Couldn't have said it better myself. I noticed once I got up to around 800 followers I started getting the "follow me because I followed you" comments. I even got a few that sounded like thinly veiled threats.

I upvote quality, it's that simple. There are people that I follow on here, but that's not a guarantee of an upvote. If I don't like a post- sorry! For the first 6 months on here I never used a flag... but now if I get one of the "follow me, or else" or "I'll follow you back" comments- they get a flag. I don't like it but it's the only way I see to stop this behavior. Maybe they'll get it and go back to Fakebook where they belong. It seems that Steemit has become watered down with people that do not produce any content (quality or otherwise) they're just here for what they deem "free money" and they think they'll get rewarded for inane comments. Which ever way you slice it... They're ruining the platform for the rest of us!