Stats And The "Don't track ..." Option, Used With Multiple Browsers And Shared Computers

The controversial nature of Stats and the "Don't track ..." option, which requires a third party cookie to enable the option to work, continues.

Even with all possible cookie filter properly set, and a consistent cookie clearing policy established, some blog owners persist in reporting that there are problems with Stats inconsistently observing the setting to not track their pageviews.

Not all blog owners realise that the Stats "Don't track ..." cookie is unique to each different browser - except when cookies are shared between computers.

Some browsers use cookies which are maintained as part of the personal profile, on the local computer - and some people may have cookies which are shared between multiple computers.

• Computers which are shared by multiple people may have multiple sets of cookies.
• Computers which are part of a local network may have a single set of cookies, per person, shared across multiple computers.
• Some blog owners may use multiple Blogger accounts.

Each of these possibilities will create differing cases where the Stats "Don't track ..." cookie, like other cookies, may or may not be present when a given person is surfing to the blog in question - and which will cause Blogger to count (or to not count) pageviews from the browser being used.

Some computers are owned by, and used by, multiple people. The operating system will encourage each different person to maintain her / his own settings and styles, and to identify herself / himself when starting the computer. The settings and styles are maintained in a personal profile - and most browsers maintain the cookies as part of the personal profile. If two people, who share a computer, also share a blog, each person will have to select "Don't track ..." consistently - or face having inconsistent counting of pageviews, when reading the blog.

Some local networks, where various computers are shared and used locally, may use profiles which are maintained in common between the various computers. Changes to the profile (including cookies), made on one computer, may transfer to other computers. Clearing or setting cookies on one computer may affect presence of the same cookies, on another computer - and may again cause inconsistent counting of pageviews, against blogs involved.

Some blog owners may use multiple Blogger accounts. Similar to the issue of blogs shared by different people / used on shared computers, blogs read on computers used by people with multiple Blogger accounts will have the "Don't track ..." cookie present, irregularly. This, too, will cause inconsistent counting of pageviews.

Finally, as noted, clearing of cookies will affect presence of the "Don't track ..." cookie - and will cause unexpected counting of pageviews. This inconsistency will be more common with computers shared by multiple owners, and with computers shared across a local network.

Many blog owners use only one browser, and one computer - and own and use their own computer, exclusively. Any blog owner, noting inconsistent effectiveness of the "Don't track ..." option, however, may do well to at least consider the above issues, occasionally.

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Adding The Domain Ownership Verification "CNAME", For A Non Root Virtual Host

Now that the new required custom domain publishing ownership verification feature has been out for several months, we are seeing it used in domains with multiple virtual hosts.

A few blog owners are even publishing their blogs to non root virtual hosts - and here we are seeing a new reason for a persistent Error 12 / 32, which just can't be solved.

I have followed all of the instructions, and I am still seeing Error 12. Help!

The "Advanced settings" Error 12 instructions - now provided on screen instead of requiring the blog owner to open an external "Settings instructions" document - require careful examination.

We have to look very closely at this variation on the publishing instructions, when publishing to a non root virtual host.

Advanced settings

http://www.blog.mydomain.com

We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 12.
On your domain registrar's website, locate your Domain Name System (DNS) settings and enter the following CNAMEs:

  Name, Label, or Host field    Destination, Target, or Points To field

  www                           ghs.google.com

  xxxxxxxxxxxx               gv-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.domainverify.googlehosted.com.

See our detailed instructions on providing CNAMEs for various registrars or see the full settings instructions for more details.

Taking these instructions at face value, and adding a "CNAME" record of relative Name value "xxxxxxxxxxxx" to verify the publishing address of "www", the blog owner is going to continue to see an "Error 12" or "Error 32" for a long time.

We have to look, very carefully, at the "Advanced settings" publishing address - in this case

www.blog.mydomain.com

In the registrar's Zone Editor (aka "Domain Manager" wizard), we see the Name value entered as an address relative to the domain root.

• With "www" entered for the Name, this provides a published address of "www.mydomain.com".
• With "www.blog" entered, this provides a published address of "www.blog.mydomain.com".

The Name value, for both "CNAME"s, as specified in the "Advanced settings" instructions, is relative to the domain root.

• A Name of "www", to provide a published address of "www.blog.mydomain.com", should be entered as "www.blog" in the Zone Editor.
• Similarly, a Name of "xxxxxxxxxxxx", to provide a published address of "www.blog.mydomain.com", should be entered as "xxxxxxxxxxxx.blog" in the Zone Editor.

Entering the domain ownership verification "CNAME" relative to the published URL allows non root virtual hosts to be used, in the domain, without chance of conflict.

• To publish to "blog.mydomain.com", we add a domain ownership verification "CNAME" of "xxxxxxxxxxxx.mydomain.com" (with the proper value of "xxxxxxxxxxxx").
• To publish to "www.mydomain.com", we add a domain ownership verification "CNAME" of "xxxxxxxxxxxx.mydomain.com" (with the proper value of "xxxxxxxxxxxx").
• To publish to "www.blog.mydomain.com", we add a domain ownership verification "CNAME" of "xxxxxxxxxxxx.blog.mydomain.com" (with the proper value of "xxxxxxxxxxxx").

We simply have to read the "Advanced settings" instructions, and enter the Name values in the Zone Editor, considering the context of the instructions.

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Would Be Blog Owners Report Inability To Create A Blog

We are currently seeing frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about new blog creation.

Would be new blog owners have various concerns

I can't create a blog - the "Create" button is grey (inoperative)!

or

It keeps saying

Verifying availability

when I enter a blog name!!

or even

It said

This blog address is available.

until I hit "Create blog!" - then it changed to

Sorry, this blog address is not available.

Each of these problem reports - and others - may come from people who don't read the instructions, for using the wizard. Alternately, some folks may be complaining about yet one more case of over done layered security.

The most obvious problems, in the blog creation process, come from people who don't understand how to use the "Create a blog" wizard.

Not every would be blog owner understands that 3 things must be done, to make the "Create blog!" button operative - and all 4 must be done, before the blog is actually created.

1. Enter a Title for the blog.
2. Enter an acceptable and available Name for the blog.
3. Select a Template for the blog.
4. Hit "Create blog!", with "This blog address is available." displayed.

When you choose a Name (aka "address" or "URL"), enter your choice properly.

• Only enter the "xxxxxxx" part of "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com".
• Only use lower case alphabetic characters ("a" - "z"), numeric characters ("0" - "9"), and dashes ("-").
• Do not use a trailing dash (You cannot publish "xxxxxxx- . blogspot . com").

Besides the syntax issues when entering a blog name (URL), there is the unfortunate issue of competition in the creation process. Blog owners who are anxiously creating a new blog, based upon a current event - maybe a popular movie star, or an important political campaign - will be dismayed to see

Sorry, this blog address is not available.

If you are competing in real time, with other would be blog owners, for the name of your choice - and you take too long between Steps #1 - #3, and Step #4 - you may still see

Sorry, this blog address is not available.

Many people want to setup a blog, based on that blog name. Some may see the bad news, repeatedly, leading to one frequently seen complaint.

All the good addresses are taken!

And sometimes, to a more imaginative suggestion.

How do I get Blogger to re issue me the dormant address?

The latter question is one of futility.

Finally, the anxious blog owner may see

Checking address availability

for some time - possibly forever - if an overly ambitious cookie / script filter, or an intrusive security add-on is installed in the browser. In this case, the magical advice to

Clear cache and cookies!

or

Try a different browser!!

will be effective - though absent any attempt to diagnose the problem, one may not ever know what actual underlying problem may have caused the plaintive cry

I can't create my blog!

Remove The "Next Blog" Link From The Navbar

Ever since Blogger added the "Next Blog" link to the Blogger Navbar, blog owner and readers alike have periodically asked one question, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I remove the "Next Blog" link, from the Navbar?

The "Next Blog" link, long ago added to generate random traffic for new blogs, is occasionally perceived as leading unwary readers to blogs where they should not wish to go. Some "adults" of various intention have asked this question, quite seriously, in fear of their blogs being inadvertently linked to blogs with unsavoury content.

The navbar coded as it is, there is no known ability to customise it, and to remove specific elements such as the "Next Blog" link. Generally, we simply advise people, when they have the need, to remove the Navbar.

Use the Layout wizard, Edit the "Navbar" gadget, and select "Off".

That noted, it is possible to remove the "Next Blog" link (and all buttons and links to its left), with a bit of CSS - for blogs with the owner able and comfortable with using the Template Designer. For a simple way to remove the "Next Blog" link, use the "Add CSS" menu option in the Template Designer, and add one snippet of code.

#navbar-iframe {
margin-left:-510px;
}

When you do this, you will lose 5 other buttons and links.

• The dashboard icon.
• The Blog Search window.
• The "G+ Share" icon.
• The share count display.
• The multi-function share / "Report Abuse" menu.

So hackers / spammers will appreciate the last menu being unavailable, on their blogs.

You may see this tweak demonstrated, in my New Template Laboratory. It's an ugly solution - but for blog owners who truly don't want their blogs linking to "Next Blog", it may be useful.

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Blog Readers Report Comments, Supposedly Published Using A Mobile Computer, Appear To Disappear

Recently, we've been seeing a few problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, mentioning problems publishing comments on Blogger blogs, when using mobile computers.

My readers tell me that they can't comment on my blog, using an iPad. Comments disappear, when they try to publish them.

As with a previously explored problem with comments on a non mobile computer, this problem may involve unfamiliarity with the publishing sequence.

The dialogue involved in publishing a comment, when using a desktop computer with a full size display and a non mobile Blogger template, is not simple. Depending upon the various commenting options selected by the owner, the publishing sequence may be even more complex. Blog owners may need to consider the additional details involved in comment publishing, when using a mobile computer.

Using Blogger on a mobile computer involves various compromises - and the comment publishing process on a mobile computer even more compromises.

• The small display size, on a mobile computer, makes finding the various controls involved a challenge. Both the small size of everything involved, and the necessity of repeatedly scrolling around the screen, looking for the controls used in comment publishing, is frustrating.
• The "mobile template" is an attempt to make up for the small display size. The mobile template puts the various controls on a series of displays, with various buttons and links used to move from display to display.

People unaccustomed to the sequence of steps involved in the comment publishing process may not see all of the controls required, when using a mobile computer. Neither the wide non mobile template, nor the deep mobile template, displays the comment publishing sequence easily. People who are not very experienced with the comment publishing process, in general, might become confused with the displays.

As an example, let's look at the basic comment entry dialogue. So simple - when you are used to it, and can see all of the components.

• On a desktop / full function display, you'll see an entry box, and a "Publish" button beneath the box. You use the keyboard and / or mouse to enter text into the box, then click on the "Publish" button.
• When the required display space is larger than the physical screen space, you'll have a horizontal and / or vertical scroll bar, indicating that scrolling is required, to locate other display content. You'll use the mouse to manipulate the scroll bars, and make other portions of the display visible.
• A mobile display will have an entry box, and an on screen keyboard. The onscreen keyboard will occupy a fixed amount of display space, with the entry box occupying the available remainder.
• The mobile display won't have scroll bars - if other portions of the display are not immediately visible, you'll use your finger to scroll around the screen. If you are not familiar with screen layout, you'll have to scroll around, aimlessly.
• The "Publish" button will be somewhere near the entry box - but depending upon screen size and orientation, may not be immediately visible. You may have to scroll around the screen to find the "Publish" button.
• People not used to using a mobile computer may be unable to find the "Publish" button. Finding other display content that may appear to replace the "Publish" button, they may be confused when their comments are not published, and report that their comments disappeared.

Both the authentication sequence (when authentication is required), and the CAPTCHA entry sequence (when a CAPTCHA is involved), when involved in mobile computing commenting, will make the comment publishing process even more complicated. The authentication sequence may be more complex, if the browser in use has a problem with Blogger authentication - and "third party" cookies.

Since most blogs are designed primarily for non mobile computer use, commenting using mobile computers may not be obvious, for a while. Many readers may simply not publish comments, to the same activity level, when using their mobile computers.

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Some Blog Owners Reporting The Template Designer Changes Do Not Update On Their Blogs

For several weeks, we're been seeing various reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, mentioning problems with template updates, being made using the Template Designer wizard.

The reports are not so widespread to indicate a complete malfunction - but neither can we dismiss the problem, as being unique to one browser, one template type, or one particular update pattern.

It's likely that we are looking at a number of problems, aggregated and compounded, into one common symptom.

I cannot Save changes in Template Designer.

With a problem report like this, some examining of the details may be appropriate.

The Template Designer wizard, which is a component in the Blogger Dashboard, is a complex and sophisticated collection of menus and utilities, which runs on the blog owners computers.

Like most Blogger code, the Template Designer is subject to the effects of other programs, and various security settings - which may be installed or set on each individual computer, with or without the understanding of the blog owner and / or computer owner. In some cases, the blog owner and computer owner may be different people.

If you are seeing a problem with the Template Designer, when trying to update the layout on your blog, there are several tests which you can make, which may help to isolate the problem.

• Try making the same updates, using another computer.
• Try making the same updates, using another browser on your current computer.
• Try setting up a new blog, with the same template, and make the same updates to the new blog.

If you're able to make one or more of the above alternate updates, that will help to eliminate some, or many, alternate suspects, as the cause of your problem. If other people are reporting this problem, their results from the above tests may or may not correspond with yours - because their base problem may differ from yours.

Right now, we're seeing seven different causes of these problems.

1. Changes made by Blogger Engineering, to support new browser versions and browser updates, and to provide new template features.
2. Changes inherent in new browser versions, made by the browser vendors.
3. Third party browser add-ons, installed by the owners of the various computers.
4. Security settings, inherent in new browser versions and third party add-ons.
5. The cumulative effects of various template tweaks, both made using "Edit HTML" and the Template Designer itself.
6. Unrealistic expectations of blog owners, about effects of Template Designer settings, against all templates provided by Blogger.
7. Unrealistic expectations of blog owners, about effects of Template Designer settings, against templates not provided by Blogger.

Of these possible causes, only #1 (and possibly #2 and #6) are the sole responsibility of Blogger Engineering. The blog owners (and computer owners) must assume some partial responsibility for #2 - and sole responsibility for #3, #4, and #5. The blog owner, and the developer of any custom, third party template, must jointly assume responsibility for #7.

Recently, Blogger Support acknowledged the problem, in part.

Some users have reported that the Apply to Blog button in the Template Designer is non-functional for some Dynamic View templates.

We also have a Rollup Discussion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where individual details are being provided by various blog owners.

Right now, we're starting to suspect that some "problems" are actually caused by the blog owners, who are simply not aware that not all changes made, using the Template Designer (or the Layout or Template "Edit HTML" wizards), are designed to update all templates used in viewing our blogs.

Disable The Mobile Template, On Your Blog - As A Default View

Over a year ago, Blogger introduced a useful template option for our blogs - mobile templates.

Blogger mobile templates are mobile-optimized versions of our Template Designer templates. If you are using one of these templates, when you enable the mobile template option your blog will begin rendering using the mobile version of the same variant. Even if you are not using a Template Designer template, or using a heavily-customized version of one, you can still enable this feature to have your blog start rendering in a generic default mobile template that we have created.

The mobile templates let computers with lower display size / resolution - aka PDAs, mobile phones, and smart phones - display the content of our blogs, without the unnecessary overhead which may be a part of our normal blog formatting.

If you are viewing this post on your smart phone, it's likely that you are viewing it using a mobile template. As exciting as the mobile templates are, however, they will not replace the normal, full feature templates - on every blog, or on every mobile computer.

Not every blog owner, nor every visitor, wants to view any given blog using a mobile template. Some tablet computers have display units which rival normal desktop displays from a few years ago - and low feature, mobile templates are unnecessary. Fortunately, there are a number of options - for the blog owner, and for the blog visitor.

If you are a blog owner, you can disable the mobile template, as a default, for your blog. For those blog owners who have forgotten how they set the mobile template on their blog, you use the "Template - Choose mobile template" wizard, from the gear icon beneath Template - Mobile. Simply select "No. Show desktop template on mobile devices.", and Save - and that's it.

If your blog has a Classic Template, you can disable the default mobile template from your blog, with a little extra bit of effort.

1. Start with the Template wizard, and select "Upgrade template".
2. Once your blog has an upgraded template, you can use the "Choose mobile template" wizard, and select "No.".
3. Go back to the Template wizard, and at the bottom find "Revert to classic templates".
4. Selecting the latter link, your blog will be back to the previous, Classic template.
5. But now, the default Mobile template will be disabled.

Upgrade your blog, to a Designer template.

Return your blog, to a Classic template.

Having set - or un set - the default mobile template for your blog, your visitors have the final say, how they want to view your blog. If you are the visitor, you can choose, with a little effort.

Any time you are viewing a Blogger blog, from any computer, you can select - or de select - the mobile template for the blog which you are viewing. Just use the appropriate mobile template URL suffix.

• To de select the mobile template, use "/?m=0". http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/?m=0
• To select the mobile template, use "/?m=1". http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/?m=1

You can view a blog using a mobile template on your desktop computer - or a blog using a full feature template on your mobile computer. It's now your choice.

This blog, viewed from this computer, using a Mobile template.
Unfortunately, it's your choice, when you use your mobile computer, only. You have only two choices, for your blog.

• Don't enable the mobile template.
• Enable the mobile template.

Each of your readers have to choose how to view your blog - if you choose to offer the mobile template.

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Visitor Logs Cause Undue Concern

We see periodic concern, expressed in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, over apparent visitor access to blog maintenance wizards, using the Quick Edit icons.

I found this entry, in my StatCounter log. How did this person get access to my blog?

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7834826019588534175&postID=890014875501476492&from=pencil

Was my blog hacked?

This may not be a justified reason to panic, however. One may first wish to check that Stats (or whatever visitor log is in use, in this case) is properly configured, to not track your own activity. The link that you see may reflect your activity.

Even if the visitor log entry in question does not appear to reflect your own activity - even when allowing for the vagaries of geo location, you may still do well to remain calm.

Thanks to the unpredictable nature of cache, some blog artifacts may be visible to people other than blog owners.

Cache in your browser, on your computer, or even on your network, may cause the Quick Edit icon - which provides you with access to the sensitive wizards, which control the content of your blog - to also be visible to the casual visitor to your blog. Any idly curious visitor may even click on such an icon, when visible.

However, visibility of the icon does not guarantee access to sensitive blog controls. Here's what I saw, when I clicked on the link above.

D'Ohh!!!

Maybe, you'd like to verify that your blog is safe?

1. Extract the URL, from a Quick Edit pencil, or screwdriver / wrench, on your blog.
2. Verify that the link works, by testing it in your browser. See that you can access the post editor or the wizard, for the pencil or screwdriver / wrench.
3. Save the verified URL, somewhere safe.
4. Clear cache, cookies, and sessions (yes, clear all 3!).
5. Restart your browser, and do not login to Blogger.
6. Load the saved URL.
7. What do you see?

If the above suggestion isn't interesting, I'll let you try to attack my blog.

Similar to the problem with phantom visitors reading a private blog, or maybe seeing your email address where other people can see it, or even porn sites linking to your blog, this may not be an issue to concern you. Calm down, and get back to work.

Use Of Google+ For Networking, And Keeping Your Blogger Account And Blogs Safe

One constant activity in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken involves blog owners whose blogs were deleted - either righteously or spuriously - as part of the ongoing battle against spam, in Blogger blogs. Generally, the problem comes directly from the blog content.

Sometimes, the problem is more subtle.

When I tried to login to Blogger, I got a screen that said my account needed to be verified, due to "unusual activity on my account". Having verified my account, I see that my blogs have been deleted.

This is part of one of the more intriguing episodes, in the never ending fight against hacking and spam, in Blogger.

Some Blogger blog owners participate in comment based discussions, and provide their email addresses there. Some state their email addresses openly, in the body of the comments, for the world to see when viewing the comments. Others post comments using their Blogger accounts, knowing that the blog owners can see their email address in the comment moderation / notification email messages - and can contact them using email.

Spammers use comment based networking, to their advantage. They subscribe to any comment thread, using the "Notify me" option - then wait while blog readers comment using their Blogger accounts. As the email comes in, from blog readers commenting, they scrape the email addresses from the email content. Since most people commenting either openly state their blog URLs in the comment bodies - or link to a list of their blogs - the spammer now has two essential ingredients, to be used for hacking someone's Blogger account, and gaining control of the blogs owned by the account.

Google now provides Google+, where we can network with a designated audience, and avoid spam in our email. Using Google+, our email addresses are not revealed, and spammers have less incentive to use Google+ for email address harvesting. This protects our Blogger accounts and blogs against hacking, and relieves us from email based spam.

For people who update their Blogger accounts to use Google+ based profiles, but continue to network using Blogger comments, Blogger now protects us by using anonymous email addresses in all comment generated email. This leaves people who continue to comment, using Blogger accounts with native Blogger profiles, vulnerable to ongoing email address harvesting, and account hacking.

Blogger account hacking, using email addresses harvested from Blogger blog comments, will typically involve brute force password guessing. Blogger, detecting brute force attempts against a vulnerable Blogger account, will lock the account and the blogs. Once we verify ownership of our Blogger account - and hopefully change the Blogger account password to something less vulnerable to guessing - the blogs owned by a possibly compromised account remain locked, until they can be examined for signs of tampering, by Google security / spam analysts.

We also must consider the possibility that not all brute force password guessing attacks are being detected by Google - and some Blogger accounts are being deviously, and temporarily, hijacked.

People who setup Blogger accounts based on bogus email addresses - or who have accounts based on old email addresses which they can't use - continue to present a challenge here. These people will never receive essential email advising them of a problem in either verifying their Blogger account - or their blogs. This will continue to make our initial spam lock advice relevant.

Can you login to Blogger? Do you have a dashboard link "Deleted blogs"? That's where you start.

You wait 24 to 48 hours after submitting a Restore request - then you post back here, and we take the next step.

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Submitting A Court Order To Google

Periodically, we have discussions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about issues, that absolutely cannot be resolved in a forum problem discussion.

These issues will vary, by relationship to a given blog, as well as by nature of the offense perceived.

• Some blog owners have lost control of their Blogger account, and lack ability to recover control.
• Some people are offended by a Blogger blog, but an offense which may not constitute a Google TOS violation.
• Some people may believe that a Blogger blog name, in use by someone else, may reflect badly upon their hard earned business identity.
• Some people may be the survivor, in a relationship where the owner of a given blog is now deceased.

Some of these complaints may have been reported to Google, in an ongoing effort, for years.

We know that Google Legal has to take a conservative approach in evaluating the various complaints submitted to them.

Material to be removed is specified, using the Google Content Removal process. Every complaint may involve a third party, who has equal rights that must be considered.

In cases where Google Legal must deny action, and generally will not respond to a submitted Content Removal form, the person making a complaint is advised to use the courts to verify his identity and / or legal relationship with the blog in question.

Anybody who does not receive appropriate response from Google Legal may hire a lawyer, start a lawsuit, and get a court order issued by a judge. A properly issued court order can be then submitted to Google using the Google Help: Submit a Court Order to Google form.

After Using "Buy a domain", Blog Owners Are Seeing "Server error" From Google Apps

Ever since Google ended its free Google Apps accounts, we've been seeing reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about problems encountered when setting up a new Google Apps account, to administer a newly purchased custom domain.

Every time I try to login to Google Apps, using instructions in the email message, I get

Server Error: We could not process your request at this time, please try again later.

The limited function free Google Apps accounts, which can be only used for domain maintenance, do not work with the Google Apps account setup wizard, which is generally used after using "Buy a domain". When you see "Invalid request" or "Server error", you need to reset the password for the "bloggeradmin" account, for your domain.

Start by accessing the Google Apps administrative account reset wizard, for your domain. If you use GMail for your email, or other Google products, try to use a different browser for Google Apps. Alternately, use an "Incognito" window, in Chrome - or a "Private" window, in Firefox. Or, clear cache, cookies, and sessions - then restart the browser, when possible.

For this domain, "nitecruzr.net", I would access the account reset wizard as

http://google.com/a/cpanel/nitecruzr.net/ResetAdminPassword

or possibly

http://google.com/a/nitecruzr.net/ResetAdminPassword

You simply change "nitecruzr.net", to your domain URL, to reset the administrative password for your domain.

---

(Update 2013/11/03): This process should be slightly simplified, with Google Apps now using the new integrated Google login screen.

---

Having solved the CAPTCHA in the reset screen, Google will send a password reset email message, for the "bloggeradmin" account for your domain, to the email address used by your Blogger account. Once again, this is a bad time to be using Blogger anonymously.

Open your email, then open and execute the email message, to reset the bloggeradmin Google Apps account. Be sure to enter the complete Google Apps account name, in the Google account reset screen.

Once the password is reset, login to Google Apps. Then retrieve the login tokens, from the Google Apps desktop, to access eNom or GoDaddy.

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Redirecting The Home Page, And Mobile Templates

Everything has its limits - even Blogger features. For a while, we've been seeing hints that mobile templates don't support a redirected Home page.

How do I disable the Blogger mobile redirect "/?m=1"?

Some blog owners would prefer their readers, using a mobile computer, see a redirected Home page, with a desktop template - instead of a mobile display with a dynamic Home page.

Apparently, the mobile redirect

/?m=1

overrides the Home page redirect

/

Actually, this makes sense. "/?m=1" (the redirected mobile template URL snippet) is not equal to "/" (the redirected Home page URL snippet).

For those blog owners who have forgotten how they set the mobile template on their blog, you need to remove the mobile template, using the "Template - Choose mobile template" wizard, from the gear icon beneath Template - Mobile. Simply select "No. Show desktop template on mobile devices.", and Save - and that's that.

Now, everybody - including your readers using mobile computers - will see the standard desktop template (with optional Home page redirect), when viewing your blog.

This probably won't remain a difficult choice, for all blog owners, for long. Newer mobile computers - PDAs, phones, tablets, and such - have rather sophisticated display units, which approach the clarity of normal high resolution devices previously seen on desktop / laptop computers, from just a few years ago. One's readers simply have to get used to a computer with a 6" to 12" touch screen, instead of one with a 12" to 16" no touch screen with keyboard.

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Template Designer Upgrades Require Supporting Updates To The Individual Blog Templates

This week, we're seeing a small flood of problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken about problems with the Template Designer.

Every time I change something, I have to refresh the page in order for it to show up. It won't "Save" when I try to save the layout changes. It just says "Saving..." at the top of the page and fades away, but doesn't actually save any changes.

Many problems involve changes made to the template, using the Designer, which aren't being saved - or are broken when saved. Most of the people reporting these problems have made changes to the template, previously - some are so experienced at making changes, they can't believe that their latest changes could ever have problems.

Interestingly, this history of changes is not a coincidence - and it's likely that some of the changes helps to cause these problems.

Take a look at the template code in your blog, some time. You'll notice a lot of code which doesn't look like CSS, HTML, or XML. Some of it is code which supports the various blog features that are adjusted or configured using the Template Designer.

Many template features involve two sets of code.

1. The Template Designer wizard, part of the Blogger dashboard, is common code used by all blog owners.
2. The blog template, post template, and / or widget template, is part of the individual blogs. Some template code does nothing but support the Template Designer - and let you configure your blog layout,

Every time Blogger Engineering adds or updates template features, they have to make changes to both sets of code.

Blogger Engineering does not edit each individual blog, after they upgrade the Template Designer. They make changes to the master template code - and their changes replicate into the individual blog templates. These changes replicate much more consistently, when the individual templates have not been changed.

The more custom a template is, with changes applied by the blog owner, or possibly in a third party template, the less likely it is to properly update, to support each succeeding Template Designer update.

Any time Blogger Engineering updates the Template Designer, to add a new feature, or maybe to support a new browser version, their updates may require changes which are not properly applied to all blogs - and the Template Designer stops working, in some blogs.

When the Template Designer stops working, the usual recommendation is to refresh the post or widget template - or maybe to upgrade the blog template - and things start rolling again. And the blog owner goes back to tweaking the template, until something breaks again.

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The Content Of Your Reading List Is Your Responsibility

Occasionally, we see an odd problem report about Reading List content, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

How did this blog get into my Reading List? I did not Follow this blog!

Most people will not, knowingly, Follow a spam blog. This is one reason why Following is so popular - each blog owner, and blog reader can easily bypass, and actively block - spam. Spammers have, however, found devious ways to convince people to Follow them.

Nobody will, intentionally, Follow a spam blog. If we unintentionally Follow a blog which is owned by somebody gullible to the spammers suggestions, it's not difficult to identify, and stop Following, any blogs owned by gullible people.

You can, using the right reporting procedure, identify the blogs which offend you. It's possible that Blogger / Google will, given the right complaints, remove such blogs.

• Any action taken upon your report of problem blogs is subject to delay - and due process of law - before any results will be seen.
• The content which offends you may not be provided in a Blogger blog. Google has no power over non Google hosted websites.
• Any blogs removed as a result of your complaints will be replaced, in the spam blog cloud, which you are seeing, thanks to the blog which you are Following.

When you see content which offends you, in your Reading List, the proper resolution will be simple.

• Find, and remove, the blogs which you are Following - and which provide the problem content presence in your Reading List.
• Report the blogs which you are Following - not the blogs / websites which provide the unwanted content.

You may, at your discretion, add a third step.

• Report the blogs or websites which provide the unwanted content.

But do the third step, as a third step - not as the only step. Report the problem blogs - as Step #2 - here, or in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. Be part of The Solution - not The Problem.

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Blogger Magic - Activating The Blog Feed

One of the neatest - and easiest - techniques, to make your blog available to a larger audience, uses a replica of the blog posts - the blog newsfeed.

Most blogs, when new, have the feed activated by default. Oddly enough, some blogs - even published publicly - do not publish a newsfeed.

Some blog owners, wondering why their blogs are not being indexed by the search engines, are perplexed.

Why isn't my blog publishing a feed?

If you want full visibility, activate the blog newsfeeds.

You activate the various newsfeeds, for the blog, from the dashboard Settings - Other - Site Feed wizard.

Routinely, you'll have one setting - "Allow Blog Feeds" - and this setting will affect all feed options equally. If you select "Custom", you can enable or disable any of the 3 feed options, separately.

• Blog Posts Feed
• Blog Comments Feed
• Per-Post Comment Feeds

Each setting will have 3 possible selections - Full, Until Jump Break, Short, None.

(Note): If you enable a feed, it is available to anybody with a feed reader, either a feed reader that they personally use, or one built in to a blog. There is no option to limit feed access - feeds are available, equally, to all interested parties. This is why feeds are not published by limited access (private) blogs.

If you fear that unknown parties might steal content from your blog by using your feed, don't publish a Full feed, publish a Short feed. This will require anybody wishing to read a complete post to access your blog, rather than reading it in their newsreader.

In most cases, though, a "Full" setting, for all feeds, is best.

Redirecting Any URL In Your Blog, To Another URL

In late 2011, Blogger Engineering gave us a new Blogger feature - the ability to redirect any URL in a blog, to any other URL in the blog.

Like any feature, we found an immediate use for it - something much requested, for a good while. Other people have found more uses for the redirection feature - and still others have found confusion.

The syntax used in the redirection "From" and "To" values is not always obvious - and occasionally there is confusion about what can - and can't - be done with redirection.

This is the URL of this post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

Using the redirection feature, I can redirect another URL in this blog, to this post - or conversely, I can redirect the URL of this post to another URL, in this blog.

You can only redirect within the blog.

Both the "From" and "To" values in "Custom Redirects" accept any static blog URL, less the base URL of that blog. You cannot specify the base URL - so all redirections will be within the blog itself.

You can redirect the blog home page display, within the blog.

The initial use for the redirection feature (at least, for me) was to replace the Home page of the blog, with another page or post - possibly, this post.

From: /
To: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

I could change the Home page of this blog, to start all new readers on the Topics Index page.

From: /
To: /p/topics.html

You can redirect one specific post URL reference, within the blog.

If I was to change the Title of this post, when re published, the URL would not change. If I wanted to change the URL of this post, I could redirect the desired URL, to the actual URL.

From: /2012/12/redirecting-any-urls-in-your-blog.html
To: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

You can make a shorter URL, for easy access inside or outside the blog.

If I want to allow this post to be accessed from a shorter URL, I can do that. If you click on the shorter URL (below), you will note that you still see the longer URL in the browser address window!

From: /redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html
To: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html

I recently created a shortcut to my Topics index, as "blogging.nitecruzr.net/topics".

From: /topics
To: /p/topics.html

And here is a demonstration of a custom redirect, to my magic post about custom redirects.

From: /SimpleURL
To: /2013/01/blogger-magic-redirecting-url-in-your.html

Pick any two URLs, in the same blog.

To get the "From" and "To" values for any redirection, I simply take any two URLs in the same blog. Choose any two examples - one for "From", the other for "To".

• The Home page: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/
• A post: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html
• A static page: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/p/topics.html
• A label search: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Redirecting
• A shortcut URL: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/topics

And drop the base URL: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net

Giving:

• The Home page: /
• A post: /2012/12/redirecting-any-url-in-your-blog-to.html
• A static page: /p/topics.html
• A label search: /search/label/Redirecting
• A shortcut URL: /topics

Having developed the proper "From" and "To" values, adding a "Custom Redirects" entry is simple enough.

Make a cleaner "menu bar" display, if you redirect the home page.

Having setup a useful complement of Pages, and redirected the Home page, you may wish to remove the "Home" page tab. Just edit the Pages gadget, using the dashboard Layout wizard, or the on blog quick edit icon - not the dashboard Pages wizard - and de select the "Home" page.

A simple example, showing the result, may be seen in my demonstration blog, Home Page Redirected To Label Search.

From: /
To: /search/label/Home%20Page

There are some subtle limitations.

Note that a label search displays a fixed number of 20 posts, regardless of the "Show at most" / "Number of posts on main page" setting. If this is a problem for your blog, you can explicitly set maximum label search size, using the "max-results" modifier in the "To" value.

You may also wish to remove the "Showing posts with label ..." notice, if you like a cleaner display. In my demonstration blog (mentioned above), I did not do this - to make my examples more obvious.

The possibilities here are endless. Just use common sense - and again, note the limits on redirection.

Click here, for instructions. Note again, that the actual address, displayed in the browser address window, will not change. Note again: by design, you cannot specify the base URL - so all redirecting will be within the blog itself

Other than the latter limitations, though, this is a pretty powerful feature - when you understand the design.

Use Free Online Website Display Services, To Diagnose Browser Related Problems

Look at the Audience display, in Stats. How many different entries do you see, in "Pageviews by Browser" and "Pageviews by Operating System"? Stats lists are limited to 10 entries, each. Do you ever wonder if those lists, like the other Stats lists, should be longer? How do we ever hope to observe our blogs, and see what they look like, for our many different readers?

One of the challenges of publishing a Blogger blog is developing a blog that looks good, on every reader's browser and computer. The number of combinations of operating system times browser brand times browser version - any of which can create a display oddity, when viewing any blog or website - is staggering.

How can we ever hope to produce a blog that's universally readable? We can always (depending upon the capacity of the computer(s) which we may use) use different browsers, to monitor ongoing issues which might affect our blog's legibility. Knowing the real number of combinations that may affect our readers, will using one or two alternate browsers (on one single operating system) really accomplish much?

One way that we can keep some running idea what our blogs look like, in different browsers, is to use an online browser display analysis service. This is an essential part of verifying proper formatting, as we make changes.

Free online services, like AnyBrowser or BrowserShots, will show you what your blog looks like, by simulating it on different browsers. Their displays, on your browser and your computer are obviously subject to peculiarities of your browser and computer, of course - but their services are a good start.

For in depth research, the W3Schools Online Web Tutorials will identify, in detail, which features are supported, in different browsers.

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Google Apps Ends Availability Of Their Free Edition

Last week, Google dropped a bombshell on many small client developers.

Starting on December 6, 2012, Google will no longer offer new accounts for the free edition of Google Apps. Google Apps free edition is sometimes referred to as "Standard Edition."

This announcement will bring changes to Blogger, and to custom domain publishing. Many owners of Blogger blogs published using the Google Custom Domain feature have learned to use various Google Apps wizards, to setup and to maintain their domains.

Blogger blog owners have learned (some unwillingly) to use Google Apps for various tasks.

1. Access the registrar's Domain Manager wizard, after using "Buy a domain".
2. Deactivate service redirects, such as the Sites service.
3. Maintain domain "auto renew" settings.
4. Reset the ever painful "Another blog ..." symptom of database corruption.
5. Set the option to "Redirect mydomain.com to www.mydomain.com".
6. Setup email delivery for the domain.

Each of these tasks will have to be performed in different ways, for blog owners who purchased their domains after last week. Previously setup Apps accounts, for the immediate future, are safe.

If you already have the free edition, you can continue to use it for free. This change has no impact on existing users of the free edition.

So far, we've seen some new domain owners use the Trial version of Google Apps, to recycle domain settings, when dealing with "Another blog ...". We hope that this technique will allow temporary access to the domain root redirect, and to service redirect, settings also. We are also seeing a limited functionality free version, which requires some effort to setup, in some cases.

In January 2015, Google launched Google Domains, a Google owned registrar, currently available in the USA. Google Domains has many features popular in "Buy a domain" and Google Apps based domain purchases, such as email addresses that can be forwarded to GMail and other front end services. Private and secure cloud based file sharing, with Content Management System supported business class documents, is available using Google Drive.

Stats Time Ranges, And Pageview Count Recalculation

Periodically, we see evidence of confusion about Stats and the pageview counts, as provided in the various displays and time ranges, expressed in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

My pageview counts keep going down!

or

My counts go up during the day - but in the afternoon, they drop to zero!!

or

My counts keep going down! There's no end to the drop!!

All of these complaints - and more - involve blog owners, who don't understand the relationships between the displays and time ranges.

We've explored the results of the ongoing referer spam war, of normal viewer activity, and of the daily pageview count reset which applies, periodically, to all blogs. Besides those 3 issues, there is some confusion about the relationships between the various time ranges.

There are 6 different displays - and opportunities for confusion.

1. The Dashboard "Overview" page.
2. The Posts "All time" per post pageviews count.
3. The Stats "Overview" page.
4. The Stats "Posts" page.
5. The Stats "Traffic sources" page.
6. The Stats "Audience" page.

The 4 Stats display pages each offer 5 different "Time range" displays.

• Now (the last 2 hours).
• Day (the last 24 hours).
• Week (the last 7 days).
• Month (the last 30 days).
• All time (since May 2006, when Stats pageview counts were first extracted) - though possibly missing one year or another.

Some blog owners try to compare the Stats "Overview" histogram (in its 5 time ranges), with the "Overview" counts ("today", "yesterday", "last month", and "all time history"). Unfortunately, the graphs and numbers are recalculated (by Blogger) on various schedules.

• Some are recalculated on a minute by minute basis.
• Some are recalculated hourly.
• Some are recalculated daily (but not necessarily at midnight, for everybody).
• We have no idea of the timings involved, for "Popular Posts" re ranking.

Confusion arises, when a blog owner refreshes a display, without understanding when the numbers behind the display may have been recalculated, relevant to reader activity.

• When reader activity occurs, the graphs / numbers (when refreshed, following a recalculation) will indicate an increase.
• When reader activity expires from relevance, the graphs / numbers (when refreshed, following a recalculation) will indicate a decrease.
• When reader activity is removed because it was bogus, the graphs / numbers (when refreshed, following a recalculation) will indicate a decrease.

Note that Stats bases its figures on access to the URL - not to the blog - and recalculates each display when requested, as far back as 2006. If you just changed the URL of your blog, you may see pageview counts which reflect access to another blog.

The different time ranges may not balance, when a URL change is involved.

Like the inability to balance the various per post pageview counts, the task of balancing the various graphs and numbers may be beyond the ability of some blog owners. Each count or graph has to be considered in its own context.

Comparing any two displays, in context with each other, simply may not be a useful activity.

The Stats "All Time" Display, And The 2011 Numbers

Occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see a curious question, which is repeated.

My blog Stats display is missing a complete year.

The problem is actually right there, in front of all of us - if we look. We showed this last year - for 2010.

Look at the Stats Overview tab, and the graph at the top of the display.

There's December 2010!
There's January 2012!!
What happened to "2011"?


My suspicion is that it's a deliberate omission, to get the graph to fit in the limited horizontal space. How will they get "All Time" to fit in that space, as the Stats display gets older, and "All Time" covers more years?

That being the case, it should not be that much work to add a little "broken line" symbol in the border, somewhere between "Septermber 2010" and "May 2012". Look how smoothly the line flows, in my graph, right through 2011. What does the graph for your blog show?

Fast forward to 2015, and we'll know the answer.

Life is full of mystery. Why not just deal with this one, and move on?

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Adding AdBrite Ads To Your Blog May Cause Spurious Spam Classification

For several months, we've been seeing reports from various Blogger blog owners, about yet another possible source of spurious spam classification.

I just received the email:

Hello,

Your blog at http://yourblog.blogspot.com/ has been reviewed and confirmed as in violation of our Terms of Service for: MALICIOUS_JAVASCRIPT. In accordance to these terms, we've removed the blog and the URL is no longer accessible. For more information, please review the following resources:

Blogger Terms of Service: http://blogger.com/terms.g
Blogger Content Policy: http://blogger.com/go/contentpolicy

-The Blogger Team

This happened almost immediately after I added HTML script recommended to me from AdBrite.

Use of the dashboard review request will generally repeat the originally offered verdict.

MALICIOUS_JAVASCRIPT.

In most cases, final review, when properly requested in the forum, will finally result in the blog being restored.

Review of various discussions in Webmaster Central indicate that AdBrite is not well regarded, in anti malware circles. One helper there suggested that AdBrite has a problem with security, allowing spammers to publish into their service - which puts unacceptable content on the blogs showing their ads.

If you want to publish a Blogger blog which does not get periodically locked as a suspected spam host, you might want to consider using a different ad hosting service - and to remove any similar third party gadgets from your blog.

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Fluctuations In Stats Pageview Counts And Newer Blogs

Some owners of newer Blogger blogs spend time reading their Stats logs, and worry that their "All time" pageview counts don't always go up - they go down, too.

Why do the counts go down? Is there one number, that I can believe?

They don't understand that with Stats, you need to look for trends - not absolute readings. In the beginning, fluctuations are more obvious, and trends are less obvious.

Thanks to the referer spam war, and to normal visitor activity, even the "All time" numbers will go up and down - for newer blogs, which have less genuine and constant visitor traffic. And the constant rise and fall is scary - until you get used to it.

Newer blogs have less established readers, which makes spikes in both the periodic referer spam, and normal visitor activity, more visible.

With the 4 limited time ranges (Now, Day, Week, and Month), the spikes will "move" in and out of context - and make pageview counts in these time ranges fluctuate. When a spike in numbers "moves in" to a time range, the pageview counts will rise, suddenly. When a spike "moves out" of a time range, the counts will fall, just as suddenly.

With newer blogs, the fluctuations exert a "double whammy".

1. The fluctuations are more visible, because overall genuine visitor activity is lower. Less readers = less visitor activity.
2. Worrying over the fluctuations takes time away from working on the blog. Less time working on the blog leads to less blog content, attracts less new readers, and leads to less visitor activity.

More experienced blog owners know to use Stats to watch for trends - not immediate numbers.

The answer here is simple. Monitor Stats periodically - not constantly. Watch for trends, and learn how to interpret the trends. Spend more time working on your blog, because that's where the value of your blog lies.

Stats And The "Don't track your own pageviews" Option On Mobile Computers

As mobile computing becomes more popular, we're starting to see questions about use of the Blogger dashboard on mobile computers (iPhone / iPod, PDA, smart phone), in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. Most recently, we're seeing people trying to use Stats, and the "Don't track my own pageviews" option, with Blogger on mobile computers.

Problems with Stats and the "Don't track ..." option are not unknown, in the past. We've helped many blog owners with this setting, which is sensitive to cookie and script filtering in general - and to "third party cookies" in particular. "Third party cookies" may be filtered in any of several places, any which will interfere with "Don't track ...".

The "Don't track ..." option, when seen as a problem with "full size" computers (desktop, laptop / notebook), may involve any of various "layered security" settings. In general "full size" computers use a somewhat standard software infrastructure. While any of several operating systems (Apple / Macintosh, Chrome, Linux, Microsoft Windows), and various browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari) make use of Blogger an occasional challenge on "full size" computers, there is some common features between the various operating systems and browsers.

With the various "operating systems" and browsers on mobile computers, we're seeing more discrepancies in features offered. In particular, not all "mobile computers" have explicit settings to allow / disallow "third party cookies" - or even cookies and scripts, in general. If these settings are not present, it's likely that these computers do not support such details as "third party cookies".

Without the availability of "third party cookies", Blogger can't support the "Don't track ..." option. Here, I'll note that this option is specific to each individual browser, on each individual computer. One must set the option - and browse the specific Blogger blog - using the same browser, for the option to work. This is not an option that can be set on a per user basis, and apply to all browsers used by a specific user.

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The Dashboard Spam Review / Undelete Option Can Be Used To Your Advantage

Recently, Blogger added an improvement in the spam review process, to help shorten the review cycle. Blogs that are deleted or locked, as suspected spam hosts, are now listed on the dashboard, behind a "Deleted blogs" / "Locked blogs" button or link. Each blog, deleted or locked by Blogger, can be submitted for an automated review, by using the "Restore" button next to any blog listed.

Not all blog owners see the benefit of the new option. Some owners think this represents yet one more hurdle, in the endless protocol.

I just want my blog restored! Can you please just forward my review request, without the red tape?

Many blog owners don't realize the benefits of the dashboard based spam review request wizard.

• Many blogs, with review requested by the dashboard link, can be reviewed, and restored, within 24 to 48 hours.
• Blogs restored after dashboard based review request don't require the owner to spend time in the forum, requesting review.
• Blogs restored after dashboard review request don't require Blogger Support to spend time conducting a manual review.

Use of the expedited, dashboard based review process shortens the review process for everybody.

There's a special benefit during weekends. Blogs submitted for manual review will sit in the review queue for at least 48 hours, when no Blogger staff are available to conduct the review. And that 48 hours starts only after the review request is forwarded to the Blogger Support review queue.

Many forum based review requests are recognised, by the helpers, hours - or days - after the forum topic is posted by the blog owner. The forum based latency causes frustration for everybody, and further delays the forwarding of the request. And some review requests can be processed only when key Blogger Support personnel are available.

Use of the dashboard based spam review request makes it easier for everybody. And this helps the forums run smoother - and more blog owners and readers can be helped.

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The Internet Has Created Various Opportunities For Conflict

Most physical threats used to require physical proximity, to be seriously considered by the authorities.

Before the Internet became a reality, if you were to report a crime which involved a physical threat to you or some one whom you knew, chances are that you would be reporting a friend or relative - or at least a neighbour or somebody geographically close to you.

Now that the Internet is part of our daily lives, many Blogger blog owners, readers, and comment publishers - all of who use the Internet for various networking activities - have no idea of the possible international challenges involved in their activities. With the Internet involved, these dangers can come from somebody in another city, state, or country, who is a complete stranger to the potential victim.

Many people, offended or threatened by an abusive comment or post in a Blogger blog, immediately report their concern, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

The assumption made is that Blogger, when informed in the forum, will immediately remove the offensive or threatening content.

Not everybody realises that the varying nature of any given abuse, even when expressed in a Blogger blog, won't always be the responsibility of Blogger / Google to provide action. Some abusive content will require contact, with somebody in your local area.

Some abuse can be handled by your reporting it to Blogger / Google - and other abuse must be handled by the courts system - lawyers and judges, or by law enforcement.

• Assault, or serious threat of imminent physical damage / death, is a criminal issue, and should be handled by your local police.
• Battery, or actual physical damage / death, is likewise a criminal issue, and must be handled by your local police.
• Copyright Violation / DMCA Action is a civil issue, and is being handled by a public clearinghouse, ChillingEffects.
• Defamation (ridicule, slander, trash talk) is a civil or criminal issue, and must be handled by a lawyer and the courts system.
• Impersonation (identity theft) is a Google TOS issue, and can be reported using the Google Content Removal procedure.
• Harassment is a mild type of assault. It's generally a civil offense - and should be handled by a lawyer.
• Spam is a Google TOS issue, which generally cannot be reported, as it is automatically detected by the Blogger / Google Spam Classifier.
• Stalking is a criminal offense in many locales. It is a type of assault - and if you feel seriously threatened, may be handled by your local police.
• There are a variety of other Blogger / Google TOS issues, which are reported using the various Blogger / Google Abuse Reporting procedures. And, there are a variety of other civil and criminal issues, which must be handled by the courts system, and / or your local police.

You are responsible for reporting any offense accurately, and to the right agency - not solely to Blogger / Google. The above list is based upon USA legal terms. Other countries may use different definitions.

You need to understand the differences between Defamation and Impersonation, and other abuses, before attempting to report any threat to Blogger / Google. And, take action depending upon the medium used by the threat. Blogger / Google won't accept complaints about comments - as comments are jointly the property and responsibility of the blog owner, and of the comment publisher.

If the courts are involved - and the judgement is in your favour, you will need to submit a court order to Google.

The bottom line here is that some Internet conflicts may take time and effort to resolve. The courts system, which is currently based locally and nationally, may have to evolve, as the Internet brings strangers together - and creates opportunities for conflict.

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The Missing / Invisible Pages Index Gadget

Occasionally, a blog owner wants to add the Pages Index gadget to the blog, but just can't.

I go to add it - and I see "Already Added" - but where is it?

The first thing to check, when this happens, is the "Show pages as" option in the dashboard Pages display. Sometimes, you'll find "Don't show" selected. Other times, you'll find "Top tabs" - but the template may lack the code which houses the "Top tabs" gadget. This will be a problem for older templates, installed before the Pages index gadget was offered - as well as some third party templates.

Try selecting "Side links" (or change from "Side links", to "Top tabs", and back to "Side links") - and see if the gadget shows up, in the sidebar. Each time you change the setting, hit "Save arrangement".

After each change, view the blog, to verify success. Remember to clear cache, and restart the browser, each time you view the blog.

Once you get the gadget to show up in the sidebar - and if it matters - change the option to "Top tabs", and see if it shows up there. If not, you'll have several options.

• If the template came from a third party, change back to a standard Blogger template.
• Upgrade the template, to a newer version.
• Set the Pages Index back to "Side links".
• Reset the widget template.

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After You Publish Your Blog To A Custom Domain, Should You Update Internal Links?

One interesting question, which comes up from time to time in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, is about Custom Domain Publishing - and what to do, after Transition completes.

Now that my blog is successfully transitioned to the domain URL, should I update the internal blog links, in the post contents?

This is a question that deserves some thought. From an aesthetic sense, it makes sense to do this - hoping that you will be paying for the domain, for eternity. But, is it worth the effort?

There are several issues, which may be relevant, when considering updating internal blog links.

Remember that updating the internal links is a manual effort - this has to be done on a post by post basis.

• How much time do you have to spend, updating the link URLs?
• How much effort will this take? How many old posts do you have, with how many internal links?
• How likely are you to go ever back to the BlogSpot URL?

Remember that one of the features of custom domain publishing is the DNS Based redirect, of the BlogSpot URL, to the domain published URL. This is an automatic feature, it's total and immediate - and it will continue to work, only as long as the domain continues to work.

New posts will use the updated published URL, and the domain.

As you continue to publish posts in your blog, your new internal links will use the domain URL - unless you manually convert each one, as you edit each post.

If you ever opt to publish back to BlogSpot, all of the links, pointing to the domain URL, will be problems - when the domain stops redirecting. If you spend time manually updating each link now, that's the same amount of time that you'll have to spend reverting the updated links, when you publish back to BlogSpot.

The BlogSpot URL will redirect to the domain, forever.

Remember that your BlogSpot URL continues to operate, forever - regardless of the domain published URL.

From what I can tell of the DNS infrastructure used by custom domain published blogs, the domain DNS settings are cached locally, for all readers of any given custom domain. If the BlogSpot to domain redirect is similarly cached, it's unlikely that there are any reader experienced performance issues, from people reading blogs and clicking on BlogSpot targeted internal links, that redirect to custom domain URLs.

Other than the aesthetic issues, updating internal links may not be necessary.

As far as I can tell, when thinking about this carefully, there is no real reason - other than aesthetics - to ever update the BlogSpot based internal links, to directly point to the domain URL. Spend your time, after Transition has completed, profitably. Work on the blog, and get it re indexed, under the new URL.

Your Blog Address Is Unique - Some Details Are Not

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see signs of people who don't understand the concept of unique Blogger identities - or contrarily, Blogger identities which won't be unique.

I can't publish my blog to the name that I want.

or

Another blog is using the same name as mine!

or

Someone is impersonating me!!

Some of these complaints are reasonable - and could keep a team of judges and lawyers very busy, for a while, when properly reported.

Other complaints come from people who don't quite understand what identities in our Blogger blogs are uniquely our property - and what identities are not uniquely ours.

When you first setup your blog, choose the address with care.

When you setup a Blogger blog, one of the first things that you must choose - and choose carefully - is the blog Address. Once you have chosen the Address for your blog - and until you successfully give up this Address, the chosen Address is yours, for eternity. Nobody else can use this Address, in publishing their blog.

You can change the Address (also known as the URL) of your blog, whenever convenient to you - but any change that you make is subject to availability, based on Addresses which may have been chosen by other people. And it is worth your while to plan any Address change, carefully.

Your address will be unique - your template and title may not be.

When you setup a Blogger blog, and choose the Address, you also choose a blog Title, and Template. Anybody else, setting up their blog, may choose the same Title, and / or Template.

Many people will choose the same Template as you do (and later customise their template, using the Template Designer). Similarly, anybody is free to choose any Title (and later change the title, whenever convenient to them).

A blog which simply uses the same Title as yours is probably not Impersonating you. A blog which contains content scraped from your blog, and with the same Title, may constitute Impersonation.

Contrarily, a blog which simply contains content scraped from your blog, without impersonating, may constitute a copyright, or DMCA, Violation.

Conflict, between you and other blog owners, is not impossible.

The Internet, in its ability to bring people together, is going to cause conflict. Some conflict will come from many different people, simply not understanding other peoples lifestyles and traditions. Other conflict will come from people intentionally abusing you.

You need to understand the differences between the various abuses, before attempting to report any perceived offense. You are responsible for reporting any offense to the right agency.

It's up to you to report impersonation, copyright violation, or other abusive content to the right agency - and it's up to each individual agency to decide whether or not to act upon your complaint. You must report any problems properly, for any action to be taken.

Comments are your responsibility to allow / approve - or not.

Comments, posted to various blogs, are handled differently. Blogger / Google considers comments published to blogs (and not dismissed as spam) to be a freedom of speech issue. Comments are jointly the property of the blog owner, and the publisher of each comment.

If someone else, publishing a comment, offends you, that is a concern which can be handled only by the blog owner. Blogger / Google, without a court order, will not get involved.

If the blog owner permits anonymous comments, anybody can use any identity that pleases them. This may lead to apparent impersonation - but any impersonation conflicts will be up to the blog owner to resolve.

The bottom line here is that some Blogger / Google hosted problem content may require discretion and patience by you, for you and other people to receive appropriate treatment.

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Your Blog Address Is Unique - Though Many Other Identities Are Not
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/11/your-blog-address-is-unique-though-many.html
Your Blog Address Is Unique - Other Details Are Not