When you open the Federated timeline in Mastodon and see a persistent Failed to fetch error, your client cannot reach the remote servers that host posts from other instances. This error typically appears because your instance blocks outbound connections to certain remote servers, or because those servers have rate-limited or blocked your instance in return. … Read more
When you upload an image to Mastodon and the upload indicator hangs on “Processing” indefinitely, the post cannot be published. This problem affects both the web interface and mobile apps, preventing media from appearing in your toots. The root cause is usually a server-side media processing failure, a file format issue, or a browser cache … Read more
When your Mastodon instance suddenly feels sluggish, notifications arrive hours late, or posts fail to federate, a Sidekiq queue backlog is often the culprit. This backlog occurs when background jobs pile up faster than your server can process them. In this article, you will learn why this backlog happens, how to clear it, and how … Read more
When you try to follow a user on another Mastodon instance or search for a remote account, you may see the error “Webfinger Lookup Failed.” This error means that your instance cannot verify that the remote user exists. The problem usually lies in a misconfigured domain, a missing DNS record, or a temporary server outage. … Read more
You open your Mastodon web app or mobile client and see a notification badge showing a high number like 3 or 99. You check your notifications, but there are no unread items. The badge remains stuck on that number. This happens because Mastodon’s notification counter does not automatically reset when you view notifications on a … Read more
When you try to follow a user on a different Mastodon instance, the search box might return a red error message stating “Failed to resolve handle.” This occurs because your instance cannot locate the remote user’s account through the ActivityPub protocol. The handle format, such as @user@example.social, requires your instance to perform a WebFinger lookup … Read more
When you try to open a Mastodon instance in a browser and see a Cloudflare-branded 502 Bad Gateway error, the web server cannot complete your request. This error means Cloudflare, the reverse proxy in front of the Mastodon server, received an invalid response from the origin server. The issue is almost always on the server … Read more
After updating the Mastodon app on your phone or desktop, you may see a red banner that reads “Sync Failed” at the top of your home timeline. This error means the app cannot refresh your feed, fetch new notifications, or post toots. The root cause is usually an expired authentication token or a corrupted local … Read more
You are trying to access Mastodon and see the message “Service Temporarily Unavailable.” This error means the Mastodon server you are connecting to cannot process your request right now. The cause is usually server overload from too many users, scheduled maintenance, or a temporary network problem. This article explains how to verify whether the issue … Read more
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