When you click a link to a Mastodon post from another instance, the browser may show a “Not Found” error instead of the post content. This happens because the post exists on a remote server, but your local instance cannot find or access it. The cause is often an incomplete federation handshake, a deleted or … Read more
Opening your Mastodon web client and seeing only a blank white screen instead of your timeline is a frustrating experience. This problem typically occurs because the browser cannot load or execute the JavaScript code that renders the Mastodon interface. A corrupted browser cache, a malfunctioning browser extension, or a temporary server-side issue are the most … Read more
Mastodon instances that fail to communicate with each other often show a “TLS handshake failed” error in the server logs or in the admin dashboard. This error prevents your instance from receiving posts from remote servers and stops your users from following accounts on other instances. The root cause is almost always a misconfigured TLS … Read more
Mastodon push notifications on your iPhone or iPad have stopped arriving. You open the app and see replies, boosts, and new followers, but your lock screen stays silent. This problem usually happens because the iOS notification permission expired, the Mastodon server changed its push endpoint, or a recent iOS update reset notification settings. This article … Read more
After migrating your Mastodon account from one instance to another, you may see a “Profile Not Found” error when someone tries to view your old profile or when your old profile redirects improperly. This issue typically occurs because the migration handshake between the old and new instances did not complete fully or because DNS and … Read more
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