The "1Follow me" clue came hot on the heels of the original release of this puzzle over 2 years ago. It was a comment from a user, not (presumably) from the puzzle maker. (...)
I think you are mistaken here. The 1follow and W@@@lk were part of the very beginning of this puzzle. It was part of that initial comment in Bitcoin Magazine of somebody identifing himself as WR. The comment was posted after the article discussing the previous CoinArtist puzzle (the one with Dark Wallet Creators). It was the first public occurrence of the second puzzle.
Here, have a look yourself: