I recently made a mastodon account after deleting mine about six months ago. Joining Lemmy has made me curious about what I left behind.

Do you enable require follow requests?

I used to be pretty permissive, but the people I admired had that turned on. I turned it on for my new account the moment I thought to ask this question.

Are there upside or downsides to this? Please share any thoughts I want to know if it even matters.

  • TechviatorOld
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t share (or like) anything that I don’t want made public, so I don’t mind who follows my profiles on social media. But some people would rather keep a lower profile or be more selective of who can interact with them, so it’s better to have the option available.

  • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’s hard enough already to get followers and SEE content from people you follow. Making a request to follow someone makes it even worse in my opinion.

  • bbbhltz@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    On Mastodon, yes. I think I could turn it off now. There was a time just a few months ago when there was a wave of spam accounts following people. Some were legit but they landed on Fedi during one of the Twitter migrations and just started following everyone but posting no content so I began using request to follow.

    • DidacticDumbass@lemmy.oneOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think I will leave it on. I am not too happy with the instance I chose, so I may look to migrate. I think the instance itself strives to be cozy and active, but there is one guy who goes off about U.S. politics constantly like he is on a manic episode, and I had to mute him. Yet, the local timeline is just not that active or interesting.

    • DidacticDumbass@lemmy.oneOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      You know what, I thought about what I posted, and I am going to stay on my instance. I joined it because I think the name is cool and I like the logo.

      Also, the admin welcomed me, and I would feel like a massive dysfunctional dick if I left. So, I will stick with it, focus on the federated timeline, and maybe join the patreon if there is on.

  • modulus
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I run a GoToSocial instance and have it on, not so much because I don’t want to allow people to follow me (so far I think I’ve approved all requests) but because having it off means that a bot can easily get to my followers-only posts and archive or distribute them, and some iffy instances have been doing that in order to build search engines and the like.

  • albsen@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I have on my mastodon account, simply due to me wanting to be able to see whos interested in what I have to say. Its easy enough as well, you get a push and press yes, dont see a reason not to activate it. For Lemmy, no not yet, doesn’t really seem as relevant for some reason.

    • DidacticDumbass@lemmy.oneOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      That is a good point. I think given how personal microblogging can get, it is wise to be mindful of who you let monitor you, even when it is public.

      Also, it is a way to really connect with people who took an interest in you, it is an invitation.