Indeed. But it's a two-way street, here on Medium. If they were writing for The Atlantic or The New Yorker then this would not be the case. But Medium is a blogging platform; they are not special just because they are good at hyping themselves and gathering a following. I have over 6K followers, but most never read or interact with me here. That's okay, but I hope they don't expect anything more in return. ;) Same goes for the "big guys" - there's no caste system here. If you like what they write, good for them. If you follow in hopes of a few crumbs falling from their table, don't bother. Unless they're kind and interact with you, as well.