Can I block someone from seeing my blog or would I have to create a new blog?

  • Unknown's avatar
    kquarles30 · Member ·

    There is a person reading my blog who is starting to exhibit stalker-ilke tendencies. He has found me on other websites like Meetup and is joining my groups and sending me scary messages. He has been trying to post horribly nasty hateful comments on my blog. I’ve been able to block those, but I feel uncomfortable knowing he can read my blog at all. I’m not someone who’s going to post contact information of any kind on my blog, but the subject matter is very personal and I do not want him to see it. Is there any way, through privacy settings, I can ‘hide’ my blog from a particular person? I have his name, email address, and ip address. I think this is a long shot, so my follow-up question is, if I can’t do that, does that mean I have to create an entirely new blog? If I start a new blog, is there any way, through searching hashtags or something like that, he could find me?

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    If I start a new blog, is there any way, through searching hashtags or something like that, he could find me?

    Probably. He would simply search by topic.

    1. There is no way for you to do that.

    2. You may remove a follower by going to My Site > People and clicking the remove link next to their name. However, know that they can subscribe again.
    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-unsubscribe-someone-from-my-blog?replies=3#post-2486958
    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-unsubscribe-someone-from-my-blog?replies=3#post-2487279

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    We cannot totally block or delete subscribers from public WordPress.COM hosted blogs. Anyone and everyone can access public blogs and that’s indeed what the public designation means.

    To change blog visibility to Private go to > Settings > Reading scroll to Blog Visibility and choose option 3. See the guide here http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings

    Also read this about public blogs that become private blogs > Blog Privacy and Subscribers > http://wpcommaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/blog-privacy-and-subscribers/

    To change blog visibility to Private go to Dashboard > Settings > Reading scroll to Site Visibility and choose option 3
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/

    You don’t need an upgrade of any kind at all to invite multiple people to contribute to a private blog. See:
    adding users http://en.support.wordpress.com/adding-users/
    user roles http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/
    Note that you have complete control over everything that’s posted to your blog via comment moderation
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation

    For trolls, you can “blacklist” them at Settings > Discussion toward the bottom of that page. Enter their email address, their username, and if they included it, their website URL. That will automatically send them to moderation so that their comments do not appear on the blog. Do note though that if they are determined, they can use a different email address or username to get around that.

    Also, do not put their IP address in the blacklist. IP addresses are no longer unique, and you might end up blocking legitimate visitors. In fact for over a decade only about 30% of us have IPs that trace back to any individual computer. Also, all they would have to do is go to a wi-fi hot spot, or connect via a different ISP and they could get around that.

    Additional information:

    Our reality is that if the ability to remove or followers existed our time would be squandered on removing unwanted followers because anyone can get a new email address and or a new IP in seconds flat and then they can subscribe again to any public blog they were removed from.

    If someone has an inappropriate rating for a Gravatar image, please log into to Gravatar and use the “Report Abuse” link on their Gravatar profile bottom right hand corner to let Staff know.

    Also note that on this page > Settings > Discussion if you scroll down you will find you can set a Maximum Rating for gravatar display on your blog.

    G — Suitable for all audiences
    PG — Possibly offensive, usually for audiences 13 and above
    R — Intended for adult audiences above 17
    X — Even more mature than above

    If the follower has an inappropriate blog hosted here at WordPress.com, you can also report that to us so we can deal with that: Report Mature or Spam Blogs http://en.support.wordpress.com/report-blogs/

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