Hate groups
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Is WordPress concerned about websites that receive hits from groups that may be hate groups? Does WordPress.com track when sites get attention from such groups?
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Hi there,
If you find any content on a WordPress.com site objectionable or you may believe violates our terms of service, please fill out a report through our online form. Our Terms of Service Team are more than happy to look over your complaint and take appropriate action if deemed necessary.
We’ll definitely get in touch with you regarding what we find and determine.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
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Thank you. But what I’m asking about is whether you are concerned when members of an external website that promotes violence start visiting the site of one of your WordPress.com members.
It’s the sort of issue that may be important to communicate to WordPress but doesn’t seem to be easy to do so because support is structured to make members write to this forum.
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Hi there, staff-doublebassd is WordPress.com Staff.
If someone has a Public website regardless of where they host it, they can’t stop other people from visiting it. Here on WordPress.com, a site owner has complete control over the comments left on their site, including putting comments in moderation or blocking comments from a particular person.
If a WordPress.com member runs into an issue on their free WordPress.com website that they cannot resolve, that’s what our community forums are for. Members that have a paid upgrade have access to direct support if they need help.
I hope that helps answer your concerns.
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I almost never allow comments since many may be attempts at social engineering.
What I’m hearing is WordPress isn’t worried if those who have free sites may be being targeted by hate groups, that WordPress may not be attentive to traffic to member sites from hate groups, and that if you have a safety concern that needs to be quickly handled, you’d better have a paid site though it might not make any difference to your safety anyway.
I do understand that anyone can visit a website. I also understand that when you suddenly start getting hits from a site that advocates gun violence, it’s not a good thing.
I hope your servers are secure enough to protect members of all levels from the disclosure of their personal information.
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Hi there,
Is WordPress concerned about websites that receive hits from groups that may be hate groups? Does WordPress.com track when sites get attention from such groups?
By “hits” you are referring to traffic to your site, yes? If I can ask, you are seeing this currently in your site stats?
Because your site is public on the internet, anyone can visit it, so it is not like a private Facebook page (or similar) in that only the people you give access can visit.
However, if you would like this idea so that no one else can randomly visit your site, you can set it to be “private” and then just invite the people you want to see your site. More info on how to do that here: https://wordpress.com/support/settings/privacy-settings/
I’d like to add though that WordPress.com is a secure platform, so if someone visits your site (leading to a “hit” in your site stats) they cannot actually gain access to your site, or do anything to you directly. All they can do is read what you publish, and leave a comment.
If you would prefer that your site be “public” but that not everyone can leave a comment, you can prevent that too. We’re happy to explain what settings you need to adjust to block comments (or specific commenters) if that is your need.
What I’m hearing is WordPress isn’t worried if those who have free sites may be being targeted by hate groups, that WordPress may not be attentive to traffic to member sites from hate groups
We care very much about that actually. If someone visits your site that is not usually an action that “targets” you though. When you say that, you are referring to something specific that is taking place on your site?
and that if you have a safety concern that needs to be quickly handled, you’d better have a paid site though it might not make any difference to your safety anyway.
We offer support in the forums for folks that have free sites, but this forum is monitored by staff. You can see that Darnell and I both have this noted in our profile card on the left of our responses. Paid subscribers do have additional support options (priority email and/or live chat support) because we happily help free site users here in our forums.
We do have a great community here, so other volunteers and moderators (such as the ever-capable @justjennifer) do jump in to help where they can, but staff also watches over these forums. So from that standpoint the support here is the same high quality as what paid subscribers receive, they just have more options as I’ve mentioned above.
Also we do not tolerate abuse of any kind, and this policy is the same wether you have a free site or are a paid subscriber. You can fill out the form here to report any concerns directly to our trust and safety team, and they will reply to you privately via email: https://wordpress.com/abuse/
Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
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Hi “jerrysarcastic.” Since I have a serious question, I’m not sure how I should take your response.
At any rate, the responses I am receiving to a real concern are not relevant. I know that anyone can visit a public site but that’s not what I was asking about. I also know enough about network security to know that people’s personal information is hacked all the time and it’s probably not a good idea to assure people that sites are secure although that is certainly the goal. Additionally, the link to the form that you provide only asks for objectionable content on WordPress sites so, again, not relevant to my concern.
I did not want to just stop writing without acknowledging these responses. I expect that, given that it’s a weekend, I might have had a better chance at learning whether WordPresss pays attention to hate traffic to WordPress sites by asking during the week.
Thanks.
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Hi there,
Hi “jerrysarcastic.” Since I have a serious question, I’m not sure how I should take your response.
I’m not able to change my username, which is one I have had since becoming a member of staff. However, my response was serious and I’m in no way trying to joke here.
At any rate, the responses I am receiving to a real concern are not relevant. I know that anyone can visit a public site but that’s not what I was asking about
I may have missed it in your other messages here. Can you elaborate on what you are asking about specifically? Your question is about the comments that visitors are leaving on your site, or something else?
We’re happy to take a closer look, but I’m not sure where I am to be looking at the moment. Thanks for the additional info
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staff-totoro – Perhaps the original post outlines it,
Is WordPress concerned about websites that receive hits from groups that may be hate groups? Does WordPress.com track when sites get attention from such groups?
@renterharassment To be honest, though, I’m not certain I understand what your expectations are or what actions you believe WordPress.com should take. Perhaps you could elaborate. TIA -
This is getting very complexed.
This is how I see it:
Wordpress.com is nothing like Facebook or Twitter.
You are given a space on the net for free – or you rent a place if you want more options.
Either way; if you allow comments, you are your own moderator.
If you don’t want to spend time moderating, you simply turn “comments off”.From experience regarding security – as in stealing info, hacking or attempts to insert different kinds of malware, WP.com is by far more safe than a hosted site using WP.org. with lots of plugins which often have serious security issues.
justjennifer said:
To be honest, though, I’m not certain I understand what your expectations are or what actions you believe WordPress.com should take.
Complex algorithms ?
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@renterharassment if there’s a specific incident you’re referring to, can you send more details?
– If the site itself has content against our TOS / User Guidelines you can report it: https://en.support.wordpress.com/report-blogs/
– If the site owner is being harassed by hate groups and needs help dealing with their comments, etc, they can reach out
– If neither of those circumstances apply, do you just mean that out on the web there is a link to a WordPress.com site that isn’t against our TOS? More specifics on the situation would be helpful.
And as Jen mentioned, if you can share what you have in mind that would be helpful, too. Noting too, when it comes to detection algorithms, we don’t reveal many details in public since we don’t want bad actors to find workarounds, but we’d be happy to note any suggestions you have.
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