Incoming comments

  • Unknown's avatar
    janebasilblog · Member ·

    I am receiving identical comments from different blogs. These comments are of a personal nature and concern a family member. I received one yesterday, and used the blogger’s contact form to ask him if the comment was from him. I realise that may have been a serious mistake, as he now has my email address.. Today the site is still there, but all the posts have been removed. Today I got the same comment from a different site. Both are book sites. I’ve dropped the comments in my spam folder. I’ve received no comments from anyone since I got the last comment from him. This is unusual.

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    kmk3s · Member ·

    Hi there Janebasilblog,

    First, I’m sorry to hear this is happening to you. It can be very frustrating (and scary!) when visitors abuse their commenting privileges.

    It sounds like you have taken the right steps so far. Have you activated Akismet? It is a pre-installed plugin, but you do need to “activate” it by signing up for the service. Once this is done, Akismet will actually help you block comments like this because once you mark a comment as spam, Akismet will learn to catch similar comments in the future.

    In regards to not having any recent comments, have you tried commenting on your blog as a test?

  • Unknown's avatar
    janebasilblog · Member ·

    Thank you for your fast, helpful response. Akismet is activated, but these comments have got through. Checking my spam box a few weeks ago I found a couple that I now suspect were connected to this issue, but one of them seemed innocuous, so I allowed it.

    I’ve been unable to Akismet, but that may be due to panic. I’ll try again.

    I posted a test comment. It came up, but I didn’t get a notification. Maybe that’s normal for comments posted to one’s own blog. I’ve also received a comment from a follower, but am still uneasy. Whoever is doing this is following my blog from various blogs, and then reverting to generic names like ‘Harry, thereby becoming unreachable.

    Thank you again. Your kind message has calmed me down a little.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    Akismet is built-in and enabled on all sites hosted by wordpress.COM and cannot be disabled. All wordpress.COM support docs are at https://en.support.wordpress.com/ where the most prominent feature on the page is the search box. See: Unwanted Comments and Comment Spam https://en.support.wordpress.com/unwanted-comments/ For Comment Moderation see here https://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    We cannot totally block or delete subscribers from public WordPress.COM hosted blogs. Anyone and everyone with internet access can view and read public blogs and that’s indeed what the public designation means.

    To change blog visibility to Private go to > Settings > Reading scroll to Blog Visibility and choose option 3. See the guide here http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings

    Also, read this about public blogs that become private blogs > Blog Privacy and Subscribers > http://wpcommaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/blog-privacy-and-subscribers/

    To change blog visibility to Private go to Dashboard > Settings > Reading scroll to Site Visibility and choose option 3
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/

    You don’t need an upgrade of any kind at all to invite multiple people to contribute to a private blog. See:
    adding users http://en.support.wordpress.com/adding-users/
    user roles http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/
    Note that you have complete control over everything that’s posted to your blog via comment moderation
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation

    For trolls, you can “blacklist” them at Settings > Discussion toward the bottom of that page. https://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-blacklist

    Enter their email address, their username, and if they included it, their website URL. 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. All the blocked person would have to do is go to a wi-fi hot spot, or connect via a different ISP and they could get around that.

    Additional information:
    Our reality is that if the ability to remove or followers existed our time would be squandered on removing unwanted followers because anyone can get a new email address and or a new IP in seconds flat and then they can subscribe again to any public blog they were removed from.

    If someone has an inappropriate rating for a Gravatar image, please log into to Gravatar and use the “Report Abuse” link on their Gravatar profile bottom right-hand corner to let Staff know.

    Also, note that on this page > Settings > Discussion if you scroll down you will find you can set a Maximum Rating for gravatar display on your blog.

    G — Suitable for all audiences
    PG — Possibly offensive, usually for audiences 13 and above
    R — Intended for adult audiences above 17
    X — Even more mature than above

    If the follower has an inappropriate blog hosted here at WordPress.com, you can also report that to us so we can deal with that: Report Mature or Spam Blogs http://en.support.wordpress.com/report-blogs/

    re: removing inactive subscribers
    Please note that deleting an email address does NOT prevent the same person from subscribing again under the same email address or under a new email address.

    Therefore, the process of removing subscriber’s email addresses is aimed for use when we have subscribers who want to unsubscribe and who have failed to click the “unsubscribe” link on the bottom of the email updates of our posts they receive. Alternatively, it is aimed for use when email subscribers are “inactive”.

    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-unsubscribe-someone-from-my-blog?replies=3#post-2486958
    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-unsubscribe-someone-from-my-blog?replies=3#post-2487279

  • Unknown's avatar
    janebasilblog · Member ·

    That’s perfect. Thank you so much for those incredibly useful links. I must have been going the wrong way about things. I’ll go directly there.

    You’d think that after two-and-a-half years on WP I’d be more proficient…

  • Unknown's avatar
    janebasilblog · Member ·

    I’d like to thank you again, timethief, for taking the time and trouble to send such detailed information. I think the problem is resolved – as much as it can be. I’ll save your massages to my notebook, so that I can refer to them later, if necessary.

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    You’re welcome and best wishes with your site. :)

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