Diagnose Problems Using Differential Testing

Sometimes, you may find yourself reporting a problem, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken - and observe that nobody else has the same problem.

If there's any normal problem activity in the forum, you might find yourself waiting - in vain - for an immediate answer to your problem report. While you wait for advice, why not do some basic analysis of your problem?

A differential test set of your problem, based on some reasonably basic details, can help you see where many problems may originate.

Sometimes, you can identify the basic source of your problem - or at least, offer some ideas to a forum helper.

Verify URLs involved, first.

If possible, start any diagnosis by verifying the URLs involved. More problems than you would believe start with typographical errors, that are identified using careful URL verification.

Continue, using affinity / differential testing.

Similar to affinity testing, differential testing can be a big help when you have a problem. Here are a few simple differentials, which you can perform, with a little determination and planning.

1. Account. Use a different Blogger account, and try the same procedures against your blog.
2. Blog. Setup a different blog, and try the same features and procedures on the other blog.
3. Browser. Use a different browser, and try the same procedures on your blog.
4. Computer. Use a different computer, and try the same procedures on your blog.
5. Connection. Use this browser / computer from a different Internet connection - or use a different computer which uses a different Internet connection - and try the same procedures on your blog.
6. Draft. If you are currently using normal ("Production") Blogger, try experimental ("Draft") Blogger - or vice versa.
7. Logout. Logout from Blogger completely, when diagnosing a problem that involves viewing the published blog.
8. Posts. Identify the last few posts, published before you first observed the problems. Edit those posts, and save them as Draft copies.
9. SSL Encryption. Similar to the "Draft" / "Production" login dichotomy, change between "HTTP" and "HTTPS".
10. Template. Change the blog, to use a different template.

Maybe, you can think of still more differential tests.

Make controlled changes - and observe the results.

By changing exactly one significant detail at a time, and carefully observing the result of the change, you can at least get an idea what actions which you may have made, to contribute to the problem.

Use a different Blogger account, to maintain / publish your blog. As an alternative, first clear cache, cookies, and sessions (yes, all 3, in this case!), then restart the browser. A second alternative would be to use an "incognito" / "private browsing" window, in this browser. Both alternatives may complement each other, when used simultaneously.

Set up a different blog, with similar features / content. As an alternative, ensure that your blog uses a standard Blogger template - then reset the post template, and remove any shiny third party accessories. Note that all problem third party code may not have been recently installed - but may still cause problems.

Use a different browser, to maintain / publish / view your blog. As an alternative, ensure that you have the latest browser update - then disable all add-ons and extensions, in this browser. The "incognito" / "private browsing" window - and various alternatives may be useful, in this case also.

Use a different computer, to maintain / publish your blog. As an alternative, check (and update) all cookie and script filters, on this browser / computer.

Use a different Internet connection, to maintain / publish your blog. As an alternative, try changing your Internet address - if your ISP will permit this.

Use a different Blogger draft version, to maintain / publish your blog. Note that moving back and forth, between "Draft" and "Production" Blogger libraries, may not be straightforward, as use of Draft Blogger use carries some risk. You should try this differential, with discretion.

For problems which involve viewing the published blog, logout completely from Blogger. As an alternative, first clear cache, cookies, and sessions (yes, all 3, in this case!), then restart the browser. A second alternative would be to use an "incognito" / "private browsing" window, in this browser. In this case, all three alternatives may complement each other, when used simultaneously.

Remove any recently published posts, from the blog. As an alternative to deleting your recent work, edit each questionable post and save it as draft.

Use a different SSL encryption level, to access / maintain the blog. Change between the "HTTP" and "HTTPS" URL prefixes, when accessing the blog, and when logging in to Blogger.

Use a different template, on this blog. After changing the blog template, remember to reset the post template. As an alternative, reset all gadgets and the post template. If you're using a custom, third party template, update to a Blogger standard.

If you have any experience with Blogger problem analysis and resolution, you'll note that none of the alternatives, suggested above, will create the full effect of the specific differential. However, each alternative will give you a partial differential - if the complete change is not convenient.

Many Blogger problems start with you - and can best be reproduced by you. That being the case, it's best that you try to reproduce the problems (or "bX codes"), through a differential analysis - and observe the results of your tests.

The best idea here is to try at least 2 differentials.

• Make one change at a time.
• Observe the results of each change, separately.

If you try a different browser - and magically the problem goes away, you're good - for right now. But what happens next week, if you experience a different problem? Do you want to try a third browser?

How many browsers can you use - and break - before running out of browsers, that you like? Using a second or third differential, now, may help you more precisely identify the cause of the problem - and that's when you are more likely to get the attention of Blogger Engineering.

It's a lot more useful to diagnose a problem, with you carefully making changes, and observing what happens, then it is for you to report

I can't see my blog!

and get the reply

Your blog is fine!

High level (differential) testing can go a long way, towards getting a problem identified - and possibly, resolved.

Clear Or Reset The Post Template Wizard

Many problems with post features or layout can be resolved by refreshing or resetting the post template, using the Template Editor.

Not all post display problems are caused by unwise use of the Template Editor - some problems may be part of the individual posts. The dashboard Post Template wizard, in Settings - Posts and comments, lets you add a template to the posts - in addition to the "post template".

The "Post Template" added content then appears as part of each new post, in the post editor window.

The "Post Template" wizard, which is frequently used to add fancy signatures and other accents to the posts, contains HTML code, like any other blog component.

If used improperly, the "Post Template" entered code can cause problems with the posts - just as any use of the Post Editor or Template Editor. Be careful here - please don't confuse the dashboard "post template", with the template "post template". The "post template", discussed here, is a small component in the template "post template".

If you just added a fancy post signature or other custom feature or graphic to your posts, and you're now seeing problems with the newer posts, your first instinct might be to reset the post template. Before doing that, why not check the Post Template wizard, at Settings - Posts and comments, and verify what you're adding to your new posts?

This is the Dashboard "Post Template".

Please, don't confuse this with the "post template", in the Template Editor!



If you have code in the "Post Template" box, click "Remove" and remove it. You can always copy the contents, to an old post for instance, before you Remove the contents - should you later decide to try again.

After Removing the contents of the "Post Template" wizard, test your changes by publishing a new post - and see whether the new post is any better than any recent posts, where you observed a problem.

If your new post is successful, you will have to go back and edit each post, by hand, that you published since you last edited the "Post Template" template. Remember also, to clear browser cache, and restart the browser, before checking your old posts for successful correction.

Team Blogs, And Confusion About Blogs Locked After Detected Account Hacking

We've been discussing deleted blogs, resulting from Blogger accounts locked after suspicious account activity is detected, for some time.

Recently, we've seen a variant on the account lock / deleted blogs problem.

I made one of my friends an admin for my blog. When Blogger deleted His Blogger account and his blogs, they deleted my blog also.

Here, we see the possibility of detected hacking, affecting other members in a team blog ownership.

If someone sets up a blog, then invites his friends to be administrators, everybody on the team becomes equal owners. This can also happen when one person maintains two or more Blogger accounts - whether accidentally or intentionally.

That's the definition of a team blog - and it's one known problem with team blogs. This case shows us another problem with team blogs.

If somebody on the team has a Blogger account locked for detected hacking, all blogs owned by that account are taken offline, for security checking. Any blogs owned by that account are going to simply disappear from the dashboards of all owners - because all owners produce the same security risk, to any owned blogs.

When a Blogger account is locked, review of blogs owned by the account starts after the account is unlocked. If the team member with the locked Blogger account doesn't get the account unlocked, the blogs owned can't be reviewed.

Once again, we see why it's a good idea to only have active team members, as blog owners.

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Search Engines, And Private Blogs

Not every blog owner realises the relationships between private blogs, and search engine indexing.

Some blog owners think that private blogs can't be indexed, by the search engine robots. Given the way private blogs work, search engine access is not directly restricted - even though indexing activity is impeded.

People are prevented from viewing a private blog, only because Blogger displays the private blog interstitial in front of the blog display.

This blog is open to invited readers only

It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog. If you think this is a mistake, you might want to contact the blog author and request an invitation.

Other than the presence of that display, access to the blog is not affected. This detail becomes important, for some potential readers who are accessing the Internet through some Local Area Networks.

Search engines are not directly affected by the private blog status - though there are interesting details.

• The blog description, when indexed, will contain the text of the interstitial notice.
• Private blogs do not publish newsfeeds - and with newsfeeds used to facilitate indexing, the indexing process is not as consistent as with public blogs.
• The dashboard Privacy setting, which generates an entry in the "robots.txt" file, is advisory only, to search engine robots.

The interstitial notice is authoritative to people, when viewing the blog.

The notice does not block robots. Robots are stopped only when they voluntarily accept the relevant settings in "robots.txt".


The text content of the interstitial advice will replace the blog description, in SERP displays.

This blog is open to invited readers only

Without an actual blog description, potential blog readers won't feel very encouraged to view the blog. Even when clicking on the SERP entry, the would be blog reader is still taken to the interstitial, and goes no farther.

This blog is open to invited readers only

Private blogs do not publish newsfeeds. Since the newsfeed provides the Blogger equivalent of the sitemap, a typical private Blogger blog has no sitemap - and search engine indexing activity is not as regular.

The settings in the "robots.txt" file, which specifies bots and access, is not authoritative. Acceptance of the "robots.txt" settings is left to the discretion of each different robot. A robot, which does not observe the settings, can access - and index - any website.

A private blog can be indexed - though without free access by readers to a private blog, there will be less links referencing the blog - and less indirect search engine activity.

Less links referencing the blog leads to less indexing, by the search engines. Less indexing leads to less entries in SERPs, poorer SERP positioning - and relative lack of success when using search engine cache, to search the blog.

With a private blog, you'll be much more successful using a direct blog search.

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BlogLovin, And Blogs Publishing Feeds Through FeedBurner

We're seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about BlogLovin, and their inability to accept feeds from Blogger blogs.

My feed on Bloglovin is not updating correctly, so I emailed BlogLovin Support. They responded, and said it was because my RSS feed isn't working correctly.

When diagnosed, we frequently see a working posts feed, redirected through FeedBurner.

It appears that BlogLovin is not able to properly accept some (or all) FeedBurner redirected feeds. The most obvious solution here would be to setup BlogLovin properly, to use a non redirected feed, so they get the native Blogger posts feed.

Upon trying to test my diagnosis, using my test blog, it appears that adding a blog to BlogLovin requires publishing a new post, with their Follow button conspicuously located.

Paste this text into a new blog post:

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/10757427/?claim=ge8y4cfhqfx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

In some blogs it's necessary to put the code in the top of the blog post

It does not appear to be easily possible to specify the blog feed, in this case. It appears that BlogLovin extracts the blog feed, using the feed autodiscovery meta code, in the blog template.

It appears that any solution to the problem with BlogLovin vs FeedBurner redirected feeds will require involvement with BlogLovin Engineering.

1. Convince BlogLovin Support to make their service accept FeedBurner feeds.
2. Convince BlogLovin Support to make their service filter feed redirects.
3. Discontinue FeedBurner from your feed redirect.
4. Figure out how to specify a non redirected feed to BlogLovin.

I'm not hopeful that #4 has any future.

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Choosing A Name For Your Blog - Rules Are Simple

The first task in starting a new blog involves taking an available blog name (aka "URL").

The rules for picking a blog name are reasonably simple.

1. Pick a blog name.
2. If "Create a blog" gives you that name, it's yours. Continue with #4.
3. If "Create a blog" shows "Sorry!", pick another name, and continue with #2.
4. Setup your new blog.

Some folks need even simpler rules.

1. If "Create a blog" gives you the name of your choice, it's yours.
2. If "Create a blog" does not give you that name, you have to pick another.

Which ever rules you wish to go by, the "Create a blog" wizard has the final say.

There are several reasons why "Create a blog" may not give you the name of your choice.

Deleted - or dormant - the URL is not available.

Some people think that deleted and dormant blogs should be subject to different rules.

I see

Sorry, the blog at thenameofmydreams.blogspot.com has been removed.

Who do I contact, at Google, to have "thenameofmydreams" re issued, to me?

and

The blog at thenameofmydreams.blogspot.com has not been updated for over a year. Who do I contact to have it re issued, to me?

There are several reasons for blog deletions - and none for URL recycling.

There are several reasons why a blog may have been deleted - and each reason produces different availability issues.

1. If you are (were) the owner, and you deleted it under 90 days ago, you are allowed to un delete it.
2. If you are (were) the owner, and you deleted it over 90 days ago, it is gone.
3. If someone else is (was) the owner, and they deleted it, they likewise have up to 90 days to un delete it.
4. If Blogger deleted it, the owner (you, or another person) has eternity to have it reviewed (and possibly, recovered).

Dormant blogs are simpler to discuss - since dormant blogs, in reality, do not exist. There are no requirements for posting frequency or volume.

If the name is made available by Blogger, then "Create a blog" will be able to assign it to you - if it is available, when you request it. If it's not made available, you can't have it.

Accounts and addresses do not expire, they remain the owners property.

Blogger Support said it, so simply.

Blogger accounts and Blogspot addresses do not expire. Therefore, we can't take away somebody's blog address to give to you.

If it's not available, they will not re issue it to you.

If you have a blog to start, pick an available name, today - and get started, today.

Account / Blog Recovery May Involve Your Friends

Recovering ownership of a Blogger account or blog may be a frustrating process.

Recovering control of a long forgotten account or blog starts with having a token sent to the recovery email address. If you don't have access to the recovery email account, you may be able to use the Google Account recovery wizard - if you can at least provide the email address that you used long ago, and a few personal details.

But what if you don't remember the email address - or even the URL? Blogger won't just tell you what the address was - and they don't know who you are, so would do they know the URL of your blog?.

In the latter case, you may have to involve your friends - and some detective work.

Now, you hope that when you registered your Blogger account long ago, you provided an email address that you used for real life activity.

When you created the blog, you surely emailed the URL to somebody.

When you need to identify the email address used, long ago, for registering your Blogger account, think back. Who did you email, long ago, around that time, for serious discussions?

If you're lucky, one of your friends, carefully searching her / his email archives, can find your email - and provide the email address that you were using - and the URL of the blog.

Knowing the URL may jog your memory enough, to remember the password.

With help from your friend, and now knowing the email address, that may even help you remember the password that you may have used. If you're lucky, you may be able to use that email address and password, and finally recover control of the blog. Just don't spend a lot of time guessing, and cause account lock (aka "suspicious activity").

Now, with the BlogSpot URL, you can use "Forgot?", and reset the password.

Having recovered the email address, try the Google Account recovery wizard, again. This is your best bet. Without this, you're probably going to need to establish your identity using a court order, issued by a sitting judge.

Diagnosing The Mysterious bX Codes

One of the most misunderstood features of Blogger blogs is the mysterious bX codes.

Every day, we see the frustration

It says there's something wrong and I should give this "error code" so Blogger can fix it. What should I do? Where can I send the "error code"?

When you get a bX code, there's not a lot you can do, to directly diagnose the problem.

Excepting for diagnosing bX codes related to custom domain issues, your first step is to use Google Search, and target the complete code

bX-sp4hmm

Then see if someone else has reported that exact same code

bX-sp4hmm

.
After you use Google Search, you can help narrow down the problem - and maybe encourage other people to do the same.

You can identify which portion of your Blogger activity contributes to your observation of any specific bX code, using affinity analysis and / or differential analysis.

Neither affinity analysis or differential analysis will necessarily fix a bX code - though a side effect of differential analysis may be to temporarily "fix" one or more symptoms (change enough details, and some symptoms will go away). Most bX codes represent problems that originate deep within the Blogger code base. It may, though, help Blogger Engineering to identify the source of the problem.

Your details, added to similar reports by other blog owners, could make the difference between a problem that gets fixed in a couple weeks - or in a couple hours.

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Making Blogger Run Properly, On Our Computers

One of the biggest problems with Blogger, right now, is how we allow Blogger to run, on our computers.

We protect our computers from threats - known and unknown - using layered security. Right now, some of us are protecting ourselves too carefully - and we are seeing the results, with problems in Blogger.

The Blogger application, which we use to maintain and publish our blogs, runs on our computers.

We get Blogger program code from the Blogger servers, and we run the Blogger code on our computers. The Blogger code includes two essential components - cookies (settings, which control how the programs run), and scripts (the programs themselves).

If we want to run the Blogger code on our computers, we have to let Blogger and Google load cookies, and run scripts, on our computers.

If we can trust Blogger to host our blogs - on their computers, we need to trust them to run their code - on our computers. We need to configure our cookie and script filters, on our computers and networks, to trust Blogger and Google.

• In our browsers.
• On our computers.
• On our networks.

Cookie and script filters are found in many places - and all filters must be configured, properly. Click here for instructions on configuring your browser filters.

If Blogger Engineering is to spend their time, developing and maintaining Blogger, we have to support their efforts. We have to setup our computers properly - so Blogger will run, properly.

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Click On The "X" (If You Can Find It - And If You Mean To Do It)

The custom domain publishing form, in the dashboard Publishing wizard, causes confusion.

Occasionally, we see evidence of the confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I need to cancel my domain - but Blogger won't let me!

or

I clicked on my dashboard, and now my blog isn't published to my domain!

These blog owners, and more, are perplexed by the Publishing overlay form, displayed for a blog published to a custom domain.

The custom domain overlay, in the dashboard Basic - Publishing wizard, is very elegant. The overlay design is similar to forms used by Blogger and Google+, to display photos.

The "overlay" form is appropriately designed, for its use. The form follows the function - and reflects the status of the blog. For all that, it's diabolically subtle.

The normal display, for a blog published to BlogSpot, is a simple box, containing the current BlogSpot URL - and an "Edit" link, used to change the published BlogSpot URL. If this blog were still published as "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com", for instance, I would see

bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com Edit

Clicking on the "Edit" link, I would get the wizard, to re publish the blog under a different BlogSpot URL.

The display for a custom domain published blog overlays the normal BlogSpot URL box. With this blog published as "blogging.nitecruzr.net" (but still retaining the BlogSpot URL "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com"), I see a simple box.

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

This simple box "overlays" the previous box.

bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com Edit

This justifies the use of the "overlay" design, I suspect.

If I want to return the blog to the "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com" published URL, I have to simply click on the "X", to the right of "Edit". The "overlay" box closes - as the blog is re published, to the BlogSpot URL.

It's that simple.

• When I can see the "X".
• When I understand what the "X" is intended for.
• When I intend to return the blog to the BlogSpot URL.

At other times, not so simple - not so obvious to everybody - and not so appreciated.

If you were to request assistance, in the forum.

How do I publish the blog back to BlogSpot?

The answer should be very simple.

Click on the "X".

How elegant - and how non useful. In strict online etiquette, it's rude. Since you are requesting assistance, it's possible that you don't see the "X" or do not understand its function.

To avoid causing more frustration, I provide some detail.

Click on the "X", to the right of the "Edit" link".

To make sure that I am instructing you properly, I first must make sure that the blog is properly published to the domain. I request verification of what you are seeing.

Please provide a screen print, showing the Publishing wizard, in the dashboard Settings - Basic display.

Later seeing the properly produced screen print, which indicates the blog properly published to the domain, I can then reply, confidently.

Click on the "X".

Such is life, in the Blogger elegance.

And, if you "accidentally" happen to click on the "X" without meaning to do so, your domain promptly (within limits of cache expiration) goes offline, as the blog only responds to a BlogSpot URL.

Oh yes, the "Edit" link, visible when the blog is published to the domain, does lead to an essential function - the ability to select the option.

Redirect nitecruzr.net to blogging.nitecruzr.net

Again, not always a good idea.

Confusion About Your Blog Feed, Not Updating Properly In Gadgets On Other People's Blogs

One of the stranger confusions, seen occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, refers to the posts feed, from our blog, displayed on other people's blogs.

I just published a new blog post - but it does not show up on my friends blogs. Is there a problem, with my feed?

When we investigate, the blog feed shows no problem. We display the feed in the browser, and compare with the blog main page - and everything on the main page is in the feed. It just does not show up on our friends feed gadgets.

So, what's the problem here? Were we imagining a problem? No, it's not imagination.

When we view a blog or website, what we see is subject to caching, on our computers.

Browsers display content, subject to caching.

Our browsers don't waste time (and bandwidth) downloading content from every blog or website we may wish to view, without checking what's in cache - in our browsers, on our computers, and elsewhere. If the blog or website in question has not been updated since we last viewed it, the browser just shows us our cached content.

With a Blogger blog, and our need to view the main page, what's in cache is simply the blog, as displayed on the main page. If no post was published or updated since we last viewed the main page, what we see is the main page, from cache. Simple enough.

Since the content of the gadgets is not cached separately, any updates to the gadgets only gets displayed when we view a blog from a Blogger server. Any gadget updates - such as newly published posts, from our blogs - will only be displayed after the blog owner publishes a new post.

Our blogs are generally crawled based on our update reputation.

If we publish posts daily - but our friends only publish weekly - we're going to see our updates displayed weekly. That's not a problem with our blogs, with our blog feeds, or even with our friends blogs - it's just how cache affects us.

Complicating this confusion, we have the issue of feed gadgets which won't display all feeds. A gadget which has 10 feeds in the list, but is set to display only 5 feeds, will display only the most recently updated 5 feeds. The other 5 feeds will not display.

As different feeds are updated irregularly, they become the 5 feeds displayed. The other 5 feeds will seem to disappear from the display.

And since other people's blogs contain content provided by other people - not just our blogs - what we see on other peoples blogs may not always include our updated content, or even our blogs at all.

We can clear cache on our computers - and see the change on our computers.

To diagnose the problems, we can clear or refresh our cache, and see if that makes our friends blogs "update more regularly" and / or "appear". This strategy is subject to limitations, though.

• If we clear cache, this will make all of the blogs and websites load directly from the servers (not just Blogger).
• We may be subject to caching, which we can't control.
• Whatever we do, to force our feed to update, on our friends blogs, when viewed from our browser, will have no effect on what our friends viewers see, when viewing our friends blogs.

In some cases, we may just have to shrug our shoulders, and get to work on our blogs. And wait, patiently, for our friends to work on their blogs.

Confusion From The Message "You have logged out from another location."

This month, we have a small flood of reports, from blog owners who are seeing the latest monolithic error.

You have logged out from another location. Do you want to log in again?

This error has actually been reported previously - but in smaller volume - for some time. It appears to be similar in nature to a previously reported problem, "Conflicting Edits".

The problem appears to possibly affect anybody who has logged in to Blogger - and it appears to be persistent, and has inspired imaginative measures, from some blog owners.

The basic error condition, "You have logged out from another location.", has actually been around for many months.

Blogger Support suggests simply clearing cache and cookies.

Advice from Blogger Support staff, as occasionally provided, is reasonably simple.

If you are still receiving this error please clear cache and cookies, refreshing the page and log-in again.

I suggest a more consistent process - clear cache, cookies, and sessions.

Observing a lack of consistent success, from the latter advice, I recommend a more deliberate procedure.

1. Check cookie and script filters.
2. Clear cache, cookies, and sessions (all 3).
3. Restart the browser.
4. Click on the link below, to login to Blogger.

https://www.blogger.com

However one attacks the problem, when seen, it's not producing a lot of happy blog owners. Unfortunately, until Blogger Engineering permanently fixes the underlying problem, the temporary solution requires action by the blog owners affected.

If the above is inconsistent, try affinity / differential testing.

If you follow the above advice, and continue to see this error, I suggest that you try a combination of affinity testing and of differential testing - then report the problem and a summary of your diagnostic tests, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

The anger expressed by some blog owners, repeatedly seeing "You have logged out from another location.", appears to resemble what was seen after the Blogger melt down of May 2011. That problem started during the week of May 9 - 13, when Blogger blog maintenance was impossible for over a week.

With multiple tabs open in Blogger, this message might be seen more often.

I, myself, am used to seeing this message - once or twice a week. I almost always have one or more browsers logged in to Blogger / Google, with various tabs opened to Blogger, FeedBurner, GMail, Google Groups, and / or Webmaster Tools.

With multiple tabs opened to various Google applications, it's a fairly simple (though not enjoyed) task to simply close all Blogger tabs, open one new tab targeting "http://www.blogger.com", and watch as the login session present under FeedBurner, GMail, Google Groups, and / or Webmaster Tools, refreshes into the newly opened Blogger tab.

The problem this month appears to be more persistent than my personal observations - and supposedly continues even through browser, and computer, restarts. Follow the above advice, please - then report your observations in detail. And please, be patient with the helpers who respond.

Automatic Sharing Of New Posts, To Google+, Is Here

Almost 3 years ago, Blogger introduced easy sharing of new Blogger posts, to Google+.

This week, they took the next step. For those blogs associated with a Google+ page or profile, you can share new posts, Publicly, automatically.

Starting today you can automatically share your blog posts publicly to Google+ — as soon as you publish them, with no additional clicks.

Just select "Automatically share after posting", and you're ready to share new posts, publicly, as soon as they are published.
When you share automatically, it's absolute and immediate.

• Everything gets shared to Public - no Circles selection.
• No Comment addition.

For those who like a no option sharing, it's here - but be aware of an oddity, if you also use Google+ Comments.

We see in Google Help: Automatically share to Google+, some interesting advice.

Automatic sharing to Google+ is enabled by default on all public blogs linked to Google+ pages or profiles.

If you setup a new blog, you might do well to check the setting, before publishing your first few posts.

Preventing FeedBurner Email Distribution Delay

One very useful FeedBurner service is the Email Distribution feature.

Email Distribution is virtually a turnkey subscription management. Email Distribution has one limitation, which not everybody understands, however.

FeedBurner delivers any new posts once daily, based on a chosen distribution time. Depending upon what distribution time you choose, for any FeedBurner Feed, you can have anywhere from 0 hours, to 24 hours - of delay, between publishing a post, and having that post distributed by email.

From the FeedBurner dashboard, click on the specific feed, in the "My Feeds" list.

When you have the dashboard for the feed required, click on "Publicize", then "Email Subscriptions", and finally "Delivery Options".


Use the "Delivery Options" tab to set time zone, then select from any of 12 convenient 2-hour windows for email delivery.


To minimise delivery delay, schedule daily activity, just before distribution.

To minimise email distribution delay, you choose the daily distribution time carefully - then publish immediately before the daily scheduled distribution.

1. Choose a convenient distribution time window.
2. Using "Schedule Email Delivery", choose the corresponding daily 2 hour window, for email distribution.
3. Publish posts immediately before the start of the chosen time window.

Choose any one of 12 2-hour email delivery windows.

You choose a 2 hour delivery window. This gives you a 22 hour publishing window, which precedes the 2 hour delivery window. All posts published within the 22 hour publishing window will be delivered within the 2 hour delivery window. Posts published within the 2 hour delivery window may be delivered that day - or the following day.

You will still have a single daily distribution time - but you can choose an appropriate distribution window. And, you can publish just before the chosen distribution window.

Alternately, setup multiple feeds, each delivering email at different times.

Using a new concept, you can have multiple FeedBurner feeds, each with its own distribution window. If your blog serves readers in multiple time zones, you can deliver email at the same local time, for each time zone. Or, you can have multiple publishing activity windows, depending upon your personal workload for different days.