Friends & Following
Vallio uses a follow model, and one category — mutuals — does more work than anywhere else in the app.
Following, followers, mutuals
Following — people you follow.
Followers — people who follow you.
Mutuals — both. You follow them, they follow you back.
Why mutuals matter so much
Three things depend on it, and they're all things people hit early:
Team setup. When you're building teams for a game, only mutuals appear in the player list. Someone you follow one-way isn't selectable — you'd have to add them as a guest, and a guest doesn't earn PaddleRank.
Private events. Events set to Private are visible to mutuals only. If your local group runs private events, mutual follows are your access.
Rivalries. Head-to-head records build from games where both players are registered — which in practice means mutuals, since that's who you can add to a game.
The practical implication
Follow the people you actually play with, and make sure they follow back.
This is the single highest-value setup step in Vallio, and it's easy to skip. Until a follow is mutual:
- ›You can't add them to a game as a registered player
- ›Your games together don't move either rating
- ›No rivalry accumulates
- ›They can't see your Private events
A one-way follow does almost nothing. It's the reciprocal that unlocks things.
Finding people
Search on the Home tab. Usernames are how people find each other, which is why picking a recognizable one matters — see Creating Your Account.
Your friends list
On your profile, alongside your stats.
Following and your feed
Your feed is built from who you follow. A thin feed usually means a thin following list rather than a quiet network.
Event privacy uses all three
When creating an event you choose the audience, and the options map directly onto these categories:
| Setting | Audience | |---|---| | Private | Mutuals | | Following | Everyone you follow | | Followers | Everyone who follows you | | Invite Only | Only players you invite |