Follow an author

Follow an author

Following an author lets you manage your relationship with another author's profile from the Profile route. The author's username appears in the profile header beside the Follow or Unfollow control.

Before you start

The Profile page must load a profile for an author other than the signed-in user. The page loads the profile before it presents the profile content. The following state records whether you already follow that author and determines whether Follow or Unfollow appears.

Prerequisites

• You know which author's profile to open.
• You are signed in before selecting Follow. The follow handler returns without sending the request when the user is not authenticated.
• The profile belongs to another user. Your own profile presents Edit Profile Settings instead of the Follow or Unfollow controls in the profile header.

When these conditions are met, open the author's profile.

Open an author's profile

An author's profile is the Profile page identified by the author's username.

Steps

1. Follow View a profile to open the author's Profile page.

Result: The author's profile page is open, with the author's username beside the Follow or Unfollow control in the profile header.

Recognize the Follow or Unfollow controls

The Follow or Unfollow control appears in the profile header beside the author's username and profile information. Use the label shown there to choose the action.

Use the label shown in the profile header in the next procedure.

Follow or unfollow the author

Use this procedure when the author's Profile page is open and you can identify whether Follow or Unfollow appears in the profile header.

Prerequisites

• The author's profile is loaded.
• The profile belongs to another user.

Steps

1. Select Follow or Unfollow according to the profile state.

Result: After the request succeeds, the Profile page displays the refreshed profile data and the profile's current following state.

Choose the action for the current state

The profile state determines whether you follow an author, unfollow an author, or manage your own profile settings.

Prerequisites

• The Profile page has loaded the profile username.

Steps

1. Choose the action that matches the profile you opened.

   If you opened…	Select…
   Another user's profile that you do not follow	Follow
   Another user's profile that you already follow	Unfollow
   Your own profile	Edit Profile Settings

Result: The Profile page shows the action for the profile's current state. If the action does not complete, use the guidance in the next section.

When the action does not complete

The Profile page uses a loading message while the profile is being fetched and a separate message when the profile cannot be loaded. If a follow or unfollow request fails, the profile stays as it was and no error message appears.

What to do next

After you finish the follow decision, continue from the author's Profile page. For changes to your own profile, go to Update your settings.