How to block visitors or black list
-
According to my Emails, WordPress user Red Zar has liked a particular post 4 or 5 times and ‘followed’ me. Yet, according to stats, he / she has never actually visited.
My conclusion is it is a bot.Also, have you changed your notification format?
It used to read: ‘so and so thought your site was awesome etc etc.’
Now it is a more sterile: ‘so and so like your post blah blah’
Has a change been made or is this too generated outside WordPress?I have removed it as a follower, how to I stop the rest?
Cheers
pWP.com: Yes
Correct account: YesThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
Hi there,
The only way to limit who can see or interact with your posts is to set your site to private, so only the people you specifically invite have access to it. If a site is public, anyone with access to the internet can view it, and any WordPress.com account can Like posts, or subscribe to the site in the WordPress.com Reader.
You can block a specific account from commenting on your site, but there is no way to block a specific account from accessing or following the site, or Like-ing post on the site.
But if you believe the account is abusing the Like feature to spam you, you can report the account by visiting their profile on Gravatar.com. As long as you’re logged into Gravatar yourself (you can log in via your WordPress.com account), you’ll see a Report Abuse link at the bottom of their profile info.
Yet, according to stats, he / she has never actually visited.
Stats doesn’t show whether or not a specific person visited your site, it only shows how many people visited. So can you give some more details why you believe they haven’t visited your site?
If it’s perhaps that your stats don’t show any visitors corresponding with when the Likes took place, not all visits are recorded: People can like posts in the Reader feed without clicking through to individual posts. In that case a visit won’t be recorded.
It’s also possible to use browser add-ons to block the tracking cookie we use to detect visitors for stats purposes. Use of browser add-ons like that have become more and more common in the past few years, so all sites are likely getting a lot of visits that cannot be logged in Stats.
Also, have you changed your notification format?
We recently made some updates to the templates for notification emails, yes.
-
Thnx Kokieh, your replies are always informative.
If it’s perhaps that your stats don’t show any visitors corresponding with when the Likes took place, not all visits are recorded: People can like posts in the Reader feed without clicking through to individual posts. In that case a visit won’t be recorded.
Thx, I did not know that.
I am not sure if multiple likes are spamming, just irritating.
I will monitor it a little longer then act appropriately
Cheers
P -
Always happy to help :)
I am not sure if multiple likes are spamming, just irritating.
If they keep unliking and re-liking a specific post, that is spam-like behaviour. That type of behaviour is unfortunately difficult to prove, but people who do that often have other behaviours we can detect more easily, which can lead to their ability to like and/or follow sites being blocked if we determine they’re abusing these features.
But that’s a decision our terms of service team has to make, so reporting the Gravatar profile directly is the best way to get a closer look at this :)
On the other hand, if they’re randomly liking different posts, and spread out over time rather than a large number all at once, they could be a genuine reader, but probably aren’t comfortable commenting on your site (or just don’t have anything to say).
-
Ok, thx again.
It’s always the same post which makes me inclined to think it is a bot.
But as no one else has raised the issue I will hold back a while.
Likes, follows etc don’t concern me really, I write for my own pleasure and this site is part of a much larger web.
Cheers
p -
Hello, Sorry Kokkieh, but can you give me a quick lead as to where EXACTLY I find the Gravatar login please?
I am signed in, have searched the left column menu but can’t find any Gravatar reference there.
What am I missing?
Cheers
p -
Sure :)
Go to Gravatar.com. Top right you should see a sign in button – it will use your WordPress.com account to sign in (a WordPress.com and a Gravatar.com account is one and the same).
Once you’re signed in go to https://en.gravatar.com/{username}
You’ll find the Report link at the bottom of the info panel on the left:
-
Ahhh, sorry, my error, I misread your original email to suggest to access Gravatar reporting from within WordPress.
Which is a pity as I know from past experience I can NOT load Gravatar.com here.It MAY be blocked, but it doesn’t exhibit the usual blocked symptoms.
I can partially load the splash or home page – after a long delay, then it times out. Blocked sites usually flash up Unavailable very quickly.
Slow loading is more indicative of US east coast based server sites.
It is a hit and miss, depending on which way the wind is blowing.Anyway, sorry, irrelevant.
Point is I need to give these people a shot across the bows, 7 or 8 likes, all for the same page is getting tiring. And clearly aimed at building their own rank.
Is there another way around this perhaps please?Cheers
P -
Is there another way around this perhaps please?
Aside from what @kokkieh has suggested, no. The only other thing you could do is temporarily disabling likes on the specific post they’re targeting by following the steps here:
https://wordpress.com/support/sharing/#disabling-sharing-likes-on-specific-posts
Personally, I tend to ignore these types of things – eventually, they get bored and/or move on to the next site.
Hope that helps!
-
Hiya Csonnek cheers, that is a really good wrinkle.
Never even knew that existed.
Done.
Let’s see where it leads.
Yes ignorance is – sometimes – bliss but this is a business with several dozen daily incoming, I don’t need craph stuff.
Uhhm is there a global option or do I need to do each post in turn?
Thanks again.
P -
Hi there,
Uhhm is there a global option or do I need to do each post in turn?
You can turn Likes off across your site or for individual posts. Here’s how to do it:
https://wordpress.com/support/likes/#turn-likes-on-off-across-your-site
-
- The topic ‘How to block visitors or black list’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 