If you want your Mastodon account to be private, you need to do two things:

[johnbrowntypeface@spore.social]

@FediTips
if you are following an account but can't see their posts, what does that imply?

that they have blocked you?

are there any other features or options that would cause this?

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@johnbrowntypeface

If you've never seen any posts on the account before, then it's probably because you're the first person from your server to have followed that account. Its posts should start gradually showing up as they are published.

If they've blocked you, posts you had previously seen would disappear.

There's more info about whether accounts are blank or not at https://fedi.tips/why-does-someones-account-page-look-completely-blank-is-it-really-blank

By the way, there's a fix to prevent "blank" accounts being worked on right now

[johnbrowntypeface@spore.social]

@FediTips
the scenarios vary across accounts but in many cases it was accounts that i previously saw posts for and that i followed

there was even an account where we both followed each other & i still couldn't see their posts

it could be some technical issue across fedi but i haven't seen anyone else mention it. i assumed it could be due to the content of my posts, boosting mutual aid posts, etc.

but it was mostly on one instance. though there are accounts on there whose posts i can see

[johnbrowntypeface@spore.social]

@FediTips
people have told me that accounts who boost mutual aid/direct aid posts often get muted or blocked

if you are muted by an account can you still see their posts?

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@johnbrowntypeface

Yes, muting doesn't affect you at all, it just hides your stuff from the person who muted you.

Muting is much softer than blocking.

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@johnbrowntypeface

Ahhh wait, are these blank accounts mostly on one instance?

If that's the case, it could be that your server admin has placed some limitations on that other server for safety purposes. You might want to ask your server admin about this and mention the specific instance where you're not seeing posts. If there are limitations your admin can tell you about them.

This is something totally separate from blocking, limitations like this happen at the admin level.

[johnbrowntypeface@spore.social]

@FediTips
ok, thanks

yeah, there have been issues with a lot of accounts lately, but at least some of them seemed personally motivated (soft blocking) so i can't really parse if i've just been kinda blacklisted or if there are multiple causes

[johnbrowntypeface@spore.social]

@FediTips

they are, but there was at least one additional instance with the same issues

but to be clear, these are accounts appearing blank but with many posts listed

and on this instance there are also accounts where we follow each other and i can see their posts - so that made me think it might not be a server-wide issue

i'll try to ask them though

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@johnbrowntypeface

If it's related to entire instances, your admin is the person to speak to.

Admins can "limit" instances which means a lot of stuff is hidden behind a warning but people you're following aren't hidden, or they can "suspend" instances which blocks everything from that instance.

[johnbrowntypeface@spore.social]

@FediTips
i haven't been able to locate my admin(s) but i'll keep looking

not sure if projectmushroom.social is the same instance as spore.social

[johnbrowntypeface@spore.social]

@thathackergirl @samnabi @FediTips
thank you

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@thathackergirl @johnbrowntypeface @samnabi

Yup, and if that doesn't work you can try emailing the server's public email address info@tryprojectmushroom.com