@TodePond @Gargron @elk Replies and likes are very different.

Replies don't reach you because nobody on your server follows the person who is replying.

Likes don't reach you because Mastodon deliberately doesn't send them to anyone except the server of the liked post. I only learned about this surprising behavior recently.

None of the other fedi implementations I've checked behave like this. I've checked GNU Social, Friendica, Pleroma and Misskey. They treat likes as normal posts and distribute them to the liking person's followers.