URGENT: Sock puppets and cyberbullying

  • brothawolf · Member ·

    Hello everyone,

    I need some advice or tips dealing with another blogger. This blogger’s been leaving comments that include name calling and demeaning replies towards me and my visitors. So, I ‘kicked’ him out. And made sure his comments are thrown into the spam folder.

    However, numerous people returned with the same kind of responses. I found out they all share the same IP address as the blogger.

    I told him to leave me alone, but I still dealt with people, whom I assume is this blogger using sock puppets, leaving comments more or less similar to how he responds. But he’s wised up a little and used a different IP address. But I’m sure it’s him.

    I can’t say if he’s also stalking me, but he writes about me a few times trying to make me out to be a fool.

    I need help with this. How do I fix it so he would never bother me or my visitors again no matter what computer or device he uses?

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

  • reallycoldmilk · Member ·

    Hi. The easiest thing would be to put his/her IP Address into your comment blacklist.

    Just go here:
    https://brothawolf.wordpress.com/wp-admin/options-discussion.php

    and paste their IP Address into the ‘Comment Blacklist’ box.

  • timethief · Member ·

    Please be clear on what is spam and what is not spam. Do not mark unwanted comments as spam please. Send them to the comment blacklist as reallycoldmilk has advised.

    See: Unwanted Comments and Comment Spam
    https://en.support.wordpress.com/unwanted-comments/

  • timethief · Member ·

    I need help with this. How do I fix it so he would never bother me or my visitors again no matter what computer or device he uses?

    We cannot totally block or delete subscribers from public WordPress.COM hosted blogs. Anyone and everyone with internet access can view and read public blogs and that’s indeed what the public designation means.

    To change blog visibility to Private go to > Settings > Reading scroll to Blog Visibility and choose option 3. See the guide here http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings

    Also, read this about public blogs that become private blogs > Blog Privacy and Subscribers > http://wpcommaven.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/blog-privacy-and-subscribers/

    To change blog visibility to Private go to Dashboard > Settings > Reading scroll to Site Visibility and choose option 3
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/

    You don’t need an upgrade of any kind at all to invite multiple people to contribute to a private blog. See:
    adding users http://en.support.wordpress.com/adding-users/
    user roles http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/
    Note that you have complete control over everything that’s posted to your blog via comment moderation
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-moderation

    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. See comment blacklist https://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/discussion-settings/#comment-blacklist

    Also, do not put their IP address in the blacklist. IP addresses are no longer unique, and you might end up blocking legitimate visitors. All the blocked person would have to do is go to a wi-fi hot spot, or connect via a different ISP and they could get around that.

    Additional information:
    Our reality is that if the ability to remove or followers existed our time would be squandered on removing unwanted followers because anyone can get a new email address and or a new IP in seconds flat and then they can subscribe again to any public blog they were removed from.

    If someone has an inappropriate rating for a Gravatar image, please log into to Gravatar and use the “Report Abuse” link on their Gravatar profile bottom right-hand corner to let Staff know.

    Also, note that on this page > Settings > Discussion if you scroll down you will find you can set a Maximum Rating for gravatar display on your blog.

    G — Suitable for all audiences
    PG — Possibly offensive, usually for audiences 13 and above
    R — Intended for adult audiences above 17
    X — Even more mature than above

    If the follower has an inappropriate blog hosted here at WordPress.com, you can also report that to us so we can deal with that: Report Mature or Spam Blogs http://en.support.wordpress.com/report-blogs/

    re: removing inactive subscribers
    Please note that deleting an email address does NOT prevent the same person from subscribing again under the same email address or under a new email address.

    Therefore, the process of removing subscriber’s email addresses is aimed for use when we have subscribers who want to unsubscribe and who have failed to click the “unsubscribe” link on the bottom of the email updates of our posts they receive. Alternatively, it is aimed for use when email subscribers are “inactive”.

    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-unsubscribe-someone-from-my-blog?replies=3#post-2486958
    https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/how-to-unsubscribe-someone-from-my-blog?replies=3#post-2487279

  • brothawolf · Member ·

    Thank you all.

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    I can’t add much to the information our volunteers have already given you.

    You can definitely try reporting the person’s Gravatar profile as @timethief explained above, though there’s no guarantee their profile will be blocked. So the best thing is to ignore this person, and blacklist each new identity they use to comment on your site. If you just don’t engage with them at all, people like this usually soon lose interest and go find someone else to bug.

    I also recommend you change your comment moderation settings to either moderate all comments, or set it so someone must have at least their first comment moderated before they can comment. That way you can prevent this person’s comments from appearing on your site at all, even if they use a new identity.

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