Spammy Followers

1. 86

   Jodahposted 3 weeks ago

   Getting spammy followers (businesses etc with no hubs or other engagement) is annoying. However, I have to admire the creativity in the name of my latest follower. Morgan Treeman Arborist.

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      bravewarriorposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

      My latest spammy follower is a lawyer. I report all of the spammy followers to HP.

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         Jodahposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

         Me too.

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   2. 88

      Genna Eastposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

      Hi John.  Morgan is following me as well.  And the number of these commercial spammers seems to be increasing. 
      
      But there is another problem.  In the past few days, I've gotten two followers who are only following me.  There is no reference to anything commercial in their "About" section.  They pretend to be literary "writers" but have yet to publish one word of content.  These aren't legitimate authors.  They are trackers.

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         Jodahposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

         I hope they aren't following just to steal content or something, Genna.

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            Genna Eastposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

            I agree, John.  They can also track our thread comments.  One sent me some "fan mail," stating that I write interesting stories.  But she failed to state my last name correctly.  I wanted to warn others about these hub vultures that need to be reported as well. 
            
            If they are still here in the near future, I plan to create a thread with screen shots of exactly who they are, who they pretend to be, etc.

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               Jodahposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

               That could be a good plan. If TAG even cares.

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                  bravewarriorposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

                  TAG doesn't care about us, so why would they care about the infiltration of spammy followers?

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                  Genna Eastposted 2 weeks agoin reply to this

                  I would agree, John, except these aren't commercial advertising spammers who normally follow between 3-6 members when they join HP.

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2. 73

   Rupert Taylorposted 3 weeks ago

   I can't figure out what they hope to gain by being a follower.

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      Jodahposted 3 weeks agoin reply to this

      No, it baffles me.

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3. 92

   Venkatachari Mposted 2 weeks ago

   They hope that we may like to promote their business. I, too, had them, but do not know the present condition.

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4. 86

   Jodahposted 2 weeks ago

   My thoughts too, Shauna.

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5. 88

   Genna Eastposted 4 days ago

   Okay, this is so weird.  I just tried to open the full comments on this thread, and Gregory's comment about someone's profile that looks as though it was written by AI and this "remarkable platform" does not appear.  Nor does Bev's or Kenna's.

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      theraggededgeposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      I see them.

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         Genna Eastposted 3 days agoin reply to this

         Thanks, Bev, for letting me know.  Yet if I click on the link from the emails sent for those three comments on this discussion thread I am following, they don't appear at all.  So strange...it appears that for some reason, HP does not want me to see them.

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6. 68

   PaulGoodman67posted 4 days ago

   The forums now seem to be just spammers and people reporting spammers.
   
   I'm not sure what else can be said. I felt the forums lost their shine some years ago when HP management stopped communicating with hubbers. After that happened, they quickly became less and less useful.
   
   Once they got rid of Samantha Cubbison's job and then the editing team, that really was the end for me.
   
   For sure, I understand that some like the social side, but as a tool for helping online writers, that's gone.

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7. 82

   theraggededgeposted 4 days ago

   Anyone else experiencing ultra-slow speeds here? I think they have the forum server running on an old Pentium 486 or something

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      tsmogposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      Yup, I have spent over 2 minutes to respond to you. Somewhat frequent time outs too. I do my right click to see a post then go off to do something else while watching the icon count the time.

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      bravewarriorposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      Yes, it takes quite a while for the page to load.

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      Kenna McHughposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      HP is on its last breath.

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         bravewarriorposted 4 days agoin reply to this

         With a DNR in place!

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      Gregory DeVictorposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      For the past several days, the HubPages website has operated on two speeds: very slow and stop.

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         Kenna McHughposted 4 days agoin reply to this

         It seems more like a slow stop.

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            Gregory DeVictorposted 4 days agoin reply to this

            I can login faster with my Chromebook than with my phone. But it is still a very slow process.

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8. 82

   theraggededgeposted 4 days ago

   It looks like we're done here
   
   And not a word from staff.

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      bravewarriorposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      I've had enough of this. If the slow load happens one more time, I'm going to click out of the tab and quit trying.

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   Jodahposted 4 days ago

   I think this may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

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      bravewarriorposted 4 days agoin reply to this

      Yep. We can't even reply in a timely manner.

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10. 83

    Dean Traylorposted 2 days ago

    Speaking of spammers, did anyone see that one of them was from Before It’s News? It even had a PR article with it. If you’re not familiar with this site, it is touted as a place for “citizen journalism” but it’s often filled with the most  batsh*t crazy conspiracy theories out there. This is the what HubPages wanted to prevent themselves from becoming. In a sense, they’re competitors (even if Before It’s News is considered a “news” platform). It looks like it has been removed, but it’s just another sign that HubPages is in deep trouble when Before It’s News can feel comfortable enough to do what they did.

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