I was going through my subscribers’ list which has suddenly spiked up. This has happened after one of my posts got Freshly Pressed. It is quite some time now but the post is still receiving likes and comments. That is heartening. But I notice that a number of my recent subscribers (and likers and commenters on this particular post) do not have a Gravatar ID or a WordPress Account. In short, they are not Word Press or Blogspot Bloggers. They have subscribed by their e-mail IDs which also seem fake. Who are these subscribers?
What worries me is that once they subscribe they also get access to my email address. Also, I find many like these who comment on my other posts. Usually, WP filters these comments yet on certain occasions these comments appear on the post. I always check the identity of the commenter before replying mainly for the purpose of responding back to them by reading their blogs, liking/commenting on their posts and subscribing to their blogs, if I feel like.
I feel uncomfortable allowing those who do not have verifiable accounts on my posts. I usually trash their comments even if they are very appreciative. In fact, usually these comments are extremely appreciative perhaps to lure the blogger to accept them. Who are these commenters? Are they chat bots? Are they hackers?
I would like to know what the seasoned bloggers do if they get such subscribers/commenters. Is there any way of removing these subscribers from the list? Does WP have any mechanism of editing a blogger’s subscriber list by removing such spams?
There are many subscribers who do not have a WP account like my own sister or others who access my blog through Blog Directories I subscribe which is perfectly okay. I can identify them by their actual names/sites. But subscribers with fake IDs and names are not welcome at all.
I would request my dear bloggers and friends to advise on this :
What do you do in such cases when spams get to like/comment/subscribe to your blog?
How do you get rid of them?
I am comfortable with having a lesser number of subscribers than having these unidentifiable ones.
Also , I understand Freshly Pressed means wider viewership and a large number of readers but not at the cost of safety of a blog space. I wish WP Administrators look into this and take suitable action.
I delete regularly commenters who seem fake, especially those who introduce themselves without a request from me.😁
I have email subscribers, too, and sometimes, I check their emails if it looks true, but it’s still not enough to trust that it’s from real people.
I hope WP has detectors to eliminate bots immediately before they mess up in our blogs, though there will be consequences for this to real people if AI just detect it not a person coz it fails sometimes
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Absolutely. I think WP should have a mechanism to edit subscribers’ list
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WP also removes fake accounts from time to time
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that is so unfortunate! I think you can remove them, but it is not easy, in WP settings, somewhere? Not sure what to go into to do it though!
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I guess I will have to do a little bit of R&D. Thanks Carol Anne.
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Good Morning, Geeta Di
How will we know anyone has a fake id.
I don’t approve comments which are actually long religious sermons or which talk business and
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* give links in the comments.
On lighter side,my experience says,bots love great writers as Geeta Di
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The ID is like sneaker-colt.34@iccloud.
Whenever someone new comments in my blog I tap to find whether the reader has a blog of his/her own. This is how I have come across many good bloggers.
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Dear friend, this happens to all the bloggers who are blogging for some time. You can go to the list of subscribers and unsubscribe them from there.
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Thanks Sadje. But I think we can unsubscribe the ones we have subscribed. Can we unsubscribe the others who have subscribed our blog ?
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Yes you can.
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Thanks a ton. I will see.
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My email address is; keepitalive50@gmail.com
Send me an email. I’ll send you the photos of how to do it.
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👍👍👍👍
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I finally got it..how to delete unwanted subscribers. But very nice of you to share your email. I will mail you sometime other than this issue if it is okay with you.
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Thank you.
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Geeta Di,I went to subscribers list in jetpack,clicked on a subscriber and saw an option for deleting the subscriber.
May be it works.
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Will try. Thanks a ton Nusrat
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You can set it so the first comment has to be approved.
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Ok. That’s a good idea too.
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Thank you very much for this warning, Geeta. I wouldn’t know what to do, except delete them
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That is exactly what you have to do Derrrick.
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Thanks again
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You are most welcome Derrick.
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Thank you for making us aware of this. We all need to keep sharing these things so we’re better informed.
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Yes. Very much so Liz
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It looks like you’ve gotten quite a bit of good advice already, so I’ll just add that I experience the same thing with my blog…many “fake” subscribers and the occasional “fake” commenters. I think in many cases they are bots that are trying to engage you to get more information about you, so it’s best to delete and move on.
There are plug ins that can help you manage comments, and I think you can even add a captcha to the comment box, if you want to go that route.
I think you have the right mindset. Always err on the side of caution. 🙂
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Thank you. I am really grateful for all the advice received. I will do it accordingly.
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I completely understand your concern. This has become such a frustrating part of blogging. I usually don’t reply to comments that feel suspicious or come from unidentifiable accounts I simply trash them. I would much rather have a small circle of genuine readers than a bigger number filled with questionable profiles. It’s definitely something WordPress needs to address more seriously.
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I am absolutely with you Rajeshwari. The same feelings here.
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I think they are spam bots, Geeta!
I also hope the WordPress admins look into this and take appropriate action.
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I agree with you Luisa. WP needs to get a little more proactive.
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👍👍👍
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There are so many scams that it’s difficult to know what we can trust.
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Very true Mary
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