Just turned follow requests on because I keep getting a bunch of followers with no profile. I'm sure you're nice folks who just didn't get around to filling in their profile yet but please do. No profile, no toots is probably going to lead to no follow, unless I already know you from elsewhere or you've sent me a toot to explain who you are. Sorry. Just doesn't feel safe. #twitterMigration #FollowRequests #MastodonNewbie

Does mastodon force some follows into pending "follow requests"?

It's happening a fair bit to me

#FollowRequests

If you have a Mastodon account and follow someone, the follow button will sometimes display a "Follow request sent" message.

Usually this is because the other account has follow approval switched on, which means its owner will manually decide whether to accept your follow request. This kind of account has a padlock 🔒 icon next to it on its profile page.

However... Mastodon also displays this "Follow request sent" message if something has gone wrong with the follow, especially if you're trying to follow someone on a non-Mastodon server.

Partially broken federation often causes Mastodon to display this message, for some reason.

If you see "follow request sent" when you try to follow someone, and they don't have a padlock 🔒 on their profile page, then it's likely that the follow didn't work properly.

If a follow doesn't work properly, try unfollowing them (or cancel the follow request), wait a bit, then click "follow" again.

#Mastodon #Following #FollowRequests

If you're screening your follow requests, it's probably not a good idea to reject or block someone just because their profile picture is empty.

There are many blind people on the Fediverse who don't use profile pictures. For example, the writer Robert Kingett at @blindscribe doesn't use one.

The most reliable way to screen accounts on here is just to read what they have posted, as this better reflects what kind of account they are.

#Fediverse #FollowRequest #FollowRequests