Unwanted follower

  • Unknown's avatar
    pviljoen · Member ·

    Hi. The following site, https://dailyhomeinsider.com/ – repeatedly refollows my blog after I’ve removed them, perhaps six to seven times already. They ”like” one particular post over and over, thereby merely advertising their own site. The comment feature on their site is turned off so one can not engage with them directly. I’ve removed them as a follower as their visits to the one post on my site is merely spam. Can I block them?

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

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    Hi there, thanks for letting us know so we can look into this.

    For the moment, can you go ahead and leave the follow in place to see what they do? Also, can you link us to the post they’re repeatedly liking?

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    One more question as we look into this: can you send a few more details about the repeated post liking?

    It’s possible they really do just want to follow your site, and are confused about how the keep getting removed.

    But the other issue seems stranger, so if you can send more details (the post link, how many times they’ve liked it and when, whether they’re liking it with more than one account, etc.) that’d be great.

  • Unknown's avatar
    pviljoen · Member ·

    Hi, the post they repeatedly like is: https://pviljoen.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/pre-paint/ about a stretcher I made for a canvas.
    It’s the only post they interact with, they only leave a ‘like’ perhaps once a month. It’s pure spamming. I’m sorry, I took them off again yesterday. It’s a site with multiple pages or areas of interest. The direct link to the page which repeatedly refollows is Woodworking Projects. Clicking on the link one arrives at the safetyhub.com site. They are based in Los Angeles and I am in South Africa. They ‘like’ only with the Woodworking Page but as I said, clicking on the link one arrives at the main site which has many posts to do with weaponry and other security issues, including how to open a digital safe. It’s definitely not material I want to engage with at all. Thank you for assisting. It’s annoying. I’m a creative blogger only. Best regards.

  • Unknown's avatar
    pviljoen · Member ·

    I see I quoted two different site urls for the mentioned unwanted follower.
    Following is a copy/paste of what appears in my email when they refollow.
    Woodworking Projects just started following you at http://pviljoen.wordpress.com. They will receive an email every time you publish a post. Congratulations.

    You might want to go see what they’re up to! Perhaps you will like their blog as much as they liked yours!

    View Profile

    Great posts worth seeing from Woodworking Projects:
    DIY Hidden Gun Cabinet Plans: #5 will leave you with amazed!
    From Beginner to Advanced Woodworking Project Plans
    How to Open a Digital Safe Without a Combination

    I’m now not sure where I got the safetyhub url from but the dailyhomeinsider.com site is where one arrives when clicking on the Woodworking url in the email or in WordPress. Regards.

  • Unknown's avatar
    helper-heroponriki · Member ·

    Thanks for that additional information. However there’s no way to block/blacklist a follower on WordPress.com as long as your site is publicly accessible.

    Most like/follow spammers of this type will eventually move on from your site when they don’t get the response they’re looking for (which is you following their site).

    While it’s annoying, it doesn’t pose any security risk to your site and you can either choose to ignore them or keep removing them. Keeping them on your followers list would prevent them from continuing to follow your site, so that might be a better option in the short term, then delete them at a later date.

    Hope that clarifies things.

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