(Succinct reply) Perhaps a list of “suggested” or “recommended” accounts to follow based on interests rather than auto follow. And somehow be able to return to the recommended list at some point. 

(Detailed reply) With onboarding of a new user, I think there has to be some type of list of accounts. Auto-follow might not be the best option. For me, I didn’t mind. I was able to view accounts and read posts. If I liked what I saw, I would continue to follow. If not, I unfollowed. Most of the accounts that were recommended to me, I still follow. I’m not sure if I would have found them on discovery. Since then, I have used the search option to add new accounts to follow. And sent zaps to complete strangers. It’s fun. 

I get your point about “why am I following the account”. Someone who joined @primal said those exact words and immediately started to unfollow without reading a single post. I explained those accounts were based on her interests. She then decided to search for accounts based on her interests. After a while, she stopped searching. Go figure. 

So I think there should be some balance to find a middle ground. Especially considering Nostr isn’t the most popular tool right and there are not many users covering diverse topics. Plus there’s still spam and bot accounts.