always meant to get around to following, but never really quite did.
    
    So I must add you all to my list.
    
    When you check my hubtivity and see I've been fanning hubbers at a rate of 17.6 a minute, don't think I'm a creepy friend-reaper!
    
    Just kidding. I've only ever got time to do a few.

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14. 91

    Urbane Chaosposted 13 years ago

    I have a philosophy: I simply don't follow people unless they are either interesting or have something interesting to read. I figure that's the whole reason for the button being there in the first place.

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       Dame Scribeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       good philosophy but I also like to hope that I provide something they enjoy.

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15. 83

    Maria Ceciliaposted 13 years ago

    First I want to ask how do you find out about followers the quit following you? It happened to me a week a go, when I hit my 98 followers, somebody just quit following me, it happened to me twice.
    
    But then I only follow when their hubs is very interesting and helpful to me, I wish I could follow all those who follow me just to show my gratitude but looks like following almost every one here is not  good for the hubber...

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    1. 0

       Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       You may want to call the mental asylums and morgues for recent admissions. Other than that, there is no way to find out. Once a hubber has left, all traces of them having been a follower are removed from hubtivity. You would have to keep manual logs.

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          Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          You can look in your Hubtivity for "is following you" and check them, but it doesn't seem interesting enough to be worth the effort.

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             Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Yes and no, since the "following you" entries are deleted retroactively once somebody leaves as a follower.

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                Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                Ahh.  I wouldn't have expected that.
                
                But as we mostly all seem to agree, who cares?  It's unimportant.

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                   Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   That is a good attitude, although not universally shared. Some people take it personally or wonder why it happened.

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                   Maria Ceciliaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   Pcunix you are right who cares?
                   
                   W.E. I think I had known one who reacted when he thought somebody quit following him

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                      Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                      You are talking about me. I do care, and I think one can sometimes learn from knowing why someone has decided to stop following.

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16. 83

    Maria Ceciliaposted 13 years ago

    Another thing, I hope I won't get misinterpreted, most of the hubbers that I follow are fellow animal/dog lovers, so inviting some to visit my hub so that they can meet my dogs is automatic to me...but the thought here is not the "I am following you now so you must follow me", it's more on talking to someone with the same passion so we share notes about our dog...

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17. 54

    Glemoh101posted 13 years ago

    How many followers im allowed to follow per day ?

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    1. 0

       Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       As many as you like, provided you do not use automated scripts or software to do that. But following other hubbers indiscriminately may hurt your author score.
       
       http://hubpages.com/faq/#fanclub

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18. 90

    Pcunixposted 13 years ago

    Even my children knew not to follow me.
    
    Though that had more to do with us being off on vacation and their mother and I trying to decipher a map to get somewhere we wanted to go. The youngest, then perhaps 8 or so, added her opinion: "Don't follow Dad, he has no idea where he is going."
    
    That is excellent advice for anyone tempted to follow me here.  It is indeed a wise child who knows her father.

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19. 59

    evvy_09posted 13 years ago

    When I first got here I'd always follow people back, but now I rarely follow anyone.  I like to leave occasional comments on the hubs of the people I follow. Get too many and its hard to do. The are a few more hubbers I would like to follow but I haven't yet.
    How do you delete fan mail?  I got some that is basically says "Hey I'm following you now check out my hub"

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    1. 0

       Website Examinerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       From your control panel, click Fan Mail, then "deny." You can delete it permanently, and it will evaporate. Fan mail will not appear to begin with unless you have approved it.

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       Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Click "Fan Mail" and "Deny" the stuff you do not like.
       
       

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          Dame Scribeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Not sure I want to 'Lick' da screen lol, just teasing oops...nm you changed it, lol

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             Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I'm sure you will find it quite tasty if you first go to the Food hubs..

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                Dame Scribeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                I so love checking out different foods too

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    3. 58

       Dame Scribeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Oh that is annoying like you owe them now. I know what you mean

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20. 59

    evvy_09posted 13 years ago

    Thanks Pcunix and website examiner.  Poor stinky cow guy (name changed to protect identity). He is deleted
    But darn, there are so many comments on that one hub. More than all my hubs combined.

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21. 82

    Mark Ewbieposted 13 years ago

    I hardly follow anyone - 6 I think.  A lot will think it's rude.  But I think the point of following is to at least occasionally read their hubs, maybe comment, have some point to it.
    
    I don't have time to read much stuff, it's not why I'm here.
    
    So apologies to all those who try the follow me, follow back thing - it ain't going to work.
    
    Also I only accept fan mail that I think looks cool on my profile.  So intelligent, attractive writer is IN - but other stuff isn't.
    
    Dunno why I'm being honest.  Get a bit tired of the clubby nature of things sometimes - if you like it fine - if you like it because you want me to join the liking circle - nah.
    
    And as I am discovering.  Hubbers don't pay the bills.  Internal traffic, likes, comments and popularity mean nothing to Adsense.

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       brandonhart100posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Wow looks like you have 70 more followers 3 weeks after this post!  This could be a great tactic in itself!  As far as hubbers visiting pages I think any traffic is "good" traffic.

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          Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          I lost two just between my first post in this thread today and now

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             evvy_09posted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I lost 8 or more this week.

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                warchild75posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                I win some and then i lose some,im quite stubborn though and will only follow someone if they write hubs im interested in otherwise i dont bother!!

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                   Pcunixposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   Exactly.  So if some (unflattering adjective deleted) person follow and then unfollows, either because I didn't follow or they don't like my politics, so what?  No loss at all.

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                Winterfateposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                Who in the world would unfollow you? You're awesome! I need to go leave your hubs more love. ;P

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                1. 59

                   evvy_09posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   Thanks winterfate.  Happy Hubbirthday too!
                   
                   

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                      Winterfateposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                      Aww thanks a bunch!
                      
                      *nom noms cupcake*

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                Debby Bruckposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                Aw... that is sad.

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22. 59

    evvy_09posted 13 years ago

    Just got another follower that is following hubbers like crazy. lol

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23. 80

    Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

    I've had some demand I follow them when they follow me. Do I? Not likely

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    1. 61

       Druid Dudeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       How does this joker know what anyone is thinking? Someone follows me, i check them out. If I like what I read, I follow. That is probably why they began to follow me. Besides, ever hear of COMMON COURTESY?

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24. 63

    Mishaposted 13 years ago

    I think I don't give a rat's ass about what you think whom should or should not I follow

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25. 94

    melbelposted 13 years ago

    There are only two reasons I follow someone: I like what they are writing OR I want to learn from their good hubbing skills so I kind of learn their style, but mostly because I like their stuff. I don't care if I follow more people who follow me or if I follow less, I just follow what I like and not because of some trend. I hope that the people who follow me do so because they either want to learn from me or they enjoy my work.

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