Not exactly sure if this is a "lesson" because it's honestly just a rant that I need to get off of my chest:
(please bare with me or feel free to leave if you are sensitive to curse words)
...

I am SO sick and tired of noticing people follow me only to then unfollow .

As of right now, I have 850 followers.
Currently, I am following 692.

Just yesterday I got an angry message from someone saying they're upset I haven't followed them back + that I'm only not following 692 because I want to seem "popular."

First of all,
I'm on Wattpad because I love writing.

If the numbers of followers keep stacking up, then by all means, let it be.

I had just as much fun writing when I had 50 followers than I do now with nearly 900 readers.

If you are following me and I am not,
all you have to do is ask.

If I'm not following you but you are,
it's nothing against you.

I do not hate you.

I have in the past, removed people / muted a selected few for my own benefit when things got a little hectic with false accusations, unwanted drama, and what not.

What I'm trying to say is, stop unfollowing me if you're only going to follow me back & then expect I do the same.

I've noticed that 99% of the people who've done this to me only follow 9 people out of say, 500. 

Now don't get me wrong, I know there's a few of you who do that only because you want to follow those who you know / like, and I know who you are.

That I can respect.

What I don't is when people solely do it to look "cool." 

You do not look "cool" before my own eyes.

99% of the time, these people have unfollowed me, followed me back, and then expect that I will:

- follow back
- read their works
- do covers for them with snappy order like message's like we're that close
- give shout outs
- & shady shenanigans like the stuff mentioned above.

Listen,

If you want a cover ;

there's my covers book.

If you actually read it, 
you'll see that I'm not taking any cover requests.
So, if you've recently commented on it and I've not gotten back to you 
......

However, some people message me requesting them. 
Guess what?
If you're polite, 99% of the time,
I'll do it.

Some people might think I'm exaggerating here when I say these things,
but people who unfollow others after a short period of time only to keep following more and increasing their followers number while the actual number of people they follow decreases really piss me the fuck off.

This isn't Myspace,
this isn't Instagram or Facebook.

STOP DOING THAT.
READ A DAMN BOOK & EDUCATE YOURSELF ON THE WONDERFUL WORKS WATTPAD CONTAINS.

If you want me to follow you, 
just let me know.

If you follow me,
all that I can offer is my friendship.

I won't give shout outs unless I feel like it.
I won't become your slave and make covers whenever you feel like it.
I won't join your circle of friends because I really despise cliques.

(side note: if you're my friend, you know who you are + you know that YOU do have the say in asking me for covers, etc).

Also,
I've never claimed to be the most social person on earth,
so if I don't get back to you asap or in months,
guess what?

I DON'T HATE YOU.

My inbox is a mess and for the most part, my closest friends usually seem to be at the top of it which means that other messages might not get looked at or eventually get lost in the second page,etc.

//

I don't want to seem unapproachable,

but it seems like the more followers I get, the more requests for shout outs I get.

The more people ask me to read their books.

The more people start following only for their own benefit.

If you're only following me for the "gains", please unfollow me right now.

As I've stated:

- I do not give shout outs.

If you ask me to read your book, I'll check it out, but please don't expect me to vote/comment on it.
I'll only do that + continue to keep up with it if I genuinely enjoy it.

The truth is,
there are some books I don't like it.

We've all picked a book down, read a bit, seemed uninterested, and put it down.

This is no different.

Don't let my judgement stop you.

You might not like my books,
that's fine too.

I sometimes don't like them either.

It's very easy for me to weedle the fake followers out because they seem to have a pattern.

They send a, "hello."
You reply,

they never do.

They ask you to read their stories.

Meanwhile,
they go vote on your stories till you finally comment on their own.

Then,
they disappear.

Hardly ever talk to you,

mostly unfollow you.

The end.

//

Falling out of connection with  someone / someone's works is inevitable and there's a huge difference between loving something at first and then losing sight of it as compared to only voting & following to then fully leave.

This rant might not make sense,
but if it does,
there's not much of a difference either way.
This whole thing was extremely redundant.

I just wanted to spill this out.

I could write this down as Wattpad isn't a diary, 
but I figured that one person might relate.

One person.

That makes all the difference.