‘Anonymous’, Blog Comments, and Suspicious Sites

~ beetleypete

WordPress appears to have some serious glitches going the rounds at the moment.

Two of my most regular followers, Frank and Suzanne, were both listed as ‘Anonymous’ last week. Other followers are being told to ‘Log in’ to be able to comment too, as their site identity is not being recognised by WordPress.

Added to that, every new follower I have had during the last four days has been notified as having a ‘Suspicious Site’, with a warning not to proceed to view their site.

Susanne had a long online discussion with WP about this, and she was told that her Microsoft Edge browser was the problem. It was suggested she change to the Google Chrome browser, and that rectified the issue.

So, make sure that WP will recognise your site through your browser, and if nobody is visiting your site, you may well have been listed as ‘Suspicious’!

Good luck.

76 thoughts on “‘Anonymous’, Blog Comments, and Suspicious Sites”

  3. From my admittedly limited experience with coding a website that has to be responsive (i.e.: adjust to fit all screen sizes) over at least 3 different browsers, I find it extremely irritating that each one has its own peculiarities (some consistency as well, but not enough!) that have to be accommodated. I presume it comes down to the much-vaunted mindset of ‘competition spurring creativity’, but I just wish they would get their heads together and all do things the same way! Then again, it’s not an ideal world……..

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. The general consensus seems to be that this current issue concerns a ‘deal’ between Google Chrome and WordPress. They appear to be making life difficult for anyone using a different browser to Chrome.
      Thanks very much for adding your own experiences, Jon.
      And I agree, our world has always been far from ‘ideal’. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 2 people

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    1. It seems that those affected get stuck in a circle of getting back to normal, then being cast back to being ‘anonymous’. I do feel for them, after experiencing so many annoying glitches in the past.
      Thanks, Olga.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 2 people

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  5. Chrome is not the complete answer Pete. I have always used Chrome and this happens to me quite often, saying I am not logged in when I know I am. I find that usually a quick refresh of the page solves the problem. It also gets rid of those horrid ads!

    Liked by 3 people

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  7. Bearing in mind that Edge is rumoured to be based on Chrome, they don’t seem to have made a very good job of it. I had the issue of needing to log in to comment a few weeks ago, but it seems to have resolved itself. I often suspect that Windows updates are responsible for some of these temporary glitches.

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  8. I write from my phone using WordPress app so yayyyy saved all trouble. I hate using laptops give me 1 time they haven’t hanged or automatically deleted the data?? Good luck to those who are stuck. 🙂✌

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  9. Hi Pete. I see I wasn’t the only one impacted by this issue. Sorry for the remaining ‘Anonymous’ bloggers above as I know how frustrating that is. I’m happy to be back in business since switching to Chrome; my identity remains intact today! Hope the rain has finally stopped for you. It’s still raining here in the Pacific Northwest. 🙂 :).

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Two heavy showers earlier, and more rain forecast for tomorrow. They say it will be dry by next weekend!
      The Anonymous glitch seems to be increasing. I just hope more and more don’t end up being affected by it.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 2 people

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  19. I like that cynical side, Pete. You’re close to the problem, but it’s not WP. Well, some glitches are, but Chrome, Firefox and Chromium, all three, are ramping up efforts to protect people from themselves. Personally, I’m tired of them helping me. All three browsers were supposed to implement new safeguards. They are really ruining the browsing experience in my opinion. The indicators on the top bar are getting to be a joke, and soon it may be that browsers won’t let you browse a site that still uses http.

    It will get bumpy soon, but it’s the browsers doing most of it. I’m too old for them to be holding my hand! By the way, Edge will be going bye-bye soon, I can’t remember the new name, but the new browser is based on Googles Chrome.

    Liked by 5 people

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  24. I was a victim several months ago Pete. Someone was able to change password and I lost two pieces I had been working on. I still occasionally get likes or follows from completely unknown sources. Regards

    Liked by 2 people

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  26. Yes! I’ve been having numerous problems just logging in to my own WordPress account. Sometimes I can comment on other blogs; sometimes I can’t. WordPress tells me I’m logged in, but then tells me I’m not. Sometimes it’s reverting to the “old” admin style, and all in all, it’s making me a bit bonkers! At least I’m not the only one feeling a few frustrations right now.

    Liked by 4 people

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  27. Anonymous is a strange character totally unlike us humans who want to known and recognised , but of course this is not strictly true nearly everyone presents a face to the rest of mankind and keeps their skeletons in the cupboard .
    I often feel sorry for celebrities and the famous because we all want them exposed , we want to know what makes them tick. It’s a double life they must lead , they need the media but the media digs deeper than they wish.

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      1. I was not pointing a finger at anyone in particular but I must confess an interest and I often consult Wiki to find out about someone. The thing to bear in mind is too make allowances for human frailty and failure , sometimes a closer look reveals motives and reasons for behaviour and tempers our judgement.
        ‘ Let him who thinks he stands beware lest he fall.’

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  28. Good to know, Pete. I’ll keep an eye on it. We’ve had this problem with the company webserver as well, was a certificate issue with – in this case – Firefox.

    Liked by 3 people

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      1. After some twists and turns I was apparently able to get this comment window up without the dreaded three lines below asking for my login details, which never works. So, to reply, I do believe that WP is now fronting for Google. In fact they admit they “made a deal” with Google a while back and that’s when all hell broke loose. I’ve been working with WP to get these things resolved and the “best” solution the come up with is to get me to switch to Chrome… what does that tell you? I’ve got two laptops, a iPad and an Android phone. Same problem on all of them using different browsers. I think the Android browser is Chrome. the iPad is Safari, the laptops currently use Edge, which is now supposed to be integrated with Google Chrome so that should not be an issue. They are also asking me to make sure I have “third party cookies” enabled. I have yet to check on that. I’m going to switch my laptops to Chrome but I have to find out if the iPad can use Chrome instead of Safari. I’m not savvy on Apple stuff yet.

        Liked by 3 people

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        1. Another thing: request: can I post a link to this blog post to my next WordPress email response? It might help the “Happiness Engineers” realize the depth of their problem – and NO, IT’S NOT OUR PROBLEM, IT’S THEIR PROBLEM. I was a corporate service tech for 42 years and we didn’t tell our customers it was their fault when a problem occurred with the equipment: we fixed or we replaced!

          Liked by 3 people

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      1. Good to know! I’ve noticed it with a couple of bloggers that I follow, when i go to click on their post, it comes up as suspicious – but like you say, i just thought it was a glitch and went back to it at a later date. I’ve also noticed a few anonymous comments in my spam folder and now I’m wondering if they were genuine, but it’s too late now as I deleted them.

        Liked by 3 people

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