I don't want to rely on a 3rd party service, and I think the change would make HN better. I'd also like to be able to follow users that I think are interesting

I don't want to rely on a 3rd party service, and I think the change would make HN better. I'd also like to be able to follow users that I think are interesting, to be able to see their posts/comments. But that would be a much bigger change, and is closer to a Twitter-style design. I wouldn't want this to be the default view, but it would be really interesting as a link on the top left.