Most of the followers on my financial blog are internet marketers, Forex traders, or crypto enthusiasts. They all have one thing in common — they never like a post. The only reason they followed my blog was to promote their own website. They hope that I’ll click on their blog simply out of curiosity.
It’s a very clever ploy to draw traffic to their website. WordPress really can’t do anything to stop the practice other than to suggest that I don’t allow followers … which is a totally unacceptable solution.
A few months ago, I received an email invitation to follow another blog. I don’t even know the person who owns the blog, and have never visited their website. Out of curiosity, I checked out their site and discovered that they were an internet marketer promoting discount coupons. They also have a store site on Amazon.
What really bothered me, and this was confirmed by WordPress, is that they needed my email address or username in order to send out an Invitation to Follow. Typically, the invitation would be sent to people you know such as family or friends. WordPress does not publish email addresses or usernames so this is definitely a matter of concern.
I forwarded the email to WordPress so they could investigate further. The website is still up, but the owner has not posted anything new since December. It could be that the blog is frozen or suspended for violating the Terms and Conditions.
Internet marketers have learned that to quickly build a following, they will spam the Follow button on 500-1,000 blogs per week. That, in turn, generates a percentage of views on their website.
How this one person got my email takes the spam meter to a whole other level.
Copyright © In Pics and Words
In Pics and Words 
Thank for bring this to WP’s attention David. Good to know.
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