#blocking bots

[furiousgoldfish]

Hey recent followers!

I'm about to block and report all of the bots, and I want to make sure I don't accidentally report and block a real person. Does your blog look like this on the following list?

If you didn't change your icon, and your blog name is 'untitled' or 'sin titulo', I will think you're a bot! As you can see there are many and they're following in droves and on tumblr we have to block them so they don't overtake the site.

Please put any kind of picture as your icon, or even just one post, reblogged or written, on your blog, me (and others) don't block and report you, thinking you're malicious spam!

Bots follow blogs because it gives them a link to a legitimate person on the internet, which makes them look more legitimate, so they could gather clicks and be shown in search results. If you're worried of being perceived as a bot, you can just post 'hey i'm not a bot, don't block me' on your blog, and you're safe!

I'm gonna wait for 24 hours after posting this, and then I'm on reporting duty.

[neowinestainedress]

i usually don't do this but i noticed too many of the new followers look like bots (no profile picture, no bio, no likes/following even if they're visible). so if you don't want me to block you please at least update the profile picture (use anything, just please don't have the default icons) and put something in your bio (would be better if it was your age, to follow me you have to be 16+*). i still stand with what i have written in my rules = i'm not your mom and if you interact with me on nsfw posts as a minor it's not my fault*, but i have a lot of followers and i need to do a cleanup. i'm writing this post now but i will start blocking in a few weeks (depending on how busy i am it will either be the end of december or the start of january) so more of you have time to see this, i will reblog this frequently and give one last warning before starting to block.

*i'm not posting much fluff anymore but it's still something i write so ofc what i stated in the past still stands, if you're a minor you can interact with those works and talk to me about sfw things but you still have to be 16 (if you're younger get out thanks)

feel free to reblog this too so it reaches more people!

[gneebee]

Lately I seem to be spending my time on Tumblr blocking bots. Ease up

[neitherthehoneynorthebee]

Beautiful women with blank Tumblr pages keep following me but I must sadly block them as I am a "man" of "god".

[cherrybombfangirlwrites]

Friendly reminder that if you have a default icon and empty blog, I’m going to assume you’re a bot and block you.

I just got followed by a bunch of people and had to block six of them because they were porn bots or looked like bots. I wanted to let you know that if your blog looks like that and you’re not the enemy, you look like the enemy so I’ll block you like the enemy.

If you don’t want to get blocked, change your profile icon and reblog some stuff so we know you’re real, please. This has been a PSA.

[queenjulia11]

Every day I block a troop of scantily-clad women with numbers in their handle, only for a new one to raise their flag over the horizon just as the sun sets. My men are exhausted. They don’t know what they have done to deserve this Sisyphean curse. Yet still, they fight for me in the foolish hope that perhaps some day, our enemies will run out of soldiers, and we can finally be at rest. Perhaps someday soon… but I can already hear the next wave approaching. We are running out of strength, but hope is something that shall always be in ample supply.

[back2bluesidex]

I do understand that there are a lot of untitled, ageless blogs who are just random adults like us and way too busy to decorate their account in the right away.

Hence, I don't go out of my way to block all of you because at the beginning of my tumblr days, I used to be just like you all.

However, that does not mean I want to feed NSFW content to just anyone. So, if you are an untitled, ageless blog.. I would request you to please at least add your age to your bio. If you are not comfortable with disclosing your actual age then just add something like 20's or 30's.

But please... it's a request not to leave your blog totally blank. I don't want to start blocking since there are some of you genuine readers wanting to read my stories and I simply don't have that much of time. I just found out one of my followers was a minor and blocked her. Even though she never interacted with any of my stories be it SFW or NSFW... But I still can't tell that she has not consumed any of it.

This is probably 6th time this year, I blocked someone in suspicion of them being underaged.

So please, Add a confirmation of your age to your blog if you are following me. It's a request! 🙏🏻

[it-happened-once-in-a-meme]

Tumblr newbie here🙂: I have a few questions to people who know some things about bots (from someone who's relatively new to Tumblr)

When (if at all) should you block someone (what are good indicators, for example: is following someone without first likung any content a certain sign?)

What (if there is any) damage could otherwise be done to us by bots?

It's such a weird experience. 😄 I know that content on Tumblr can get a bit...not safe for work and that most users with people in their profile picture put someone else there, but i can't help but be suspicious when someone à la melissahsdi2234lana with no posts or likes and a link to a certain website🍑 follows me without liking anything first and this happens more than one time in a short amount of time...

[leezahbat]

Ugh...

I just went through and blocked a bunch of what I assume to be bot accounts that had followed me recently. I do this from time to time. If you have a generic tumblr with no posts and your avatar looks like some stock photo of a model doing anything, but especially in lingerie/bikini or posing in sexual manner, I will be blocking you. Blank Tumblrs = bots, usually porn bots or phishing expeditions. SO... my follower count is gonna be fluctuating a lot, lol...

[langiinspirations]

At least two bots a day per account. A record was five in one day.

Pls reblog if u vote :)

[neowinestainedress]

will i look like a bitch if i tagged some bots-looking accounts to warn them that if they don't stop looking like bots i will have to block them? cause the other post i made about it didn't do anything lmao this is getting insane ☠️☠️☠️

[mossmx]

ignore my 420 post, I blocked some bots and I'm back below that number (sad laugh because I'm so tired of bots)

[fyonahmacnally]

This is so true.

new to tumblr?

found yourself getting blocked for seemingly no reason?

does your profile look like this:

you're getting blocked because people think you're a bot

do yourself a favour and change your profile images to literally anything except the defaults. give your blog a name, give yourself a bio even if it simply says "new, figuring this out" or something. please, just do ANYTHING that shows everyone you're a human. then you wont get blocked anymore and you'll have a lot more fun here!

oh and while we're here, another hot tip: reblog things. likes do nothing here, there's no algorithm

okay happy tumblring tumblrinos, tumblrinas and tumblrinehs!

[k2ntwo]

The Bots are Back Again.

This group of porn bots are at least getting better with their naming convention. It's now wordsstrungtogeter#### (words scraped from tags strung together followed by a number) and a generic icon.

This set makes me look twice and click through to check and see if it really is an empty blog. Even then I'll wait a few days just to make sure that it isn't a newbie who just hasn't got around to reblogging anything yet. (yeah, I'm nice that way)

So, pass the message on. An empty blog with a generic icon or a sexy picture will get blocked sooner or later.

And for those of you who say "why bother blocking" please reconsider. Reporting and blocking stops those bots from using this site to drive traffic to and otherwise create false legitimacy for their own purposes. Report them as spam (since its empty not explicit) and block 'em.

[reactorshaft]

😘sexy💯 independent😈✨free-thinker😝🎱 roger, roger!🙊real🏅yes, we are hooman😇💫all your base are belong to us👍🙌🏼💋

[perryavenue]

This has become a daily thing <sigh>

[Shut off last version of this post to avoid possible continual spread of misinformation that was corrected by staff. Reposting clean with corrected info]

So I'm sure almost everyone knows about the porn bot problem by now, so here's a post detailing why it's a problem, and what we need to do about it.

First off, yes, always block the porn bots. Don't be mislead into thinking they're ok to keep around because they 'inflate your follower count.'

Firstly, no one cares about, nor can anyone even see, your follower count. Be free from the shackles that are the bullshit other socials told you was important. Don't let your ego be tied to a number. Having a lot of followers won't earn you any clout here.

Secondly, bots only follow blogs to try and legitimize their malware (and other dodgy) links. This post goes into more detail about that.

Now that that's out of the way, you'll need to know how to recognize a porn bot. This round the template seems to be:

A profile photo of a pretty lady or guy, usually in their underwear, with a similar header photo.

A bio with some combination of: [Age] // [Name] // [Location] // [Emoji] // [Top Bullshit% OnlyFans]

URL consisting of a name followed by a number (i.e: firstlast999)

Typically an empty blog, or if there is content, it's all dodgy links. Visible, but empty, Likes Tab, & occasionally a visible Following Tab.

You likely recognize the pattern.

So, what you want to do is, first, report the blog as spam On mobile it'll look like this:

On mobile you'll need to report spam first, and then go back to the menu again to block.

On desktop it will look like this, and unlike mobile, you'll be able to report spam and block in the same motion:

If I remember correctly,* be sure to "Report Spam", not "Report sexually explicit material" to feed the bots to the proper channels. Because the blog is empty, they haven't posted anything explicit that would violate TOS. However, staff can recognize a bot, and if you report the blog for spam (the actual problem) they'll take a look, more than likely find that the blog is posting or DMing dodgy links, and dispose of it.

And I think that's it. Here's wishing you all a happy and safe blogging experience!

[UPDATE: It was suggested on another post that the bots track your IP if you click on them to send more your way. However, someone from staff corrected and said this is incorrect. They also corrected the 'guilt by association' myth that bots following you can get your blog flagged by tumblr.

That said, that trail all led to another, easier, way to report/block the bots all from your Follower Tab instead of visiting each blog separately, unfortunately it only works on desktop:

(For newbies, click on the little person icon at the top right of your screen and scroll to find the Followers tab under the blog/sideblog you need to block a pornbot from.)

*I remember this information from a blog that used to be all about taking down the pornbots. Unfortunately I do not know if that blog is still active, nor can I remember the URL. If anyone knows what blog I'm referring to, and/or if they're still active, please feel free to tag them so others can follow them for more tips!