Is there a way to block spammers from subscribing to my blog?

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  curioustothemax · Member · Mar 9, 2015 at 5:33 pm

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  Was told by WordPress support not to worry about spammers subscriptions. I am now getting several every day. (Have had my blog for several years and this is the first time it’s happened).

  Other than turning off notification when someone new subscribes I can’t figure out if I can block spammers or delete them once subscribed.

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

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  jeremeylduvall · Member · Mar 9, 2015 at 9:07 pm

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  I’m afraid there currently isn’t a way to block someone from subscribing to your blog other than making it private (which would disable following from anyone). Similarly, there isn’t a way to remove followers from your site.

  Spam subscribers are definitely frustrating. We’re working on a way that helps to fix this!

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  curioustothemax · Member · Mar 9, 2015 at 9:53 pm

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  Thanks Jeremy for your clarification. If we bloggers can delete comments it would make me HAPPY for you to ENGINEER a way to delete unwanted subscribers.

  How is it that in the last many years of blogging I just NOW am getting all these spammer subscribers?

  Is there a “network out there” where a blog is targeted?

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  jeremeylduvall · Member · Mar 10, 2015 at 12:35 am

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  Is there a “network out there” where a blog is targeted?

  I don’t know if there is a network of spammers that are targeting certain blogs. Spam patterns can be hard to understand/make sense of.

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  curioustothemax · Member · Mar 10, 2015 at 12:43 am

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  Now that they have subscribed what are they trying to do with my blog? Is there anything I need to look out for/be aware of with these spam-subscribers?

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  jeremeylduvall · Member · Mar 10, 2015 at 12:47 am

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  Now that they have subscribed what are they trying to do with my blog? Is there anything I need to look out for/be aware of with these spam-subscribers?

  I’m not entirely sure. The goal may have been for you to visit their profile and check out their site. That’s just a hypothesis though. There isn’t anything you need to specifically watch out for. I just would exercise a normal level of caution (don’t share passwords, don’t click on links you’re unsure of, etc).

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  curioustothemax · Member · Mar 10, 2015 at 12:55 am

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  I did visit all their profiles which were/are non-existent – no sites listed. That’s what got me suspicious to begin with and makes me uneasy about what their purpose is.

  Thanks for your help even though it is still unsettling given the numbers of these kind of subscribers I’ve had in the last several days.

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  jeremeylduvall · Member · Mar 10, 2015 at 2:16 pm

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  Understood – we do have some measures in place to hopefully help alleviate this issue, and we’ll continue to work on improving!

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  curioustothemax · Member · Mar 10, 2015 at 3:32 pm

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  Jeremy,
  Thanks for your help!