Whales never "begged" or "campaigned" for followers, or did they?
Let's table that question to talk about something important.

Are Minnows & Fish Developing A Sub-Culture?

If not, I think we could!
I say "we", not because I want to, but rather because the facts and the needs are present on steemit during June 2017, my steemian classmates.
Ha-ha, steemian classmates, let's just run with that, okay?

I have been with steemit for only 9 days, and steemians classify us as minnows.
Thus, I think it appropriate I discuss this bothersome topic for Whales and IMPORTANT topic for Minnows.
These are my experiences, my observations and my suggestions with my sincere wish to see this issue remedied.

Most, but not all, minnows face the challenge of getting "seen".
Note the specific word "seen" and not upvoted or resteemed, even though those become the additional problematic results from not being seen, as if you are not on steemit and then you obviously can't get upvotes and resteemed, right?

Obviously, steemit.com knows about this, because programmers are creating more bots to hunt for us minnows!
Ha-ha, not in a menacing way, but as "helper" bots!
Or as steemit calls them bot-helpers. If you have not seen the bot-helpers then you may see them soon as more are being deployed to hunt us minnows down and offer some assistance. You can use the steemit search engine and find countless posts about them.

From what I have witnessed:

This is the 1st and most emotional drama in the Steemit community that I have observed!

Whales and seasoned steemians do not want comments asking for upvotes nor asking for resteem nor asking to follow.
Regardless, how polite, or how your good intentions are motivating you, or how you consider it a legitimate campaign/promotional skill-set you mastered during your career...

Whales call it begging, and to be factual some of the examples are factually out-right begging.
With screen captures of minnows' comments typing "PLEASE" or "Plzzz" upvote.

But even if you, dear minnow, are not blatantly "begging", any request in a comment does risk being flagged or flamed by the whale.
So isn't it better to not risk it with a request?

See image that @heymattsokol provided to explain it from his perspective:

Then @heymattsokol goes on to say,

…do I really need to explain why this is bad? This is as blatant of a “follow for follow” comment as I’ve ever seen.

If you do not understand his opinion or that point of view then Read his entire post here:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@heymattsokol/how-to-comment-on-steem-posts-for-fun-and-profit-the-right-and-wrong-way
I commented on his post and he said thanks for sharing light on the issue, he did not know many of us minnows did not know this and did it out of ignorance, he then upvoted my comment (without a request on my part).

My suggestion is, Do Not request anything from a whale.
Give them an "opportunity" to find value interacting with you.
You may have to re-train new habits and break old habits, but this tip needs to be acted on.

I hope that concludes all discussion about asking or requesting in comments with whales and other seasoned steemians.
We minnows are learning, remember apologies and honesty can begin the steps to remedying most harms.

One very generous and considerate whale @randowhale or @randowhale1 has offered to "now place a vote with a random vote power of 0.50%-2.5% on your post!"
Please Read:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@randowhale/updated-changes-to-randowhale-please-read

Minnows' Problem Solving Skills & Creativity:

Some of our neighboring minnows may be disabled, or children, or speak English poorly and so I send this important message for ALL to share.
The message is, We are not meant to remain minnows forever!
read more at: https://steemit.com/whaleshares/@ronmamita/we-are-not-meant-to-remain-steemit-minnows-forever

and here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@ronmamita/i-m-concluding-my-week-on-steemit-and-here-is-what-i-ve-learned

So If Minnows Have An Agreement With Individual(s) To Follow=Follow?

These are the specifics that are rarely spoken and intentionally acknowledge: that each agreement should be between you and that specific individual to follow each other or upvote or resteem.
You may think of it as you general operating strategy, but be aware that not all minnows want that.
So get into the habit of asking for agreement among minnows, and then the collective activity of your minnows' efforts could make a huge impact!

IF, and that is a very BIG "if", minnows are making and will continue to make individual agreements to follow minnows who agree to follow them in return, then what do you think about the ideas below?

Consider a logo or icon for this emerging minnows' sub-culture and include it on all your posts, what do you imagine would happen as more minnows learn about the logo or icon's meaning?

So what kind of icons or logos can you come up with?
Could minnows vote on the one icon or logo and determine the one most minnows like?
Below are a few examples:

• I Follow You Follow
• Follow-4-Follow
• Follow=Follow
• F4F
  These are concepts your problem solving skills and creative imaginations can share in the comments below - I truly want to read your comments and I am not hunting for your upvotes - but if you find value in this post then comment, upvote, and resteem 😃

Wouldn't it be a nice convenience to receive a comment from a minnow similar to this:

F4F ?
Hi @ronmamita I enjoyed reading your post, thanks for sharing!

Then you reply with something similar to this:

Welcome to steemit.
Thank you for your upvote & comment, but no F4F

All done without any emotional drama.

I wish to know what you think about this issue, is "I Follow You Follow" - Tolerable or Intolerable?
Thank you for reading and considering this.

If you like this post, do not forget to upvote or follow me or resteem