An interesting question, to which I don't have a good answer as I honestly don't remember. The first one I followed consciously was @movingman, because he is for me an example of how we could, and maybe should, make ourselves as independent as possible from the demands our money-system and economy place on us. He is the "free spirit" we all sometimes dream to be. Also he introduced me to some other steemians I follow still.
Yours is a nice and recognizable story; I also followed everyone that showed any interest in what I wrote, and that automatically meant I followed a lot of those resteem-bots... Now I'm a lot more conscious about who I follow, and I'm glad this eventually led to me being part of Helpies :-)
Interesting profile of the person as someone who is living an alternative lifestyle not to be saddled with the expectations of society.
I applaud people like that and it takes a lot of guts.
Haha yeah I got suckered by all those follow for follow stuff and now I am more discerning of who to follow and read.
I think most people in helpie is awesome.