Being A Hacking Victim Is Not Always The Fault Of The Account / Blog Owner

Even though being the victim of a hacking attack is not (always) the fault of the account / blog owner, the blog owner may have to bear some of the responsibility.

Since hacking detection is a fuzzy process, it's not always going to be detected immediately. The previous article discusses what happens when Google does detect a hacking attack - and in some cases reacts too diligently.

If Google is not able to detect an attack, in some cases, an attack may be successful.

With some blogs, that are not updated frequently, a hacker may take control, and successfully hijack a blog.

Occasionally we see another report

I just discovered that my blog contains spam - and I can't access the dashboard, to clean the blog!

This may well be a successfully hijacked blog, discovered too late.

Unfortunately, the latter report may also represent another devious attempt to steal control of somebody's blog - or a frustrated blog owner, attempting to regain access, to his own blog. Blogger Support cannot, reliably, support hacking recovery, on an individual basis.

From what I can tell, Blogger / Google is working on the larger picture - making the automated detection process more reliable. Given this concern, Blogger / Google won't be frequently available to diagnose and return control of individual hijacked blogs - even when the issue is righteous.

In general, blog owners have to support themselves, and learn how to protect themselves. This may be yet one more reason why 2-Step Verification is becoming less optional.

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Repeated TOS Violations Are Punished Gradually

Some blog owners don't understand the serious nature of repeated violation of TOS Policy, in Blogger blogs - and how offenses are handled, by Google.

We've seen several reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who appear to be unclear about the consequences of repeated TOS Violations.

I got email from Blogger, about my Blogger account.

We'd like to inform you that we've received another complaint regarding a blog that you administer. Upon review of your account, we've noted that you've repeatedly violated the Terms of Service: http://www.blogger.com/go/terms. Given that we've provided you with several warnings of these violations and advised you of our policy towards repeat infringers, we've been forced to disable your Blogger service.

How do I get my blog restored?

This example appears to represent the final step, in a multi step policy.

It appears that Google takes a multi step approach, towards repeated TOS violations - such as hosting of malware, porn, and / or spam - in Blogger blogs. This is similar to the DMCA Violations punishment process.

1. Unlike DMCA violations, individual posts are not deleted.
2. Deletion of offending blogs.
3. Deletion of offending Blogger account(s) (and blogs).

TOS violations may involve blog content, as much as post content.

DMCA violations generally involve content hosted in specific posts. TOS violations are just as likely to be found in blog content, such as various gadgets - and to involve an aggregated evaluation process. TOS violation does not include deletion of individual posts.

TOS violations must be resolved by owner requested review.

With a TOS initiated blog deletion, the blog owner is expected to have the blog reviewed. If the review determines the blog to be unrighteously deleted, the blog is restored - though there may be side effects.

If the owner accepts the TOS violation - righteously accused or not, and simply deletes / leaves deleted the offending content, this counts as a guilty plea. The owner must have all TOS Violations appealed - and be found not guilty - or the account will be terminated, after any additional violations are detected.

If the owner does not have the blog reviewed, he / she may start over.

If the blog owner does not wish to have the blog reviewed, he / she is allowed to start over, with a new blog - but will have to publish to a new URL. Content lost must be recovered by the owner - and the owner should be more careful with future blogs.

In some cases, we've seen suggestions that offending blogs can affect reputation of the owner, and of other blogs owned by that person. It appears that search engine reputation, of other blogs owned by the account affected, can be affected - even before deletion is necessary.

Repeated offenses will produce a deleted / locked Blogger account.

If the blog owner continue to publish blogs which violate TOS, any Blogger accounts involved, along with any other blogs owned by the deleted accounts, will be deleted. If the offender is a team member of a blog, the team membership can cause incidental deletion of other blogs.

We see that an appeal is possible.

Next steps for suspended accounts: If you believe your access to this product was suspended in error, contact us.

With any blogs published to a non BlogSpot domain, the domain URL(s) will remain in use, in the Google database - though the domain owner is free to use the domain outside Google address space. If the offender wishes to start over, both new BlogSpot and non BlogSpot URLs will be required.

Does all of this seem unfair? Yes, it probably does.


Email, warning the account owner, may or may not be received.

As with other issues with email delivered warnings, there will be cases when the owner may not receive warnings in a timely fashion. Even so, the owner is responsible, when he / she offends, repeatedly.

Team ownership will complicate TOS violation assignment.

Blogs under team ownership are apparently vulnerable to action taken against any team member. In some cases, blogs will simply disappear from the dashboards of the other team members, with no appeal or review request being possible.

It's possible that legal notice, provided by Google through email, will supercede ongoing forum advice - even if email sent is not received by the owner. Some cases, also, may involve imaginative research.

Blogger Magic - Pages Vs Posts

Not all blog owners know what pages are - nor how they differ from posts. We see confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I publish a post, which always appears on the home page?

or

How do I publish a post, which never appears on the home page?

or

How do I publish multiple posts on a page?

Long ago, we used workarounds, like publishing a post, using a future or past date. The workarounds would create a post which would always, or never, appear on the home page - but there were always side effects, from using either technique.

In 2010, Blogger gave us static pages - pages which are created and look like posts - but never appear in archive, label, or main page displays.

Static pages are not published, except intentionally by the blog owner.

Static pages are not included in the posts newsfeed, or in the posts sitemap. They are only indexed by the search engines when linked intentionally in blog content, or in the pages sitemap.

You can link to a static page as you wish.

We were able to link to the static pages, using tabs lists and linklists, that we could create, as we liked. The pages editor has the same look and feel as the posts editor - and pages have the same look and feel as posts.

In 2011, they gave us the Pages gadget, a prebuilt XML gadget, which we use to index both posts and pages. In 2012, they gave us Custom Permalinks and Redirects, which let us use our posts and pages in imaginative ways.

A static page is similar to a post, just with less extra features.

A static page is like a very simple post - it has a content, and a title. Just go to the Pages dashboard page, and click on "New page". Using the Page Editor (which is designed to look like the Post Editor), create and publish a Page. Then, decide where you want it to appear.

A published static page appears where you want it - and only where you want it.

• In the Pages gadget, when you select it under "Pages to show".
• Never in an Archives index.
• Never in a Label list.
• Anywhere you want to link it.

There was a static page limit, originally, now lifted.

Some blog owners construct blogs like static websites - which used to present a problem, with the Blogger static pages limit.

The static pages limit was discontinued, in 2014. You can now add as many static pages, as you wish. Just understand the differences between dynamic pages ("posts"), and static pages ("pages"). Both have their own, unique purposes.

Examine some examples, for better understanding.

Look at some examples of dynamic and static content.

This is a dynamic page URL, from this blog:

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2013/08/blogger-magic-pages-vs-posts.html

Posts ("blogging.nitecruzr.net/2013/08/blogger-magic-pages-vs-posts.html") are dynamic - because they are constantly being published, and revised.

This is a second dynamic page URL, from this blog:

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Pages

Label search pages ("/search/label/") are dynamic - because they change, as posts are added and deleted.

This is a third dynamic page URL, from this blog:

http://recipes.nitecruzr.net/

External pages ("recipes.nitecruzr.net") are dynamic - because their content is not controlled as part of this blog.

This is a static page URL, from this blog:

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/p/topics.html

See the "/p/"? That denotes a static page. A static page can appear like a single post, with slight differences.

When you add the combinations of dynamic and static pages, with the possibilities of custom redirects, you get many different possibilities, and different possible advantages - and this will look like magic, to the untrained eye.

Recovering A Deleted Page Or Post, Chapter 3

We've been advising anxious blog owners, for some time, how to recover deleted pages and posts.

The easiest solution, in the long run, is to recover the PageID / PostID, and re publish the deleted page / post.

Unfortunately, all deleted pages and posts can't be edited and re published. With new posts, un indexed by the search engines, you won't be able to find the post in cache - and you'll never determine the PostID. This will be a frequent problem with deleted pages - as static pages generally won't get indexed by the search engines - nor will they ever be included in the blog posts feed.

In some cases, even when you know the PageID or PostID, the page editor / post editor may simply reject your attempt to re edit - and give you another bX code.

Even so, all is not lost. You may have to rebuild the page or post - but you can generally keep the URL, of the deleted page or post, operational. Just plan the rebuilding process.

In cases where a deleted page or post can't be simply re published, you can publish a replacement page or post - and redirect both your readers, and the search engines, from the URL of the deleted page / post, to the replacement page or post.

To minimise loss of reader and search engine reputation, you'll want to publish a replacement page / post as soon as possible after the old page / post is mistakenly deleted. With replacement posts published in the same month as the original - and with all pages - this can cause the well known ugly URL suffix, to prevent a duplicate URL.

When you publish a replacement page or post, you have one chance to get the title and URL right - and prevent the ugly URL suffix. The one chance ends, when you hit the "Publish" button.

With a deleted post, you can use the Custom Permalink option ("Permalink", under "Post settings", in the post editor window) to make the published URL slightly different from the default. Alternately, you'll need to deliberately choose a slightly different Title, for the replacement post.

When you publish a replacement page, you won't have a "Custom Permalink" option. Your only option, in this case, is to choose a slightly different Title, for the replacement Page.

Static page URLs do not contain the year and month of publishing, so you'll need to use a different Title for every replacement page - even if you publish the replacement in a later month, or even a later year. Since static pages are generally not as widely publicised as posts, the different title should still be preferable to the alternative - the ugly page URL suffix.

Just choose the title and URL carefully, before you hit "Publish", to prevent long term embarrassment. And having published the replacement, setup a Custom Redirect, to keep the URL of the deleted page or post operational.

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Reverting Your Blog Back To Blogger Comments, From Google+ Comments

We're starting to see regular evidence of dissatisfaction, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about Google+ based Blogger commenting.

We've known about some undesirable features of Google+ commenting, for a while now.

• No ability to moderate comments, made against your blog, before they are published.
• No ability to moderate comments, from the dashboard.
• No controls for moderation, or for notification, of comments.
• No ability to view all comments, made against your blog.
• No ability to block all undesirable comments, made by people who don't like your blog.

These are just the undesirable features which directly affect commenting.

Not every blog owner realises that anybody in Google+, able to view their blog, can make comments about their blog. Unfortunately, just as you can't see the posts made in Google+, by people not in your circles, neither can you see comments made by people not in your circles - even if their comments are published against your blog.

Deciding that Google+ comments may not be their cup of tea, some blog owners decide to revert to Blogger native commenting, and recover normal commenting features.

Reverting the blog, to use Blogger based comments, is simple enough - in most cases. On the Blogger dashboard Google+ page, look for the selection "Use Google+ Comments on this blog ?". Un checking that selection, your blog is back to native Blogger comments. To verify success, you may need to clear browser cache, and restart the browser.

Simply un check "Use Google+ Comments on this blog ?" - and your blog will be using Blogger comments.



Some blog owners think that deleting their Google+ profile, or simply reverting their Blogger account, will immediately recover control of commenting. Having deleted / reverted the Google+ profile, however, the dashboard Google+ page disappears - but the blog continues with Google+ based comments, and with no dashboard selection to "Use Google+ Comments on this blog".

For any blog owned by a Blogger account with a newly deleted (reverted) Google+ profile, the blog owner must reverse the deletion, to remove Google+ Comments.

1. Upgrade the Blogger / Google profile to Google+.
2. Create a new Google+ profile.
3. Un check "Use Google+ Comments on this blog".

If you decide that Google+ based comments don't suit your Blogger blog, you can recover normal Blogger comments - but please recover carefully. Always uncheck the dashboard option to "Use Google+ Comments on this blog", before doing anything else.

CAPTCHA Verification Is Broken, For Some Blogs, In Various Applications

We're seeing a number of problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about various problems which involve CAPTCHA verification processes.

The symptoms are fairly diverse.

• Some blog owners report problems with commenting, on their blogs.
• Some report problems with high posting volumes.
• Some report problems getting abuse review requested, for their blogs falsely accused of hosting abusive content.

The reporting volumes, and perceived urgency, for each case, will vary.

The known problems involve various bX codes, issued in place of the CAPTCHA form.

• An unverified code is being seen, by people trying to post comments, on blogs using CAPTCHA screening.
• Blog owners are reporting various bX codes, when trying to post high volume blogs.
• Other blog owners are reporting "bX-niui1k", when trying to request spam review, from the dashboard "Deleted blogs" list.
• It's possible that there are other CAPTCHA applications, also seeing bX codes.

The audience observing the bX codes will differ - because the relationship of the people needing to use the CAPTCHA, and the volume of CAPTCHA use by the affected people, will differ.

People observing a bX code, when trying to post a comment, will be guests on blogs which use CAPTCHA screening - since blog members and owners are not subject to comment screening. CAPTCHA screening is optional for comment moderation, in general - and it's possible that many blog owners are not using CAPTCHA screening on their blogs.

It's also possible that only blogs which use the full page and popup comment forms are vulnerable, to this problem. The report volumes involving bX codes involved with comment moderation are low - and this will make affinity analysis difficult.

People observing a bX code, when trying to post at high volume, will be blog owners who post frequently. The reports of this problem are low to medium volume - possibly because many blog owners avoid posting excessively. This may be because we have observed that repeatedly solving a CAPTCHA will be inconvenient.

The people who report this problem are fairly insistent that this problem needs to be solved. Since the bX code is observed repeatedly (once for each high volume post attempted), by the blog owners affected, this case will involve the most controversy. Several blog owners have reported seeing differing bX codes.

People observing a bX code, when trying to submit an abusive blog review request from the "Deleted blogs" dashboard list, will be blog owners whose blogs were deleted or locked, spuriously, for abusive content (aka "spam hosting"). These people will post in the forums, and can be helped fairly easily, by our promptly offering a manual review, submitted to Blogger Support.

This case represents the most frequently reported symptom - but since the people affected can be helped with minimum fuss - and since this case is only observed once for each blog involved, this case will involve less controversy. This case has been reported, as noted, consistently producing the "bX-niui1k" code.

It's possible that CAPTCHAs are used in other unidentified applications - and we may yet have other cases to discuss, if the base problem is not resolved fairly promptly. Blogger Support is currently aware that there is a problem - and hopefully, where the problem lies.

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The Mysterious URL Hashtag Suffixes

From time to time, we see evidence of anxiety, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Why do my posts have hashtag suffixes?

and from some, more anxiety

How do I know what hashtags to add, when referencing my posts?

These two blog owners don't understand the purposes of the suffixes.

Third party post linking services, like AddThis and LinkWithin, add the hashtags, to give them the ability to track access of the posts - in a blog which uses their service to link the posts.

Use of the hashtags is not required, simply to access the posts. In fact, including the hashtags, outside the context of the service providing the post links, could interfere with the service's ability to consistently track use of their product.

AddThis provides a reference Why is there an extra string after my url after putting your codes?.

They're there so that we can collect analytics when someone copies the URL out of the address bar instead of going through our sharing tool. It shouldn't affect people linking to your site and can provide insight into what content is the most popular on your site.

The mysterious hashtags are not needed - you can do without.

The hashtags are not needed for accessing the posts in the blog. If you add the hashtags when referencing the posts outside AddThis, you may be creating false references, implying AddThis use.

If you care about consistent reporting within AddThis, you probably should not add the hashtags to any of your own code. Leave the hashtags to the internal portions of AddThis, LinkWithin, or whatever third party post linking service that you're using.

AddThis even provides an option, to eliminate the hashtags completely.

If they're not wanted or are causing issues, you're free to disable address bar sharing tracking.

and

More information about address bar sharing analytics is available here: http://www.addthis.com/help/address-bar-sharing-analytics

Stop worrying about details which don't affect you - and get back to work on blog content.

Dynamic Template Instabilities Have Multiple Causes

For some time, we've been seeing reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about blogs using blogs using dynamic views, which display incompletely, and lack specific features.

Various blog owners have developed, and reported, a workaround to the problem, which involves using an unpublicised Blogger setting found in the template HTML code. This workaround sets a loading delay, known as Timeout.

There are several different causes of the dynamic view problem - some varying by the different blogs, others varying by the blog viewers - and some, varying by the Blogger / Google infrastructure. None of the causes will be universal in effect. This will result in varying success, when using a static Timeout setting as a workaround for the problems.

The current workaround for the problem - changing the Timeout setting - will have immediate success with some blog owners, partial or temporary solution with many, and no solution with others.

The inconsistency will come from the various causes of the latency - and from the variety of symptoms being reported. The latency is the cause for development of the Timeout tweak.


There are three details which cause latency, and which result in missing dynamic view content, of varying effect.

• Complexity of blog content - unique to each blog.
• Computer and network issues - unique to each different client computer.
• Server and network issues - unique to the Blogger / Google networks and servers which support dynamic templates.

Complexity of blog content is the only detail which can be consistently resolved, by a change in the Timeout. As any dynamic template blog becomes more complex, increasing Timeout improves the chance that all blog content - including gadgets and template customisations - will be packaged before the blog is viewed. Each blog owner will be responsible for evaluating the need for this workaround, on an ongoing basis - based on current blog complexity.

Computer and network issues causes problems, that may be partially resolved, by the blog owners. Each blog owner can make the Timeout relevant to the known audience. Any blog, with an audience known to have problems, can be tuned by the blog owner, as necessary. Each blog owner will be responsible for evaluating the need for this workaround, on an ongoing basis - based on the needs of the majority of the known blog viewer audience.

Overall load on the Blogger / Google networks and servers causes problems that cannot be consistently resolved, by the blog owners. It's possible that some portion of the latency problem is regional in nature - in that Blogger / Google resources may not be evenly allocated, world wide, to support dynamic template use. Blogger / Google will be responsible for evaluating the need for this solution - based on current complaint level and load on network resources.

Any action taken by Blogger / Google will present a challenge, for several reasons. Note the problems discussed here are unique to dynamic views - because of the unique design of the dynamic templates.

• The Timeout setting will have a global effect, for each blog with a problem - even though the problem may not be global.
• As more blog owners resolve their immediate problems, by increasing the Timeout, this will put more load on Blogger / Google resources.
• As more blog owners report their immediate problems solved, this will encourage still more blog owners to use dynamic templates, and to try increasing the Timeout on their blogs.
• More blogs using dynamic templates will put still more load on Blogger / Google resources - and this will necessitate still more Timeout increases.
• Some blog owners, using computers or Internet service particularly susceptible to causing the symptoms, may try the basic workaround ("500"), which may not produce results - and may falsely conclude that their symptoms are not caused by the problem. A few owners may persistently try "1000", or "2000" or higher - and may eventually observe an improvement - while other owners may not.

The only long term solutions to this problem lies with Blogger / Google. Blogger / Google has two options.

• Halt or restrict customisations of dynamic templates.
• Tune their network resources better, to make latency less of an issue.

The latter option will require supporting action, by blog owners and readers.

• People who view blogs using dynamic templates have to tune their own computers and networks, so they do not contribute to the problem.
• Some blog owners may have to accept reality - that their reader audience simply can't be properly served, given the level of customisation required by their blog design.

The bottom line is that some blogs will never be properly served, if the owners insist on using dynamic templates, and customising uncontrollably. Blogger / Google cannot provide the universal solution.

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Getting Traffic To Your Blog - How Not To Do It 2

Here's a great investment idea.

Everybody who needs money (which is most likely, everybody reading here) can invest $10 each. Everybody, reading this, can send me $10. Surely, each of you have a spare $10, to invest.

What will I do with the funds received?

1. I will, immediately, take 10% off the top. That's for my retirement account.
2. I will let my friends (don't you wish that you were my friend?) take 5%, each, off the top.
3. As I get investments from more blog owners, I'll send you - and the other initial investors - a token payment.
4. At the end of a week, you, and the other investors, get to divide up the remainder.

Isn't that a great investment idea?

That is a great investment idea - for me, and for my friends. For you, not so great.

That is a simplified description of a Ponzi scheme.

Ponzi schemes exist on the Internet, also. From time to time, we have seen them reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, by people complaining of unknown websites, in their Reading Lists.

Similar to the blog feed redirection scam scheme technique, we have what's called a "traffic exchange". Want more traffic to your blog? Just add a link to the exchange, on your blog. Your blog gets traffic from all of the other blogs and websites, similarly providing links to the exchange.

A traffic exchange pays off, in real time. Your blog contributes traffic to other blogs and websites - and they contribute traffic, to your blog. But who will be contributing traffic, to your blog?

1. Other blog owners - who, like you, have no source of real traffic.
2. Various scammers and spammers.

Who will not be contributing traffic to your blog?

1. Other blog and website owners, who know how to effectively get traffic to their blogs and websites.

People who know how to effectively get traffic to their blogs know to use search engines, for targeted traffic - and to use interesting, unique, and useful blog content, to get indexed by the search engines. Those people know that neither they, nor their readers, will benefit from traffic exchanges, and similar random traffic programmes.

Experienced blog owners know that they won't benefit from linking to blogs with no source of real traffic - either directly (using bloglists or linklists) - or indirectly (using link farms or traffic exchanges).

Only blogs with no source of real traffic benefit from link farms or traffic exchanges. Experienced blog owners know to spend their time publishing interesting, unique, and useful blog content.

Who really benefits from traffic exchanges?

1. The exchange operators (who "take 10% off the top").
2. The various scammers and spammers (who each "take 5% off the top").

Who contributes the traffic?

1. You.
2. Other blog owners, like you, who have no source of real traffic.

If you want relevant and useful traffic to your blog, publish interesting, unique, and useful blog content. Don't waste your readers time, with mazes of random blogs and websites.

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Layout: Add A Gadget

We add gadgets using the dashboard "Layout" wizard.





From the "Layout" wizard, find any link to "Add a Gadget".



Choose any one of dozens of interesting and useful accessories, from the Blogger gadgets library.



You might want to note several details, for best results.

The "Add a Gadget" concept has an interesting history.

Occasionally, we see concerned bloggers asking about their inability to add page elements to their blog.

Besides several key settings in the template, there's a naming problem, which surfaces occasionally.

When I go to the dashboard Layout wizard, I'm given the option to "add a gadget" but not to "add a page element." The Add a Page Element button has never been displayed since I started the blog, so it's not something I broke myself.

Long ago, "gadgets" were called "page elements" - and the "Layout" display was named similarly.

Long ago, we used the "Page Elements" wizard.


What everybody may not realise is that what Blogger used to call "widgets" are now called "gadgets", and adding a "widget" (weird term) / "page element" (boring term) is now called adding a "gadget" (descriptive term).

What we used to call the "Page Elements" wizard may be found as the "Layout" link in the dashboard. If you publish the blog using a dynamic template, layout customisations may not be supported - and you may not have "Settings - Layout".

Of course, there could still be cases where the "Add a Gadget" link doesn't appear, doesn't appear where you need it, or doesn't work for you. You still need to be aware of template restrictions, whether intentional or non-intentional.

When you look at the selections in "Add a Gadget", note the author names, carefully. The gadgets that are not attributed as "By Blogger" are provided by third parties, and should be selected with care. If your blog uses a dynamic template, you'll especially want to use gadgets "By Blogger" - and avoid the "HTML / JavaScript" gadget - as gadgets in dynamic templates require specific code, that you will probably not find in third party accessories.

If you must add an "HTML / JavaScript" based gadget, always add it using "Add a Gadget". Do not use "Template" and "Edit HTML". Gadgets added using "Add a Gadget" (including "HTML / JavaScript") can be easily removed, if they go bad. Gadgets added using "Edit HTML" must be removed using "Edit HTML" - and some gadgets will be extremely challenging to diagnose and remove.

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Dynamic Template Instabilities Have Multiple Symptoms

Recently, we've been seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about blogs using dynamic templates, which display incompletely, and lack specific features.

Various blog owners have developed, and reported, a workaround to the problem, which involves using an unpublicised Blogger setting found in the template HTML code. This workaround sets a loading delay, known as Timeout.

The currently recommended Timeout setting will force a fixed delay on blogs using the workaround, which may not be 100% effective in all cases. The effectiveness may vary, according to the specific problems reported by the various blog owners.

Problems reported by blog owners, which involve dynamic templates, center around several distinct areas.

• Absence of comments, displayed after the posts.
• Absence of multiple gadgets, in the popout sidebar.
• Absence of Pages entries in the display header bar.
• Absence of Posts ("No Posts Found"), with blogs heavy on photos.
• Absence of template tweaks, applied using "Add CSS".
• Absence of template tweaks, applied using "Edit HTML".

Each of these different symptoms will be caused by different needs, in publishing a blog - and the different symptoms will be observed by owners with different technical skill level.

Absence of multiple gadgets, in the popout sidebar is probably common to most blogs, as most blogs have more than one accessory gadget. Blog owners reporting this problem may be of very low technical skill level - and will likely have problems applying the workaround.

This problem may be more common than problem reports would imply - as not everybody with a blog, with this problem, will observe the unusually short accessory tab when the accessory bar is docked.

Absence of comments, displayed after the posts will be observed by blog owners who focus on comments, as part of their networking strategy. This will generally involve the more popular blogs (with lots of comments, making their absence more noticeable). Blog owners reporting this problem may be of low technical skill level - and may have problems applying the workaround.

This problem may be more common than problem reports would imply - as not everybody with a blog, with this problem, will observe the absence of comments, displayed after the posts. Some owners, with blogs which receive less comments than others, may not even care.

Absence of Pages entries in the display header bar will be reported by blog owners who have setup a complex structure of dynamic and static pages, and a Pages index to index the pages. The blog owners reporting this will have medium skill level, with the ability to use the Pages wizard. These owners may not necessarily have the ability - or desire - to use the Template Editor effectively. Some of these owners may have problems applying the workaround.

Absence of Posts ("No Posts Found"), with blogs heavy on photos, will be visible in blogs using "Flipcard", "Snapshot", and similar views. Blog owners reporting this problem may be publishing photoblogs. These blog owners will be those who spend a lot of time providing photos - and who may not notice other symptoms, like missing header or sidebar features. These blog owners may be of low technical skill level - and may have problems applying the workaround.

Absence of template tweaks, applied using "Add CSS" will be reported by blog owners who carefully applied appearance and style tweaks, using the Template Designer. The blog owners who apply these tweaks will have medium technical skill level, and the ability to use the "Add CSS" feature in the Template Designer. Some of these owners may have problems applying the workaround.

Absence of template tweaks, applied using "Edit HTML" will be reported by blog owners who customised the blog appearance, using the Template Editor. These blog owners will be of the highest technical skill level. These owners should have no problem applying the workaround.

With the assortment of problems to be fixed by Blogger Engineering, we will likely see each problem worked on, separately. As each problem is solved, we'll likely see new problems become more visible - and existing problems become more urgent, in the eyes of the blog owners.

The number of different possible symptoms, in combination with the number of possible causes of the problems, will create an apparently infinite number of differing complaints - and inconsistent visibility of the problems. Blogger Engineering will be busy, for a while, resolving these problems.

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Maintaining Auto-Renew Settings For Your Domain - 2013

Recently, Google Apps redesigned their desktop GUI. Now, it's easier to maintain auto-renew settings for your custom domain.

Of course, "easier" may not be the same as "more initially obvious".

Along with the GUI redesign of Google Apps, Google changed payment procedures for domain registrations.

Google recently removed Google Wallet from custom domain registration.

Google Apps (now,"Google Admin") handles domain registration payment, along with domain registration renewal. When you access Google Admin, and the new GUI, you will be invited to verify payment information, and replace your Google Wallet registration.

Start by accessing the Google Apps desktop, 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 desktop as

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

or possibly

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

You simply change "nitecruzr.net", to your domain URL, to access the desktop for your domain.

If Google Admin sends you to Google Apps for Business, see Google Apps: Cancel Google Apps for Business 30-day free trial, for instructions on removing Apps For Business from your domain.

"Google Admin" provides the "Admin console". Relevant to domain registration, you'll find two key dashboard links.

• Billing. How you pay for domain registration.
• Domains. How you maintain domain registration.

When your domain is currently setup to use Google Wallet for registration payment, and you click on "Billing", you will be invited to "Verify billing information".

The billing information verification process is reasonably straight forward, involving basic identification of your payment account - and uses data already entered in Google Wallet. When complete, you'll have Google Apps verified billing information.

Having verified billing information, you return to the dashboard, and click on "Domains". Right there, you'll have the usual option to "Automatically renew my domain registration".

No mess, no fuss.

• If you want to automatically renew, you leave the option checked.
• If you decide to manually renew, you un check the option.

And, you're done.

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Dynamic Templates, And Network Problems - #2

We're been getting problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from various dissatisfied blog owners, who chose a dynamic template for their blog.

The problems reported involve various symptoms.

• Blogs displayed will lack various gadgets, in the slideout gadget bar.
• Some blogs, when customised, will display using default layout and template settings.
• Some customisations, applied recently, just won't show up.

Various blog owners have discovered a solution, based on code present in newer dynamic templates. This solution has been publicised, in forum discussions - and in various blogs and web sites.

<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript'>
      setTimeout(function() {
        blogger.ui().configure().view();
      }, 1000);
</script>

The solution, as proposed, involves a very simple change - but the change won't be immediately, or permanently, 100% effective.

The solution, being publicised by various blog owners and forum helpers, involves a very simple change, using the template editor.

Once you have a secured a back up of your blog template, click on Edit HTML and you will see the html editor come up. Scroll down to the bottom of your template to where you see code that looks like this.

<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript'>
      setTimeout(function() {
        blogger.ui().configure().view();
      }, 0);
</script>

Change the 0 to 1000 so it looks like this.

<script language='javascript' type='text/javascript'>
      setTimeout(function() {
        blogger.ui().configure().view();
      }, 1000);
</script>

Click on Save Template.

Here, as always, I will strongly recommend that you backup the template, twice - before, and after, you make this template change.

This solution - changing the Timeout setting - will have immediate success with some blog owners, partial or temporary solution with many, and no solution with others.

The number of possible causes of the problems, in combination with the variety of possible symptoms, will create a visibly infinite number of differing complaints - and some complaints will continue, even with the workaround applied. Blogger Engineering will be busy, for a while, resolving these problems.

Once again, I'll suggest that you consider the functional and historical reasons for existence of the dynamic templates. Consider exercising some restraint, when customising your blog. Be part of the solution.

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Recovering Stolen Blogs Is Not An Open And Shut Case

Recently, we've seen a few problems reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, requesting return of blogs stolen from the rightful owner.

Supposedly, the "rightful" owner is the person posting the problem report. We've learned from past experiences that this may not always be the case, however.

Long ago, when a stolen blog claim was posted in the forum, we could report it to Blogger Support as a "blog theft".

In many cases, given enough patience, Blogger Engineering and Google Legal would carefully examine the blog ownership history, and eventually restore the blog to its "rightful" owner. Unfortunately, even with the most careful forensic examination, the "blog theft" claim was occasionally used by hackers, to steal other peoples blogs.

Most recently, when "blog theft" is reported, Blogger Support declines to consider the case. Considering all of the issues, we generally see that they are making a responsible business decision.

Instead of spending massive amounts of time verifying individual claims, Blogger Engineering appears to be working on overall improvements to Blogger - to encourage blog owners to not put themselves, or their accounts and blogs, in unrecoverable positions.

Any blog which contains abusive material - whether malware, porn, or spam, or illegally obtained material - can be reported using the proper complaint form. Blogs which do not contain abusive material are the property of the current owner - and Blogger / Google will respect and support the current owner.

Blog owners, claiming theft, can generally report a stolen blog as abusive - if the current content justifies that claim. Other than that, the best solution is to hire a lawyer and convince a judge to issue a court order - and require Google Legal to become involved.

The issue of Blogger account and blog recovery is a long and painful one - for many people.