# Opinions on 'Fan' relationship model in RESTful app

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/opinions-on-fan-relationship-model-in-restful-app/131403>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 9, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/opinions-on-fan-relationship-model-in-restful-app/131403 "2008-03-09T13:11:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chunkyslink](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@chunkyslink](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chunkyslink)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/opinions-on-fan-relationship-model-in-restful-app/131403/1 "2008-03-09T13:11:55Z")

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I’m working on an app in which users can become a ‘fan’ of another user.  
I’m trying to determine if and how this is similar to a ‘friendship’  
model, like the one seen in the has\_many\_friends plugin, but I haven’t  
got my head round the differences yet, so I’m looking for advice. I’m  
coming to the conclusion that ‘fans’ are different to ‘friends’ because  
a user can have a fan without themselves being a fan of the fan, whereas  
a friendship model requires both users to be friends with one another  
when the friendship is created.

Use case;

A User1 clicks a button on User2’s profile page to become a ‘fan’ of  
User2. User2 will, depending on their email notification settings  
(yes/no), be notified that they have a new fan.

That’s pretty much it, but I’m also considering an option which enables  
users to first approve of other users becoming a fan. This would be  
specified in a profile setting. I presume this function will necessitate  
adding a ‘status’ to the fan table and adding ‘requested’ statuses etc.

How would you set up this up in a RESTful app?