Time As My Only Measure

So how do you make friends on Dreamwidth?

I ask because the question occurred to me earlier today as I went on the hunt for some new folks to subscribe to. Dreamwidth has a unique "friending" system, where you can subscribe to a journal without granting access to more personal posts (or whatever you have on filters). The thing about this is, when subscribing to a journal I feel like I have to hit 'grant access' as well because that's the only way they'll know who I am/what kind of posts I write. My public posts aren't really "windows to my soul" or whatever and the stuff I have under the access filter is more of who I am from day to day. As such, I feel that I have to expose myself for a week or two, before deciding to either withdraw the access or allow it to continue.

So how do you do it Circle? Do you subscribe first, then grant access after getting to know a person? Do you subscribe and grant access all at once, and if so what's your thought process?

ETA: Do you always check out/subscribe to the journals that subscribe to you (at least at first)?