Friend requests on Letter Trails: slots, notes, and a little etiquette

On most platforms, a friend request is a button you mash. On Letter Trails it is closer to knocking on a door: you say who you are, you wait, and there are polite limits on knocking. That is deliberate. Here is how the system works and why.

Sending a request

Find someone in the directory, open their profile, and send a request with a short note. The note is optional, but it is also most of the game: "I saw you press flowers too, my wall is covered in them" gets answered; a blank request is a shrug. Two or three sentences is plenty.

If someone has paused new requests, the form simply is not there. No request sent into the void, no ambiguity.

The five slots

You can have five requests pending at once. Want to send a sixth? Wait for an answer, or cancel one from the Requests panel on your Friends page, where every outgoing request lists with a cancel button and a "3 of 5 slots used" counter.

Why a cap? Because it changes what a request means. When requests are unlimited, people spray them across the directory and every recipient learns to ignore them. When you have five slots, you spend them on people you actually chose, and everyone's requests get taken more seriously. Scarcity is what makes the knock worth answering.

There is also a five-per-day rhythm limit, so slots cannot be churned by cancelling and resending in bulk.

Requests expire

A request that goes unanswered for 14 days quietly expires. The recipient may have wandered off; either way, your slot comes back automatically and no one is left hanging forever. Expiry is silent, no shame attached in either direction.

The three knocks rule

You can send the same person at most three requests, ever, counting ones they declined, ones that expired, and ones you cancelled. After that, the door is closed for good.

This is an anti-pestering rule, plain and simple. Three unanswered or declined knocks is an answer, and a platform for slow, thoughtful friendship should enforce that answer so no one has to keep declining the same person indefinitely. (Requests that were accepted never count against you, so old friends who drifted apart can always reconnect.)

Answering requests

Incoming requests live behind the Requests toggle on your Friends page: the sender's profile, their note, and two buttons. Accept and a friendship page opens up for the two of you, with chat, the letter log, and address sharing when you are both ready. Decline and that is that; they are not notified with any fanfare.

Declining is fine, by the way. A request is a question, not an obligation, and keeping your circle small is how letters stay good. Better three pen pals you write faithfully than ten you resent.

Find someone worth a slot.