Spam followers
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Hi there,
How do I remove a follower who is clearly just spamming my blog?
If there is no mechanism to remove a spam follower via the WordPress blog tool set, do you at least have a Web page that I can use to file a request for a spam follower to be removed?
My blog is about Linux, a boring subject that will not be of interest to hot, young Columbian beauties, yet today Columbian Cuties (http://colombiancuties.wordpress.com) has become a WordPress.com Follower of my blog. Columbian Cuties is patently a spam blog.
Gorgeous though I am sure they are, I have no interest in those young Columbian ‘cuties’ as I am already sorted! Will you therefore please ‘un-follow’ that spam blogger from my blog? Thanks in advance.
P.S. Why is it that filtering of spam comments is so good and there is also a mechanism for reporting spam referrers, yet there is apparently no filtering mechanism for spam followers?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi there,
This is the WordPress.COM support forum. You need to post to the WordPress.ORG support forum for help with your site because it is not hosted by WordPress.COM.WordPress.com and WordPress.org are completely separate and have different logins and also run some different version of themes with the same names http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
If you don’t have a username account at WordPress.ORG click http://wordpress.org/support/ and register one on the top right hand corner of the page that opens, so you can post to the support forums there and receive advice from WordPress.ORG bloggers.
Report spam issue to Akismet Staff http://akismet.com/contact/
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Hi timethief,
Thanks for your reply. Now I’m confused. So even though my blog URL ends in “wordpress.com” it is not hosted by wordpress.com?
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@fitzcarraldoblog
I am so sorry. I do apologize for being out to lunch in my first comment. Your blog is hosted by WordPress.COM.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/
Note that you have complete control comment moderation. http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation If your blog is public others can, of course, read it and they can submit comments but you can Moderate all comments and choose which ones to approve or not.
I suggest you set your blog so that first time commenters are held in moderation until their first comment is approved, then from that point forward they will not need approval. Settings > Discussion. The next step up is to set it so that all comments are held in moderation until approved. http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/
Mark only spam as spam http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2013/01/24/mark-only-spam-as-spam/ and delete all troll comments. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/how-to-starve-a-troll/
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. 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.
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Hello timethief,
My original post was not about a problem with spam Comments and spam Referrers; I already know how to deal with those. Since I started my WordPress.com blog in 2010 I have been moderating Comments before they appear publicly, and marking spam comments as such. I also know how to use the new Referrer spam facility WordPress.com introduced recently, and have already used that.
My original post was regarding spam Followers. Do any of the methods you described in your post apply to spam Followers? If not, what methods does WordPress.com provide to deal with spam Followers? Also, as Columbian Cuties is not the sort of spam Follower I wish to have associated with my technical blog in any way, shape or form, I would appreciate it if you would arrange for someone in WordPress to remove them as a Follower of my blog. Thank you in advance.
P.S. I see from @woodyoak’s earlier post in this thread that Columbian Cuties has also spammed his blog. I’m sure he would be grateful if you removed that spam Follower from his blog at the same time.
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I’m so sorry that I fumbled this on the first go-around.
Please read what Staff (jackiedana) says in this thread https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/i-know-wordpress-doesnt-care-about-its-users-but?replies=10 -
I see that WordPress.com does not provide bloggers with any means of de-listing spam Followers.
@jackiedana wrote: “However, there really isn’t a good way to test to see if a like or follow is legitimate without requiring way more data than any of our readers would feel comfortable sharing. In other words, in order to use WordPress.com, do you want us to track every site you’ve visited, and how many other sites you’ve liked or followed, so we can see if there’s a pattern? We certainly don’t want to have that kind of data on our users.”
That is a straw man. It would not be necessary for WordPress.com to test or track Followers, it would be sufficient to provide each blogger with the ability to de-list a Follower from their blog’s list of Followers. Having previously been a professional programmer for over a decade, I am sure that would not be particularly difficult for WordPress.com to implement.
As WordPress.com does not provide a function to de-list a Follower (in order to stop a spam Follower receiving notifications of new blog posts), what is WordPress.com’s policy regarding spam Followers who are pornographers, paedophiles, racist or sexist? I would hope WordPress.com would agree to a blogger’s request to remove such a Follower from the blogger’s list of Followers. If not, that would be a dereliction of responsibility on WordPress,com’s part. And, if WordPress.com would indeed remove such spam Followers, then why not allow the removal of other spam Followers too?
WordPress.com allows bloggers to delete spam Comments. WordPress.com allows bloggers to flag, and hence remove, spam Referrers from the Referrer list. However, WordPress.com does not allow bloggers to de-list spam Followers. That is an illogical inconsistency. I can only assume that, for its own commercial reasons, WordPress.com does not want to provide such a function to bloggers.
If Columbian Cuties were to submit a spam Comment on one of my blog posts, I could delete it. If Columbian Cuties were to refer (link) to one of my blog posts, I could flag that and it would be removed from the list of Referrers in my Site Stats. If Columbian Cuties become a Follower (which they have), I cannot de-list them. It’s not consistent. Spam is spam, whatever the method of delivery.
WordPress.com could do better. How disappointing.
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Hi Fitzcarraldoblog,
Being able to block users is an interesting idea. Have you submitted it to the ideas forum? Twitter have a feature like this which allows you to block other users and they will not be able to see your feed in their own Twitter stream. It does not however prevent them from reading your public profile.
I don’t think you need to worry about pornographers and paedophiles following your blog as such a blog would violate the WordPress terms of service which state:
the Content is not pornographic, does not contain threats or incite violence, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;
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Hello quakerattled,
Thank you for your comments.
Pornographic or paedophile spam Followers — who, bear in mind, would not necessarily be WordPress.com bloggers (or bloggers, full stop) — were just an example to emphasise my point. Focusing on them would be a distraction from that point, which is that WordPress.com does not provide any means for bloggers to de-list spam Followers (be they commercial, salacious, obnoxious or illegal).
What credible justification can WordPress.com give for not enabling a WordPress.com blogger to de-list a Follower whose sole intent is to spam another person’s blog? There is none. The WordPress.com representatives’ argument that it is not practical or technically viable is fallacious.
It is patently clear that Columbian Cuties has no interest in a technical blog about Linux. Becoming a Follower of my blog was purely a spamming technique to try and get me to visit their site. The technique works. The point is that WordPress.com does nothing to help bloggers deal with spam Followers and, wittingly or unwittingly, facilitates such spamming.
Thank you also for pointing out the WordPress.com Ideas Forum, but I will not bother to post a suggestion there; I have now read enough in the WordPress.com forums to know that WordPress.com does not wish to enable bloggers to de-list spam Followers. I would be expending my time and effort fruitlessly. Sadly, specious arguments and intransigence by WordPress.com representatives in other threads would appear to corroborate that view.
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