Ask to "Follow" / "Follow Request"
- Thread starter erich37
- Start date
Wildcat Media
Well-known member
This one will get a "lack of interest" badge for sure, but I agree the current Follow system is broken. Members need to be able to accept a follow request, not just have it automatically applied blindly as it is now. Members also need to be able to remove other members who follow them.
I realize this concept goes over the heads of many in this forum, but you have to consider that on a larger, busy forum were you have well over a thousand members online at any time during the day, 11 million posts, etc., combined with some highly polarizing topis, there can be a lot of flare-ups between members, and also between members and staff. "Stalking" has become a major issue on our forum now, with some signing up new accounts (after being banned) simply to follow every post specific other members make, then use it elsewhere on other sites (such as other forums, social media, etc.) or harass others privately.
I now have staff hounding me to do something about this toxic issue, and my hands are tied. This is seriously crippling us at the moment. I know I'd written up a similar suggestion in the past but I can no longer find it here.
Following members can have its usefulness, but with other forms of social media needing that two-way agreement for "friending" or "following" (fb, Instagram, Google+, etc.), it needs to happen here, either in the core or via an add-on. Otherwise, I will need to hack away at the template and remove all references to follows (which there is already an add-on for), and truncate the table in the database. But why should I penalize 99.9% of our members for the 0.1% who misbehave? Still, given all the current grief this supposedly helpful feature is causing us, I am left with no other choice until it is fixed.
I realize this concept goes over the heads of many in this forum, but you have to consider that on a larger, busy forum were you have well over a thousand members online at any time during the day, 11 million posts, etc., combined with some highly polarizing topis, there can be a lot of flare-ups between members, and also between members and staff. "Stalking" has become a major issue on our forum now, with some signing up new accounts (after being banned) simply to follow every post specific other members make, then use it elsewhere on other sites (such as other forums, social media, etc.) or harass others privately.
I now have staff hounding me to do something about this toxic issue, and my hands are tied. This is seriously crippling us at the moment. I know I'd written up a similar suggestion in the past but I can no longer find it here.
Following members can have its usefulness, but with other forms of social media needing that two-way agreement for "friending" or "following" (fb, Instagram, Google+, etc.), it needs to happen here, either in the core or via an add-on. Otherwise, I will need to hack away at the template and remove all references to follows (which there is already an add-on for), and truncate the table in the database. But why should I penalize 99.9% of our members for the 0.1% who misbehave? Still, given all the current grief this supposedly helpful feature is causing us, I am left with no other choice until it is fixed.
RobinHood
Well-known member
I'm pretty sure there's a few different friend add-on's that involve requesting and confirming the friendship.
Can you not install one of them and disable the following system using another add on?
Although that still won't stop a dedicated stalker heading to the profile page of a user, searching for their posted content and simply refreshing it at a given interval.
If the content is public, there's not a lot you can do about it.
You could try locking down potentially volatile threads to sub forums only accessible to trusted or well established users. Many big sites do that if a topic contains polarising content, this will keep out the banned users who create new accounts.
(Also, google plus doesn't require confirmation of friend requests IIRC, anyone can put you in their circles)
Can you not install one of them and disable the following system using another add on?
Although that still won't stop a dedicated stalker heading to the profile page of a user, searching for their posted content and simply refreshing it at a given interval.
If the content is public, there's not a lot you can do about it.
You could try locking down potentially volatile threads to sub forums only accessible to trusted or well established users. Many big sites do that if a topic contains polarising content, this will keep out the banned users who create new accounts.
(Also, google plus doesn't require confirmation of friend requests IIRC, anyone can put you in their circles)
I agree totally.
![[GH]c0de](/community/data/avatars/s/249/249784.jpg?1701365946){kind=avatar}
