F4F isn’t bad unless it is the only way you gain follows.
To be clear, I don’t like the idea of ONLY doing F4F. This takes away from the fun parts of Scratch. People might not look at others’ projects if they just do it for follows, but it is okay if it isn’t all you are doing. Following someone and them following you back isn’t F4F unless that person’s profile states that is its sole purpose or if you are on a project or a chatroom studio that is for that.