Is it possible to block followers? if so, how?

• 

  chateaublue · Member · Dec 31, 2014 at 7:57 pm

  • Copy link
  • Add topic to favorites

  I want to block followers

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

• 

  timethief · Member · Dec 31, 2014 at 8:00 pm

  • Copy link

  We cannot block or delete subscribers from public blogs. Anyone and everyone can access public blogs and that’s indeed what the public designation means. 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/

  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. 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. In fact for over a decade only about 30% of us have IPs that trace back to any individual computer. 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.

• 

  asdrsn · Member · Dec 31, 2014 at 8:04 pm

  • Copy link

  Hey there, I looked into your problem and found this: http://en.support.wordpress.com/followers/. It appears that wordpress does not yet support blocking followers as a far as I am aware, if you have a public site.

  However you can modify the privacy settings of your site: http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/ in order to make sure that only the followers you approve will be allowed to follow your site, which may be a comparable solution.

• 

  timethief · Member · Dec 31, 2014 at 8:12 pm

  • Copy link

  @asdrsn
  Thanks so much for confirming the response I posted above was correct. I knew it was because I have answered this question here many times over the course of 8 years now.