Lol how are you going track it? Just slam anyone who follows people? You're going to have to fire a lot of really good writers then. It's not predatory in the least pretty much every "how you make money on Medium" post out there says to do this and if people don't it will take a whole lot longer for people to make money from writing which is the intent of this site from what it specifically states.

All writing sites state "show you're a good enough writer" but when you have 1000s of articles daily it is hard to cut through the noise. Once again you are going after people who want to make money, writers.

I am not charging people to follow me or demanding it. Therefore not predatory.