I completely understand your point. You want to know that the attention you generate is genuine and rooted in interest for you and what you create. Besides, a lot of people who use these kinds of shortcuts don't have the long-term dedication to build whatever it is they daydream of building.

I have the same wish, but at the same time, posting in the dark, which is what it feels like when you don't have many followers, feels unrewarding. It feels like a waste to post an article because then you are guaranteed that the algorithm won't push it to other people, that you don't have a base of followers to even curiously wander towards your articles. No one will see it, even less than if you had your basic 100 followers.

At the end of the day, I think what we all want is to be seen for what we do, and the way we go about it is different. I do wish there was a way to make this work efficiently without taking shortcuts.