Help with an annoying unverified poster on one of my Hubs.

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   mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years ago

   I am having a slight problem with an unverified person posting on one of my hubs. I am not sure if he/she simply has a screw loose, or if they are just trying to be a pain, but over the last few days they have posted on my Vegetable Growing in Containers hub about 8 times under various names, including my own username. Most of these posts come under the name "bee1ofsix" or variations of this name or my own name. I know it is the same person because their ip address is always the same.
   
   The original post was okay and said something like "IIIIIILooooooovvvvvethissssss", odd, but not offensive although he had duplicated the same post about 4 times. When I politely thanked the poster, the next comments seemed to go a bit more crazy with badly spelt comments about having a load of produce they wanted to get rid of. Very strange so I deleted these, especially as they were mostly posted using variations on my own name.
   
   Then I got some asking about wanting to buy a bean seed, carrot seed etc, so I deleted these as they were just plain silly. I then got another post from this person who I had thanked for the original comment that I had approved and replied to. This time his comment was batantly rude saying something like "LOLYourrhubbbbissooooodumb", which of course I deleted.
   
   As these posts have been spread over several days I am concerned it may well continue. Is there any way I can get his IP address blocked, and are any of you experiencing problems similar to mine, possibly from the same person?
   
   Thanking you all in advance of your responses.
   
   PS. I have now changed the settings on the relevant hub for comments so that they won't show until they are approved by myself, but still feel this person should be somehow blocked if at all possible to prevent him annoying other people on their hubs, or possibly moving on to other hubs of mine now he can't post on my veg growing one.

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2. 77

   Shadesbreathposted 15 years ago

   Not happening to me.  Sounds like you pulled in an idiot.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      LOL Shades, great to see you here. Yes, I think I might have done, but quite possibly he is a true idiot, (as in the slightly simple kind of fool), either that or perhaps he is on drugs or simply a nut job. All very odd, but glad it isn't happening to you too.

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   ralwusposted 15 years ago

   I suppose the answer is emailing the hubteam, I'm sure they will be of assistance. Sorry you have to put up with this crap. Good luck now.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks ralwus, I shall probably do that too just in case they can do anything.

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   anjalichughposted 15 years ago

   This is a downside of writing in a public forum. One has to be prepared for such readers too. I've had unpleasant comments a few times but all I do is to delete them and report them as spam. I think by reporting those as spams really helped; I didn't get further posts from the same person. You can give this a try.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Yes it can be a bit of a nuisance, although so far the problem is only affecting one of my hubs, and it has not been a problem here on the forums.

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      pgrundyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      That's what I do too. Eventually the person gets tired of having their posts deleted and goes and bothers someone else.
      
      The comments that bother me more are the ones that are threatening. I don't get many but there have been a few. I handle them the same way, but I always think, geez, what is WRONG with people????

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         mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Yep, there are definitely some strange people out there Pam. What I found particularly strange was the topic of the hub he is targetting is so tame, I mean, "Vegetable Growing in Containers" is not exactly the kind of hub you would expect to attract a person like this. I would have been less surprised if it had been on a "double entendre" type hub.

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            pgrundyposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            The first thought I had they way you described it was that it was kid or someone who is not quite all there. Probably he, she, or it liked your photo and that happens to be the first and only hub of yours they've read.
            
            Even mean comments are often kids. Adolescent boys think it's big fun to post crappy comments on the internet. Some of them grow out of it.

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               mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

               Good point Pam, and I also have to consider the possibility that the person never read the hub at all, but simply viewed my profile pic at the top of the hub, then thought, "vulnerable female, will creep her out".

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   tantrumposted 15 years ago

   There are a lot of crazed people on the net. Here in hub pages as well. Why don't you give it a laugh ? It's healthier

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Good point, but I do find it a little creepy to be getting such odd SPAM type posts from the same person over several days. Feels a bit weird.

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         tantrumposted 15 years agoin reply to this

           Well i would reply funny stuff. I'm a joker

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            mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

            I probably would if I didn't feel this might encourage there comments to become even worse, plus once you respond they are getting a reaction, which was no doubt exactly what they wanted!!!!!

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               tantrumposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                 Well, I like tantrums 

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                  mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

                  LOL, hence the name???

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   Anti-Valentineposted 15 years ago

   I had a person who left a comment on my hub that said, "Lovey'all!"
   
   *Delete*
   
   Might have been the same person.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Possibly, if they do it again try to make a note of their IP address and if I get any further comments from "my annoying poster" I shall do the same and publish it here. We can then see if they match.

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   Lady_Eposted 15 years ago

   You've done the appropriate thing which is to change the settings. I wish there was a button that you could click to automatically change the settings to all Hubs cos you have 152.
   
   The nutter could return and might post it on another one, unless you change the settings to all Hubs individually....

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Trouble is that I prefer not to have to approve comments before they are visible because sometimes after an author leaves their hub for the day, or goes to bed etc, other hubbers might meet up on one of your hubs and start chatting, commenting to each other on the hub etc etc. This not only pulls in more traffic, but allows your hubber friends to enjoy a bit of banter on the subject or topic of the hub in question. It can be quite good fun I know from my own experiences.

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8. 69

   Anti-Valentineposted 15 years ago

   I'll try to remember.
   
   At least it's not as bad as a comment I read on another hub about getting banned from adsense. It was an anonymous poster, and he threatened to click on our adsense ads and get us banned from adsense.
   
   Probably just a bitter ex-adsense user.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      What a nightmare, and what a nasty thing to threaten people with.

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   Anti-Valentineposted 15 years ago

   Yep. Luckily I didn't post any comments on there and nobody responded to his threat, otherwise it might provoke him to do something instead of just saying it.

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      mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I feel it was best ignored so everyone did the right thing.

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         Anti-Valentineposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Probably true.

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    Shadesbreathposted 15 years ago

    You might consider switching to a less attractive picture.  Put up some ugly man picture and I bet your problem goes away.

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       mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Well I would Shades, but then that would runi my street cred wouldn't it Thanks for the sweet compliment though

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    Crazdwriterposted 15 years ago

    WOw thats kinda creepy...I hope you get it figured out and don't end up getting yourself an online stalker. CREEEPY!

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12. 89

    mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years ago

    Well guys, I did contact the hubpages team, but they say unless the person is registered with hubpages there is nothing they can do. They suggested I notify them if it happened again and they would check. Well, it has happened again about an hour and a half ago, only this time he/she claims they "have a list they want to share" !!! ????? Obviously they were surprised their comment no longer immediately appeared, so they posted it again, and of course both times I have to approve it, so deleted it without approving it of course. However, I did make a note of the IP address and the latest name this person is using (yep, it has changed again). The IP address is: 24.16.155.84 The latest name they have used is: "he xerx tyty twertwertwertwer says:"
    
    Crazier by the second. Anyway, I have passed on this info to the hubpages team, but would be interested if any of you get any similar problems from that IP address.

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    relacheposted 15 years ago

    I'd suggest switching the comment capsule to only allow registered users to submit comments.  Either that person will register, thus allowing HubPages to do something, or they'll get bored from not being able to comment and move on.
    
    Then when they stop annoying you, the comment preferences can be changed back.

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       mistyhorizon2003posted 15 years agoin reply to this

       Not a bad idea  Relache, and thanks for the suggestion. It just seems a bit harsh on the genuine people who have comments to make or questions to ask, especially as that hub does get a lot of traffic.A shame there is no option to allow only registered user's comments to appear immediately, whilst unregistered user's comments need to first be approved by the author, that would be better still. I might even suggest it in the suggestions forum.

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    Seabastianposted 15 years ago

    Hate to hear you are being hassled. it sounds like Pgrundy hit it on the head-probably an adolescent guy(what would I give to be one of those again-only smarter and...ok.ok I know what an oxymoron is)
    
    I hope the problem goes away.
    
    One bright spot-I will go read your hub about gardening although it isn't my thing.

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