The Real Blogger Status

Blogs Viewed, Using A CC TLD Alias, Will Continue To Be Indexed Using "BlogSpot.Com"

2012-02-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

We're starting to see some evidence of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about the impact of the new CC TLD aliases, upon indexing and reputation.

There's no cache for my blog, after redirecting to a ccTLD!

This is an example of the confusion, from a concerned blog owner.

99% of all Blogger blogs will see no difference, in indexing or reputation, to their blog, in Blogger / Google services. Every BlogSpot published blog, which uses a standard blog header, has a "Canonical" tag, defining the "BlogSpot.Com" URL for that blog.

Search engines which recognise the Canonical tag will simply index all BlogSpot content, whether accessed as "blogspot.com.au", "blogspot.in", or whatever new CC TLD alias is deployed in the future, under the base URL, "blogspot.com". Blogs such as this one, published outside "blogspot.com", will continue to be indexed under the current non BlogSpot URL.

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>

That's the Canonical tag for this blog, "blogging.nitecruzr.net".

When you check the Page Rank, you should continue to check the "blogspot.com" URL - if your blog is published to "blogspot.com".

Some non Google services such as Alexa - and some third party accessories such as commenting, provided by Disqus and Intense Debate - are known to require tweaking of their code, so they will recognise the Canonical tag for the host blog. Once the code is properly updated, they should simply reference the host blog under the "blogspot.com" alias - no matter where the blog viewer may be geographically located.

If your blog uses no third party accessories or services, relax just a bit - then get back to work on your blog.

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Blog Owners Reporting Inability To Update Various Template Gadgets

2012-02-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

For several weeks, we've been seeing a light but steady stream of reports from blog owners unable to update various template gadgets, on their blogs. This blog, personally, has the full page Topics Index, which needs to be updated with half a dozen newly created labels.

In some cases, the "Save" button may appear inactive or dim; in other cases, the owner will see the "Saving..." status endlessly displayed, while the wizard appears to "hang".

We have a problem rollup in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where we are collecting details from the blog owners reporting.

What is the URL of the blog? If published to a non BlogSpot URL, both the BlogSpot and domain URLs may be relevant.
Is this a team administered blog, or are you the sole administrator / owner?
What is your Blogger / Google ProfileID?
Does the blog use a dynamic template, or a non dynamic template?
Do you use a Classic Blogger GUI, or a New (2011) Blogger GUI?
What is the Title of the Gadget that you are Saving, unsuccessfully (please copy the title, accurately, from the popup window, before hitting Cancel)?
What browser (name, and version, please) are you using?

If you are observing this problem, with your blog, providing as many details as possible may help Blogger Support focus on your problem, by identifying a pattern.

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Country Code Based Aliases Will Contribute To Problems Which Involve Domain Based Filters

2012-02-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

As the Country Code TLD aliases, for blogs published to "blogspot.com", become more and more noticed, incidental problems are being reported. For people who are security minded, as well as people who are conscientious about what is permitted on their personal computer, a few domain based filter related problems should be obvious.

Where are the pencil / tool icons on my blog?

and

Why can't my readers comment on my blog?

are just a couple examples of the various questions being seen in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, since the CC TLD aliases went into effect last week.

As with any layered security feature on our computers, the CC TLD aliases have affected us in several ways.

Content filtering.
Cookie filtering.
Script filtering.

These are all concerns, for both the blog owners, the blog readers, and of course Blogger Support.

As always, I will ask you to remember that Blogger Support cannot support the filters affecting your personal computer. Both blog owners, and blog readers, have to check all filters in their browsers, their computers and their networks. Any filter which references "blogspot.com" needs to similarly permit

"blogspot.com.au".
"blogspot.in".
Any future added CC TLD alias.

Any local filters are the responsibility of the "owner" of the computer in use - whether the "owner" is the blog owner, the blog reader, or someone supporting the blog owner or reader.

There are several problems, being reported this week.

Commenting, on blogs which use the embedded comment form.
Editing a blog, and using the "pencil" or "screwdriver / spanner / wrench" icon. The "pencil" or "screwdriver / spanner / wrench" icon should be displayed only when the blog is accessed by an administrator. Third party cookie filtering, similar to commenting on blogs with the embedded comment form, affects blog administrator identification.
Editing a post, and using the "Preview" button in Post Editor. The "Preview" button, like the Template Designer "Live Preview" window, will require third party scripts to display a "blogspot.com" / "blogspot.com.au" / "blogspot.in" / whatever alias follows next, page from a "blogger.com" script.
Editing the blog template, using the Template Designer "Live Preview" window.

All of these issues are related, in some way, to domain based filters. And all of these issues, when reported, involve personal use of a computer - and can't be exclusively resolved by contacting Blogger / Google Support.

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Publicising Updates To Your Blog, Using FaceBook And Twitter

2012-02-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

If you publish a public Blogger blog, and have a FaceBook and / or Twitter account, then you have an audience for your blog updates, waiting to read your blog posts. Any Blogger feed (which eliminates private blogs) can automatically post, to FaceBook and / or Twitter.

Until recently, you could publish your Blogger post feed directly to your FaceBook wall. Right now, you can use FeedBurner to publish your Blogger post feed to your Twitter feed. Alternately, using the third party TwitterFeed service, you can publish any suitable newsfeed - Blogger or other - to any of 5 online services.

Twitter
Statusnet
Hellotxt
Facebook
Linkedin

I setup a new TwitterFeed account, today, in a single screen transaction.

Having setup my TwitterFeed account, setting up a Blogger to FeedBurner feed was similarly quick and painless.

I provided the URL of my Blogger post feed, unredirected.
In a separate window, I logged in to FaceBook, using my normal FaceBook account.
In the TwitterFeed window, I instructed TwitterFeed to publish to my FaceBook account.
In the TwitterFeed window, I instructed FaceBook to trust TwitterFeed.
That's it.

Now, we see when this post publishes to my FaceBook Wall.

Next, I'll get back to work publishing blog posts. And, enjoy the convenience of automated publishing to additional blog services.

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How To Avoid Getting Your Blog Locked, As A Suspected Spam Host

2012-02-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is a question that some folks ask in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, generally after they have just been through the Blogger spam review process. Some folks asking the question are spammers, blatantly asking what they can get away with. Other folks asking are regular blog owners, unwittingly hit by "friendly fire", as Blogger just tries to keep the level of spam down, in the Blogosphere.

The simplest answer would be the best for everybody - if only everybody would follow.

Don't spam.

Spammers can't follow that advice, as it would doom them to a lifetime of asking

Do you want fries with your burger?

Do you want whipped cream on your "large" coffee?

We know, already, that Blogger cannot whitelist your blog - but there are some common sense ways to reduce the risk of spam classification.

There are several ways that your blog may look like a spam blog. Many blogs, such as those reported in the forums, will have one of these problems.

Use spammy content or techniques.
Have little to no content - look like a latent spam blog ("Empty").
Have content, that's been scraped into a spam blog - look like an activated spam blog ("Reserve" or "Active").

There are ways to avoid the above possibilities.

Don't use spammy content or techniques.
Publish content (relevant to the subject of the blog), regularly. Don't look like an Empty spam blog.
Publish unique content (relevant to the subject of the blog), regularly. Provide unique material, that has not yet been scraped. Don't look like a Reserve or Active spam blog.

The Blogger fuzzy spam classification process looks for various artifacts, in your blog.

Content that discusses or promotes spammy techniques - or content or traffic obtained using spammy techniques.
Malicious or spammy accessories.
Links to other, known malicious or spammy blogs or web sites.

Instead of the simple advice "Don't spam", I'll expand upon that a bit.

Avoid spammy practices.
Publish, and Publicise, properly.
Accept reality.

The reality is that spam will always be with us - since spammers want more of a future than selling burgers or coffee.

You can't control the spammers - your blog, if it is publicly accessible, is subject to scraping by any spammer, at any time. Considering that reality, the best advice is that you Publish, regularly - and make your content relevant and unique.

The more material that a blog contains, that's not been scraped into a spam blog, the less that it will look like a spam blog. And the less that a blog looks like a spam blog, the less chance that blog has of being unrighteously classified as a spam blog.

Having read this, you now need to get back to work on your blog.

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Removing Blogs From Your Reading List

2012-02-04T03:23:00.000-08:00

One of the strangest cases of confusion, exhibited in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, comes from people who only want to remove a blog from their Reading List, using the "Manage Blogs I'm Following" wizard.

I can't remove a blog from the Reading List - there is no trash can in the Manage wizard!

Here, I'll advise you, simply, to not look for a trash can icon.

To remove blogs from your Reading List, start with the blue Manage button (Classic GUI) or the gear icon (New GUI). The "Manage Blogs I'm Following" list contains an inventory of all Followed blogs, by blog title.

If you don't see the title of the blog that you are trying to remove, in the Manage list, don't look at "All blog updates" (Classic GUI) or "All blogs" (New GUI). Go back to the Reading List and look at each individual blog in the list, one by one, until you find the actual title used by the problem blog. Always start with the correct title.

Once you know the correct title, go back to the Manage wizard, and find the title in the list. Click on "Settings".

When you click on "Settings", you may have to login to Following / "Friend Connect". If you have to login, select "Google" - then use the correct Blogger account name and password.

In the popup window for the correct title, you'll find the Basics tab selected, with your profile displayed. Beneath the display of your profile, you'll find the title of the blog again - and to the right of that (possibly requiring that you stretch the width of the popup window), you'll find the link "Stop following this site". Click on the link, hit "Stop Following" to confirm, and you're done.

Just don't waste time looking for a trash can icon.

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Incorrect Orientation Of Photos Uploaded In Post Editor

2012-02-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

We see occasional reports of problems with photo orientation, from various blog owners posting in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Why are my photos displayed horizontal, when they should be vertical?

Presumably, if someone's photo was taken with her standing, the blog owner does not want the photo showing her lying on her side.

Modern cameras store meta data with each photo, recording information about how the photo was taken. This is called "Exchangeable Image File format", or EXIF, data. Along with the information about date / time / exposure ("aperture" / "F stop" / "shutter speed"), some cameras store whether the photo was taken, with the camera held horizontal or vertical.

Some cameras store the "horizontal" / "vertical" information, such that the Blogger post editor "Upload image" wizard picks up on the orientation, and re orients the photo, depending upon it having been taken "horizontal" or "vertical". If the photo was intentionally rotated, the blog owner does not want the photo rotated again.

There are several possible resolutions for this problem.

Use Post Editor in the New Blogger GUI. This problem was reported long ago, when the Classic GUI Post Editor "Add image" wizard was being developed.
Use a different camera. Some cameras do not contribute to this problem.
Use a photo editor such as IrfanView, and strip out the EXIF data, before uploading. Without the EXIF data, the "Add image" wizard won't reorient the photos.
Use a photo editor such as IrfanView, and rotate the photo again, before uploading.

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What's The Canonical URL Of My Blog?

2012-01-31T21:17:00.000-08:00

This blog is (for those of you not familiar with it) "The Real Blogger Status". The URL of this blog is currently "http://blogging.nitecruzr.net". As long as I publish the blog properly (as "blogging.nitecruzr.net"), I am allowed to advertise the blog using any combination of lower case and upper case letters, that I like. This blog can be accessed as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", "Blogging.Nitecruzr.Net", or even "BlOgGiNg.nitecruzr.net". We say that Blogger URLs are case insensitive.

Even with my readers allowed to use any combination of lower and uppercase letters, to access this blog, I don't want the search engines to index (and determine page rank) my blog using the exact URLs, as typed by each different reader. Even with this blog being addressed as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", "Blogging.Nitecruzr.Net", or even "BlOgGiNg.nitecruzr.net", the search engines index this blog as "blogging.nitecruzr.net". To help this happen, Blogger provides the "canonical" tag, in the blog header.

Every Blogger blog, which has a standard and up to date header, contains a "canonical" tag. The tag provides the URL of the blog, in all lower case letters, so the search engines know how to ignore case choices used by my readers, and index all links properly.

Look at the source for this blog home page, in the header. Note that you have to look at the online "source code" - not at the raw HTML, using the Template Editor!

Here's an excerpt of the blog header, with a few line breaks added, and some lines removed, to make it more readable.

<head>
<meta content='IE=EmulateIE7' http-equiv='X-UA-Compatible'/>
<meta content='width=1100' name='viewport'/>

...

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/favicon.ico'
 rel='icon' type='image/x-icon'/>
<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml"
 title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
 href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
 title="The Real Blogger Status - RSS"
 href="http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml"
 title="The Real Blogger Status - Atom"
 href="http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24069595/posts/default" />
<link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml"
 title="RSD" href="http://www.blogger.com/rsd.g?blogID=24069595" />
<link rel="openid.server" href="http://www.blogger.com/openid-server.g" />

There it is.

<link href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/' rel='canonical'/>

My test blog, "Nitecruzr New Template Laboratory", is still published to "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com".

<link href='http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/' rel='canonical'/>

These records are essential, for blogs published to "blogspot.com", now that Blogger is aliasing our blogs using country code TLD URLs. My test blog, for instance, published to "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com", will be accessed as "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.in" in India - but the search engines, which observe the Canonical tag, will still index any links as "nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com".

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BlogSpot Published Blogs Being Accessed Using Country Code TLDs

2012-01-31T02:08:00.000-08:00

Recently, some blog owners outside the USA have been asking about mysterious redirects which they (or their readers) are seeing, when accessing their blogs.

Why is "xxx.blogspot.com" now redirecting to "xxx.blogspot.com.au"?

and

Why was my blog address recently changed from ".com" to ".in"?

Blogger will host our blog content using country code relevant aliases, according to the unique laws of each different country. The relevant CC alias will be accessed automatically, according to the network location of the reader in question. These aliases are being added on a country by country basis, with Australia ("blogspot.com.au") and India ("blogspot.in") apparently recently deployed.

This will let Blogger remove content, that's illegal in one country, without having to remove that same content for all of your readers, worldwide. You benefit, because your blog won't go offline, for the entire world, when you publish something that's illegal in one single country.

With any BlogSpot published blog containing a standard Blogger header, the blog will have a canonical reference to the "blogspot.com" alias. The search engines will index the blog, using the "blogspot.com" alias - even when following a country code specific link.

The search engine ranking of your blog won't be affected - except that a blog, left online in most countries, will get more traffic than one taken offline worldwide. When you check the Page Rank, you should continue to check the "blogspot.com" URL, because all search engine reputation will accumulate under the "blogspot.com" alias.

Owners of older or uniquely developed blogs, possibly using Classic or highly customised templates, may want to check the headers in their blogs, and make sure that they have a "canonical" tag referencing their "blogspot.com" alias.

Blogs published to non "blogspot.com" URLs, using properly setup and fully operational "custom domain" publishing, will not be affected - as the default "blogspot.com" URL is already redirected to the domain URL. While a newly purchased custom domain is "In Transition", the domain redirect will not be in effect - and the "blogspot.com" URL will be subject to CC alias redirect.

Any reader wishing to bypass the local alias can access a "no country redirect" alias using the URL of "blogspot.com/ncr". Similar to the "ncr" URL modifier used to bypass local language redirects of "blogger.com", this will give access to the U.S. English alias of the blog of your choice.

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Troubleshooting Custom Domain Issues

2012-01-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

If you are trying to make your custom domain published blog work, see my referential guide Troubleshooting Your Custom Domain Problems.

If you want to know how to setup a custom domain properly, from the beginning - and avoid the need for Troubleshooting - see Setting Up A Custom Domain.

If you're just browsing, then read on - but get a good cup of coffee first. And welcome, to Nitecruzr Dot Net.

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Custom Domain Publishing - Moving Back To BlogSpot, Using The New GUI, Isn't Obvious

2012-01-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

The New Blogger GUI (2011) has been available for just over 6 months - and we see new confusion about using it, daily, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I cancel my custom domain redirect, in the New GUI?

This is one specific question, that's been asked, recently.

The answer to that specific question is actually right there, in front of us - we just don't see it.

Blogger, like Google, likes to use overlay panels for some displays, such as how you see the picture below - when you click on it.

In the new GUI, if I look at the Blog Address settings for this blog, in Settings - Basic - Publishing, I see

(Click on the picture, to better see the details.)

"Edit" is a link, that lets me "Edit" my custom domain settings. The "Edit" wizard (which simply pops up in the same display, when I click on "Edit") does not let me change the URL of the blog back to BlogSpot - and this is the start of some confusion.

To remove the custom domain redirect, one must click on the "X" in the top right. With the publishing shown as

blogging.nitecruzr.net                Edit               X
bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com     redirects

clicking on the "X" lets me remove the custom domain redirect. Clicking on "Edit" only lets me change specific custom domain settings.

So, click on the "X" (it's actually in black - I show it in red, above, to make it more obvious), to clear the custom domain redirect and publish back to the original BlogSpot URL. If you don't see the "X", click in the upper right corner of that window - to the right of "Edit" and just left of the window border. Apparently, not all browsers display the "X" properly.

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The Involuntary "Adult Content" Warning Is Collaborative

2012-01-29T08:23:00.000-08:00

Some blog owners find evidence of opinion from their viewers, but cannot accept the opinions expressed.

Why is there a "Content Warning" on my blog?

They don't understand the collaborative opinion being expressed, when this warning is displayed.

Long ago, the "Flag Blog" link, in the navbar, was a misunderstood feature. The "Flag Blog" button was later replaced by the "Report Abuse" link, with multiple classifications of offenses.

The text of the warning is somewhat self explanatory.

Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is objectionable.

The conclusion here is simple.

The opinion is collaborative - multiple readers have expressed this opinion.
The blog content is offensive - the readers object to this content.

If you are seeing this warning displayed in front of your blog, there are several possible causes.

You are accepting contributions from other people, and not carefully checking what you accept.
You are pushing the limits - a bit too far.
You are marketing your blog, inappropriately.

You have several choices.

Objectively examine the content in your blog, and remove anything objectionable.
Market your blog more carefully, to a more appreciative audience.
Set the voluntary "Adult Content?" option to "Yes".
Accept the involuntary warning.

You publish your blog to educate or entertain your readers, right? Why spend time providing content that your readers don't appreciate?

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Setup An Audit Trail For Your Team Blog

2012-01-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

Ever since Blogger gave us the ability to have team blogs, blog owners have been asking

How do I track what my authors are posting?

as if Blogger blogs have an audit trail option. The unfortunate truth is that Blogger is a website publishing platform - it is (or was, at one time) called

Blogger One Button Publishing

Blogger, quite simply, is not a Content Management System.

However, even if Blogger does not provide a packaged audit trail, which would be a standard feature in any CMS, this does not mean that we cannot set one up, with very little work. If you publish a team blog (or a single owner blog), you already have this option.

The display medium, for a Blogger blog audit trail, is quite simple - your email Inbox. Both Comments and Posts, when published, can post to your Inbox. How to generate the audit trail depends upon whether the blog is public, or private.

Any blog, public or private, can provide an audit trail using email from comments (aka "Comment Notification"), and from posts (aka "BlogSend").

A public blog, which publishes a blog feed, can alternately provide an audit trail using FeedBurner email distribution. Formatting options for FeedBurner email distribution are much more flexible.

Whether your audit trail starts from BlogSend / Comment Notification, or FeedBurner email, just setup a few email filters, and store all Blogger audit trail email in a properly named folder. And there's your audit trail.

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Identifying And Removing Deviously Engineered And Marketed Blog Hijacks

2012-01-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

We saw the symptoms of the first carefully engineered blog hijacks, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, two years ago. During each succeeding holiday season, each attack has apparently become more and more deviously engineered.

This season - each season starting in Fall of one year and lasting until Spring of the following year - we are seeing a hijack complement which appears to be devious in both marketing and installation technique, and which requires a complex search of the affected blogs. If you are receiving reports from your readers

Your blog starts to load - but is quickly replaced by a page full of advertisements!

you may need to exhaustively examine your blog for any third party code - and as always, the problem code may have been installed at any time in the past. When discovered, the hijacks are not consistently found in recently installed code.

The blog hijacks, being examined during this holiday season - appear to be deviously planned and marketed.

The hijacks use a variety of host accessories and gadgets.
The hijacks use a variety of distribution libraries.
The hijacks are being marketed to a diverse audience, which causes different installation techniques - and necessitates the complex search of affected blogs.

To find and remove a hijack from an affected blog, you'll need to start by viewing the blog in question, using a text only browser, or proxy service. I, personally, use several products.

hpHosts vURL is a text only browser, that runs as a stand alone application locally on your computer.
Notepad-Plus-Plus is an offline text editor, which provides a variety of search tools for text files. You can sometimes avoid use of your browser completely, by copying page source code directly from vURL.
Rex Swain's HTTP Viewer is a standard online text proxy that I use.
Lingo4you HTTP Web-Sniffer is an online alternative to Rex Swain.

All of these products may be more or less useful in identifying the source of your specific hijack. The Rex Swain and Web-Sniffer text proxies each have their effective differences.

If anybody uses alternative products, and cares to share information about the tools used, I will most gratefully add them to my library here.

The approach here is complex.

Of course, backup the template, before starting.
Load the blog, in question, in the text browser / proxy display of your choice.
Do a simple text search for the identified host / target name in the URL, such as "adiwidget", "pagesinxt", or "ripway".
You'll see several different possibilities.
- The search may reveal the hijacking code in an HTML gadget. You can use the "Pages Elements" / Design tab (Classic GUI), or the "Layout" wizard (New GUI), and remove the offending gadget.
- The search may reveal the hijacking code in the template HTML. You'll have to use the Template Editor, and remove the offending lines of code.
- The search may not find any identified host name, in a text search. You'll have to do an extensive text search, looking for unknown HTML / JavaScript gadgets / snippets of code, and evaluate each gadget / snippet, on the fly.
You may need to bypass the Blogger menu structure, to directly access the Blogger wizard needed, if trying to use the Blogger menus is also a problem.
Clear browser cache, before checking for success.
And always backup the template, again, after completing this task.

And hopefully, having found and removed a hijack from your blog, you will learn to be more discrete, in your choice of accessories and gadgets, in the future.

Deletion Is Not An Alternative, If You Cannot Authenticate Yourself Or Recover Access

2012-01-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

Some supposed blog owners, unable to login to their Blogger accounts because they forgot the Blogger account name or password (or never bothered to remember either), try to compromise. They figure that, if they can't regain access to the blog, then Blogger will be willing to simply delete the blog - and everybody will be happy. They appear to have overlooked the repeatedly stated policy

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.

The fact is, blog deletions are as sensitive to illegal action as account recovery.

Just as Blogger exercises due diligence in requiring proper authentication for Blogger account recovery, any requested deletion of any supposedly owned blog should be no less controlled.

Blogger promises us

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.

This means that our blogs will not be deleted, or transferred, to another person without careful validation of that other person. If that other person cannot prove rightful ownership of the blog in question, Blogger is not legally entitled to delete the blog, any more than they are entitled to transfer control of that blog.

We are permitted to own and publish our blogs, without any minimal required activity, and without any required proof of our real life identity. We are entitled to publish our blogs when we see fit - and are entitled to come back to our blogs after any length of time - if we are able to authenticate ourselves.

Blogger will not harass us when we are inactive, whether or not anybody else plans to publish to our URL with more vigour. Nor will they give anybody else control of our blogs, either to publish - or to delete.

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Retrieving The PostID, To Recover A Deleted Post

2012-01-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

One of the challenges of using the Blogger "Edit Posts" menu (in the Classic Blogger GUI) or the "Posts" menu (in the New Blogger GUI) is the too easy ability to delete posts, if you are not thinking about what you're doing. Fortunately, under the right circumstances, accidental deletion of a single post won't cause a terrible catastrophe - though you (the blog owner) will need to react properly.

There are several ways to recreate or recover a post, after it's accidentally deleted from your blog. Only one way will let you recover the contents, published to the same URL as before.

Recover from the blog feed, using scraped text.
Recover from search engine cache, using scraped text.
Recover from search engine cache, using the PostID.

The PostID, similar to the BlogID, is a non publicised identifier, which is attached to a post, when it's published to the host blog.

If you delete a post that's been cached by the search engines, you can retrieve the PostID from the cached content. Combining the BlogID and the PostID, you can directly access the Post editor display for the post itself, and re publish the post.

The previous post in this subject, Recovering A Deleted Post, was cached by the search engines some time ago. Doing a search engine cache search, I can find a cached copy of that post.

Looking at the source code for that page, as cached, I look for (some line breaks inserted, here)

<div class='post hentry'>
<a name='8899607620317019913'></a>
<h3 class='post-title entry-title'>
<a href='http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/01/recovering-deleted-post.html'>
Recovering A Deleted Post</a>
</h3>

There's the PostID

8899607620317019913

Adding the PostID and the BlogID, I can now access the post editor as

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=24069595&postID=8899607620317019913

From there, I simply

Publish Post

and my post, with all content and with the original URL, comes right back online.

If you have this problem, just do the same, and you will get the right results. I'll note that the post editor session, for a given blog, can only be used by a blog author or owner - this is not a security risk. Try my example, above, if you don't believe me.

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Search Engine Results Are Not Permanent

2012-01-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

One of the oddest problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken comes from blog owners who only want their blog to be found, in search engine results.

I started a blog 6 months ago. I spent a week getting my blog publicised, it started showing up in search engine results, and all was well. 6 months later, my blog shows up nowhere, it's like it doesn't exist. What happened to my blog??

These blog owners do not realise that a position in any page of the search results is not permanent.

Each page of search results, for any search query, has 10 entries. In order for your blog to show up on Page 1 of any search hit list, one entry, that was there last week, now appears on Page 2.

The owner of the blog recently demoted to Page 2 in the search hit list now has to spend some time getting his blog publicised, so his blog will appear again. Next week, a third person is going to find his blog demoted to Page 2. During all of the churn over Page 1 and 2, somebody who last month was happy to find her blog listed on Page 2, now finds it listed on Page 3. And people on Pages 3 and 4 are constantly struggling to get their blog to Page 2 and 3, respectively.

The lesson here is simple - any position in the search hit list, for any search query, is not permanent - nor will it happen immediately. Similar to the churn over Follower count, when your blog gets a better position, that's because another blog is now getting a worse position. And you will only get that position from hard work.

Now while you are busy checking the search hit lists for the appearance of your blog, you should be checking the diagnostic tools in Google Webmaster Tools. The problem that you see, reflected in the search hit list this week, may have been visible in one or more diagnostic reports last week. You need to monitor your blog proactively, using Google Webmaster Tools, as much as reactively, using search engine results.

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Why Does Blogger Use A Google Account, Which Is Based On Your Email Address, To Identify You?

2012-01-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

One of the most constantly seen discussions, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, involves people who have forgotten their Blogger account name or password. Generally, it's a rather simple task to recover access to one's Blogger account, should you forget / lose access to any one Blogger authentication token.

The Blogger Forgot your username or password? wizard will send, upon request, an account recovery email message, to the email address associated with the Blogger account needed, for any active and online blog. Just provide the blog name, read the email, and follow instructions.

Unfortunately, not all Blogger blog owners can always use email based account recovery.

Some blog owners, when advised to recover access to their Blogger blog by opening the account recover email message, are unable to do this. Excuses abound - and there are so many different ones.

There are several reasons for using Blogger / Google email account based account names.

Account name uniqueness, benefits Blogger / Google.
Identity verification, benefits Blogger / Google.
Name retention, benefits the account holder.

Unfortunately, not all Blogger blog owners appreciate those advantages - and some actively avoid them.

If you want to own or publish a Blogger blog, you have to have a Blogger / Google account. For your convenience, you can have a Blogger / Google account name that's based on any mutually suitable email address. If you don't want to use a single, active email address - or if changing your Blogger account, each time that you change email accounts, is not convenient - you won't be forced to use your active, current email address.

You can have as many GMail or non GMail email accounts, as you wish. However, keeping track of your email accounts is your responsibility - and only your responsibility. Blogger cannot support or track your multiple identities.

If you choose to not use your active, current email address in your Blogger account, and you ever forget the account name or password, please do not write into Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? and ask

What's my email address? Can I have a hint?

Can somebody please send me email to my current address?

Blogger Support cannot, legally, help you, in this case. When you're told

No.

please, don't complain.

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What Is The Mysterious 90 Day Period, After Blog Deletion?

2012-01-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

We see periodic evidence of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, about deletion of our blogs.

I deleted my blog last year - can I get it back?

and

I deleted my blog last month - when will I be able to use it with my new Blogger account?

and

I deleted my blog, but it's still visible, on the Internet!

Not everybody is fully able to understand the "90 day" deletion policy.

Confusion about blog deletion, blog recovery, URL availability, and ongoing visibility have been a problem for several years - ever since Blogger gave us the ability to restore our deleted blogs. Last year, Blogger gave us the "90 day" provision.

From what we know, the "90 day" provision simply says that blogs deleted over 90 days ago cannot be un deleted. Blogger has yet to advise us, definitively, that a blog (URL), deleted over 90 days ago, would produce any secondary result.

The URL won't be available, for use by you (under another Blogger account) - or by someone else.
Any removal from search engine cache will happen only if you plan the deletion, before hitting "Delete blog".
The blog will simply be un recoverable, by us, since Blogger does not archive deleted blogs for un deletion by us, over 90 days.

And, whether the blog is visible on our dashboards (or not), and recoverable by us (or not), unless we make preparation for updating services outside Blogger - for instance, Google Webmaster Tools - a deleted blog will be visible in search engine cache, for a long time.

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Link Your Blog, Using A Dynamic Template, To A Non Dynamic Page In Your Blog

2012-01-15T22:41:00.000-08:00

The dynamic templates have been available for just over 3 months, and for all their usefulness, there are a number of identified deficiencies. We see, every week, naive questions about one well known deficiency.

How do I add a bloglist (Followers gadget, labels index, popular posts, what have you...) gadget to my blog, with it using a dynamic template?

Adding gadgets to a dynamic template display just won't be a simple project. Not to be facetious, but there is really no space on the screen, for an accessory bar (also known as a sidebar). The dynamic views dynamically fill all horizontal space.

Lack of popular gadgets, like Followers, are a major shortcoming for many blog owners, who are considering using a dynamic template for their blog. Many blog owners like the Followers gadget - and can't bear the idea of having their blog without its ability to build their reader community. Other gadgets, similarly unavailable, cause disappointment also.

It's possible that Blogger is hard at work redesigning the dynamic template display, and creating a space for an accessory bar. Until they do that, though, you may be able to have gadgets like Followers - if not on the first page of a dynamic template, possibly on a Pages link.

If you create a Pages gadget, using the New GUI Pages editor, you can add a link to any URL in the blog, in the Pages gadget. If you can do that, you can add a pair of links to the home page - one explicitly targeting the non dynamic URL, a second targeting a dynamic URL (your chosen default view). The first links your blog, using a dynamic view, to a page containing all of your missing gadgets; the second links back to the dynamic view.

The Layout menu entry is not available, when the blog is published to a dynamic template. If not already present, you'll have to add the Pages gadget, with the blog published to a non dynamic template.

As an alternate to the two links, you can force a new tab / window, for the non dynamic link. With the non dynamic view opening in a new tab / window, there's no need to link back - so you need only one link.

Here's a link to my test blog.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, non dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

Home (Non Dynamic)

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

Home (Dynamic)

Here's how the latter two links were constructed.

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, non dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/?v=0

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/view/sidebar

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, non dynamic, opening in a new tab / window, added to the Pages gadget.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/?v=0 target="_blank"

Click on any of the links, and see what you get. It was simpler to do it, than to write about it.

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Two Level Comments, And One Known Post Template Update

2012-01-14T09:36:00.000-08:00

From feedback being received about the recent release of two level commenting, and the many different problems attributed to the release, it appears that there is one commonly identified update to the post template. It's possible that adding this one change, to some blogs with tweaked post templates, may eliminate the need for a post template refresh.

This is a simple change - but it must be made in 4 different places. I highly recommend that you backup the template, before and after making this change. Allow 30 minutes, to concentrate properly on the task.

Installation of this one post template patch may eliminate the need for many people to refresh the post template. It's also possible that this change, done in reverse, may let you disable two level comments, should you wish. In either case, please do this carefully, when you are relaxed, and able to concentrate.

First, backup the template.
Edit the template using the "Edit HTML" wizard, and select "Expand Widget Templates".

Carefully search for each instance of

<b:include data='post' name='comments'/>

Note that the target snippet (above) is entirely contained in the replace snippet (below). When you identify each snippet found, carefully examine it to make sure that the required code is not already present! Do not replace the target snippet with itself, redundantly!

Replace each instance found, if not already present, with

<b:if cond='data:post.showThreadedComments'>
  <b:include data='post' name='threaded_comments'/>
<b:else/>
  <b:include data='post' name='comments'/>
</b:if>

Save Template.
Clear browser cache, and restart the browser. Test your changes.
Again, backup the template.

Again, I'll advise you to backup the template, before and after doing this.

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Two Level Comments, And Required Updates To Our Blogs

2012-01-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

The new two level commenting feature has been out for a short 2 days - and already there are at least half a dozen separate problems being attributed to the introduction of that feature. Not every blog owner understands how intrusive this new feature must have been, to install, into Blogger.

The previous two Blogger feature releases - dynamic templates, and the New Blogger GUI, required major changes to the Blogger GUI. Two level commenting, while not requiring major GUI changes, was still challenging to develop. Two level comments required a significant upgrade to the content of our blogs, and were activated without the decision of the blog owners involved.

The two immediately previous major Blogger releases - dynamic templates, and the New Blogger GUI, each required a major amount of coding and testing. The bulk of those features, though, involved Blogger GUI code, which was separate from the code in our blogs. Also, both of those features are optional, with various menu selections which allow us to activate, at our convenience - and to deactivate, when we find that either feature is not to our liking.

Two level commenting, on the other hand, was automatically and instantly activated. Owners of almost all blogs which publish a full post feed, and which use the embedded comment form, suddenly found their blogs offering this exciting feature. Installation of this feature was a no brainer - if your blog publishes full posts feeds, and uses the embedded comment form, your blog now has two level commenting.

The automatic activation of the feature, combined with some content and formatting problems attributed to the feature, left some blog owners feeling powerless. People reporting some problems are being told to deactivate the full blog feed, or to change from the embedded comment form, to work around the problems. Neither change is preferred, by some blog owners.

As an alternative to either recommended change, some blog owners may find relief from various problems, by reloading a standard blog template, and / or resetting the post template. For blog owners who enjoyed installing a custom third party template, and tweaking the decorations and layout of the posts, this alternative is even less acceptable than the suggested feature deactivations. Yet if it's productive when tried, this technique should define the base causes of some of the problems being reported.

For blog owners who are comfortable with tweaking the post template, a manual post template update may provide a solution, for some blogs. This manual update, if done in reverse, may allow people to deactivate two level commenting, without deactivating the full post feed, or changing from the embedded comment form.

As Blogger developed and tested the changes required, to make two level comments work, they had the ability to test using the Blogger development environment, and various Blogger provided templates. They had no ability to test using the many blog template custmisations, and post template tweaks, which many of us have installed in our personal blogs. That being the case, many of the observed problems are not entirely the fault of Blogger - we have to accept some responsibility also.

In short, if anybody with a blog that publishes a full post feed, and uses the embedded comment form, finds changes in their blogs which are not to their liking, they need to return their blog and post templates to Blogger standard, before feeling themselves entitled to complain

What did Blogger do, this time?

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When You Search For Important Email, Always Search Carefully

2012-01-13T01:21:00.000-08:00

Many Blogger / Google procedures involve email communications, with you needing to read - and respond to - email from Blogger / Google. Some email systems automatically sort incoming email, and put important (and not so important) email into different folders. Many times, email from Blogger / Google may be sorted into a folder where you would not always normally look - or may be sent to an email address that you might not think of, immediately. It's to your personal advantage, to find any email that is being sent to you.

One of the best known folders, besides Inbox, where email may be found would be "Bulk" / "Spam". All email systems may occasionally put important email into either "Bulk" or "Spam".

Any time when you are awaiting important email from Blogger / Google, such as when you are trying to recover access to your blog, or when you make (or maybe, need to make) an important purchase, always look in both the "Inbox" and "Bulk" / "Spam" folders. If your email system provides an "Incoming" mail log, it's never a bad idea to scan the log, periodically.

Besides checking the multiple sections of any one email account, you should also consider the complex interactions between Blogger accounts, email clients, and Google accounts, and examine any possible email addresses - both GMail and non GMail addresses - current and past, with similar persistence.

Your Blogger account needs to be based on an active email account (GMail, or non GMail). If you are intentionally obscuring your Blogger account, you're going to have a problem here.

Searching for incoming email, carefully, may reduce the amount of time you spend in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, asking for help retrieving your account name or email address from Blogger records, or asking why your non BlogSpot URL now redirects your readers to a page full of advertisements.

Prevent disappointment and future regret - check your "Bulk" / "Spam" folders, for all possible email accounts and clients which you use, periodically.

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Two Level Comments And The Comments Time / Date Stamp

2012-01-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Blogger Support delivered one long awaited improvement to our blogs - two level commenting. It was eagerly awaited - and as soon as the Buzz announcement hit the Blogosphere, people were busy checking out the new feature.

Predictably, problem reports have been rolling in, all day today, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. One noticed problem report concerns the date / time stamp on the comments.

All of the comments on my blog, even on previous posts, now show an incorrect time. I double-checked my setting, it is correctly set my local time.

The general consensus appears to be that all comments are now posting as Pacific Time (USA), regardless of the blog time zone setting.

This problem, along with several others, has been reported to Blogger Support - and they are now looking into this issue.

Watch this space for updates.

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Two Level Commenting Now Available, For Blogger Blogs

2012-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Blogger blog owners and viewers have been asking for the ability to post threaded comments, for many years. Today (slightly late for Christmas 2011), Blogger released it's first answer to that request - two level commenting.

Blogger now supports threaded commenting, which means that it is now much easier to differentiate between whether someone is making a general comment on the thread, or responding to another comment on the thread.

This is not what I would call classic "threaded commenting", but it's a reasonable alternative.

If you want to reply to your readers, when they post comments on your blog, that ability is finally here.

You will need a blog with full feeds enabled, and using the embedded comment form. As described in the Buzz post, once the comment form and feed are selected, using the New GUI, there's no additional selection needed. Just surf to the blog of your choice, and look under any comment for a new "Reply" link.

You'll note that since this feature is provided as part of the embedded comment form, it's built into the standard post template. If your blog, maybe using a custom or third party blog template, lacks threaded commenting, you'll want to refresh the post template, to enable this feature.

Every "Reply" link, whether under an existing or new comment, or under any reply to a comment, when posted, becomes a reply to the original comment. It's quite simple - you have just 2 choices.

You can post an original comment.
You can post a reply, to any comment.

And, that's it.

Since two level comments are part of the embedded comment form, you're going to need to check your cookie filters - people using computers with overly restrictive filtering won't be able to use the embedded comment form, and they won't see the two level commenting option. Beyond that issue, two level comments should be simple to use.

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