I am sure this question has been asked several times, but when I search for "favorite user" or "add user to favorites" all I seem to get is posts for favorite question of the week. Please respond with a link for me to read before just flaming me - I did try to search for my question before posting.

Why not have the ability to add people to some sort of a favorites list? I totally understand NOT wanting the ability to have any sort of private messaging system built into SuperUser/StackEx because without doubt it will end up being used to flame, threaten, spam or generally annoy others more than it would be used for thanks. However, I can think of quite a few ways you could follow a user (be able to easily view new answers, posts, comments) that are non-intrusive and non-interactive.

I also understand not wanting such a valuable resource turn into some sort of social networking site (that is what FB or any of the countless other social sites are for) - but for example I just rewarded a bounty to someone on superuser for answering a question I had posted that no one was responding to. I would like to follow this users new posts... Hmm, ok I am already seeing how this could end up turning into a issue if there was a situation where I was not happy with a reply from a user where if I were so inclined I would go and downvote all of his posts.

SO is that the reason for not having the ability to favorite users? It would just turn into a huge headache and take away from the awesomeness that is the family of stack exchange sites?