If you really knew me you would laugh at this answer because I very seldom follow rules in any part of my life but I think I follow most of the rules in quilting. I don't think of them as 'rules' but as traditions that have developed because they make sense. Most of the things that have been referred to as rules are really just a best practice that someone found.
I use all the best practices I can find unless it doesn't work for me and then I don't. If it makes sense, then I am all over it. If it doesn't, I find another way.
So I think I am kind of a rule follower in quilting (but not the kind that does it because of what other people think). :|