It's a delicate balancing act, for sure. I have my favorites, and I'll occasionally click on their profiles (or manually type their names into the search field) to see what their latest entries have entailed.

I also, unfortunately, sometimes read clickbait that pops up in my feed. I've been keeping a running "shit list" of authors who write ridiculous pieces (often saying the same thing, over and over again, in new iterations) who are peddling hatred and bile masquerading as "authenticity." This gives me a good barometer of which authors to consciously AVOID, when I'm running short on time.

But my favorite thing is discovering new authors ("new" to me, anyway), which usually happens when I explore the front pages of Publications to which I contribute.

But, like you said, some extremely talented writers keep choosing to leave the platform...or just casually disappear. So it's a matter of accumulating a running list of the new ones who crop up, and hoping they stick with the platform.