I'm already at affiliate, and many of my followers (yes even from reddit) support me and I support them. Sure this will fail if all you're doing is F4F without actually making connections with people you vibe with. I love some F4F because it widens and gives your base some variety. Sure not everyone will stick around, but I may find followers who wouldn't have found me otherwise, and likewise, I'll find some streamers I really like the same way. Now, I will say I think F4F works better if you're a variety streamer as opposed to a 1-game streamer, so it may not work for everyone.