What a great way to examine milestones. Leave it to you to see it from many angles. I agree with your evaluation of these particular situations. I have written some of the people who solicit my upvote and follow something like this:

I think it's great that you are excited about engaging in Steemit. And I think it's great to experiment with ways to market yourself and your posts. However, I believe the best way would be to write engaging posts, chiming in on people's blogs, commenting, upvoting and resteeming, earning yourself a reputation and a reason for others to follow you. I get many requests every day from new users to upvote and follow them. I use my voting power on those who have something of great benefit to share. If you are one of those people, I will be glad to exchange with you, but feel there is no real value in just swapping upvotes. Many blessings on your path to a powerful Steemit experience. I hope to find your posts a great contribution.