diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f07d9cefb..dcc34b492 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Social reading and reviewing, decentralized with ActivityPub
 ## Joining BookWyrm
 BookWyrm is still a young piece of software, and isn't at the level of stability and feature-richness that you'd find in a production-ready application. But it does what it says on the box! If you'd like to join an instance, you can check out the [instances](https://github.com/mouse-reeve/bookwyrm/blob/main/instances.md) list.
 
-I, the maintianer of this project, run https://bookwyrm.social, and I generally give out invite codes to those who ask by [email](mailto:mousereeve@riseup.net), [Mastodon direct message](https://friend.camp/@tripofmice), or [Twitter direct message](https://twitter.com/tripofmice).
+You can request an invite to https://bookwyrm.social by [email](mailto:mousereeve@riseup.net), [Mastodon direct message](https://friend.camp/@tripofmice), or [Twitter direct message](https://twitter.com/tripofmice).
 
 ## The overall idea
 ### What it is and isn't
@@ -116,7 +116,6 @@ This project is still young and isn't, at the momoment, very stable, so please p
     ```python
     from bookwyrm import models
     user = models.User.objects.get(id=1)
-    user.is_admin = True
     user.is_staff = True
     user.is_superuser = True
     user.save()
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/snippets/generated_status/goal.html b/bookwyrm/templates/snippets/generated_status/goal.html
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3b4d0de4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/snippets/generated_status/goal.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{% load humanize %}set a goal to read {{ goal.goal | intcomma }} book{{ goal.goal | pluralize }} in {{ goal.year }}
diff --git a/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_follow.py b/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_follow.py
index e6c7e46fb..943ffcf82 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_follow.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/tests/views/test_follow.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class BookViews(TestCase):
             parent_work=self.work
         )
 
-    def test_handle_follow(self):
+    def test_handle_follow_remote(self):
         ''' send a follow request '''
         request = self.factory.post('', {'user': self.remote_user.username})
         request.user = self.local_user
@@ -56,6 +56,49 @@ class BookViews(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(rel.status, 'follow_request')
 
 
+    def test_handle_follow_local_manually_approves(self):
+        ''' send a follow request '''
+        rat = models.User.objects.create_user(
+            'rat@local.com', 'rat@rat.com', 'ratword',
+            local=True, localname='rat',
+            remote_id='https://example.com/users/rat',
+            manually_approves_followers=True,
+        )
+        request = self.factory.post('', {'user': rat})
+        request.user = self.local_user
+        self.assertEqual(models.UserFollowRequest.objects.count(), 0)
+
+        with patch('bookwyrm.models.activitypub_mixin.broadcast_task.delay'):
+            views.follow(request)
+        rel = models.UserFollowRequest.objects.get()
+
+        self.assertEqual(rel.user_subject, self.local_user)
+        self.assertEqual(rel.user_object, rat)
+        self.assertEqual(rel.status, 'follow_request')
+
+
+
+    def test_handle_follow_local(self):
+        ''' send a follow request '''
+        rat = models.User.objects.create_user(
+            'rat@local.com', 'rat@rat.com', 'ratword',
+            local=True, localname='rat',
+            remote_id='https://example.com/users/rat',
+        )
+        request = self.factory.post('', {'user': rat})
+        request.user = self.local_user
+        self.assertEqual(models.UserFollowRequest.objects.count(), 0)
+
+        with patch('bookwyrm.models.activitypub_mixin.broadcast_task.delay'):
+            views.follow(request)
+
+        rel = models.UserFollows.objects.get()
+
+        self.assertEqual(rel.user_subject, self.local_user)
+        self.assertEqual(rel.user_object, rat)
+        self.assertEqual(rel.status, 'follows')
+
+
     def test_handle_unfollow(self):
         ''' send an unfollow '''
         request = self.factory.post('', {'user': self.remote_user.username})
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views/follow.py b/bookwyrm/views/follow.py
index f5b2ddd58..c59f2e6d2 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views/follow.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views/follow.py
@@ -17,10 +17,13 @@ def follow(request):
     except models.User.DoesNotExist:
         return HttpResponseBadRequest()
 
-    models.UserFollowRequest.objects.get_or_create(
+    rel, _ = models.UserFollowRequest.objects.get_or_create(
         user_subject=request.user,
         user_object=to_follow,
     )
+
+    if to_follow.local and not to_follow.manually_approves_followers:
+        rel.accept()
     return redirect(to_follow.local_path)
 
 
diff --git a/bookwyrm/views/goal.py b/bookwyrm/views/goal.py
index 87404b100..4f2d1b6f4 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/views/goal.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/views/goal.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from django.contrib.auth.decorators import login_required
 from django.http import HttpResponseNotFound
 from django.shortcuts import redirect
+from django.template.loader import get_template
 from django.template.response import TemplateResponse
 from django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
 from django.views import View
@@ -62,9 +63,10 @@ class Goal(View):
 
         if request.POST.get('post-status'):
             # create status, if appropraite
+            template = get_template('snippets/generated_status/goal.html')
             create_generated_note(
                 request.user,
-                'set a goal to read %d books in %d' % (goal.goal, goal.year),
+                template.render({'goal': goal, 'user': request.user}).strip(),
                 privacy=goal.privacy
             )