diff --git a/activity.go b/activity.go
index 418c1cc..7e427c0 100644
--- a/activity.go
+++ b/activity.go
@@ -1882,7 +1882,7 @@ func unfollowme(user *WhatAbout, who string, name string, j junk.Junk) {
 	}
 }
 
-func followyou(user *WhatAbout, honkerid int64) {
+func followyou(user *WhatAbout, honkerid int64, sync bool) {
 	var url, owner string
 	db := opendatabase()
 	row := db.QueryRow("select xid, owner from honkers where honkerid = ? and userid = ? and flavor in ('unsub', 'peep', 'presub', 'sub')",
@@ -1899,10 +1899,14 @@ func followyou(user *WhatAbout, honkerid int64) {
 		elog.Printf("error updating honker: %s", err)
 		return
 	}
-	go subsub(user, url, owner, folxid)
+	if sync {
+		subsub(user, url, owner, folxid)
+	} else {
+		go subsub(user, url, owner, folxid)
+	}
 
 }
-func unfollowyou(user *WhatAbout, honkerid int64) {
+func unfollowyou(user *WhatAbout, honkerid int64, sync bool) {
 	db := opendatabase()
 	row := db.QueryRow("select xid, owner, folxid from honkers where honkerid = ? and userid = ? and flavor in ('sub')",
 		honkerid, user.ID)
@@ -1918,7 +1922,11 @@ func unfollowyou(user *WhatAbout, honkerid int64) {
 		elog.Printf("error updating honker: %s", err)
 		return
 	}
-	go itakeitallback(user, url, owner, folxid)
+	if sync {
+		itakeitallback(user, url, owner, folxid)
+	} else {
+		go itakeitallback(user, url, owner, folxid)
+	}
 }
 
 func followyou2(user *WhatAbout, j junk.Junk) {
diff --git a/database.go b/database.go
index 40e2768..99bd8ad 100644
--- a/database.go
+++ b/database.go
@@ -1002,9 +1002,6 @@ func savehonker(user *WhatAbout, url, name, flavor, combos, mj string) (int64, e
 		return 0, err
 	}
 	honkerid, _ := res.LastInsertId()
-	if flavor == "presub" {
-		followyou(user, honkerid)
-	}
 	return honkerid, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/docs/honk.8 b/docs/honk.8
index 1b045df..739617d 100644
--- a/docs/honk.8
+++ b/docs/honk.8
@@ -142,6 +142,11 @@ command.
 Users may be deleted with the
 .Ic deluser Ar username
 command.
+.Pp
+Follow and unfollow requests can be sent via command line with
+.Ic follow Ar username Ar url
+and
+.Ic unfollow Ar username Ar url .
 .Ss Maintenance
 The database may grow large over time.
 The
diff --git a/honk.go b/honk.go
index 1898085..d8cce9b 100644
--- a/honk.go
+++ b/honk.go
@@ -373,6 +373,42 @@ func main() {
 			return
 		}
 		chpass(args[1])
+	case "follow":
+		if len(args) < 3 {
+			fmt.Printf("usage: honk follow username url\n")
+			return
+		}
+		user, err := butwhatabout(args[1])
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("user not found")
+			return
+		}
+		var meta HonkerMeta
+		mj, _ := jsonify(&meta)
+		honkerid, err := savehonker(user, args[2], "", "presub", "", mj)
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("had some trouble with that: %s", err)
+			return
+		}
+		followyou(user, honkerid, true)
+	case "unfollow":
+		if len(args) < 3 {
+			fmt.Printf("usage: honk unfollow username url\n")
+			return
+		}
+		user, err := butwhatabout(args[1])
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("user not found")
+			return
+		}
+		row := db.QueryRow("select honkerid from honkers where xid = ? and userid = ?", args[2], user.ID)
+		var honkerid int64
+		err = row.Scan(&honkerid)
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("sorry couldn't find them")
+			return
+		}
+		unfollowyou(user, honkerid, true)
 	case "cleanup":
 		arg := "30"
 		if len(args) > 1 {
diff --git a/web.go b/web.go
index 42de0e0..274559f 100644
--- a/web.go
+++ b/web.go
@@ -1923,15 +1923,15 @@ func submithonker(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) *Honker {
 
 	if honkerid > 0 {
 		if r.FormValue("delete") == "delete" {
-			unfollowyou(user, honkerid)
+			unfollowyou(user, honkerid, false)
 			stmtDeleteHonker.Exec(honkerid)
 			return h
 		}
 		if r.FormValue("unsub") == "unsub" {
-			unfollowyou(user, honkerid)
+			unfollowyou(user, honkerid, false)
 		}
 		if r.FormValue("sub") == "sub" {
-			followyou(user, honkerid)
+			followyou(user, honkerid, false)
 		}
 		_, err := stmtUpdateHonker.Exec(name, combos, mj, honkerid, u.UserID)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -1956,6 +1956,9 @@ func submithonker(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) *Honker {
 		http.Error(w, "had some trouble with that: "+err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
 		return nil
 	}
+	if flavor == "presub" {
+		followyou(user, honkerid, false)
+	}
 	h.ID = id
 	return h
 }