Some time ago, Blogger comment notification was changed to send notification of all comments published to a given blog.
Notification now includes comments moderated as spam - either by the blog administrators, or by the Blogger spam moderation process. This confuses some blog owners, who complain about getting notifications which include spam comments.
Some blog owners do not appreciate getting spam comments, in their notification email. Unfortunately, as opposed to the possibility of seeing comments appear to vanish - when comments, supposedly published, are wrongfully moderated as spam and never generate notification email - it is impossible to not include some spam comments in the notification email.
Since notification email is sent immediately after a comment is published, it's simply not possible to exclude comments, which could be moderated as spam any time after published, from notification.
If you require notification email which only includes legitimate comments, you should not use notification email. You would be much better off using a comment feed. Start by removing your email address, from the comment notification email list.
If your blog includes a comment feed option, you need only to subscribe, using the subscription medium of your choice. Look at the sidebar of this blog. Do you see "The Real Blogger Status - Comments"? That's a newsfeed gadget, using the comments feed, for this blog.
If you like, you can setup a similar gadget, on your blog. Alternately, using the comment newsfeed URL for your blog, you can setup a FeedBurner feed, and use FeedBurner Email Distribution to have the feed emailed to you.
A downside of the FeedBurner feature is that email is not sent in real time, it is sent once a day, and lists all feed entries from the previous 24 hours. But if you insist on only seeing non spam comments, you need to allow 24 hours for moderation after publishing. And, you (and any other blog administrators) still need to moderate promptly, to keep the spam level down.
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Friday, February 28, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
Team Blog Ownership Causes Risk, To All Members
Some blog owners setup blogs, then casually make their friends administrators, without considering the potential risk to their blogs.
From time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see reports by former blog owners, who have lost control of their blogs. There are several risks - and not all risks are apparent.
Everybody who is a member of a team blog is at risk from action or misaction by other blog members.
One of the saddest cases involves former friends, where one former friend just took over a blog, having been given control of the blog by the other former friend. When somebody willingly gives up control of a blog to somebody else, and is treated rudely by the new owner, the former owner is out of luck.
Blogger will treat the new owner as the rightful owner of the blog - and can do nothing, legally, to assist the former owner.
This scenario can be avoided by only giving trustable friends control of the blog.
In a second case, the former owner may lose control of the blog, accidentally, by misusing the Permissions list. Blogger protects against most accidental loss of control, by having the Permissions list only accept intentional demotions or removals from the list, when there is a second administrator.
If the second administrator is in active, the blog becomes one with no active administrator. The former administrator will still be instructed to contact the other administrator - active or not - to become re instated as an administrator.
This will be the case, too, when the owner (one person) has multiple Blogger accounts - whether intentionally or non intentionally setup.
Blogger cannot distinguish between a team blog, with multiple people involved - or a one person blog, with multiple accounts. Nor can they detect a corporate blog, owned by a recently departed employee. All of these cases are the responsibility of the person(s) involved - intentionally anonymous, or not.
This scenario can be avoided by keeping the Permissions list trimmed, and only include administrators who can serve, actively.
In a third case, a blog may be deleted or locked when a team member (administrator or author) has her / his Blogger account locked, because of repeated and non repentant abusive action. This may also happen if the team member has his / her Blogger account hacked, whether successfully or not.
In either case, any blogs to which an abusive owner, or a hacking victim, contributes, can be vulnerable to being locked. And all team members will see their dashboard affected - and be able to do nothing, to recover control.
This scenario, too, can be avoided only by being very selective, about team memberships.
In all of the above scenarios, Blogger will be unable to correct the problems for the individual blog owners. It is the responsibility of each blog owner / administrator / author, to be aware of the exposures created by team blog membership - and to take the necessary steps to avoid any problems.
Blogger concentrates on identifying the problem cases, in general - and in developing safeguards which prevent each scenario from causing future problems. They can do nothing about past problems - those are the responsibility of the blog owners.
From time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, we see reports by former blog owners, who have lost control of their blogs. There are several risks - and not all risks are apparent.
- Aggressive takeover of the blog, by one administrator.
- Unintentional self deletion or demotion, by the last active administrator.
- Team member, with Blogger account deleted for repeated TOS offenses, causing locking of team blogs.
Everybody who is a member of a team blog is at risk from action or misaction by other blog members.
One of the saddest cases involves former friends, where one former friend just took over a blog, having been given control of the blog by the other former friend. When somebody willingly gives up control of a blog to somebody else, and is treated rudely by the new owner, the former owner is out of luck.
Blogger will treat the new owner as the rightful owner of the blog - and can do nothing, legally, to assist the former owner.
This scenario can be avoided by only giving trustable friends control of the blog.
In a second case, the former owner may lose control of the blog, accidentally, by misusing the Permissions list. Blogger protects against most accidental loss of control, by having the Permissions list only accept intentional demotions or removals from the list, when there is a second administrator.
If the second administrator is in active, the blog becomes one with no active administrator. The former administrator will still be instructed to contact the other administrator - active or not - to become re instated as an administrator.
This will be the case, too, when the owner (one person) has multiple Blogger accounts - whether intentionally or non intentionally setup.
Blogger cannot distinguish between a team blog, with multiple people involved - or a one person blog, with multiple accounts. Nor can they detect a corporate blog, owned by a recently departed employee. All of these cases are the responsibility of the person(s) involved - intentionally anonymous, or not.
This scenario can be avoided by keeping the Permissions list trimmed, and only include administrators who can serve, actively.
In a third case, a blog may be deleted or locked when a team member (administrator or author) has her / his Blogger account locked, because of repeated and non repentant abusive action. This may also happen if the team member has his / her Blogger account hacked, whether successfully or not.
In either case, any blogs to which an abusive owner, or a hacking victim, contributes, can be vulnerable to being locked. And all team members will see their dashboard affected - and be able to do nothing, to recover control.
This scenario, too, can be avoided only by being very selective, about team memberships.
In all of the above scenarios, Blogger will be unable to correct the problems for the individual blog owners. It is the responsibility of each blog owner / administrator / author, to be aware of the exposures created by team blog membership - and to take the necessary steps to avoid any problems.
Blogger concentrates on identifying the problem cases, in general - and in developing safeguards which prevent each scenario from causing future problems. They can do nothing about past problems - those are the responsibility of the blog owners.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Access To Your Blogger Account, Using Google Login
Ever since the new, integrated 2014 Google login was provided for us, several months ago, some Blogger blog owners have been losing access to their blogs.
Problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, illustrate the confusion.
Many times, we resort to
If you learn to use the login screen properly, you can avoid the confusion - and the drawbacks.
The new login screen makes it easier for us to remember our login accounts - and harder for us to accidentally use an inappropriate or non existent account.
The most recently used account is always displayed.
Once you use the new login screen for the first time, the account used for login is remembered - and displayed - every time following. If you want to use a different account, click on "Add additional account" or "Sign in with a different account", and add another account.
After you have intentionally added an additional / different Google account, your login screen will display the choice of each account previously added, and give you the option to select any one account, for login. If the account needed is not displayed, you use "Manage accounts" and add an additional account.
Login is blind - you have to choose what account you want to use.
When using the new login screen, remember that the Blogger / Google login does not indicate what account you must use, to access the dashboard for a specific blog. Since part of the technique for keeping our blogs secure involves not revealing the owning Blogger accounts, the blog being displayed will be irrelevant to what accounts you may use, when logging in to Blogger or Google.
Login, like many Blogger processes, is filter sensitive.
The new login screen, like every Blogger / Google authentication wizard, requires properly setup cookie and script filters.
GMail and non GMail based accounts are treated equally.
Finally, remember that GMail and non GMail based Blogger / Google accounts are treated alike, in the Google login screen. Just enter or select the proper account name (email address) and password, and you will be logged in to the corresponding Google account. And if that Google account is the owner of the Blogger blog, there you will see your blog, in the "My blogs" dashboard display.
Problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, illustrate the confusion.
I can't login to my blog!and
I can only use my GMail, not my Blogger, account!!These are typical examples of the problems which come from misunderstanding the new login process.
Many times, we resort to
Clear cache, cookies, and sessions (yes, all 3 elements) - then restart the browser.This advice, however, has drawbacks.
If you learn to use the login screen properly, you can avoid the confusion - and the drawbacks.
The new login screen makes it easier for us to remember our login accounts - and harder for us to accidentally use an inappropriate or non existent account.
The most recently used account is always displayed.
Once you use the new login screen for the first time, the account used for login is remembered - and displayed - every time following. If you want to use a different account, click on "Add additional account" or "Sign in with a different account", and add another account.
After you have intentionally added an additional / different Google account, your login screen will display the choice of each account previously added, and give you the option to select any one account, for login. If the account needed is not displayed, you use "Manage accounts" and add an additional account.
Login is blind - you have to choose what account you want to use.
When using the new login screen, remember that the Blogger / Google login does not indicate what account you must use, to access the dashboard for a specific blog. Since part of the technique for keeping our blogs secure involves not revealing the owning Blogger accounts, the blog being displayed will be irrelevant to what accounts you may use, when logging in to Blogger or Google.
Login, like many Blogger processes, is filter sensitive.
The new login screen, like every Blogger / Google authentication wizard, requires properly setup cookie and script filters.
GMail and non GMail based accounts are treated equally.
Finally, remember that GMail and non GMail based Blogger / Google accounts are treated alike, in the Google login screen. Just enter or select the proper account name (email address) and password, and you will be logged in to the corresponding Google account. And if that Google account is the owner of the Blogger blog, there you will see your blog, in the "My blogs" dashboard display.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Blog Feed Type, And Search Engine Indexing Of Your Blog
Not all blog owners realise the importance of the blog feed, and of its effect upon search engine access to their blogs.
For blogs which are published as Public, Blogger provides the option to publish a blog feed - and within that option, what size feed to publish.
When a blog is indexed using the sitemap - and not using the main page, or links from other blogs and websites - the proper feed type will have a major effect on blog indexing. Selecting anything other than "Full" will limit the amount of blog content - and prevent the search engines from indexing the complete blog posts.
(Update 2014/11): This may not be the case, with all blogs using dedicated sitemaps, automatically generated - instead of feed based sitemaps.
Just as indexing of the main page, when you use "Jump Break", affects indexing, so will anything other than "Full" prevent the search engines from accessing the complete blog posts. If your blog is new, you won't have a lot of links from readers. If you select "Short" or "Until Jump Break", indexing of the blog may take longer than "2-3 weeks".
Just because you enable the blog posts newsfeed, to encourage search engine indexing, you may not want to publish comments feeds. The "Custom" selection allows you to separately enable / select feed type for "Blog Posts", "Blog Comment", and "Per-Post Comment" feeds.
The feed size will have a major effect upon re indexing of the blog following a URL change - either a BlogSpot rename, or a custom domain publishing. If you setup a robust sitemap complement, you'll get much better results when the blog publishes a Full feed.
On the other hand, if you publicise the blog using email, and select "Full", you'll want to limit the number of posts in the feed. This will be especially true for photo blogs, and for blogs with large posts.
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For blogs which are published as Public, Blogger provides the option to publish a blog feed - and within that option, what size feed to publish.
- Full
- Until Jump Break
- Short
- None
- Custom
When a blog is indexed using the sitemap - and not using the main page, or links from other blogs and websites - the proper feed type will have a major effect on blog indexing. Selecting anything other than "Full" will limit the amount of blog content - and prevent the search engines from indexing the complete blog posts.
(Update 2014/11): This may not be the case, with all blogs using dedicated sitemaps, automatically generated - instead of feed based sitemaps.
Just as indexing of the main page, when you use "Jump Break", affects indexing, so will anything other than "Full" prevent the search engines from accessing the complete blog posts. If your blog is new, you won't have a lot of links from readers. If you select "Short" or "Until Jump Break", indexing of the blog may take longer than "2-3 weeks".
Just because you enable the blog posts newsfeed, to encourage search engine indexing, you may not want to publish comments feeds. The "Custom" selection allows you to separately enable / select feed type for "Blog Posts", "Blog Comment", and "Per-Post Comment" feeds.
The feed size will have a major effect upon re indexing of the blog following a URL change - either a BlogSpot rename, or a custom domain publishing. If you setup a robust sitemap complement, you'll get much better results when the blog publishes a Full feed.
On the other hand, if you publicise the blog using email, and select "Full", you'll want to limit the number of posts in the feed. This will be especially true for photo blogs, and for blogs with large posts.
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Monday, February 10, 2014
Private Blogs, And Abuse Classification
A few blog owners are unclear about the relationship between private blog access, and abuse (malware, porn, spam) classification.
In general, private blogs are not any less vulnerable to abuse classification, than public blogs. Blogs, designated as "private", are protected against being viewed by people who do not have permission.
Blogs, designated as "private", are not protected against being scanned by robotic processes. Search engine indexing bots will surf blogs - private or public - equally well. That said, there are non imaginary differences, between indexing of private and public blogs.
There are two obscure details, which make indexing of private blogs slightly different - and which seem to cause some confusion.
Many of us know the confusion, observed when clicking on a search engine listing, to see the advice
Private blogs don't produce newsfeeds - and won't be indexed by search engines, using sitemaps. They won't receive as much attention from the search engines, and they won't appear in search engine result pages (SERPs), in good position - so not so many people will see private blogs listed in SERPs. Also, since there are less private blogs than public blogs, there won't be as many private blogs listed, anywhere.
The latter distinctions aside, the search engine bots will crawl private blogs equally well as public blogs. Similar to search engine bots, abuse classification bots will crawl private blogs equally as well as public blogs.
The well known link modifiers "nofollow" and "noindex" are advisory only; any robotic process is free to observe or to ignore either directive. Misbehaving robots are known to surf - and to scrape content - from blogs using "noindex" and "nofollow", with impunity. Abuse classification bots will do the same.
A private blog won't give you the ability to back up other blogs, either. Online backups of other blogs, whether subject to TOS Violation classification or not, is still a bad idea.
Another source of confusion involves involuntary content warnings, which will affect private blogs less than public blogs - but only since private blogs have a restricted human audience (and that restriction is subject to limits). Malware, porn, and spam classification bots will crawl private blogs - and will place involuntary "content warning" restrictions - just as they do with public blogs.
Similar to the confusion about use of non BlogSpot URLs, use of "private" blog designation will protect your blog, in no way, from abuse classification. If you try to publish a blog containing malware, porn, and / or spam, we'll see you in the forums
In general, private blogs are not any less vulnerable to abuse classification, than public blogs. Blogs, designated as "private", are protected against being viewed by people who do not have permission.
Blogs, designated as "private", are not protected against being scanned by robotic processes. Search engine indexing bots will surf blogs - private or public - equally well. That said, there are non imaginary differences, between indexing of private and public blogs.
There are two obscure details, which make indexing of private blogs slightly different - and which seem to cause some confusion.
- Private blogs, which do not publish newsfeeds, will not be indexed as readily by search engines.
- Private blogs, which cannot be viewed as easily by people who do not have permission, are not as subject to "Content Warning" restrictions placed by unhappy viewers, who do not appreciate unsavoury content.
Many of us know the confusion, observed when clicking on a search engine listing, to see the advice
You don't have permission to view this page.This confusion starts because a blog or website, even though designated as "private" by the owner, is still indexed by the search engines.
Private blogs don't produce newsfeeds - and won't be indexed by search engines, using sitemaps. They won't receive as much attention from the search engines, and they won't appear in search engine result pages (SERPs), in good position - so not so many people will see private blogs listed in SERPs. Also, since there are less private blogs than public blogs, there won't be as many private blogs listed, anywhere.
The latter distinctions aside, the search engine bots will crawl private blogs equally well as public blogs. Similar to search engine bots, abuse classification bots will crawl private blogs equally as well as public blogs.
The well known link modifiers "nofollow" and "noindex" are advisory only; any robotic process is free to observe or to ignore either directive. Misbehaving robots are known to surf - and to scrape content - from blogs using "noindex" and "nofollow", with impunity. Abuse classification bots will do the same.
A private blog won't give you the ability to back up other blogs, either. Online backups of other blogs, whether subject to TOS Violation classification or not, is still a bad idea.
Another source of confusion involves involuntary content warnings, which will affect private blogs less than public blogs - but only since private blogs have a restricted human audience (and that restriction is subject to limits). Malware, porn, and spam classification bots will crawl private blogs - and will place involuntary "content warning" restrictions - just as they do with public blogs.
Similar to the confusion about use of non BlogSpot URLs, use of "private" blog designation will protect your blog, in no way, from abuse classification. If you try to publish a blog containing malware, porn, and / or spam, we'll see you in the forums
Blogger just deleted my blog! But I made it private!! How could they do this to me???And, we'll give you the bad news.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Abuse / Malware Classifications, February 2014
This week, we're seeing a small flood of reports about abuse / malware classifications, involving various blogs.
Some blogs are being classified as an apparently intensified effort to block a long recognised malware source - and others because of a newly detected problem.
For a while, we've been noting problem reports discussing blogs with gadgets provided by "abu-farhan". Some hijacks would lead to simple spam displays (of possibly objectionable content), while others led to active malware distribution. The latter, in turn, generated more problem reports here - by people reporting their blogs now under the control of other people, who were not the original blog owners.
This week, we see reports that Google has taken action against the "abu-farhan" domain. Blogger now appears to be actively classifying blogs, which contain accessories provided from "abu-farhan", as malicious content hosts - pending review, on a blog by blog basis.
Along with the action against "Abu Farhan", we also see reports of problems with "MadAdsMedia". Google appears to be taking similar action, against blogs containing material from the "madadsmedia" domain.
Use of either "Abu Farhan" or "MadAdsMedia" supplied material appears to lead to action against blogs containing the material - and against blogs that link to other blogs containing the material.
If your blog is now locked as a malware host, and you're unable to find any material from either "Abu Farhan" or "MadAdsMedia", then it's possible that you have linked to one or more blogs containing such material.
A Google Safe Browsing diagnosis, for your blog, may offer a clue where your problem lies. You generate a Safe Browsing diagnosis directly from a URL, containing the published blog URL.
Since this blog is published as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", the Safe Browsing diagnosis URL for this blog is
If the problem with your blog involves content on another blog / website, you have two choices.
If your blog is now locked as a malware host, and you're able to find material from either "abu-farhan" or "madadsmedia", you'll simply need to remove the malicious material.
Having removed all problem content and links from your blog, you'll next use Google Webmaster Tools, and request review of your blog. Right now, Blogger Support advises us that review can take up to 2 business days, to complete. Considering the volume of problem reports, I'm not optimistic that reviews are likely to take any less time.
When you visit Webmaster Tools, look in the menu for your blog. The menu entry for "Security Issues", or Webmasters help for hacked sites, may provide some guidance.
Be thorough, and search both your blog, and any linked blogs and websites, before requesting review. Requesting review, when your blog (or any linked blogs) has cleanup action pending, may be a problem for you.
If you are here because your blog is locked as a malware host, and you have not yet provided details about your problem, please help us to help you and provide your details, in the forum discussion, "[Problem Rollup] Blogs locked as malware hosts, with mention of "Abu Farhan" or "MadAdsMedia"" Please keep your post brief, responsive, and relevant, so we can best help you.
And in the future, be more selective about content and links, that you add to your blog.
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Some blogs are being classified as an apparently intensified effort to block a long recognised malware source - and others because of a newly detected problem.
For a while, we've been noting problem reports discussing blogs with gadgets provided by "abu-farhan". Some hijacks would lead to simple spam displays (of possibly objectionable content), while others led to active malware distribution. The latter, in turn, generated more problem reports here - by people reporting their blogs now under the control of other people, who were not the original blog owners.
This week, we see reports that Google has taken action against the "abu-farhan" domain. Blogger now appears to be actively classifying blogs, which contain accessories provided from "abu-farhan", as malicious content hosts - pending review, on a blog by blog basis.
Along with the action against "Abu Farhan", we also see reports of problems with "MadAdsMedia". Google appears to be taking similar action, against blogs containing material from the "madadsmedia" domain.
Use of either "Abu Farhan" or "MadAdsMedia" supplied material appears to lead to action against blogs containing the material - and against blogs that link to other blogs containing the material.
If your blog is now locked as a malware host, and you're unable to find any material from either "Abu Farhan" or "MadAdsMedia", then it's possible that you have linked to one or more blogs containing such material.
A Google Safe Browsing diagnosis, for your blog, may offer a clue where your problem lies. You generate a Safe Browsing diagnosis directly from a URL, containing the published blog URL.
Since this blog is published as "blogging.nitecruzr.net", the Safe Browsing diagnosis URL for this blog is
www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=blogging.nitecruzr.netThe diagnosis URL, for your blog, will be similar.
If the problem with your blog involves content on another blog / website, you have two choices.
- Contact the owner of the blog / website which actively contains malicious material, and suggest cleanup and review.
- Remove the link to the blog / website in question.
If your blog is now locked as a malware host, and you're able to find material from either "abu-farhan" or "madadsmedia", you'll simply need to remove the malicious material.
Having removed all problem content and links from your blog, you'll next use Google Webmaster Tools, and request review of your blog. Right now, Blogger Support advises us that review can take up to 2 business days, to complete. Considering the volume of problem reports, I'm not optimistic that reviews are likely to take any less time.
When you visit Webmaster Tools, look in the menu for your blog. The menu entry for "Security Issues", or Webmasters help for hacked sites, may provide some guidance.
Be thorough, and search both your blog, and any linked blogs and websites, before requesting review. Requesting review, when your blog (or any linked blogs) has cleanup action pending, may be a problem for you.
If you are here because your blog is locked as a malware host, and you have not yet provided details about your problem, please help us to help you and provide your details, in the forum discussion, "[Problem Rollup] Blogs locked as malware hosts, with mention of "Abu Farhan" or "MadAdsMedia"" Please keep your post brief, responsive, and relevant, so we can best help you.
And in the future, be more selective about content and links, that you add to your blog.
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Saturday, February 8, 2014
The Quick Edit Feature, And Domain Based Filters
Some Blogger features are so subtle, and so simple, that everybody takes them for granted - and nobody thinks about them, until they stop working.
One example of this is the Quick Edit option that lets us edit a post, or tweak a template feature, without having to access the Blogger dashboard. Sometimes, the icon is just not there - or maybe it's there, but when clicked on, nothing happens.
Quick Edit, like many Blogger features, is affected by both cookie and script filters - and many filters are domain based. Any domain based filter needs to allow cookies and scripts - both from "blogspot.com", and from any non BlogSpot domain that may be relevant.
Quick Edit, like many Blogger features, is designed to be used by blog members.
Both features are vulnerable to cookie and script filters - and some filters may require multiple domain entries.
Any change in these details - such as a country being added to country code aliasing, a blog being newly published to a custom domain, or a filter being updated by its provider - will cause the Quick Edit feature to stop working. When this happens, the feature will be unavailable until all relevant filters are properly updated. This will happen, without any action taken by the blog owner.
Again, I will remind you that Blogger Support cannot support the filters affecting your personal computer. Both blog owners, and blog readers, have to check all filters in their browsers, their computers and their networks.
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One example of this is the Quick Edit option that lets us edit a post, or tweak a template feature, without having to access the Blogger dashboard. Sometimes, the icon is just not there - or maybe it's there, but when clicked on, nothing happens.
Quick Edit, like many Blogger features, is affected by both cookie and script filters - and many filters are domain based. Any domain based filter needs to allow cookies and scripts - both from "blogspot.com", and from any non BlogSpot domain that may be relevant.
Quick Edit, like many Blogger features, is designed to be used by blog members.
- The post edit "pencil" icon lets authors and administrators access the post editor, for the post in question.
- The template component edit "screwdriver / spanner / wrench" icon lets blog administrators access the template wizard, and tweak the template gadget in question.
Both features are vulnerable to cookie and script filters - and some filters may require multiple domain entries.
- A computer, located in or near a country that is subject to Country Code Alias redirection needs to have filters updated, to permit cookies and scripts relevant to the BlogSpot country code alias(es) involved.
- A computer, used by an owner of a blog newly published to a non BlogSpot domain needs to have filters updated, to permit cookies and scripts relevant to the non BlogSpot domain.
- Many filters are subject to update, by the publishers - with or without notice, to the owner of the computer in use.
Any change in these details - such as a country being added to country code aliasing, a blog being newly published to a custom domain, or a filter being updated by its provider - will cause the Quick Edit feature to stop working. When this happens, the feature will be unavailable until all relevant filters are properly updated. This will happen, without any action taken by the blog owner.
Again, I will remind you that Blogger Support cannot support the filters affecting your personal computer. Both blog owners, and blog readers, have to check all filters in their browsers, their computers and their networks.
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Friday, February 7, 2014
Custom Domain Publishing Will Interfere With Filters
Some blog owners, having endured the frustrations of custom domain publishing, may later discover new problems with using Blogger - or with using / viewing some features of the blog.
For people who are security minded, as well as people who are conscientious about what is permitted on their personal computer, a few domain based filter related problems should be obvious.
As with any layered security feature on our computers, custom domain publishing affects our blogs in several ways.
These are all concerns, for both the blog owners, the blog readers, and of course Blogger Support.
You, the owner, must support the security features, on your computer.
Any filter, which permits cookies and / or scripts from "blogspot.com", needs to be checked - and to permit cookies and to permit scripts from the custom domain, to which the blog is now published.
As always, I will ask you to remember that Blogger Support cannot support the filters affecting your personal computer. Both blog owners, and blog readers, have to check all filters in their browsers, their computers and their networks.
Many Blogger problems reoccur, periodically.
There are various problems using Blogger, reported periodically.
Some of the above problems, like a similar issue with Country Code aliasing, may be seen on any computer used by the blog owner - or by any blog reader.
Most all such problems may involve domain based filters.
All of these issues are related, in some way, to domain based cookie and / or script filters. And all of these issues, when reported, may involve personal use of a computer - and can't be exclusively resolved by contacting Blogger / Google Support.
If you are a blog owner, you have to know to update all domain based filters, to provide the same level of trust in your personal domain, as with "blogspot.com". As the owner of a blog newly published to a personal domain, you may have to advise your readers to do the same.
For people who are security minded, as well as people who are conscientious about what is permitted on their personal computer, a few domain based filter related problems should be obvious.
andWhere are the pencil / tool icons on my blog?
andWhy can't my readers comment on my blog?
are just examples of the various questions being seen in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, for domains that have completed Transition, and having righteous DNS addressing.Why can't I use Stats, on the Blogger dashboard?
As with any layered security feature on our computers, custom domain publishing affects our blogs in several ways.
- Content filtering.
- Cookie filtering.
- Script filtering.
These are all concerns, for both the blog owners, the blog readers, and of course Blogger Support.
You, the owner, must support the security features, on your computer.
Any filter, which permits cookies and / or scripts from "blogspot.com", needs to be checked - and to permit cookies and to permit scripts from the custom domain, to which the blog is now published.
As always, I will ask you to remember that Blogger Support cannot support the filters affecting your personal computer. Both blog owners, and blog readers, have to check all filters in their browsers, their computers and their networks.
Many Blogger problems reoccur, periodically.
There are various problems using Blogger, reported periodically.
- Commenting, on blogs which use the embedded comment form.
- Editing the blog template, using the Template Designer "Live Preview" window.
- Editing a post, and using the "pencil" or "screwdriver / spanner / wrench" icon.
- Editing a post, and using the "Preview" button in Post Editor. The "Preview" button, like the Template Designer "Live Preview" window, will display a personal domain hosted page which uses a "blogger.com" script.
- Viewing Stats displays, and / or setting the "Don't track ..." option in the dashboard.
Some of the above problems, like a similar issue with Country Code aliasing, may be seen on any computer used by the blog owner - or by any blog reader.
Most all such problems may involve domain based filters.
All of these issues are related, in some way, to domain based cookie and / or script filters. And all of these issues, when reported, may involve personal use of a computer - and can't be exclusively resolved by contacting Blogger / Google Support.
If you are a blog owner, you have to know to update all domain based filters, to provide the same level of trust in your personal domain, as with "blogspot.com". As the owner of a blog newly published to a personal domain, you may have to advise your readers to do the same.
Using Copied Content, In Your Blog
Occasionally we see the naive query, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.
Part of the problem with the short answer, above, is that there are various possible consequences from inappropriately using copied content, in one's blog.
Blogger, or other Google services, may classify your blog.
If you copy content, your blog may be classified, by the various automated processes. Repeated detection of violations can cause loss of the blog, and of your Blogger account.
Blogs which routinely use copied content (whether with, or without permission from the legal owners), may be more subject to classification. If not classified by Blogger, the blog may get poor reputation from other Google services.
Your blog may be subject to copyright or DMCA claims.
If your blog uses content, copied without permission of the legal owners, it may be subject to DMCA Violation classification. If you copy from websites which do not legally own content - and even if you obtain permission from the website where you copy the content - the legal owner may still lodge a DMCA Complaint against your blog.
Any time you reference content from another blog or website, get permission from the owner of the content. If still in doubt, contact a lawyer. Protect yourself.
Even with owner permission, your blog needs original content.
Even if you do obtain proper legal permission to use specific content, your blog may still look like a spam blog, if a large proportion of your blog uses copied content - or if a large proportion of other blogs or websites use content from your blog.
My personal recommendation is that a minimum of 90% of the blog text content needs to be your exclusive and original work. You may find additional useful guidance, referencing advertising content, and images / videos, in various other websites.
You can have your blog reviewed - but reputation may not recover.
In any case, you may have your blog reviewed - and possibly restored - but your blog won't benefit from the experience. It's definitely to your benefit, to build your blog around interesting, unique, and useful content.
Does copying content, into my blog, violate Blogger TOS?The short (and too frequently provided) answer to the question is
No, copying content does not violate TOS.Copying content to your blog is perfectly OK - when done legally. That said, you need to consider the issues - and possible results.
Part of the problem with the short answer, above, is that there are various possible consequences from inappropriately using copied content, in one's blog.
Blogger, or other Google services, may classify your blog.
If you copy content, your blog may be classified, by the various automated processes. Repeated detection of violations can cause loss of the blog, and of your Blogger account.
Blogs which routinely use copied content (whether with, or without permission from the legal owners), may be more subject to classification. If not classified by Blogger, the blog may get poor reputation from other Google services.
Your blog may be subject to copyright or DMCA claims.
If your blog uses content, copied without permission of the legal owners, it may be subject to DMCA Violation classification. If you copy from websites which do not legally own content - and even if you obtain permission from the website where you copy the content - the legal owner may still lodge a DMCA Complaint against your blog.
Any time you reference content from another blog or website, get permission from the owner of the content. If still in doubt, contact a lawyer. Protect yourself.
Even with owner permission, your blog needs original content.
Even if you do obtain proper legal permission to use specific content, your blog may still look like a spam blog, if a large proportion of your blog uses copied content - or if a large proportion of other blogs or websites use content from your blog.
My personal recommendation is that a minimum of 90% of the blog text content needs to be your exclusive and original work. You may find additional useful guidance, referencing advertising content, and images / videos, in various other websites.
You can have your blog reviewed - but reputation may not recover.
In any case, you may have your blog reviewed - and possibly restored - but your blog won't benefit from the experience. It's definitely to your benefit, to build your blog around interesting, unique, and useful content.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Retrieving The PostID, From The Blog Posts Newsfeed, To Recover A Deleted Post
Blog owners, seeking to recover a deleted post, can do so easily enough - if the post has been indexed by the search engines.
A post that's not indexed by the search engines can sometimes be found in the blog posts newsfeed. With the post retrieved in the feed, we generally tell people to copy the post contents into a new post. To re publish the post, the owner has to re format the post content - and has to publish the recovered post, under a new URL.
But with a little work, you can find the PostID, in the posts newsfeed - and frequently, re publish the post in question.
A post, published in a publicly accessible blog, will generally be present in the blog posts newsfeed, some time before it's indexed by the search engines.
To parse the newsfeed, you will need a text browser, that's capable of displaying newsfeed content, in a readable format. In this case, I find Rex Swain's HTTP Viewer to be most useful. An alternate, "Web-Sniffer: View HTTP Request and Response Header" may be good, in some cases.
The newsfeed URL, for this blog, is
Using Rex Swain, starting with the proper newsfeed URL for my blog, and selecting "Display Format" of "Text", I get a nicely laid out display. Searching on "postID=", I am rewarded with an extractable snippet of
Using Web-Sniffer and starting from the proper newsfeed URL for my blog, I get a long single line of newsfeed content. Using a browser based text search, and searching on "postID=", I am rewarded with an extractable snippet of
This example, from my blog, is for the immediately previous post, "The Stats "Don't track ..." Option Does Not Work, For Everybody".
For a post published some time before the immediately previous post, you'll have to search, repeatedly - or more selectively - through the newsfeed text. Depending upon whether you know the exact Title or URL, you may still have some repetitive work, to find the right "postID=" entry.
But, this is a start - and is surely better than retrieving the text of the post, reformatting it, and re publishing under a new URL.
Just take the retrieved BlogID / PostID.
Using the right URL - and when you are logged in to Blogger under the right Blogger account - the Post Editor window opens up, and there's your deleted post.
>> Top
A post that's not indexed by the search engines can sometimes be found in the blog posts newsfeed. With the post retrieved in the feed, we generally tell people to copy the post contents into a new post. To re publish the post, the owner has to re format the post content - and has to publish the recovered post, under a new URL.
But with a little work, you can find the PostID, in the posts newsfeed - and frequently, re publish the post in question.
A post, published in a publicly accessible blog, will generally be present in the blog posts newsfeed, some time before it's indexed by the search engines.
To parse the newsfeed, you will need a text browser, that's capable of displaying newsfeed content, in a readable format. In this case, I find Rex Swain's HTTP Viewer to be most useful. An alternate, "Web-Sniffer: View HTTP Request and Response Header" may be good, in some cases.
The newsfeed URL, for this blog, is
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/defaultSince this blog redirects the newsfeeds through FeedBurner, I'll add a modifier.
?redirect=falseThis gives me a non redirected feed URL.
http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default?redirect=falseYou can use a similar technique, for your blog. If your blog does use a redirected feed, you may use the simpler URL.
Using Rex Swain, starting with the proper newsfeed URL for my blog, and selecting "Display Format" of "Text", I get a nicely laid out display. Searching on "postID=", I am rewarded with an extractable snippet of
href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24069595&postID=8942135024084707315'And there is a BlogID / PostID pair.
24069595 / 8942135024084707315
Using Web-Sniffer and starting from the proper newsfeed URL for my blog, I get a long single line of newsfeed content. Using a browser based text search, and searching on "postID=", I am rewarded with an extractable snippet of
href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24069595&postID=8942135024084707315'And there is a BlogID / PostID pair.
24069595 / 8942135024084707315
This example, from my blog, is for the immediately previous post, "The Stats "Don't track ..." Option Does Not Work, For Everybody".
For a post published some time before the immediately previous post, you'll have to search, repeatedly - or more selectively - through the newsfeed text. Depending upon whether you know the exact Title or URL, you may still have some repetitive work, to find the right "postID=" entry.
But, this is a start - and is surely better than retrieving the text of the post, reformatting it, and re publishing under a new URL.
Just take the retrieved BlogID / PostID.
24069595 / 8942135024084707315Add them into the base Post Editor URL, and you have the Post Editor URL, for the deleted post.
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=24069595#editor/target=post;postID=8942135024084707315
Using the right URL - and when you are logged in to Blogger under the right Blogger account - the Post Editor window opens up, and there's your deleted post.
>> Top
Stats "Don't track ..." Option Does Not Work, Reliably
Problems with the Stats "Don't track ..." option, in general, are not new.
Ever since Blogger added that option to Stats, years ago, it's been a problem for some blog owners. Sometimes, the problem is individual, other times (as this year) the problems are seen by more people.
The most common problems with the "Don't track" option, when selected by the blog owners, involve cookies, hosted by various browsers - and interpreted by Blogger scripts. Cookies and scripts are misunderstood features in Internet life.
Some countries require websites, published by their citizens, to display disclaimers, warning readers that "This website drops cookies onto your computer!" - as if cookies are are part of an evil plot.
Every security feature or product, installed in a browser or on a computer, contains some cookie and script filters.
Every security feature or product is subject to updates, by the provider. Many security features and products update automatically, without consent of the computer owner.
Whenever Blogger code is changed, we see reports of problems from some filter, that's part of some security product, located on various computers. Sometimes, the security products, updated automatically, detect problems with Blogger code - without any changes having been made by Blogger.
There are hundreds (possibly, thousands) of different security products - each provided by a different company, and each updating their filters separately from the others.
The problem is complicated by various details.
It's not a given, unfortunately, that Blogger will be able to make any one change, to make this problem go away - immediately, permanently, or universally. Please consider the epidemiology and history of Blogger problems, in general.
That said, if your problem is purely from a blocked third party cookie, you may be able to workaround the problem, by creating the cookie, manually. Either way, you may have to increase your technical skill level, to solve this problem.
Ever since Blogger added that option to Stats, years ago, it's been a problem for some blog owners. Sometimes, the problem is individual, other times (as this year) the problems are seen by more people.
The most common problems with the "Don't track" option, when selected by the blog owners, involve cookies, hosted by various browsers - and interpreted by Blogger scripts. Cookies and scripts are misunderstood features in Internet life.
Some countries require websites, published by their citizens, to display disclaimers, warning readers that "This website drops cookies onto your computer!" - as if cookies are are part of an evil plot.
Every security feature or product, installed in a browser or on a computer, contains some cookie and script filters.
Every security feature or product is subject to updates, by the provider. Many security features and products update automatically, without consent of the computer owner.
Whenever Blogger code is changed, we see reports of problems from some filter, that's part of some security product, located on various computers. Sometimes, the security products, updated automatically, detect problems with Blogger code - without any changes having been made by Blogger.
There are hundreds (possibly, thousands) of different security products - each provided by a different company, and each updating their filters separately from the others.
The problem is complicated by various details.
- Ongoing activity - maintaining Blogger code, to keep it compatible with newer browser releases.
- Current activity - upgrading Blogger code, to provide SSL (aka "https") connectvity.
- Ongoing problems - some computers shared by multiple people - and some people use multiple computers.
It's not a given, unfortunately, that Blogger will be able to make any one change, to make this problem go away - immediately, permanently, or universally. Please consider the epidemiology and history of Blogger problems, in general.
That said, if your problem is purely from a blocked third party cookie, you may be able to workaround the problem, by creating the cookie, manually. Either way, you may have to increase your technical skill level, to solve this problem.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Renaming Your Blog, And Use Of Webmaster Tools
Not all blog owners are certain of the relationship between the blog URL, and usefulness of the utilities in Webmaster Tools.
If you're using Webmaster Tools with your blog (and this you really should be doing), you'll notice that the tools, as provided, reference the URL of the blog. If you change the blog URL - either as a simple BlogSpot rename, or when re publishing to a custom domain - you need a new Webmaster Tools entry. And, you'll need to retain the old Webmaster Tools entry.
Unless your readers are immediately observant of any URL change, there will be some readers who continue to reference the blog using the old URL.
This will be especially true for a BlogSpot rename, with the Post Feed Redirect used to forward the old feed URL to the new feed URL. The old feed URL will continue to bring you readers, long after you change the URL of the blog.
The more transparent you make a URL change, the less likely some readers will be to update bookmarks, or BlogList entries. This will cause secondary effects - as when their readers become your readers, and reference your blog using the old URL.
Conversely, some readers will update their bookmarks, and links in their blogs, to point directly to your new URL, immediately upon observing the notice in your stub blog. Their readers, seeing the newly updated links to your blog, may do the same.
Since the various utilities in Webmaster Tools reference the URL used to read your blog, you'll find that both the old and new URLs will show activity. To properly monitor the activity, you'll need to watch the Webmaster Tools utilities for both URLs, for a while, after the URL change.
The bottom line here is that you will need a new Webmaster Tools entry, to equal the newly published URL of your blog, almost immediately. You will also need to retain the old entry for some time, after the URL change.
If you're using Webmaster Tools with your blog (and this you really should be doing), you'll notice that the tools, as provided, reference the URL of the blog. If you change the blog URL - either as a simple BlogSpot rename, or when re publishing to a custom domain - you need a new Webmaster Tools entry. And, you'll need to retain the old Webmaster Tools entry.
Unless your readers are immediately observant of any URL change, there will be some readers who continue to reference the blog using the old URL.
This will be especially true for a BlogSpot rename, with the Post Feed Redirect used to forward the old feed URL to the new feed URL. The old feed URL will continue to bring you readers, long after you change the URL of the blog.
The more transparent you make a URL change, the less likely some readers will be to update bookmarks, or BlogList entries. This will cause secondary effects - as when their readers become your readers, and reference your blog using the old URL.
Conversely, some readers will update their bookmarks, and links in their blogs, to point directly to your new URL, immediately upon observing the notice in your stub blog. Their readers, seeing the newly updated links to your blog, may do the same.
Since the various utilities in Webmaster Tools reference the URL used to read your blog, you'll find that both the old and new URLs will show activity. To properly monitor the activity, you'll need to watch the Webmaster Tools utilities for both URLs, for a while, after the URL change.
The bottom line here is that you will need a new Webmaster Tools entry, to equal the newly published URL of your blog, almost immediately. You will also need to retain the old entry for some time, after the URL change.
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