Blog user registration question

[Jenna Meow]

This is a random question but I can’t find an answer.

I have a self-hosted site through wordpress. I frequently get emails from my bluehost account saying “.New user registration on your site Meow Lifestyle: username:xxxx email:xxxxx) They look like legitimate names and emails. 

But these people are not commenting and are not subscribing(at least not that I can tell). What does this mean? Is this spam? Are they real readers Should I keep the email address for a mailing list? When I click on the users in the dashboard of wordpress i see them all listed and they are labeled as subscriber.

However my subscriber number is significantly lower on my stats homepage. Sorry this is so confusing. Can anyone clarify this for me?

Thanks!

Jenna

http://www.meowlifestyle.com

[Geoffrey]

I use Drupal rather than WordPress, but here is what I can offer.

I expect catlovers to register from my site.  I have honeypots to keep out most of the bots.  For those that may or may not be cats, I send them something like

You, or someone using your email address, recently signed up for an account at Aimable Cats, the social network for cats.

 

As a verification, please reply to this message attaching a photo of your cat and a short description of where it was taken.

 

Thank you.<img class="CToWUd" src="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/RnNZfQn2o2xpggJQqefCOervMbPIci5mujDPJnvl43kv6Rtxjyh5gHN_JKVzeU-aaGz3pePFgxfoAAtZJZNx8mveVTc-11j98EfuAJVcumUenA=s0-d-e1-ft#https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif“/>

Out of 22 such requests, I have received one reply.  Most of the time I delete the inactive account after 48-72 hours.

[Carleen Pruess Coulter]

If you have your settings in wordpress set to allow site subscribers, you will end up getting a fair amount of spam bot subscriptions. For security purposes it is good to shut that off. Go to settings – general and look for the membership box that says “anyone can register” and make sure it is unchecked.

[Kama]

I agree with Carleen. I have a Mailchimp signup widget on my site instead of the general WordPress “User” option.you have more control over your subscribers and are less likely to get spam subscribers that way.

[Aimee]

You definitely want to turn this off.  Here’s a few links that walk you through how to do it. 

• https://trustiko.com/how-to-disable-user-registration-in-wordpress/
• http://www.agentwp.com/enable-or-disable-user-registration-in-wordpress

[Jenna Meow]

Thank you all for your help! It’s very kind of you. I’ve disabled the user registration now 🙂

[Summer]

I would have assumed that this was mainly possible on sites which have social networking running… You have helped me learn something new!! 

I am glad you have managed to turn this off and sort it out.

[Author]

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