Disclaimer: I genuinely appreciate every new follower and every positive interaction on my posts. I'm also neurodivergent, which means I sometimes default to "follow back first, think later" if there aren't any immediate red flags.
This morning, I tried a different approach: I spent about an hour reviewing and trimming my following list. It wasn't about calling anyone out or setting rules - just me reflecting on my connections and how I manage things in a way that works for my brain.
I joined DEV mainly to document my learning journey and stay consistent, and what surprised me most was how much interaction this would generate. It has been really rewarding and shows me that - by and large - the DEV community is fantastic.
How I decide whether to follow someone back
When someone follows me, I usually glance at their profile. I don't expect polish or lots of activity, but I tend to follow (or keep following) if there's at least one signal that gives me context, like:
- An avatar or photograph - just something that signals a real person.
- A short bio (even a sentence helps).
- Links such as GitHub or a personal site.
- Any history of posts or comments on DEV.
These small details help me tell the difference between inactive accounts, bots, or placeholders versus people who are actually engaging with the community.
This is just what I do to stay intentional with my follows - not advice, not a standard, and definitely not a judgment.
Question for more established DEV members
If you’re a long-time or popular poster:
- Do you follow everyone back automatically?
- Do you have personal heuristics?
- Or do you stop thinking about follows once your audience grows?
I'd love to hear how others - especially folks with larger followings - handle this.
Top comments (8)
Well i got a tell you @richardpascoe, I am not a active user of Dev.to but i am trying to make interactions, And one thing i found out most that now a days people usually dont care about the quality content instead what they do they ask for AI to step in their convo i mean AI is good but i believe often time we need to keep it humane and grow organically What do you think?
Indeed, Moiz, I am very careful to curate the material myself for this very reason. I'm not making a judgement either way - each to their own - but I want my words to be just that. Knowing time has been spent crafting a post in such a way is as good a reason as any to "interact" with it.
I always follow back, I always like posts, I always leave a comment if I see the "bell with the red label" in the upper right corner. I think notifications do too much that affects my activity. Lol, I came up with a new Dev Challenge: what if I block the notification icon with an ad blocker for 1 week?
Hrmm, that's an interesting idea, Ember. Main reason I don't have any social-type apps on my phone is the desire to check them for notifications, heh!
I almost always follow back, unless it's obviously a troll/fake account - I mean, there's no harm in it, even when I don't really "gain" anything by following ...
I think that's a good way to look at it, leob. And, of course, if it's a placeholder account, there is often a period of no activity - so you can't tell if it's going to be used for spam content or not straight off the bat.
I always try to follow back, but sometimes on other platforms which have a wider topics i would like to follow back people with similar interest.
That's a good take, Niclas. As a fledging Pythonista - for example - I'm probably going to give those followers also using Python a second look!