Followers – email link not working

  • Unknown's avatar
    firelibrarian · Member ·

    Hiya,
    I’ve moved my blog to WordPress.com from an non WordPress platform. I’m using the invite function to help my current followers/ subscribers move across.

    Some have come back saying the link the the email does not work. I’ve tested it and I can see the embedded link when I mouse over, but it does not work when I (or they) click on it.

    Some have managed to subscribe alright. Struggling to work out the difference.

    If I redirect them to using the subscribe widget ( Appearance > Widgets > Follow Blog Widget) they’ll still get an email confirmation with a link – how can I be sure that will work for them? (I’m testing on a couple now).

    I wonder if it has to do with whether the people are members of word press?
    eg Does the widget to subscribe only work for those with a wordpress account?
    and will that invite followers email link only work for people with a WordPress account?

    How can I invite people to follow the blog without making them get a WordPress account?

    thanks.

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    I tagged this thread for Staff assistance. Please subscribe to it so you are notified when they respond. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.

  • Unknown's avatar
    firelibrarian · Member ·

    Thanks timethief.
    update – some have come back saying they were able to subscribe, by using the Subscribe widget. so the link in the confirmation email works, but for some, not the link in the invite email.
    thanks.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Thanks for that added information for Staff. Please be patient while waiting.

  • Unknown's avatar
    rachelmcr · Member ·

    Hi there,

    Both the invitation email and the Follow Blog Widget will work for people without a WordPress.com account. (In both cases, if someone doesn’t have a WordPress.com account they’ll be subscribed to receive updates via email.)

    When you try clicking to accept the invitation, what happens? It’d help to know if the link doesn’t open at all, or if it opens but doesn’t subscribe the person to the blog.

    Also, for the people who are having trouble with that link, what email provider and email client/program do they use? If we can trace the problem to a specific provider or email program, that might help us resolve this issue.

  • Unknown's avatar
    firelibrarian · Member ·

    Thanks for this start.

    The link in the email just doesn’t work – doesn’t go anywhere. So, you can mouse over it, and see the link pathway, but clicking does not take you to the webpage.

    Most users will be on Microsoft outlook, and some will be responding from within a workplace Citrix environment.

  • Unknown's avatar
    rachelmcr · Member ·

    Thanks for those details. It’s possible Microsoft Outlook (or another email program) is disabling the link. You can read more about how that works in Outlook here:

    https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Turn-on-or-off-links-in-email-messages-2d79b907-93b6-4774-82e6-1f0385cf20f8

    I’ll report this issue to our team to see if we can add a plain text link to the bottom of the email, as well. That way, if Outlook or other email programs disable the button in the email, you can still copy the link and paste it directly in your browser’s address bar.

    For now, if you see the link when you mouse over it, you should also be able to right click and copy that link. Then, you can paste it into the browser’s address bar to accept the invitation.

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