Fake followers

1. 68

   spectacled-bearposted 10 years ago

   Hello,
   
   I have been plagued in the past week by a bunch of fake followers, for lack of a better word. They are people who have joined 13 minutes ago, or 4 days, with no profile, no hubs, etc. They are signing up to follow me! Why? I just want them to go away. Will they hurt me in SEO terms? Can I report them?
   
   Thanks, Bob
   
   P.S. I've been a member for a little while, but haven't contributed much. Recently I wrote a short story, and I have another on that I plan to publish this week. I plan to contribute regularly in the future.

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   1. 66

      micko27posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      One of the reason is maybe that Hubpages tell people to engage on forum, comments and questions in order to get better hubberscore. And you have a score of 97 so it means you are a guru here!
      
      But who knows, maybe they just like you but as I like females I can't judge that

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      1. 68

         spectacled-bearposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I'm hardly a guru, micko27.
         
         I'm more like a grasshopper.
         
         Don't get me wrong. I have some very cool and talented people following me---I know that, because I read their hubs too. Will Starr is one. Check him out, if you haven't already.
         
         There are other hubbers though, who follow me without a history, and send me fan mail right off the bat that is a link to advertising, etc. I guess the short answer is to deny the fan mail, which I do, but in the long run, I don't want it to look like I am creating a fan base artificially. I am NOT, and I know that google frowns (to put it mildly) on that sort of thing.
         
         Thanks for your reply!

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         1. 45

            Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            That's considered spam.  Go to the Profile page of the person/persons and report what they are doing from the report button on the top at the far right. (I wouldn't worry about Google judging your fan base.  But, if you report them for spam, they'll be banned from HP and they won't be following you anymore.)

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            1. 68

               spectacled-bearposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks, Writer Fox. I'll go through my followers and see if I can remember which ones were posting spam.

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2. 83

   peachpurpleposted 10 years ago

   I don't think so it will affect on your hub traffic ot anything, i saw them eith no hubs too just don't follow them

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   1. 68

      spectacled-bearposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, peachpurple. I won't.

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3. 61

   lafleurdeplumeposted 10 years ago

   That's happened to me lately too (new followers with no hubs)... that and my score plummeted yesterday, but I'm not sure what any of those numbers are based on anyway.  I just want to write and I'm enjoying this outlet as an alternative to my personal blog...

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   1. 68

      spectacled-bearposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Lafleure.
      
      I'm in this just to write as well. I HAD a blog, took it down, now I want to start again. Best.

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