Email follower on private site

  • Unknown's avatar
    bertieandme · Member ·

    My site used to be public, but was made private about 18 months ago.

    I received an email notification today that said I had a new follower. However, because my site is private followers can’t be added unless I approve them and I haven’t approved any new followers.

    I logged into my site and under Notifications there were no new followers listed.

    The person was a subscriber when the site was public, but I’ve had no request to add her as a follower since the site became private.

    I’m not sure if this person has been able to follow the site even though it’s private, or why my site says I have no new followers but I’ve had an email notification to say I have a new follower?

    WP.com: Yes
    Correct account: Yes

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to moderators and staff)

  • Unknown's avatar
    aisajib · Member ·

    Hi there!

    Could you share the details from the email you received? You can copy the entire email you received and paste it here (Make sure to remove any personal information. Emails are okay, as they won’t be visible publicly).

    We can investigate further to see what might have happened.

    Thanks!

  • Unknown's avatar
    bertieandme · Member ·

    Sorry for late reply. Email below.

  • staff-doublebassd · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    The user details state that she has been a subscriber since 2/20/18, and there is also no recent history of her requesting a follow for your site or anyone else’s for years. So that is the strange part. Why would she receive the status of a subscriber when your site is private? At this point, only viewers should be added to your site, and as you stated, that is through invite only.

    Thankfully, she’s still only a follower. She would need an invite from you to become a viewer, not a follower, as a follower won’t be able to view your private site, but a viewer can. So, she is still under a subscriber category, which is good. There doesn’t appear to be an issue of users gaining access to view your private site without an invite from you. But I am looking into why you received an email notification saying that someone subscribed to your site who was already a subscriber?

    Have you received any viewer requests lately?

  • Unknown's avatar
    bertieandme · Member ·

    Thank you for looking into this for me, it’s appreciated. Reassuring to know people can’t view the site without me adding them.

    No viewer requests recently, just this subscriber email out of the blue.

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