Nice article. There is definitely truth to the notion that reading about something personal and honest attracts interest at a very raw human level.

I spend my time self-studying STEM and I write about interesting problems or concepts that I learn about in mathematics, physics, and computer science. Soon I will write about some very interesting life stories I've lived through as well. I have consistent readership in sheer numbers, but the niche of STEM is quite small, and I just don't have 100 followers.

I found out about follow me and I'll follow you yesterday and I think it is a very ingenious way that writers found to support each other. Personally, I think the 100 follower rule was a bad decision. They could and should have come up with something better (a rule based on minimum of minutes read, or minimum of accumulated payout, for example).

The fact that 100 followers can be obtained in this way only shows that Medium is making people have to worry about superficial things like gaining followers, and thus wasting time.

I am following you to support you.

What was the warning email you got about?