I understand what you're saying, some people follow a popular developer and that can cause them to take what they say and regurgitate it with an annoying arrogance.

But supposing everybody took your stance we wouldn't be able to have something like Hacker News. I think following popular developers and sharing what you believe to be good content may not be enjoyable all the time, but I do think it's necessary. Just as someone who has only been in the software culture for about two years now.