I just had a follower e-mail me directly ?!?

  • readytochangenow · Member ·

    It was a very nice e-mail, but I was quite shocked. They did not post a comment rather e-mailed me directly and used my name. I went and looked at my blog on a machine I was not signed into to see how this happened.

    I cannot determine how they got my e-mail address and name.

    Am I making a noobie mistake? Someone please help.

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

  • timethief · Member ·

    WordPress.com preserves our privacy. They don’t give out our email addresses. If you have either posted an email address on your site instead of using a contact form, or if you have left a comment on another blog that required an email address then your email address will be known. I prefer to have separate email accounts for my blogs and don’t use my personal email address in connection with my blogs.

  • readytochangenow · Member ·

    Thank you for your quick reply. I have not done either – I always use the reply field and have not included my e-mail address in any post.

    I will be creating a separate e-mail account moving forward – but I am more than a little freaked out.

  • readytochangenow · Member ·

    The poster just answered my e-mail asking how she found my address:

    “am pretty sure that when your comment popped up, it showed your address along with your blogsite”

  • justjennifer · Member ·

    If you replied to a comment they left on your site, and they’ve signed up to receive follow up comments by email, the email address you signed up with to WordPress.com may be there.

    http://en.support.wordpress.com/following-comments/

  • limberation · Member ·

    Or if you commented on their site, they would be able to see your email. When you comment, your email is not published to anyone else, but the owner of that site can see your email address along with your blog URL in the comments, the same as you can see theirs on your site.

    Many of us have an email address set up specifically for our web site, where we have a mapped domain.

  • readytochangenow · Member ·

    I got this back from the person who e-mailed me (Note that for security I have added x’s to the address and 9’s to the IP address):

    “This is what shows up in the Comment:
    readytochangenow
    breakingtherubberband.wordpress.com x
    (email visible only to moderators and staff)
    99.99.999.99

    Thanks for alerting me to this anomaly as I will have to figure out how to protect both Nick and me from the same … Note that it even shows your ISP address! I don’t believe this is shown publicly, but can’t be sure.

    There must be a way of masking the email and ISP, unless you must be public to post a comment. Maybe you could ask the WordPress techies.”

    We are both WordPress members and I did not check follow the conversation by e-mail. Even if I get a random e-mail it lists my IP Address??!!??

    teamoyeniyi you are right – when I look to manage my comments I can see everyone’s e-mail and IP address. I will likely stop commenting on people’s blogs unless there is a way I can hide both of these.

  • readytochangenow · Member ·

    OK – I have added a new e-mail. I wish I had been warned when I signed up – the only note I saw was that the e-mail was for admin purposes only – I had not realized that averytime I commented that the person could see my e-mail and IP Address.

    Timetheif – and all, thank you for your help and while WordPress doesn’t give out our email addresses – it looks like we do everytime we comment.

  • thesacredpath · Member ·

    Whenever you leave a comment on a site, you typically have to leave your email address or you cannot comment. The IP address is of no consequence since there are literally tens to thousands of people on a single IP address now. They are no longer unique. ISPs assign blocks of users to the same IP address. That means having the IP address will do no more than give them a general location of where you are, but not always even that. My IP address always says I’m in Portland, Oregon, but I’m 3000 miles from there. Where I used to live, the closest the IP ever got to where I actually was was 190 miles.

    Getting an email address to use just with the blog is a good idea, but do not worry about IP addresses and such. They seriously are of no consequence anymore really.

  • readytochangenow · Member ·

    Thank you thesacredpath I feel a little less freaked out.

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