These are very good observations. People don't realize that blindly amassing followers and resteems can easily result in a very bad signal-to-noise ratio.
If you want to know how you're really doing, follower-wise, check out this site:
http://steemit.deadfollowers.info
It's just for information, though. It's not like you can get dead followers to stop following you.
In terms of resteems, I think it's best to remember the purpose of this feature is to improve your curation rewards. If you're resteeming for any other reason, you're missing the point.
Many thanks for your important feedback here ;)
Much appreciated.