Editing Two Draft Posts, At The Same Time? Careful!

We've been seeing occasional reports of problems, vaguely described in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, referencing posts being overwritten by other posts.

I have been working on my post, for days. This morning, I opened it, to edit - and discovered that it now contains material from another, newer post! How do I recover my older post?

The answer is simple.

You can't. Blogger is not a Content Management System - and when you destroy a post, it's gone.

This report is a bit annoying. We can suspect that there is a problem - but we get no clue how to prevent the same disaster from destroying our own blog.

My personal policy was simply to advise people to avoid leaving posts, in Draft status, for long periods of time.

Publish sooner, and edit after you publish. Unfortunately, some blog owners will spend days - and weeks - working on new posts, before publishing.

Generally, nothing untoward happens - and I get called names, for instructing people to not do something, that helps them enjoy publishing their blog. Today, we saw a clue as to what may be happening - and possibly, one precaution that we might take.

I had two different Draft posts open - and one post replaced the content of the other. It's not recoverable, according to Blogger.

This scenario is still annoying - but it's maybe avoidable.

Has this ever happened, to you?

I've had instances where I open two posts, simultaneously (or one, immediately after the other), so I can move content between the two. Occasionally, I may click on two different "Edit" links in Posts, in rapidfire mode - and open two post editor tabs in the browser. Click - Click - and start work.

Looking at the two post editor windows, I observe that I have two copies of the same content. Looking at the browser address window, I see two different URLs. Obviously, I managed to open the same post, twice.

If it happens, no problem. Recovery is simple.

To avoid stupidly editing the same post twice (which copy should I save?), the solution is simple. Save neither.

Close both tabs, immediately, without saving either - and start over. Open the two posts, for editing, again - but be more careful to not mis click the mouse - or what ever I did to cause the potential disaster.

So far, no problem. I have not lost a post, because of overwriting. Maybe, I've been lucky - or did I just repel an elephant attack?

The longer you take, when editing, the greater chance that you will see this happen. So think, when editing posts, for long periods of time.

Draft posts may not leave you so nonchalant.

What happens, though, if you open two Draft posts, and the contents of one open under the edit URL of the other? Can you quickly and safely close both tabs, without saving either?

When you edit Draft posts, your posts are subject to malfeasance by AutoSave. What happens, if you open two posts - and AutoSave saves the content of one post, into the other?

And there is one possible scenario, how one Draft post can overwrite the other.

I open two previously published posts, simultaneously - a lot. I open a Draft post - and one or two published posts, simultaneously - occasionally. I have never opened two Draft posts, simultaneously - that I can recall.

OK, we don't know the cause of the base problem.

Admittedly, we don't know why this happens, that one post would open under the URL of the other - though I have a gut feel for what is going on.

It's not recoverable, according to Blogger.

Blogger knows that this is happening.

Just don't let the problem destroy your post.

If the known problem is real - and if Blogger has not yet managed to fix the problem - just don't have your work become a casualty of the problem.

If you are going to maintain multiple Draft posts, over long periods of time - and you ever have occasion to edit two posts, simultaneously, open each one, deliberately. Open one, verify the contents, and the post editor URL - then return to the Posts menu, open the second, and verify the contents and the post editor URL.

Don't open multiple post edits, in rapidfire mode. You won't be editing, quickly - open carefully, and edit carefully.

Call me names, if you wish. You may regret, some time.

Maybe, you will again call me a ninny. Maybe not. But, if you ever watch a long developed Draft post destroyed, you may change your mind.

Or, you can be more careful, starting now. The lost work, that you may save, may be your own.

A Post Time / Date Stamp Is Not Legal Evidence

Many, many years ago, I was called to court, to provide testimony in a case that involved a co worker, during a weekend in question.

As part of my testimony, I provided a code listing ("compilation" log), with date and time printed on each page of the listing. The testimony also required presenting of the printed "system console" log, to substantiate my testimony.

I endured several hours of intense grilling, by attorneys for both sides, who examined virtually every hour of my day, to verify that the co-worker and I had been physically "at work" on that day. The code listing was but a small part of my testimony.

Even then, both the judge and both attorneys were very aware of the possibility that the code listing date / time stamp could not constitute legal evidence, without careful "chain of custody" backup. Anybody knows that a computer can be easily restarted, with the system clock reset, and made to produce a "code listing" / "compilation" for any date needed.

Nowadays, we have people who would try to base their "testimony" on the date and time stamp on an Internet website - maybe a Blogger blog post.

The date / time "stamp" on a blog post is even less useful now, as legal evidence, than a "compilation" code listing was, back when "system console" logs were paper based.

Now, we have ubiqitous cellular Internet service, allowing anybody to access any computer, from virtually any location on the planet.

With a Blogger blog, we can publish any existing post back to a Draft status, to subsequently re publish to any date after 1970 (or whatever date Blogger will support). Alternatively, somebody planning a crime can even schedule a post, pre written, to publish at a crucial future time.

Anybody who might provide testimony, and try to use a post date / time as evidence, might (at best) convince a judge to issue a court order, which then requires Google engineers to provide certified system logs from their computers. And even then, I would not bet that a judge or jury would predictably base their legal decision on Google "testimony".

Any blog owner, who tries to substantiate a DMCA appeal, or similar case, based solely on when a post was, supposedly, published, is going to lose. This will be either when the case is initially tried - or when it is re tried after the judge or an attorney is disbarred for incompetent trial conduct, in accepting evidence based on an unproveable post date / time stamp.

Reset A Gadget Or Post, By Toggling Edit Mode

Sometimes, a problem with a specific gadget or post, when displayed, can affect the appearance of the entire blog.

We've known for years, about the mysterious dropped sidebar. Sometimes, we see similar problems, in other blog performance.

• Gadgets missing.
• Gadgets visible, but they don't work.
• Gadgets visible in the desktop view - but not the mobile view (or, vice versa).
• Posts that are unreadable - or worse, previously published posts, in that index page, that are unreadable.

Both the HTML / JavaScript gadget, and the page or post, can be edited either as code ("HTML"), and as displayed ("Compose" / "Rich Text"). If you spend a lot of time in "Compose" / "Rich Text" mode, when editing gadgets, pages and posts, you may not know about "HTML" mode - or its dangers.

When instructed to use "HTML" mode, to install a specific tweak, you may never know about one good rule to follow, when editing HTML / XML code.

If you don't know the purpose of a given HTML phrase or word, leave it alone.

HTML code, which may appear as gobbledegook to the untrained eye, contains no unnecessary characters. Even adding or removing a single space, in some places, may break a gadget, page, or post - or worse, the rest of the template, following the broken gadget, page, or post.

If you have a problem with the blog, in general, you may be advised to "Reset the post template" - or maybe "Reset the gadgets". If you have a problem with a specific gadget, page, or post, you'll use a different technique.

Sometimes, when you use "HTML" mode in gadget, page, or post editor, and you break a gadget, page, or post, you can repair the broken gadget, page, or post by toggling between modes.

1. Prepare the gadget, page, or post.
   • With a broken gadget, use a widget reset, in Template Editor.
   • WIth a broken page or post, save it back to Draft mode.
2. Toggle from the current mode to the other mode.
3. Toggle back to the "current" mode.
4. If you need to finish the problem reset, in the "other" mode, toggle to that mode.
5. Complete the reset.
   • If you're using the gadget editor, save the gadget.
   • If you're using page or post editor, re publish the page or post.

Inspect the blog. View different pages or posts, carefully. If no immediate improvement is visible, you may need to clear cache, and restart the browser. And try to be more careful, the next time you use HTML mode.

If this procedure does not work completely, you may have to next remove all formatting, if you're editing a page or post.

And when you're done repairing your mistake, backup the template. The next time you make a mistake, you may be using the Template Editor - and a template backup could save your sanity.

Don't Accept Advice Or Code From Hackers

We're lately seeing a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, from owners of blogs now locked as malware / spam hosts.

My blog was deleted because it is marked as spam. I never spammed so why my blog has been confirmed as a Spam Host?

This blog owner appears to have simply accepted advice from the wrong person.

Using The Internet Archive (aka "Wayback Machine") we can sometimes find cached copies of blogs, even after deleted as suspected malware / spam hosts. In one case, though, viewing the blog was not possible - even having found a copy of the blog, in cache.

In some cases, simply finding a cached copy of a deleted blog may not guarantee its review - let alone its being restored.

In one case, the blog was visible, when the cache link was clicked - for 2 seconds. Then, the display went white. No blog content was visible.

Viewing the blog, in code ("text") mode, showed a fully published blog page. Scrolling through the code, the problem was discovered. Large blocks of custom JavaScript code, bearing shiny labels like "FlexSlider", "hoverIntent", and "Superfish", were found.

Chances are. the blog owner installed the code simply hoping to make the blog more attractive / interesting, to the reader population. Unfortunately, the shiny code had a different effect.

The blog is now broken, and can't be viewed. In order to be reviewed, and returned to the owner so the unnecessary code can be fixed or removed, the blog has to be examined, by security experts. But, it can't be viewed, because it's broken. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The owner accepted advice and code from a hacker - and has broken the blog. This is yet one more case of unwise installation of unsafe code. It's probably not intentionally malicious - but the Blogger malware / spam classification process can't determine intent - just result. So, the blog was righteously deleted.

As a blog owner, you must be selective of what advice - and accessories - you accept, when maintaining your blog. The blog you save may be your own.

All Dodgy Links Do Not Stay In Our Stats Logs

Occasionally, we see a complaint about referer spam, from a known spam source, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue - but the spam entry is not in a Stats log.

Some people are recently reporting referer spam source, in Google Analytics, StatCounter, and more.

When I check my Google Analytics, I See traffic on my blog from porn sites!

and

Why do I see Russian spam, in my StatCounter logs?

Why indeed? If referer spam is unique to Stats, because how Stats develops visitor activity counts, why would we see referer spam activity in Analytics, StatCounter, and other visitor logs?

It's normal to ask questions - but when you ask the wrong questions, in the wrong places, you help contribute to your own problems.

A couple years ago, I helped a lady out, when her concern was how her blog about gardening had become listed in search engines, along with Japanese porn.

Our initial discussion started in my semi public (by invitation) Google supplied forum, The N Zone. From there, to keep her personal details absolutely private, I setup a private forum, open to only her and to me, where we conducted her investigation.

Given enough time perusing the search engine entries, I found a Yahoo Scrapbook page, where her blog had been featured - and I found a few forum conversations, where she had asked people why her blog was mixed up with porn. Examining the content of the scrapbook page cache entries, I discovered an intriguing chain of events.

Please be aware that all of this is true, and is excerpted from my forum posts (names changed, where appropriate). I am neither Eric Ambler, or Tom Clancy - and do not write fiction. Nonetheless, this account of events is twisted enough, for either author.

• Someone had started a scrapbook page, about rose gardens - and pasted a link to my friends blog, and some other gardening blogs and websites, onto the page.
• A few people clicked from the scrapbook page, and landed on my friends blog.
• Another person read an interview with a Japanese porn star, who mentioned how much she likes roses.
• That person pasted a link to the interview onto the scrapbook page, about roses.
• Somebody else added links to Japanese porn, to accompany the porn star interview, to the scrapbook page.
• The owners of the other gardening blogs and websites removed the links, to their blogs and websites, from the scrapbook page.
• That left a porn scrapbook page, containing a link to my friends roses blog.
• My friend clicked from her Stats log, landed on the scrapbook page, and found porn - and the link to her blog.
• All this time, the search engines were indexing the scrapbook page.
• And my friend went into a few online forums, asking various people why her blog was linked to porn.
• And that led to the search engines indexing my friends questions, about the connection between her blog and porn links.
• And my friend found a few search engine references, linking her blog to porn, because of her forum questions.
• And so on - lather, rinse, repeat. For the younger set - eat, sleep, rave, repeat.

I told her

Stop clicking on the links, and stay out of the forums!

Eventually she stopped, the search caches expired - and she stopped seeing StatCounter referer links from actual porn searches.

The bottom line, here? If you click on the links, in your Stats logs, you can get genuine traffic from people visiting the sites in the logs. Similar to an email broadcast storm, it takes on a life of its own.

And that can lead to actual StatCounter log entries, and - in some cases - visible entries in search engine result pages. And to mysterious StatCounter log entries, with numeric addresses.

Don't click on the dodgy links in the Stats logs!

Combining A Blogger Blog And A FaceBook Wall

Many people who publish Blogger blogs also publish to FaceBook. Some have their own Wall, others post to friends Walls.

We see occasional questions, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, about the desire to combine the two products.

How do I publish posts from my Wall to my blog?

and

How do I link my blog to my Wall?

Like any combination of Blogger and non Blogger content, there are techniques to combine a Blogger blog, and a non Blogger website. Some techniques don't work - and others may work, but won't be good for the blog.

In your attempt to make a Blogger blog and a FaceBook Wall look like one website, don't overlook Blogger / Google content standards.

You will need unique content, for your blog and for your Wall.

Not all techniques for combining your blog and Wall, if they work, will be good for the blog. Both the blog, and the Wall, need unique content.

FaceBook, which is a social network, does not forbid duplicated content - but Blogger, which is part of Google, will have a problem. Having content on your blog, that is also published on your Wall, will be a problem - if the duplicated content is a major part of the blog.

Duplicate content, in both Blogger and FaceBook, is simply not a good idea.

As observed by some Google employees, duplicated content is a normal part of the web. However, if duplicated content is a major part of your blog - whether copied from your blog to your Wall, or published from your Wall to your blog - your blog will be at risk for a variety of spam classification categories.

• Content created with scripts and programs, rather than by hand.
• Content scraped (stolen), or syndicated (copied, with permission), from other blogs / websites. Content scraped or syndicated to other blogs / websites.
• Content subject to copyright infringement reports, or other DMCA violation notice.
• Crapola. Content of poor quality, low / vague / zero relevance to the subject of the blog, and / or blogs with cloned / copied / scraped content.

A FaceBook Wall does not have all of the options of a website.

There are a few techniques, generally used in combining Blogger blogs and / or websites, which won't work for combining Blogger and FaceBook.

• Feeds. FaceBook does not publish a newsfeed (to let you display Wall content, on your blog) - or provide a newsfeed reader (to let you display blog content, on your Wall).
• Linkbars. FaceBook does not have any formatting options, that would let you group a set of links.
• Template combinations. FaceBook does not let you use your own template.

You can embed any publicly shared FaceBook post, into your blog. Use the code for the post, under the post menu "More options". Copy the code, then paste into a Blogger "HTML / JavaScript" gadget - or your blog post, when edited in HTML Mode.

Blogger provides "Share Buttons" - and there are various third party options.

Going from a blog to FaceBook, you use the "Share to Facebook" button, with "Show Share Buttons" enabled - to share a snippet from the post. And you may be able to use any of various third party sharing products.

FaceBook Developers provide some options for sharing, also.

You can use a variety of other gadgets, provided by FaceBook Developers, to post specific content from Blogger to FaceBook or vice versa. The content shared is post by post, there is no automated sharing.

You'll have a variety of ways to share content - and links - between your blog and various Walls, on a post by post basis. If you want to automatically publish your blog posts to your FaceBook Wall, you can use FeedBurner and TwitterFeed.

Know how to get help, for problems which involve FaceBook.

If you have a problem sharing a post to your Wall, use the FaceBook Debugger tool, to generate a list of the OG code generated for the post. Armed with the Debugger log, you can seek help from FaceBook Developers.

Subscription Options For Private Blogs

Some blog readers wonder about how to follow blogs, recently turned private by their owners. We see some concern, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

I Follow a blog which was recently made private. Its entry in my dashboard Reading List froze, and I can't get it working by removing and re adding!

This would be reader does not realise the results of making a blog private.

Private blogs do not publish blog feeds. When a blog is made private, the feed stops - and the Reading List and all other feed subscriptions - comments and posts - stop updating.

With no feed published, a blog cannot be added to Reading List - though the members picture icon may remain visible, in the Followers cloud.

With a private blog, there remain 2 options for reading blog content, using email.

• BlogSend / Comment Notification distribution
• Google+ email / stream distribution

Neither option will provide newsfeed content, readable in Reading List or any other Atom / RSS accessory. Using Google+ is an option, best used with blogs which have reader populations who use Google+.

Blogger dashboard distributions are simple - but limit reader population.
BlogSend (for posts), and Comment Notification (for comments) are a pair of Blogger dashboard settings, at Settings - "Mobile and email". "Comment Notification Email", and "Email posts to" are limited to 10 email addresses each.

Per my firm recommendation, that any blog owner always subscribe to any medium that he might depend upon readers using, that would leave a maximum of 9 readers (less any team blog members, too) who could be served. This is not an option that encourages blog readership growth.

Note, too, the implications with using - and the irregularities with email distribution of both comments and posts publications.

Google+ stream distributions are complicated - and provide more options.
Google+, on the other hand, provides a somewhat less limited subscription capability - both in email, and Google+ stream. Members of specific Google+ Circles can view posts and comments in stream - or can receive email, at the option of the blog owner.

The owner has to maintain both the Blogger and Google+ distribution populations.
The BlogSend and Comment Notification subscriptions are controlled by the owner - there are no options for reader maintenance. Besides adding each new private blog member (who must then accept membership) using the Blogger dashboard Permissions list, the owner must add each new member to the Blogger dashboard list(s) (again, up to a maximum of 9 members).

It will be up to the blog owner, to synchronise the Blogger dashboard Permissions list, with the Google+ Circle membership. Having Circle members who get post notifications in email / stream - but cannot click on the post link, and read the complete post in the blog - won't produce membership activity. Nor will having members who can read the posts, but get no Google+ email or stream notifications.

Google+ post distribution will require some effort, by the blog owner.
With BlogSend / Comment Notification, email goes out automatically - as each new post / comment is published. With Google+ distribution, the owner will have to intentionally share each new post, with a specific Circle - as automatic Google+ sharing only works, right now, for Public sharing of new posts.

Google+ comment distribution will require no effort by the blog owner.
Google+ Comments, on the other hand, are shared to the Google+ stream of the comment publisher (not to the comment stream of the owner) - at the option of the comment publisher. The blog owner may not, necessarily see comments, mentioning the blog - and will not control any comments, that he, himself does not make.

Use of both Google+ comments and Google+ posts, for private comment and post notification, will work better if the blog owner is willing to accept the various oddities associated with Google+ stream content distribution.

Private blog membership simply means more work for the blog owner. If you are considering making your blog private, keep these details in mind.

Use Dynamic Accessories, With A Dynamic Blog

Drop down menus, and sitemaps, are tools used in static websites, to help the readers find various website features.

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, we see a question from blog owners, who are accustomed to publishing static websites.

How do I upload a custom sitemap, for my readers to use?

or

How do I build a drop down, cascaded menu bar, to index the posts?

The answer, for Blogger blogs, is that neither is truly useful.

Features like cascaded, drop down menus, custom sitemaps, numbered pages, and complex slideshows ("sliders"), are excellent accessories, for static websites. Blogger blogs, however, are dynamic - and don't really benefit from either accessory.

As you publish posts, both fancy menus, sitemaps, and numbered pages, become out of date.

Any newly published page or post must be updated, with a static index.

Any time you publish a new post, you have to add the post as a menu or sitemap entry - or the menu / sitemap becomes out of date. Updating the menu / sitemap, as part of publishing posts, takes time away from writing posts.

Blogger blogs are dynamic - and use dynamic indexes, for best results.

Blogger blogs are dynamic. To index Blogger blogs, and tell the reader what's in the blog, we use archive retrievals (for indexes by date), blog searches (for indexes chosen by the readers), and label searches (for indexes chosen by the blog owner). A cross between blog searches and label searches is the custom blog search - which lets the reader choose what indexes to use, based on content already indexed.

Both archive retrievals, blog searches, and label searches, reference blog content, dynamically. The different retrievals and searches offer different choices to both the owner and readers.

Note the differences between the archive retrievals, blog searches, and label searches - and the differences between the direct and indexed blog search. All 4 types of search have their different advantages - and as a whole, make dynamic searches far more productive, than menus and sitemaps.

The main page of the blog, with the posts summarised using Jump Break, is another useful feature. The main page view complements the archive retrieval - and includes labels, to allow easy label searches from any post displayed.

Archive retrievals reference posts in an alphabetic, or date, sequence.

The main page display, with Jump Break properly used, provides an expanded archive index. An Archive date index gadget provides an index to the main page display, and offers your readers the ability to search your posts by post publish date.

An Archive alphabetic index gadget provides an alternate index to the main page display, and helps your readers search your blog using post titles.

The former is maintained automatically by Blogger, as you publish posts; the latter, you maintain on your own. Both may be useful, to your readers.

The Archives date index was the only blog index provided, originally. Both the blog searches, and the label search (and labels, in general), were later offered as blog features. The Archives title index is provided, by some thoughtful blog owners, for small blogs.

Direct blog searches use reader chosen keywords, and current content.

Direct blog searches offer the reader the most dynamic opportunity to decide what blog content to view. The reader provides the keywords for the search - and sees results, based on blog content at that time.

Direct blog searches have one limitation, which may be intentional. They only search posts - not static pages, and not template content, such as accessories and gadgets.

Indexed blog searches use reader chosen keywords, and cached content.

Indexed blog searches offer you, the owner, the chance to decide how to display search results. The reader provides the keywords for the search - and sees results, based upon search engine cached content at that time.

Indexed blog searches search all indexed blog content - optionally including static pages.

Both direct and indexed searches have their advantages - and disadvantages.

Your readers will appreciate the choice of the direct, and indexed, search gadgets. Neither gadget replaces the other; both have advantages and disadvantages.

Label searches use owner chosen keywords, and current content.

You can build custom label searches, referencing a combination of labels, in a label search URL. You define the keywords for label searches, emphasising the important features of the blog - and the reader sees results, based on blog content at that time.

A label search can be based on a Label index gadget, updated automatically as you publish posts, to list all labels alphabetically. You, the owner, can structure the labels to reflect blog content and structure - and include all owner defined blog searches.

Unlike some Blogger provided gadgets, a blog can have multiple Label index gadgets. You can choose which label searches to index, in each gadget. This gives you the opportunity to include different labels, in different contexts.

Use the Pages gadget, to include important searches and static content.

You can make a custom menu bar, referencing important blog features, from the Pages gadget. Look at the menu bar above, and all of the different choices.

Complementing the custom menu bar, you can have indexed blog search gadgets, direct blog search gadgets, and label search gadgets in the sidebar - and in various blog pages.

You can see examples of various choices, in this blog, at the top of the sidebar - and in the "Topics" page. Having detailed indexes, with dynamic sizes, is a much better use of screen space - and makes a simpler Pages based main index. All of these accessories, separately provided, make the blog easier to read.

Neither multi level menus, sitemaps, or slideshows, are necessary or useful.

A cascaded, drop down menu bar requires complicated, custom code. Some helpers will suggest shiny code, served from their personal libraries, which may later become malicious. Some readers may block unknown code, making your blog unreadable.

Sitemaps are used by the search engines, to provide structured content retrieval, relevant to the need of the search engines. Blogger provided sitemaps take into account no preferences by the blog owner, or readers - they are automatically built and updated, as new posts are published.

Fancy menus and sitemaps, like carefully chosen header sizes, are useful in static websites. They are not as useful in dynamic blogs.

Slideshows require static lists of images, plus complicated JavaScript, built into the template. Third party templates must be maintained by the template supplier - and when Blogger is updated, such templates are subject to malfunctioning.

Use properly chosen dynamic accessories - provided in such an intriguing variety. Then, spend more time publishing blog content.

Backup The Template, When Making Changes

If you've ever done programming - including updating existing code (generally made by another person, who you grow to hate) - you know of the value of backups.

Any time you improve or repair existing code, there is always the possibility of making mistakes. Code is written by people - and people make mistakes. Sometimes, the mistake may be in the code, as originally created (and used for months, until you touched it). Other times you make one mistake on your own, and the whole thing crashes.

Experienced programmers know that making mistakes is part of programming. When you make a mistake, be prepared to recover from - and learn from - the mistake. This is true, when making template changes, in your blog.

Any time you change the template in the blog, you are doing programming.

Code updates require technique.

Experienced programmers know the proper technique for making changes to existing code.

1. Backup the code.
2. Make the changes.
3. Test the changes.
4. If problems are found,
   • Restore from Step #1.
   • Identify the mistake.
   • Return to Step #2.
5. If no problems are found, backup the code, again.
6. Log the change, with date, time, and description of change.
7. If mistakes are found later, consult Step #6, then return to Step #4.

This is especially a valuable policy, if you are making changes to the comment / posts section of the template - which Blogger Engineering may update, any time, without warning.

Only one step is absolutely essential.

You can leave out any step, in the procedure above (excepting #2) - and you may get the job done. You can do Steps #2 and #3 carefully, and create check lists and check points, and have code reviews. If you never make mistakes, Steps #1 and #5 are not really needed. Nor is #3 (but don't tell your boss!).

But my experience is that if you do Steps #1 and #5, consistently, you will be able to do Steps #2 and #3 more confidently - and you will make less mistakes because you are less stressed.

The one time that you omit any step, you will learn to not take shortcuts.

And the one time that you omit Steps #1 and #5 - and have to re build the whole code set, by hand, from the ground up, you will know that Steps #1 and #5 are not optional. Nor is Step #6, which helps you identify which backup to go beck to, when mistakes are discovered.

Backup the template - before and after making changes. You'll have less stress, and more time for working on blog content.

Blogger Does Not Support Self Hosting

We see the occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, about hosting blog content.

How do I self host my Blogger blog, as I do with my WordPress blog?

This blog owner does not understand that Blogger and Google provide far better hosting of our content, than any of us can individually provide.

All Blogger content is hosted in Blogger / Google servers, with observed benefits.

• Content standards. Blogger content is family and search engine friendly.
• Distribution standards. Blogger has its own internal Content Delivery Network.
• Features provided. Modern Blogger accessories and templates can't be provided using self hosted services.

Blogger does not provide the popular WordPress "Self Hosting" feature.

Blogger blogs, by standard, are family and search engine friendly.

Blogger blogs are hosted on Blogger servers, to allow Blogger robotic processes to constantly scan blogs, as published, for undesirable content. Blogger encourages people to publish blogs that are free from hacking, malware, porn, and spam.

Any blog or website is only as acceptable as the off site content which is included or linked - and censoring content, as it's being edited, is not a reliable solution for enforcing TOS. Blogger relies upon robotic processes (aka "bots") constantly scanning published blogs, and looking at the blogs as the readers do.

To allow the robotic processes to reliably scan all published Blogger blogs, Blogger content is served from Blogger servers - not personally maintained servers, owned or rented by the blog owners.

Blogger blogs use the Blogger content delivery network.

The Blogger service, like other Google products, is hosted by the Google Content Delivery Network. Google operates a world wide network of data centres and servers, to provide both localisation and redundancy to our readers.

Both localisation (content hosted physically near to our readers, to minimise network delays), and redundancy (content hosted on hundreds of servers, simultaneously, as mutual real time backup), far exceeds the benefits of individually owned or rented server space, provided by any third party hosting services. The Blogger CDN, like other Blogger features, is included in the Blogger service, transparently.

All Blogger blogs are hosted by Blogger / Google - and subject to their restrictions.

Since all Blogger blogs - "BlogSpot.com" and custom domain published blogs, alike - are hosted using the Blogger CDN, all Blogger blogs are subject to Blogger / Google Content / TOS restrictions. WordPress self hosted blogs are subject to no content restrictions - and WordPress self hosted blogs are known for hacking / porn / spam content.

Blogger accessories and templates use Blogger proprietary XML.

FTP Published blogs were a Blogger option for many years - and provided both non BlogSpot URLs, and self hosted content. FTP Publishing was unreliable, even when hosting blogs that used only static HTML content (as WordPress does, today).

To use dynamic HTML and Blogger proprietary XML, required by the Blogger gadget and template libraries, FTP Publishing to remote servers became impossible. Both BlogSpot and non BlogSpot ("custom domain") URLs provide access to content hosted on Blogger servers.

The end result is performance and reliability that far exceeds individual ability.

Blogger provides features, hosting, and standards enforcement - far better than individuals could hope to provide, and independent of our personal efforts. That leaves blog owners free to work on blog content - and to spend more time outside Blogger, which gives us sources for blog content.

"I've Been Hacked" - A Dreaded Cry Of Anguish

As long as computers exist, and people are needed to provide technical advice, the one problem report that many of us fear is anguished, and brief.

I got hacked!

To many of us, this means that we have not been doing our job - because the first job of technical support is, unfortunately, security.

Hillary Clinton got hacked, recently - and she was lucky. The hacker that attacked her was only poking around - and had no actual intent to cause harm. The owner of a successfully hacked Blogger blog may not be so fortunate.

If you act promptly. and plan wisely, you can prevent long term inconvenience.

There are several ways to hack a Blogger blog.

1. Account theft.
2. Intentional giving up control.
3. Mail-to-Blogger.
4. Owner installed gadgets.

The only real hack starts with account theft.

If a blog thief manages to gain access to your Blogger account, he can transfer control of any blogs that interest him, to an account that he owns. Once this happens, he owns the stolen blogs.

Too many blog thefts have been conducted - successfully - by blog thieves, who claim to be victims of a previous theft. Now, Blogger Support will admit to inability to distinguish his theft from your intentional transfer of control - and they will protect his ownership of his newly acquired blog.

Now, account theft prevention is the basis for inability to recover blog control, with a forgotten password / account name - so determined is Blogger Support to prevent blog theft. In short, this is not a likely scenario, any more.

The owner may intentionally give control.

The blog owner may give a hacker access to the blog, to install a desirable accessory. The suggestion

You don't do anything - just give us your account and password, and we'll install for you!

Can be attractive, to some owners.

Similarly, some owners make a team blog - and later regret their generosity. Once you intentionally give someone else control, you give up control - and the blog becomes no longer yours.

This is the most commonly reported theft problem - and it is entirely an owner responsibility.

You can disable Mail-to-Blogger - or change the password.

A Mail-to-Blogger hijack will produce posts that bear your signature (they will be published, using your Mail-to-Blogger account!), but contain material that neither you, nor your readers, will appreciate.

Once you change the Mail-to-Blogger secret address ("password"), to a non guessable value, the unwanted content will stop. You'll have to spend time cleaning up the mess.

Once corrected, the only thing that you have to worry about is loss of reputation, from your readers - and possible spam host classification, by Blogger / Google. Neither will be negligible, but you can survive - once Mai-to-Blogger is disabled or updated, and unwanted content is removed.

This was a problem, some time ago. Blogger actively warns blog owners, when this is likely.

If you install a malicious gadget, you can remove the gadget.

Whether you installed a malicious gadget months ago, and it was just activated by the hacker / publisher - or you installed a malicious gadget just last week, and it was detected before being activated, you can remove a malicious gadget. Depending upon how you installed a malicious gadget, it may be more or less easy to remove.

Like the aftermath of a Mail-to-Blogger hijack, the only thing that you have to worry about is loss of reputation, from your readers - and possible malware host classification, by Blogger / Google. Again, neither will be negligible, but you can get through it - once any malicious gadgets are removed.

This is becoming less and less common, as blog owners are educated.

Act promptly / plan properly, and experience far less inconvenience.

With both malicious gadgets, and Mail-to-Blogger hijacks, the sooner you detect and remove the problem, the easier it will be to recover your reputation - and, to avoid / recover from, malware / spam classification. It's in your best interest - and your readers best interests - that you act immediately, when observing or suspecting a problem. And don't install dodgy gadgets - be more choosy about accessories.

There is no known recovery procedure, once your blog is successfully stolen. For account / blog theft, the best policy is prevention. Google 2-Step Verification is inconvenient - and using it requires planning - but the inconvenience and planning is far less painful, than the inconvenience and self flagellation, that you will experience, if your blog is stolen.

Even a temporary or unsuccessful account theft, and subsequent locked account and blogs, while you wait anxiously for recovery, will be far more painful than the task of setting up and using 2-Step Verification. Every time I login from a new / changed computer, and have to wait while Google sends me a token to my phone, is agonizing - but still, far less agonizing than having my account and blogs stolen.

Don't sweat the small stuff.

Look at the above hacking categories. How many involve activity that should be visible, in Stats or any other visitor logs? The correct answer here is simple.

None.

When you look at your Stats log, and see something that you don't understand, stop worrying.

OMG!! Am I being hacked???

The hacker that you see, in your visitor log, is not one to fear. If you are going to fear somebody, fear the account hacker, in Category #1 - or the owner enabled blog thief, in Category #2. Then setup Google 2-Step Verification - and get back to working on your blog.

Label Searches, Using Combinations Of Labels

Blog owners have been asking for the ability to search for posts using label combinations, for a while.

That option was given us, some time ago - with no fanfare. What we now have is called a "Boolean" label search.

It's not difficult to use a Boolean label search - when you understand what it does.

Here are 3 examples, from this blog.

Here are 3 labels, and their label search URLs, chosen "at random" from this blog.

• Comments http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Comments
• Cookies http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Cookies
• Filters http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Filters

Combining the 3 labels, we get

• Comments+Cookies+Filters http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/search/label/Comments+Cookies+Filters

It's actually easier to do it, than to read about it - but if you wish, you can click on each of the above 8 links (all using " target="_blank"", to open separately, for your convenience), and compare the posts indexed.

Be aware of the limits, and use this option selectively.

There are 3 unfortunate limits, here.

1. You can't use the "+" symbol, in a label. I have a label for "Google+", in this blog, which does not work.
2. You can only do "+" (Boolean "AND" / "Intersection") combinations, no "-" (Boolean "OR" / "Union") combinations.
3. You have to build the lists, and the URLs, yourself. There is no handy Topics list, that supports selecting 2, 3, or more labels.

But, if you can deal with the limitations, this is a pretty powerful option.

"Location", Used In Posts, Breaks The Blog Feed

We're seeing a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, mentioning problems with the blog feed.

I try to claim my blog in BlogLovin, but they tell me that my feed is invalid!

or

My subscribers stopped getting my posts by email!!

Both BlogLovin, and the FeedBurner "Follow by Email" service, depend upon the blog posts newsfeed.

In any problem which involves a blog newsfeed, I use the W3C Feed Validator, to look for obvious problems.

In some cases, when validating the blog posts feed using the W3C Feed Validator, I get a cryptic error message.

Undefined entry element: georss:box [help]
... 089035564831022 144.84375-90 -20.390625 30.24 ...

The "Location" feature, in Blogger, lets you geo track your posts.

It's easy to add Location detail, to each post.



Retrieving the blog posts newsfeed as text, and searching on the mysterious "georss:box", I eventually find a snippet of code.

<georss:featurename>North·Melbourne,·Victoria,·Australia</georss:featurename><georss:point>-45.089035564831022·144.84375</georss:point><georss:box>-90·-20.390625·30.243080935168976·-49.921875</georss:box>

The snippet containing "georss:box" is part of an individual post - and after some searching, I find the Title and URL of the post.

Using the URL, I'm able to view the post - and at the end of the post, I see the culprit.

Location: North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Apparently, the Location option in post editor, which lets us geotag our posts, adds this mysterious, and poisonous "georss:box".

It looks like the mysterious entry "georss:box" is not accepted by either BlogLovin or FeedBurner.

http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2FWashingtonSpeaks

A post containing Location generates a "georss" entry in the feed - and this is a problem.



If you want to claim your blog, in BlogLovin - or provide blog updates using FeedBurner "Follow by Email" - you can't publish posts using the Location option. Until Blogger Engineering modifies the Location option, that's the simplest solution.

The Stats "Don't track ..." Setting Is Unique, By Browser

Many people have multiple computers. That detail is becoming more and more normal, in the population in general, each year.

I own 3 computers - actually, 5 (two of them run Windows XP, and are off line). So, I use my 3 computers - 2 Google ChromeBooks, and 1 smart phone (no, not a Nexus), for Blogger and other projects.

Since I don't want Stats pageview counts, for this blog, affected by my browsing this blog, I logged in to Blogger as the owner, using the browser on each of my 3 computers - and selected the "Don't track your own pageviews" option.

The "Don't track ..." option is set, in a cookie. Cookies are unique, to the browser where they are set. On a ChromeBook, with only 1 browser - Chrome - this detail is not so interesting. One computer - 1 browser - 1 user - 1 cookie.

For people with a computer running Microsoft Windows, or other "desktop" operating systems, managing "Don't track" may be more of a challenge.

Some computers have more than one browser.
On one of my XP computers, I had loaded each of the 5 major browsers - Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari. Since I used the 5 browsers to test this blog, I had to login to Blogger, on each browser, and select "Don't track ...".

People who share a computer - and who do not always log each other off when borrowing the computer for a brief session - may need to set "Don't track ..." when logged in to Blogger as themselves (the blog owner), but as the other person in ChromeBook or Windows.

If you do not relentlessly set "Don't track ..." in every browser, you'll be constantly wondering why Stats is so unreliable. Having some browsers, with "Don't track" set - and others, with "Don't track ,,," not set - will make for a haphazard situation, when moving from browser to browser.

Some computer owners clear cookies.
The confusion will be even worse, if you clear cookies ("cache, cookies, and sessions"), when you have a problem with Blogger (or maybe, another Internet application?). Every time you clear cookies, you must reset "Don't track" - or again, the "unreliable" nature of Stats becomes a concern.

Do not overlook cookie filters, which affect every browser.
Along with the cookie issue, don't forget the cookie filter issue. You'll have cookie filters on the network and on the computer - and in each browser. Again, on computers shared by two or more people, some browsers will have per user settings (and others may have settings maintained for everybody, by the computer administrator).

And again, don't overlook the fact that many filters are updated frequently, by the publisher - generally, without letting you know (you do know how to peruse the "updates" log?).

If you can't deal with the cookie filter issues, you may be able to generate a Stats "Don't track ..." cookie, manually. You'll still need to repeat this procedure, after you clear cookies, of course.

Be aware - or be always wondering.
As a Blogger user - and blog owner - it's up to you to observe how your browsers and computers are setup - and to adjust your "Don't track ..." setting policy, your cookie clearing policy, and your cookie filters, on each browser. If you don't have a policy, you'll be constantly complaining

Why is Stats so unreliable?

And your voice will be one more, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

European Residents And EU Cookie Compliance

Blog owners who live in Europe have a recently added regulation with which you need to comply.

If you publish a blog, and host AdSense ads, you already have part of the requirement - the properly written Cookie Advisory. If you live in Europe, and view this blog, chances are that you have been offered the chance to view the Nitecruzr.Net Privacy Policy, which includes my Cookie Advisory.

If your blog displays the Blogger Navbar, you have a compliant Cookie Advisory Banner which is provided by Blogger, in the navbar. If you have disabled the navbar - or if the blog uses a dynamic template (and has no navbar), you can add a Cookie Advisory Banner as supplied by Google Cookie Choices.

The simplest solution, for cookie advisory compliance, to display a cookie advisory, is to enable the navbar.

If you choose to leave the navbar disabled on your blog - or if your blog has no navbar because it uses a dynamic template - you will need the Google Cookie Choices Notification Bar. The Notification Bar has 2 components.

• "cookiechoices.js"
• The Cookie Choices Notification Bar code

First, download "cookiechoices.zip", unzip it, and upload "cookiechoices.js" to a Google Docs, Google Drive, or Google Sites folder.

Next, modify the Notification Bar code, to match your blog.

<script src="cookiechoices.js"></script>
<script>
 document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function(event) {
    cookieChoices.showCookieConsentBar('message for visitors',
      'close message', 'learn more', 'http://example.com');
  });
</script>

You should customise the sections of code, as appropriate for your blog.

• "cookiechoices.js" Indicate the URL of your Google Docs, Google Drive, or Google Sites file which contains the code, as uploaded.
• 'message for visitors' This provides the advice, immediately displayed in the banner.
• 'http://example.com' This provides detail advice, in a separate file.

You may, if you wish, customise the captions

• 'close message'
• 'learn more'

This lets you make your banner more relevant to your readers.

<script src="cookiechoices.js"></script>
<script>
 document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function(event) {
    cookieChoices.showCookieConsentBar('This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.',
      'Close message ...', 'Learn more ...', 'http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/p/privacy-policy.html');
  });
</script>

Having customised your Notification Bar code, use the dashboard Template "Edit HTML" wizard, and add it to your template. The current recommendation appears to be just above the "</body>" tag.

<script src="cookiechoices.js"></script>
<script>
 document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function(event) {
    cookieChoices.showCookieConsentBar('Welcome to Blogging Dot Nitecruzr Dot Net!  This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.',
      'Thanks!  I understand.', 'I'd like more information!', 'http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/p/privacy-policy.html');
  });
</script>
</body>

And Save changes.

Please, as always, backup the template - before and after adding the code.

Each blog reader, with third party cookies properly enabled, will see the Advisory Banner only once (having hit 'Thanks! I understand.'). If they have third party cookies blocked - or if they clear cookies, they will see the Banner again.

---

(Update 8/1/2015): Blogger has provided their own automatic version of CookieChoices, which requires only verification, for many blogs.

---

Newsfeeds Are Only Good Blog Accessories

One blog publishing technique, discouraged by Blogger, involves "automated posting".

Content created with scripts and programs, rather than by hand.

Some blog owners want to make their blog part of their social networking strategy. That is a laudable goal - but the blog has to have its own distinct content, as well.

Don't build your posts around automated content, such as feeds from other blogs and websites.

Feeds are good accessories - not good content sources.
Feeds from FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, and other non Blogger content, can be used as blog decorations - and can be valuable, when added as decorations. When used to excess, your blog will look like another spam blog, being developed.

Newsfeeds, as blog content, make your blog just one more scraped content host.
Newsfeeds look just like more scraped or syndicated content, provided willingly or unwillingly. Even though a newsfeed is content provided willingly - and available for all to read - if you publish it as blog content, your blog is still just scraped content.

If your blog has only newsfeed provided content, it won't have unique, indexable content - and won't get any traffic from search engines, whether or not it gets classified as a spam host.

Embedding includes formatting that may cause problems.
Embedded posts, from FaceBook, will cause problems similar to posts composed using Microsoft Word. The meta code in the posts, when published in the posts newsfeed, will corrupt the feed - and will cause later problems with services like FeedBurner.

To use embedded content safely, reformat the posts.

1. Edit your post, in Compose mode.
2. Select the entire post.
3. Hit the "Remove formatting" button, in the toolbar.
4. Reformat everything, as desired.
5. Finally, Save the reformatted post.

To make it simpler, do a "Paste as plain text" (In Chrome, that's Ctrl+Shift+V.).

Spam blogs use embedding, feeds, and links, to increase their size.
Both direct links to other blogs and non Google websites, embedded posts, and feeds from other blogs and non Google websites, are part of any well designed spam blog farm. Don't make your blog look like a splog farm node - spend time publishing real content, for your readers to enjoy.

Stats Components Are Significant, In Their Own Context

One popular Stats related accessory, which displays pageview information to the public, is the "Popular Posts" gadget.

Popular Posts identifies from 1 to 10 of the most popular posts in the blog, by comparing Stats pageview counts. Optional parts of the display of each post are a snippet of text, and an ever popular thumbnail photo.

Like many Stats features, blog owners have found imaginative uses for "Popular Posts" - and overlook the limitations of the gadget. Both the dynamic nature of Stats, and the timing of the various pageview count recalculations, create confusion, when Popular Posts is examined.

Looking at the gadget setup wizard, "Configure Popular Posts", we see suggestions of design differences between the Stats dashboard, and the gadget.

The time ranges offered, by the gadget, are not as robust - and are labeled differently from the dashboard.

• All time
• Last 30 days
• Last 7 days

This is different from the Stats dashboard time ranges.

• All time
• Month
• Week
• Day
• Now

Timing of pageview recalculations, and re ranking of posts is critical.

The differences between "30 days" and "month", and between "7 days" and "week" - and the lack of "day" and "now" - suggests that the ranking of the posts, in the list, is not done at the exact time that the Stats dashboard displays are produced - or dashboard counts are reset.

If the "Popular Posts" list is updated separately from the Stats dashboard counts, it's unlikely that the gadget, and the dashboard posts display, will be consistently identical - when we compare "30 days" (gadget) and "month" (dashboard), and likewise "7 days" (gadget) and "week" (dashboard).

Caching of blog content may prevent any updates from being displayed.

Besides the timing differences, the gadget will be subject to another issue, previously observed in a similar blog accessory - the "BlogList". Both the BlogList and Popular Posts, even if "correct" when updated, are subject to caching of the blog display.

If you display the blog repeatedly, and no posts have been published since you last displayed the blog, your browser may retrieve content from cache. You may not see the latest updates, because your browser won't request them from Blogger - or even if requesting them from Blogger, may get them from a second cache that you don't control.

Re calculations of pageview counts is necessitated by referer spam corrections.

All Stats components are subject to another problem - referer spam. Where the timing differences probably affect only "30 days" and "7 days", referer spam also affects "All time".

As Google corrects pageview counts corrupted by referer spam, the dashboard and gadget counters must be updated. If the dashboard and gadget counters are updated separately, sometimes the effects from a recent update may be seen in the dashboard, but not the gadget - or vice versa.

Given these 3 differences - the options, the counter updates, and the referer spam issue, any correlation between the dashboard and gadget displays will be coincidental - not predictable.

The Stats "Popular Posts" gadget, like other Stats features, may be best enjoyed in its own context. Trying to reconcile the rankings, as shown by the dashboard and gadget posts lists, will be an exercise in futility.

How To Report A Problem, To FaceBook Support

Since FaceBook is not a part of Google, they have concerns and problems which only they can deal with.

Some problems with FaceBook affect our enjoyment of our blogs. Right now, there is a problem with aggregation of Likes and links, when our blogs are referenced in FaceBook - where all references should be properly "counted" under the common "blogspot.com" URL of each blog, instead of the individual country code aliases.

FaceBook does provide a page to "Report a Problem" - and they have a "FaceBook Help Center" community page.

If the latter links are no help, try the FaceBook Developers toolbar, with interesting links.

• Developer Group
• On StackOverflow

Those are good possibilities, for advanced problems.

If you search FaceBook right now, you may find more. The helpful document Help Center: Report a Broken Feature.

If something's not working on Facebook, or you think there's a bug, you can report it to us. When you see a feature problem:

1. Click the blue arrow in the top-right corner of a Facebook page (ex: your home page)
2. Select Report a Problem and follow the on-screen instructions

This is accompanied by the suggestion

Giving more detail (ex: adding a screenshot and description) helps us find the problem.

and the motivation

While we don't reply to every report, we may contact you for more details as we investigate.

Finding, and clicking on the "blue arrow", we see a series of GUI displays, and tiny forms.


See the tiny "v" in the upper right corner of the screen? Click on that - and find "Report a problem", in the pop down list.


Select "Something Isn't Working" (D'ohh!).


Personally, I would write my problem report off line, and edit it - then copy and paste into "What happened?".


I don't see any selections that suggest links, Likes, or any reference outside FaceBook itself - so "Other" is about the only choice, here.

Maybe, the problem that you are here for is in the list, though.


If your blog or domain is blocked, by FaceBook, you can appeal using Facebook Blocks. If the problem is a custom domain, I would first ensure that the domain is addressed properly.

Now, everybody who publishes a Blogger blog, and has a FaceBook account - and is concerned about fragmentation of our blog "reputation", from the Likes and links that are not properly aggregated - needs to use the FaceBook form, and let them know that this is a problem.

This will only be properly reported by the FaceBook account owners. This is not a problem for Blogger Support. When you ask for help. start by using the FaceBook Debugger tool, and generate a list of the Open Graph code for the blog or post.

Posts Subscription Options For A Blog

We see occasional questions from blog owners, and readers, about options for reading posts, from a given blog.

The most obvious way to read the posts is to read the blog, as published, online. If the owner of a blog that interests you uses Google+ publicity, reading either online, or in the Google+ stream, may be your choice.

For Blogger hosted content, both owners and readers have a few more possibilities.

As a blog publisher (administrator / author / owner), you can subscribe to posts, by email, using BlogSend (Settings - "Mobile and email" - "Email posts to"). Note the delivery irregularities, associated with BlogSend email.

Many newsfeed readers can subscribe to various blog feeds.

Any publisher or reader can subscribe to various post related newsfeeds. Using feed discovery, most newsfeed applications will subscribe you to the posts newsfeed - if you supply the blog URL.

As a publisher of a public blog, you may offer various subscription accessories on your blog - and as an experienced blog reader, you can select any feed, from any blog, and display it in your newsfeed reader. Private blogs will be relatively limited in options.

The Blogger dashboard Reading List is one newsfeed reader.

Blogger supplies the dashboard based Reading List - but there are alternatives to Reading List. And, there are different community building accessories - both email and newsfeed based.

FeedBurner offers many options using various newsfeeds.

Using a feed reference redirected to FeedBurner, you can have any feeds delivered by email - or you may view a FeedBurner reformatted newsfeed, using your chosen feed reader. FeedBurner provides a wide array of formatting and distribution options - which you, as a blog publisher, may select.

FeedBurner provides two useful subscription gadgets - "Subscription Links", which can provide both EMail and Newsfeed subscription form links - and "Subscribe by EMail", which can provide a blog based form, or a link to a FeedBurner hosted form. You can add either - or both - to your blog, in imaginative ways.

Even with FeedBurner redirection offered on somebody else's blog, you may use a non redirected feed, on an individual subscription - if you choose. Alternately, you may setup your own FeedBurner feed, for Reading List or for email - even if not offered.

Know the possibilities, and create your own selections.

Complementing the various comments subscription options, there are various options which you, as a blog publisher, may offer, for posts subscription. As a novice blog reader, you may accept the options offered by the blog publisher - and as an experienced blog reader, you may create your own.

Only posts - not static pages - offer subscription options.

Note the term used here - posts. If you create a blog which uses pages, to host the blog content, none of these options will help you. Pages are not referenced by BlogSend - nor are they part of any newsfeed. Only posts offer any subscription options.

Is A Blogger Blog Free?

An occasional question, seen occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, is about cost.

Is Blogger free? Too many Internet services are free for the first month, then charge you once you are hooked.

The answer here is (should be) good news.

Blogger blogs are free - for eternity - as long as you follow the rules.

But please, do follow the rules, for best results.

There are two options which may interest blog owners, after they have been publishing a Blogger blog, for a significant amount of time.

• A BlogSpot URL is free - a non BlogSpot URL will require minor payment.
• A blog with significant amounts of photos may be limited by Google Photo storage limits. This, too, will require a payment.

Other than those two expenses, if you use common sense and courtesy, your Blogger blog will be free - and remain yours - for eternity. As long as you play by the rules, and help Blogger to help you, your blog should remain yours.

Blogger / Google has little to no patience for spam and other abusive behaviour. If your purpose for setting up a Blogger blog is to publish spam, you should start elsewhere.

Once your blog is detected as a spam host, it will be deleted - and you will not have access to the contents unless it is reviewed and restored to service. Complementary rules apply for other abusive behaviour.

You will have access to your blog - as long as you carefully maintain access needs. To protect your account and blogs from people who are not you, Blogger expects that you will diligently remember your account name and password, and / or carefully maintain a registered email account and / or mobile / voice communication (aka "telephone").

If you forget your account name or password, you will need an email address or telephone number, provided when you setup your Blogger / Google account. It is actually best if you maintain all 4 details, to back the others up - and update any, whenever necessary.

For extra reliability - especially if you travel outside your local neighbourhood, you may wish to setup Google 2-Step Verification, another free service.

If you can handle the above issues, you are free to pick any available URL for your new blog - then get to work, and publish content. And publicise your blog, politely.

Free Domain Registration By "UNONIC" Is Fraudulent

Blogger blog owners, like everybody else, like to save money.

Some blog owners prefer to save money when registering a custom domain, for their blogs. We've seen several free domain registration services, providing what is claimed to be a two level Top Level Domain "co.xx" (where "xx" == various country codes).

The latest in this ongoing story appears to be "net.tf" - and 13 other "top level domains".

There is also an additional free service offering third-level .tf domains, under the name United Names Organisation. They occupy 14 second-level domains, including .eu.tf, .us.tf, .net.tf, and .edu.tf. They are run by the same company as smartdots.com, and are given away as URL redirections.

Today, we have a problem report from a blog owner, who can't use her "UNONIC" provided free "domain", to publish her Blogger blog.

Like its predecessor "co.cc" long ago, and like "co.vu" earlier this year, "net.tf" appears to be another case of devious spammer ingenuity. The "registrar" for "net.tf" is actually the owner of the domain "net.tf", which is registered by "puredomain.com" in Potsdam, Germany.

Blog owners who register their blogs using "UNONIC" are actually publishing as a subdomain / virtual host to "net.tf". Their publishing efforts help to provide traffic to "net.tf", and to the undesirable content hosted there.

You can get free .net.tf, .edu.tf redirection from http://www.unonic.com. Many people will not find it good.

The provider of "net.tf", possibly Marus Strasser of Nea Michaniona, Greece, like previous scam artists, is cashing in on the naivete that many Internet users have, in thinking that some registrars, for countries that use a 2 level Top Level Domain, will register domains for free.

How many Domains can I set up?

You can set up as many addresses as you like. The number of domains for each owner of a homepage is not limited.

This sounds like such a great deal - except what you "register" is not a domain - it's a virtual host, in the "net.tf" domain. And all of the search reputation, from your hard work, goes to the owner of "net.tf".


Your own website - for free!


A domain from UNONIC.COM is absolutely free - except you don't get a domain!


You can setup as many addresses as you like - they won't be domains, however!

There are a number of known "co." 2 level Top Level Domains - such as "co.in" (India), "co.nz" (New Zealand), and "co.uk" (United Kingdom). Each of these TLDs can provide a domain, when registered by a legitimate registrar. None of these registrars will provide a free service, for their product that requires their resources.

There are no known ".tf" 2 level Top Level Domains.

.tf is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

101 Domains charges the princely sum of $58.80 USD, for a one year registration of a genuine ".tf" domain.
Once again:

You don't get something for nothing.

Alternatively, as various sages have historically suggested,

There's a sucker born every minute

A UNONIC "domain" is worth exactly what you pay.