What exactly are followbots? I've only been followed by one, but it sounds like other people are having quite a problem with them.
@embolalia A followbot simply follows any account they see a post from. That causes the followed account's tweets to be federated to the followbot's instance even if no humans are following them. Their supporters like them because they make the federated timeline richer; their haters dislike them because they make things noisier.
@Nentuaby @embolalia noisier and inorganic. inorganic being not "letting federation work the way it is meant"
@embolalia They're a quick and dirty solution to the problem that new instances don't have any content in the Federated Timeline if nobody on that instance has followed any remote users.
But some people 1) don't like being followed by bots at all, it feels creepy and 2) want instance federation to grow organically, not forced by bots.
It'll work itself out I expect. Federation is all very new territory for all of us.
@embolalia They seem to be people's attempts at linking the networks together. If someone on a server follows someone on another, the toots will show up in the federated timeline. It can be pretty annoying for some people though, who aren't fond of being followed by fake people