Hello,
I am a teacher and unfortunately, some of our students are being followed by bogus followers and receiving messages with sexual and inappropriate language. At the moment, we have stopped using memrise in our school because this is a safeguarding issue and that is a shame because our students won’t benefit from this great website. If memrise is used by schools, it should be completely safe
Is memrise thinking about adding the option of blocking followers or other measures in order to improve safety online?
Thank you
4 Likes
This is awful! Why don’t you add something about the sexual language in the headline?
That might attract attention better.
@Lien @MemriseMatty @BeaTrisy @Joshua
The above are all members of the memrise team (I think), so I hope my tagging them will get something happening double quick!
??? your students have been contacted via these fora? PM in here? are all of them active users in here? unless youre speaking about mems (which “problem” was solved by almost ripping out the heart of memrise…) somehow your story does hold
Hi @MrCuesta,
I’m very sorry to hear you and your students have come across such inappropriate content.
My colleagues have traced all the profiles with inappropriate bio’s and cleared them accordingly.
The system they setup also prevents the future creation of similar profiles.
In the unlikely event you and/or your users still notice obscenities, please let us know straight away.
With regards to the messages, Memrise users can’t send each other messages via the Memrise website or apps. They can only do so via this third platform forum, that also offers the option to report and/or block fellow users.
Feel free to forward me the usernames of those sending or receiving these messages so we can look into it asap,
Best wishes,
Lien
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Hello Lien
Thank you for your quick answer.
I have been in contact with a few colleagues and apparently, it is not an unlikely event. This same problem is happening in a few schools in the UK. One of my students showed me a very obscene message that appeared on his screen during a lesson. I reported the username and I got an answer from Memrise saying that it was deleted.
But now, I am a bit confused, how can users get messages on their screens (with sexual content) if you are saying that it is not possible to send or receive messages?
Thank you again for looking into this issue.
Best wishes,
Daniel
Hi MrCuesta,
To clarify, up until a couple of days ago it was indeed a widespread issue. With our recently implemented fix however, the vast majority of these should have vanished.
Thanks for elaborating on the messages. As it sounds, they’re not actual messages but bio’s in the users’ profiles i.e. a short introduction about themselves, which was being abused to advertise improper services with links to websites alike.
If you still notice such content after today, please let me know so we can eliminate those too.
I hope this is helpful. Apologies again.
Best wishes,
Lien
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Hello Lien
Today, a whole class of students came to see me and showed me more bogus followers:
www.sseху.asuso.ru
www.ssex.swlvq.ru
www.sseху.qskyzf.ru
www.sseх.rbhlhff.ru
www.sseх.fjyt.ru
www.ssexy.foanhifone.ru
www.ssеху.rtwezu.ru
www.ssexу.rjdolek.ru
This are only a few ones. Please can you be sure that these users are deleted. Is the new fix implemented working properly in order to avoid the creation of users with these names?
Thank you
Hi, we also have an issue with students being followed by www.ssex.18sexy.pw
Can this user be removed, or do we need to disable Memrise for our students?
Thanks
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Does anyone know if this problem is now fixed? SLT at our school won’t allow us to use memrise until I can confirm that students won’t encounter these inappropriately named followers at all.
The above spam accounts have since been removed. We actively monitor the Memrise platform for spam related content, and will remove any deemed by us as being “Inappropriate”.
Unfortunately we won’t be able to guarantee you will never encounter an inappropriate name again. Being a platform which contains user generated content (such as usernames) it’s possible you may be exposed to a piece of Inappropriate content.
Please see our terms & conditions and privacy policy for more information on User Content on Memrise [8].
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Hi @MemriseMatty, @MemriseSupport, @codinghorror
I, too, have found a number of these ‘followers’ linking to the www.18sexy.pw domain. The relevant Memrise usernames are:
cherrypeel
gdevgun
gokhankurt
jan20911
Robbymcc
It’s really time you got to grips with this and found a lasting solution, chaps!
Related threads:
100% agree. Created a feature request. A voting/review system for users/mem-s might also a good idea for weeding out the bad and the ugly from between the good.
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I disagree… do not wish to see users classified. I wonder how much time some peeps have on their hands to even notice “spam followers”…
also, so many “regulars” and “leaders” and blabla did not even notice what Lien made public on her profile and wrote also privately to some of us. She is not working at Memrise anymore, stop shouting at her…
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We are aware of the situation, and are working towards a long-term solution for the bogus followers and Mems. We will update you once the most recent batch of bogus followers have all been reviewed.
Although it may be a good idea, we have no current plans to introduce the ability to block followers or make profiles private. I will update you if this changes.
The problems might be lessened by including a reasonable daily limit on the number of new “following” links any user can create. For example, a 20-per-day limit may be reasonable for genuine users.
Currently, these unwanted followers appear to be setting up new accounts, and immediately adding ~500 links along with an offensive Mem.
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Agreed. I am not meaning to vote people up or down. I’ve never liked that.
Voting in the first place refers to the usefulness/appropriateness of mems. Or, perhaps even more simple, a statistic how often a mem is used.
Also agreed. Though, since this a collaboration community, some possibility for communication to a course creator is highly appreciated.
Thank you! looking forward to it.
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Good to hear that this problem will soon be erdicated. 
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The reported Mems and users have now been reviewed and actioned. You should not see these messages at this time. If you do come across any more, feel free to report them to us for review.
Thanks again.
1 Like