> Building on the Stacker News core premise, perhaps following shouldn't be free. And, further, perhaps following additional people should be increasingly expensive. That at least provides incentive to be conscientious about who you're following.

I like your train of thought here

AskSN

Gaining and Losing Trust

Most of the ideas that immediately came to mind for me were obviously and dystopianly toxic.

Your idea, or something like it, is interesting. Maybe a web-of-trust could determine how likely the follow is to work.

Building on the Stacker News core premise, perhaps following shouldn't be free. And, further, perhaps following additional people should be increasingly expensive. That at least provides incentive to be conscientious about who you're following.