fake email subscribers

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  lostlifefound · Member · Nov 28, 2011 at 4:35 pm

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  I have had some people subscribe to my blog. In my case I now know who they are, and if I had a choice, I would block them from subscribing. Why am I not allowed to do that? Why are people I don’t want to subscribe allowed to and I have no way of removing them?

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  timethief · Member · Nov 28, 2011 at 4:44 pm

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  @lostlifefound
  No we cannot block or delete subscribers from public blogs. However, please read this about public blogs that become private blogs > Blog Privacy and Subscribers > http://wpcommaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/blog-privacy-and-subscribers/

  Note that you have complete control comment moderation. http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation If your blog is public others can, of course, read it. They can submit comments but you can Moderate all comments and choose which ones to approve or not.

  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. 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. 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.
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-blacklist

  One other thing I would suggest is to set your blog so that first time commenters are held in moderation till approved, then from that point forward they will not need approval. Settings > Discussion. The next step on that of course is to set it so that all comments are held in moderation until approved. That way you are in control, and they might just get tired and go elsewhere after a while.

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  robthebruce76 · Member · Dec 12, 2011 at 3:34 pm

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  For the record, I continue to gain 15-20 new subscribers a day. Since I first started this thread, I’ve gain somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 subscribers without seeing much of an increase in traffic.

  As I much as I continuously want to believe staff-blorbo, I still think something is up. Someone is working the WordPress system.

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  theskinnystiletto · Member · Dec 14, 2011 at 2:06 pm

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  Yes this happened to me too! I went from like 22 (having it for nearly a year) to 61 in one day… Something’s weird.

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  photochopeando · Member · Dec 16, 2011 at 8:00 am

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  Definitively something is happening! 3 days ago my followers went from 130 to 420!

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  robthebruce76 · Member · Jan 18, 2012 at 5:25 pm

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  staff-blorbo

  My blog is blacked out today, and I’ve had 5 people subscribe to it. How is that even possible? Will you guys PLEASE realize you have a problem and do something to fix it instead of continuously telling us there’s nothing to see here. This is beyond ridiculous.