Post #1527824

2022-11-21 16:22 UTC

One thing that’s a bit of a hassle with Mastodon is that you can’t immediately follow people on other instances. You have to copy the username and search for it on the server that has your account. To make this easier, I’ve created a little bookmarklet. Press it, and you’ll be taken to the same account as viewed from the masto host you are on. GitHub Gist: https://gist.github.com/bramus/d8bce55dab1881cde18aa2169c66ac33 (Change the value of `MY_MASTO_HOST` in the code to your mastodon host –not URL– and you’re good to go)

Replies (19)

@bramus@front-end.social 2022-11-21 16:25

I did notice that sometimes it doesn’t work, and the search API on your own host gives back a 404. The UI doesn’t handle this well and just keeps on showing the spinner. In that case, you’ll still have to do the manual steps. Don’t know what’s causing this. Maybe an overloaded server at the other end?

Open ##3098464
@bramus@front-end.social 2022-11-23 17:04

UPDATE: Now look what we have here … a Chrome Extension that does the job! Review is still pending, so you can’t find it on the Chrome Web Store just yet. Maybe later today, or maybe tomorrow … no one really knows. The source code is publicly available, so you can clone it and load it unpacked if you want: https://github.com/bramus/mastodon-view-profile

Open ##3098465
@tomkeays@code4lib.social 2022-11-21 16:27

@bramus@front-end.social Works great! Thanks.

Open ##3098475
@chopsstephens@mastodon.nzoss.nz 2022-11-21 17:03

@bramus@front-end.social https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/20533 is an issue to allow viewing of follower/following lists from your local instance, so you can interact with it using your identity. It fixes the feature gap the bookmarklet is a workaround for, so please consider upvoting it.

Open ##3098476
@Ploink@subculture.chat 2022-11-21 17:12

@bramus@front-end.social if you're on the mobile apps you can literally just paste in any username as long as it includes instance tld and hit follow. This is nice for desktop though.

Open ##3098477
@ampersarnie@mastodon.social 2022-11-21 17:44

@bramus@front-end.social @thomasreggi@indieweb.social built a similar bookmarklet for this kind of thing as well. https://indieweb.social/@thomasreggi/109369591846357657 It’s good to see these popping up, but highlights a bit of a need for more native and easy to use solution. Hope we get that at some point.

Open ##3098478
@rolle@mementomori.social 2022-11-21 17:51

@bramus@front-end.social There's also a browser extension with similar idea. This kind of things should really be in the core. https://github.com/raikasdev/mastodon4-redirect

Open ##3098488
@mattjbones@mastodon.social 2022-11-21 22:17

@bramus@front-end.social this is cool! @ricvolpe@macaw.social and I were talking about this earlier. I made a start on an Apple Shortcut that should be able to handle this too when on iOS / iPad. It’s a little rough around the edges but as a v0.2 it does alright: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/90f411dd8408455787a106da34ffb016

Open ##3098490
@raelshark@bbiz.io 2022-11-21 22:30

@bramus@front-end.social Awesome! Big help.

Open ##3098498
@brawaru@mstdn.social 2022-11-22 00:58

@bramus@front-end.social fun fact: this is a regression in UX. Previously clicking that button would open a popup asking you to enter your handle (though you could also just enter `@@mstdn.social` for example and it'd still work) and it would redirect you to your instance. People even created extensions that would automatically redirect you to your home instance. I believe this UX regression was caused by switching from static pages generated (the same as in settings) to unauthorised web app.

Open ##3098499
@AZKtee@toad.social 2022-11-22 08:27

@bramus@front-end.social @Schubertsworld@mastodon.ie Or, when you see a good post on the Fediverse, click on it and then read it, evaluate and follow?

Open ##3098500
@otherpunk@aus.social 2022-11-23 11:21

@bramus@front-end.social @sarajw@front-end.social did you look for this one?

Open ##3098503
@danielstucke@mas.to 2022-11-23 12:11

@bramus@front-end.social If you're browsing on iOS and spot a username you want to follow (just have to have the @someone@server.xyz address visible anywhere on screen to work!) I've made a Shortcut that does the same thing.... 👍 https://mas.to/@danielstucke/109392319645483018 I've been using it to follow people from the Twitter app as they announce their departure 😀

Open ##3098507
@Tribo@mastodon.social 2022-11-23 12:14

@bramus@front-end.social @whalecoiner@indieweb.social There is a way. Use the Toot! App on IOS.

Open ##3098508
@permagriculture@mas.to 2022-11-23 12:50

@bramus@front-end.social This should work again soon (4.02 broke it, new code has been written: https://github.com/rugk/mastodon-simplified-federation Then hopefully the Chrome version: https://github.com/rugk/mastodon-simplified-federation/issues/55

Open ##3098510
@gme@bofh.social 2022-11-23 12:53

You can on #Pleroma. :-)

Open ##3098511
@essbeebee@mstdn.party 2022-11-23 13:13

@bramus@front-end.social I have not had this issue, but know others who have.

Open ##3098512
@abid@abid.cc 2022-11-23 14:25

@bramus@front-end.social Nice addition to #Mastodon growth, well done. However there is some #Fediverse directories where you can find people with common interests to #follow. Here is one i recently started #FediLink at https://fedi.bihlink.com and it's managed via @fedilink@mastodon.world profile

Open ##3098513
@mindcrime@fosstodon.org 2022-11-23 15:53

@bramus@front-end.social - I had been toying with the idea of writing a browser extension to handle the same problem. This is definitely one of the biggest annoyances of using Mastodon. Thanks for creating this!

Open ##3098514