Many people request upvotes for upvotes and yes, to everyone who has worked hard to get to where they are, this comes across as trying to take a shortcut. Besides that, just imagine how it feels when you work hard on a post, but once you've posted it, all you hear is "Upvote for upvote plz?".

We don't want those kind of comments. We want meaningful comments that respond to the article we worked so hard for. I'm sure you would appreciate that much better aswell. Like right now, I'm responding to what you wrote, meaning I actually took the time to read your post. Doesn't that feel much better than just reading some comments from (seemingly) self-serving people, who just want upvotes, no matter if they like your post or you like theirs?

I flag those kind of comments aswell. Because most come from people who don't actually read my post. They simply open up random posts, paste their spam comment and are on to the next. They don't actually appreciate what I wrote, so why on earth would I act any differently?

The way to get long lasting success here is hard work. You can't get around that. Hard work for your articles, but also (even more importantly), hard work on your comments. Write meaningful comments which show you read someone's article, and your chances of getting meaningful followers will increase loads.