To follow someone, click on their name to get to their page, and under the header on the left side there is a button to follow them. I think you can set options so you get notified when they post, but I already get too much junk email, so I don’t see any use with that. For me the only reason to follow someone would be that if you and they follow each other, you can send them a message if they don’t have messaging generally enabled.

I don’t get notified of posts at all by choice. I’m with you on the junk issue. Email is now as junky as regular mail, so I don’t do notices via email or on my phone. So, I suppose the biggest difference in following somebody—getting notified of posts—is something I choose to ignore!

I also bookmark direct links, in other words I made an html document of active links that I keep on my desktop. These links are what I would call the "front door." When the direct links to gardenweb forums I have bookmarked started showing up blocked with the "advice" screen, I took a more circuitous route, by going to http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums  and clicking on the specific forums listed there. That is what I would call the "back door."

I have hesitated from altering my permanent html document by changing the urls, out of a superstitious fear, or maybe out of the knowledge that it might well be a waste of time, since I do believe that gardenweb's days are numbered. If GW does become cannibalized entirely by Houzz, I hope to see some of my fellow gardeners on one of the other forums.

"Following" seems redundant to me. I only frequent a handful of gardening forums, and I'll see any comments there in threads that interest me. It also seems vaguely invasive to me, both for the follower and the followee, sort of like one of facebook's innovations.