Why is there no option to block someone who follows us?

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   Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years ago

   I have had new hubbers with no hubs coming in to follow as many people as they can. Some look rather suspicious and I do not really appreciate the follow from some of these people. Can we have an option to block such people from following us?

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      The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Do something such as sending an email with bad/poor advice.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Kevin. Send an email to whom? I would not want to send an email to the follower for then that person would have my email.  To send an email to HP Team might work as a notification to check out the person. But, I really would like the option to block such people who seem suspicious to me, or I have a bad feeling about.

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            The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Sorry Phyllis, I did not think of that. You thought about sending an email to the HP team. Is there any way to send a report?

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               I guess we could report such followers, but to report them with no proof other than a bad feeling is not useful really.

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                  The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I did have a new follower the other day who was here only about 7 days and already following 1400+ Hubbers. I have wondered when I get new followers who I do not follow back - in a few days when I look at my profile I realize that I have lost a follower. I do not know if it is a recent one that I did not follow back.

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            Barbara Kayposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I've had this same thing happen and I wonder at times, if these are the ones stealing our hubs. They might be following just to get notified when we write something new.

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               That is my concern, Barbara. Good point -- I am glad you brought it up. Thanks.

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               Greensleeves Hubsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               That is an interesting point. I've always taken the charitable view that people who 'follow' without having published anything themselves, have only just joined HubPages and are hoping - perhaps unethically but quite understandably - to quickly build up a circle of contacts. It may be that they just want to learn from the hubbers they follow, or that they hope for a reciprocal 'follow' to give themselves a good start on the site.
               
               Also I wonder if some members of the public who don't have any desire to write anything themselves simply wish to follow the writings of some hubbers out of genuine interest, and feel they have to join the site in order to get notifications about those hubbers?
               
               But of course the suggestion that some may be potential plagiarisers is an important one. Perhaps ideas such as Millionaire Tips' that 'follows' should be limited to 5 a day could be considered.

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                  Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I agree with you on newbies hoping to get a circle of contacts going. That is the typical way to start. The followers I have gotten the last 3 days have company names and following as many as they can -- this makes me wonder what their motive is.

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      paradigmsearchposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Be not afraid.
      
      Block them from what really? To me, it's kind of like Twitter. If the CIA  wants to follow me, I'm fine with it. Btw, if you haven't noticed, I've just recently started stalking you on that very site.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Ahhhh !  I thought someone was stalking me, so it is you, Para.  Well, I trust you. 

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            paradigmsearchposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            If I ever fly across the High Desert, I'll give you a wave.

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               That is very kind of you.   Maybe you can scare these suspicious followers away. I am, however, hoping Kristy or Matt will reply soon.

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                  paradigmsearchposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  If it helps any, most of them probably really are just newbies who followed you in the hopes of getting a follow back. Even Google classifies this place as a social site.

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      kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think I am following you, Phyllis, and I DO have hubs. And I enjoy your writing. Funny you should post this, some of my Following notifications that I haven't answered yet, contain two of these you are talking about. One is a corporation. Nuts, I say.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, Kenneth, I know you have hubs. I am referring to the corporation I think you mention and a few others over the last two days.

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            kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Phyllis,
            But in the past few months, I have counted over SIX various "people" and organizations who FOLLOWED me and made me all excited, but turns out, when I went on their Fan Mail to send them a Thank you email, it would say THIS USER BANNED FROM HUBPAGES.
            So I leave you with this advice: Buyer beware.

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you, Kenneth.

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                  kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  You are VERY Welcome.

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            Barbara Kayposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I got one of those from a corporation too. I'm sure it is the same one.

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               It most likely is the same one, Barbara.

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      kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      One more thing, Phyllis: I did not mean to upset you in any way. I just sensed by your tone, that I was at fault. I do apologize.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         No, Kevin, you are in no way at fault here. Be assured I appreciate you and your follow.

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            kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I am following you also, Phyllis. When I read Kevin, I thought you were talking to me. Nonetheless, I do apologize for adding to your tension. I ask your forgiveness.

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Kenneth, you have done nothing wrong. There is nothing to forgive. You are a kind and did not add any tension. I am not upset with anyone here. I am only concerned about some suspicious new people who come in and start following as many people as they can before they even make any contributions to HubPages or read our hubs. You are a dedicated hubber, Kenneth, and very kind.

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            Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I am so sorry, I meant to say Kenneth you are in no way at fault here. Be assured I appreciate you.

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               kenneth averyposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Phyllis,
               Thank you for your very-understanding soul. The same can be said of you too. You are a very-consistent hubber and YOU are very appreciated.
               I just do my best first, to not offend anyone for any reason. The hubbing comes in second. I have, what I have said openly, THE BEST FOLLOWERS anywhere on HubPages.
               And I will keep you posted, with your permission, on any NON-HUBBING entities who want to follow me.
               Peace and everything good to you, Phyllis.
               

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      bethperryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Phyllis, I have wondered about this often. And I for one am all for a block option for suspicious members. When viewing their history it is all too often seen that they do doing nothing but follow buttloads of members en mass. Not a good sign. HP's staff would serve contributing members well if they provided us the option.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I so agree with you, Beth -- HP could contribute greatly to our sense of well-being by giving us that option. Thank you so much for your thoughts on this subject.

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      Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I have had a couple of similar followers with no hubs also Phyllis. I went to one person's profile and it said they were following 220 people but had no hus or profile description, another was a Doctor but had no hubs yet. Food for thought. I agree we should have to maybe aprove follwers like fan mail, or have a block button.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         It would be so simple to just block the ones we want to. Thanks, Jodah.  I have had no problems till just the last few days when three suspicious new members showed up following me.

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            relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            If you realize that your followers have no effect on you or your Hubs, and thus nothing is actually happening, what's the actual problem you are trying to get resolved here?

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               Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               relache -- it is just that I would like the option of blocking some brand new members that seem suspicious to me -- it is as simple as that.  I have a wish, I made a request, I wait for the right HP team member to respond.  It cannot get any more clear than that.

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      Stevennix2001posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I wouldn't worry about it.  If they comment on any of your hubs, then simply delete them.  There's no rule on hubpages saying you have to keep every comment that someone gives you on your work.  If they e-mail you, then don't answer.  Just report it to hubpages if it seems a bit suspicious.  Take in mind if they do e-mail you through your hubpages profile, then the hubpages staff will have a record of everything they say.  So if the person threatens you for instance, then you can rest safely knowing that hubpages will cooperate legally with the authorities, as they'll have that e-mail on the record.

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That person's actions have no effect on you or your account.  As long as you don't follow them back.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I realize that. Thanks.

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      Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      We have measures in place that detect behavior like following a bunch of people at once.

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         Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         What does that mean?  Someone was able to do that just this week!

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            Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            If you are concerned that the behavior of a user violates the terms of service, you can report their profile.  Every one of these reports is reviewed.

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               The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               What do we report if they have no profile Matt?

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                  LongTimeMotherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  If I go to their profile page and they don't have a profile, I look at their recent activity. If I see they've followed over 1,000 people within a couple of days of joining I click on the 'report' area at the top of their profile page to draw it to the attention of the team. Don't know if they thank me or curse me from their desks within hp. lol. Maybe Matt will tell us.
                  
                  How could anyone genuinely have an interest in following hundreds or thousands of hubbers???

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                     The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Okay.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you, Matt. I did not know that -- now I can relax a little.

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   LeslieAdrienneposted 9 years ago

   Did you me "boat-loads"????

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I think she really meant "buttloads", LOL.

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   LongTimeMotherposted 9 years ago

   I tried to address this very issue a while back, Phyllis.
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/123025
   
   The new hubbers you refer to who were banned are likely to be hubbers flagged for having used stolen content to construct their first hubs. (I for one tend to look at the hubs of folk who follow me.)
   
   It makes me wonder though. When they were banned, did they stop receiving emails notifying them of our new hubs? Or are the proven thieves (thus banned) still being given the opportunity to see and steal the work of hubbers they follow .... Hmmm.

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I believe once they are banned they do not receive any notifications from HubPages.

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         Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         That is correct.

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            Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Awesome!  Thank you.

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   Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years ago

   Yesterday, I had a new follower. When I looked at the profile, this profile was very new, and the activity showed follow after follow.  I checked back later - they had followed more than 3,000 hubbers, but hadn't written a single article, didn't have a bio or a pic. I did report them, but I'm not sure what good that would do. Even if they banned the person, they could start more profiles, or more discreetly copy our hubs.

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      relacheposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Paul Edmondson commented to me earlier this summer that HubPages bans about 5,000 new user sign-ups per day on the grounds of being spam accounts.
      
      What you are describing could surely be automated.  If the person follows X other writers without publishing anything, the account gets closed by the system.  That would be simple.

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         Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I agree - this should certainly be automated. Maybe to avoid losing overzealous new hubbers, there should simply be a limit of how many Hubbers you can follow a day - maybe 5 or so.

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   calculus-geometryposted 9 years ago

   LongTimeMother posted the same request 5 weeks ago and there was no staff response to her post. http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/123025
   
   I wouldn't hold my breath.

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I missed that thread from LTM. Wish I had seen it when I researched for a similar request. Thanks, calculus.  I did go read it when LTM posted the link above. I am just going to let this thread sit and see what happens.

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   relacheposted 9 years ago

   HubPages only once made a change to the follow feature, back when it was just a few months old, when it was called "fanning."
   
   The only change made was the wording because people didn't like how some topics would appear, for example "Fred is a fan of cancer."  They changed the wording so that Fred would now be following cancer and not a fan of it.

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      calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That cracked me up!

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   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   Sometimes people are just new and enthusiastic.  Auto-banning them for following a bunch of people would be a bit harsh.

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah, I agree. I do not think auto banning is a good idea. I would just like the option to ban those I want to. Now today a newbie followed me. She has one hub and is getting her feet wet here, looking around and following only a few people -- this kind of newbie follow does not bother me in the least.

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