What the what has been going on with subscription numbers in stats?
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By the way, since the subscriber stat “split” we no longer have the ability to remove a subscriber if they are hosted/reading on WordPress.com. Unfortunately, now looking at my WordPress.com subscriber stats, it appears that I may have a few splog-type subscribers. What can I do about those?
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Something springs to mind in all this… the way in which non-Wordpress visitors subscribe needs to be made easier! We all saw a jump in our listings yesterday – because unconfirmed subscribers were included. I know for a fact that an awful lot of my ‘followers/would-be subscribers’ are very new to the Internet itself (let alone in subscribing to blogs), and they obviously made an effort to subscribe yet they didn’t manage to follow it all the way through. THAT should tell you something… subscribing to a wordpress blog is NOT as easy and as streamlined as it should be. You really need to take notice of this! Today I was going to set myself the task of comparing the CSV to the list of e-mail subscribers showing in my stats – there was a difference of 39 yesterday – with the intention of politely mailing the failed subscribers. Today, there’s no difference in the list and the addresses are no longer available to me. So, I am disappointed to think t that a number of interested parties have now slipped through the net!
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@justjennifer: No, you’ve never been able to see pending email subscribers. That was a mistake.
Before you only had confirmed email subscribers. Now you have WordPress.com users who have subscribed, as well as email subscribers who have confirmed their subscription.
All in all you get to see more information about users who have subscribed to your blog.
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So, I take this to mean that if a person is a WordPress.com Subscriber, who has either confirmed their email subscription or is reading via the Subscription Reader, they’ll show up in the WordPress.com Subscribers tab? (The reason I’m asking is that the majority of my old email subscribers now show up in the WordPress.com Subscribers tab.)
Regardless still no way to give a WordPress.com Subscriber the boot if the look to be a splog subscriber?
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I agree, subscribing needs to be easier. Why can’t “yes” mean yes? Why is it necessary for people to confirm their subscription? After all, they are just subscribing to a blog. This shouldn’t be rocket science. People do not want multiple steps to have to go through. If people are still going to have to confirm subscriptions, then I agree a couple of days after they subscribe they should receive a reminder email. This should be an automated step.
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Regardless still no way to give a WordPress.com Subscriber the boot if the look to be a splog subscriber?
Can you give us an example of what one of these might be?
There is really not much of a point to giving control to remove subscribers from the list, as they can simply resubscribe again. If you have someone who is subscribing to your site and you think they are a splogger, please report them.
THAT should tell you something… subscribing to a wordpress blog is NOT as easy and as streamlined as it should be.
In order for the subscription process to be “double opt-in” for non-WordPress.com users, we have a verification link in the subscription confirmation email. The process is as easy as it can be.
At least we’re not making people fill out a captcha. :)
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Basic overview of how the subscription process works:
I’m a WordPress.com user
- I go to your site.
- I like it and click the subscribe button in the admin bar (reader access only) or in your sidebar (automatic bump to email sub).
- Since only I can be logged in as me, and because my email address is already verified by WordPress.com, I go into the WordPress.com subscribers pile immediately, regardless of subscription type.
- I either check my reader or I check my email for your next exciting update.
I’m reading and don’t have a WordPress.com account
- I read your site.
- I like what I see and enter my email address into the subscription form, then click subscribe.
- My email address is recorded behind-the-scenes as “pending” because there’s no proof that it was me that clicked the button, or that my email address is valid.
- I get the confirmation email and click on the verification link in there.
- I’m moved out of “pending” and appear in your active email subscribers.
- My email inbox is a more cheerful place each day as I read your latest posts.
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@markel: Sorry, unconvinced, I still think it should be easier to subscribe. Can I ask what a hopeful subscriber actually sees when they have entered their e-mail address in the box provided on my site, i.e. after they have clicked the ‘Sign Me Up’ button? Are they clearly told to expect a confirmation e-mail? If so, maybe it is too wordy or hidden amongst a pile of other stuff that they are simply not reading? With so many would-be subscribers missing out as opposed to opting out, there really should be something you can do to remedy this? I teach basic e-mail to senior citizens mostly (in the local community), and I’ve seen first-hand the amount of trash they can amass in their mailboxes – if they’re not told clearly enough to look out for a confirmation e-mail, it’s little wonder a confirmation e-mail can get buried or be inadvertantly trashed.
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This still does not answer if the subscriptions are included in my stats. If they aren’t, I’m removing the subscriber block from my blog and have my readers type in my site directly so it can count in my stats.
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Seriously, a lot of people think they have actually subscribed to my blog because they entered their email address!! Turns out that they have not confirmed it because they may have overlooked the email and accidentally deleted it….subscribing should be easier! :-)
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There is really not much of a point to giving control to remove subscribers from the list, as they can simply resubscribe again.
@markel, Ryan, just pointing out that what you say is also valid for confirmed email subscribers as well, but on that list blog owners have the option to remove the subscriber.
The only sploggy/spammy thing about this particular subscriber is their URL; they’ve never commented on my site, that I remember, nor blogged on their site, so it’s not cut and dried whether they are truly a splogger or not. I’d just like the ability to remove them from the subscriber list.
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@markel (again). Wanting to experience the process of subscribing to my Blog, I typed another e-mail address I own into the ‘Subscribe to the Blog’ widget. As I pressed ‘Submit’ the page seemed to jump a little/refresh/move? whatever, but it was enough to return the page to the very top, thus leaving the widget out of sight. I scrolled down a little to bring the widget back into view and yes, it was now displaying a message requesting me to check my mail. This tells me that my ‘Subscribe’ widget needs to be higher up the pecking order of widgets so that when the page refreshes, the widget remains in view? It also tells me how easy it is for a person to think they’ve subscribed, because as things stand, some people will have experienced the same ‘jump/refresh’ as me, and therefore not even noticed the ‘Check your e-mail’ message showing in the widget area. As for the confirmation e-mail I received, even THAT could put some people off! It seems more like a warning than an invitation to confirm, with its tone being so cautionary re the phrase that they’re ‘exposing’ their address to someone who they don’t know? I’m surprised I managed to get 2 subscribers, let alone the 200+ who’ve actually made it through! LOL. I’ll go and shift my widget up a bit now…
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his still does not answer if the subscriptions are included in my stats. If they aren’t, I’m removing the subscriber block from my blog and have my readers type in my site directly so it can count in my stats.
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Why can’t you have two list, one for those that have subscribed completely and those that are pending. In this way we (the blog owner) will know that we have individuals that wish to subscribe and have not completed their subscription, we can then remind them that they need to respond to the email.
Would help a lot to clear up the confusion.
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@aroosha7: Hi. Please do a search in the forums, as your question is one of the most common on these forums and has already been responded. If you still haven’t found the answers you were looking for, it’s best to create a new thread, as your question is unrelated to the current topic of subscriber numbers going up and down.
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I’m with justjennifer, I have one subscriber through WordPress who I want OFF my blog. I don’t care if they resubscribe every day, I’ll re-unsubscribe ’em every day.
I went to the person’s Gravatar profile and there is no blog attached, no information that I can access. There is a young male’s photo. My blog is about middle aged lesbians. This guy is not my target market. I want him the heck OFF my blog. Seriously.
How. do. I. get. him. off. NOW.
Thank you.
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I agree with zythophile above who mentions how unfriendly the new date, or non-date system is. Presumably WP bloggers are able to read and understand dates, so please return the dates to us, instead of the more confusing and somewhat nebulous “three weeks ago” and “about one year ago.”
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Regarding the subscriber change-over, I agree with all the concerns here. I write a new blog, I went from 20 subscribers to 29, then back to 20. I went from WOW to Huge Disappointment. I scrutinized (but DAMN didn’t copy these extras that night) those 9 extras. I know a few of them and I think some just don’t know how to use the system and didn’t follow through (I write for an older niche market). Under the circumstances and make it up to us, how nice it would be for WP to contact all those almost subscribers and say “Due to technically difficulty, we wanted to ask you once again if you’d like to subscribe to XYZ blog.” Just dreaming. By the way, did WP warn us or promote that the subscriber lists were going to be broken down to WP subscribers?
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