Private profile: approve your followers

Flip one switch and following you becomes ask-first — every follower is someone you said yes to, and declining is always silent.

How it works

Turn on Private profile in your profile settings. From then on, a tap on Follow sends you a request instead of creating the follow.
Requests wait in your network page (and ring the bell). Approve and they follow you from that moment; decline and the request simply disappears.
Declining is silent. The other person is never told — their request just isn't pending anymore. No awkwardness manufactured on your behalf.
Changed your mind about a follower? Remove them from your network page any time — also quiet.

Who follows you — and therefore who can ever become a Connection, since Connections require your follow-back too.
Pair it with the connections-only visibility setting (Your profile is yours) and your content is readable only by people who passed your handshake — the full ask-first posture.

Your page's existence stays visible at your handle — people can find you and ask. Private controls who gets close, not whether you exist.
Organizations you follow, purchases, memberships — untouched. This switch is about your followers only.

Private-plus-connections-only is the tightest setting; public-profile-with-approval is a comfortable middle — findable and readable, but your follower list stays chosen.

Did you know? If someone you declined asks again later, they can — a silent decline doesn't burn a bridge, it just closes today's door.