commenter profile hijacking - General Discussions

RE: commenter profile hijacking

Asti — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 07:44:53 +0000

@tberger06,

You should contact the website administrators and ask them to remove those comments.

RE: commenter profile hijacking

tberger06 — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 11:57:39 +0000

@asti I don't know what else to tell you. Someone knows the email address associated with my commenting profile and then will sporadically post rude comments under my name. These comments do appear in my comment history and that's the only way I know about them. This is happening to other high-profile commenters on the site as well.

Doesn't wpDiscuz use some sort of database for storing comments and profile data? I mean it should be technically possible to do what I'm asking, I'm not the site admin and not at all familiar with this commenting plugin. I'm trying to do the legwork and provide a solution to the site admin.

RE: commenter profile hijacking

Asti — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 07:51:31 +0000

@tberger06,

The comment shouldn't appear in the user activity section.

RE: commenter profile hijacking

tberger06 — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:14:29 +0000

@asti This particular website tracks comment history according to the email address used to make a comment. You can click on the "i" button on a comment and see details on that user to include comment count, thumbs up/down, and commenting history.

Since someone has figured out my email address I use to comment with, they can freely impersonate me and make disparaging comments that appear to be me. I want to edit the email address that is associated with my profile and comment history so that whoever it is can no longer impersonate me.

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RE: commenter profile hijacking

Asti — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 12:06:45 +0000

@tberger06,

When a comment is edited and the email address changed like that, does that only apply to the one comment?

Yes, it applies only to this comment.

Or does that allow the user to now comment under the updated email address with all the comment history of the previous email address?

Please clarify a bit.

RE: commenter profile hijacking

tberger06 — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 11:58:26 +0000

@asti When a comment is edited and the email address changed like that, does that only apply to the one comment? Or does that allow the user to now comment under the updated email address with all the comment history of the previous email address?

RE: commenter profile hijacking

Asti — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 07:55:23 +0000

@tberger06,

The email can be edited in the Dashboard > Comments admin page. Please watch this video: https://www.screencast.com/t/YzILWNYb

I may also suggest you check out the "Use guest email to detect registered account" option. Please find more info here: https://wpdiscuz.com/docs/wpdiscuz-7/plugin-settings/user-authorization-and-profile-data/#use-guest-email-to-detect-registered-account

commenter profile hijacking

tberger06 — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 00:51:33 +0000

One of the websites that I'm an active member of uses this wpDiscuz plugin and all that is needed to comment is a username and email address. All comments made under that email address build up a comment history. However, if a 3rd party knows a particular commenters email address, they can then freely post comments as that user. Someone has figured out my commenting email address and is posting rude replies in my name which hurts my credibility on the site.

Is it possible for the site admin to change a commenter's associated email address in the wpDiscuz settings somehow? I don't see any other option to put an end to this issue.

Thanks!