You enter your Mastodon username and password, then type the six-digit code from your authenticator app. Instead of entering your home timeline, the login page reloads and asks for the two-factor code again. This cycle, known as the two-factor login loop, can lock you out of your account for hours or days. The problem usually … Read more
You filled out the registration form on a Mastodon instance, but your account status shows ‘Pending approval’ and it has not changed for days. This usually happens on instances that require manual moderator approval for new accounts. If the instance has few moderators or a large backlog, your request can stall indefinitely. This article explains … Read more
When you try to submit a form in Mastodon such as posting a status, changing account settings, or logging in, you may see a CSRF Token Mismatch error. This error means the security token that verifies your request is missing or does not match what the server expects. The cause is often a stale browser … Read more
When you self-host a Mastodon instance, the service depends on a PostgreSQL database to store posts, accounts, and timeline data. A “Database Connection Timeout” error means your Mastodon web or streaming processes cannot reach the database within the configured time limit. This typically occurs due to resource exhaustion, misconfigured connection pools, or network latency between … Read more
When you browse the Mastodon federated timeline, custom emoji from other instances often appear as broken image placeholders or plain text like :blobcat:. This happens because Mastodon does not automatically fetch emoji files from remote servers. The error message “Custom Emoji Failed to Load” indicates that your local instance cannot retrieve or display the emoji … Read more
When you upload a new profile picture on Mastodon, the server must resize and optimize the image before it becomes visible to others. The “Avatar image failed to process” error means this server-side operation could not complete. This failure usually happens because the image file violates one of Mastodon’s strict technical requirements. This article explains … Read more
When you attempt to create a new account on a Mastodon server and see the error message “Rate limit on sign up endpoint,” your registration request has been blocked by the server’s rate limiting system. This error occurs because the server has received too many registration attempts from your IP address or network within a … Read more
When using the Mastodon web client, the error message “Streaming API Disconnected” appears in the browser console or as a visible notification. This error means the real-time connection between your browser and the Mastodon server has dropped. The streaming API is responsible for delivering new posts, notifications, and timeline updates without requiring a page refresh. … Read more
Mastodon instances that use S3-compatible object storage for media files may encounter the error “Object Storage Upload Failed” when users try to attach images, videos, or other files to posts. This error typically appears as a red banner in the web interface or as a logged failure in the Mastodon sidekiq jobs. The root cause … Read more
You attempt to edit a post on Mastodon and see the error message Status Already Deleted. This happens even when the post is still visible on your profile and in your home timeline. The error is not caused by you deleting the post manually. It is triggered by a specific mismatch between how Mastodon handles … Read more