Yes, maintaining lists manually is time-consuming. That is why it must become native to the workflow of Nostr. When I click "follow user" I have abandoned maintenance of my "followed users" by design. Saying everyone exclusively belongs to a single list is a hindrance from the start. But it isn't useless. It's just difficult to manage. That is why I propose both actions. I should be determining which list a user belongs in, and that action should also include them in a global follow list.

This way we don't lose current functionality but we also gain a layer of user authority.