With any luck, those people you never exchanged words with won't even notice that you're gone.
A friend of mine recently un-followed... "less talented" artists who they gave pity-follows. Some of them actually noticed and complained. As if said friend had signed somewhere in blood or something. (I guess it was mostly users with single digit follower counts who can remember their current fan count and who followed them.)
OviManic
Yep, I don’t touch Newground’s friend system AT ALL because of that: a little too close for comfort. Whenever someone gives me a friend request, I’ll kindly send them a DM as to why I refuse.