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Why Isn't Blogger Solving "Another blog ..."?

Along with the similar cry, "Why Isn't Google Solving The Server Not Found Error 404 Issue?", this is a concern of many blog owners.

Many blog owners only want to publish to their newly setup non-BlogSpot URL, and have their readers able to access their blogs. Like the answer to the latter question, the answer to this question is simple.
Google is solving "the problem". One problem, at a time.

The error message "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address." (and similar phrasings, such as "Key already exists for domain ...") is a symptom of many different problems.

Solution of the "Another blog ..." symptom may involve several differently possible scenarios, each to be solved by a different person.

The original and literal meaning is very simple.

The most obvious meaning of "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address." is just what it says.

There is already a Blogger blog, published to that non-BlogSpot URL.
and the literal solution is simple.

Pick another non-BlogSpot URL, with properly configured DNS, to publish the blog to.
or possibly

Un publish the blog currently published to this non-BlogSpot URL, then you can republish this blog to this non-BlogSpot URL.

The above scenario results from a problem which the blog / domain owner has to fix. There are alternate possibilities, which are caused by Google code.

Another problem, only the blog / domain owner can fix.

This is a result of Google's attempt to identify and avoid the original, and primary, cause of the also frequently seen primary symptom

Server Not Found Error 404

This was historically caused by misconfigured, or non-existent, DNS addresses. Google now verifies that the domain DNS resolves to an effective Google server - and occasionally ought to display

We can't let you publish your blog to this non-BlogSpot URL, because external DNS (which Google doesn't control) doesn't point to the proper Google server.

instead of

Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.

Sometimes, this problem is caused by bad decisions by the blog / domain owners when setting up their DNS addresses, other times when choosing a DNS host.

A problem, caused by the blog owner and enabled by the registrar.

Most registrars zone editors do not allow multiple "CNAME" address entries, for a DNS "Host". If a blog owner is instructed to add correct DNS addresses, then to remove incorrect addresses, in that order, and a "CNAME" is being corrected, some zone editors will display

Duplicate address!

or a similar error, when the owner tries to add the correct address.

If the zone editor does not object to multiple "CNAME" addresses, and if the blog owner omits to delete the incorrect address, the domain will end up with unbalanced "CNAME" addresses. Since duplicate "CNAME" addresses affect the published URL (generally, the "www" host), instead of just the redirected URL (the domain root), the consequences may be more severe than multiple, unbalanced "A" addresses.

The most common problem must be fixed by Blogger, one blog at a time.

The Google blog database is huge (millions of blogs), and the code to maintain and update those blogs is complex. Broken / corrupt database pointers can have many origins. These are simply examples.


Apparently, when a custom domain process encounters blog database content that it can't process ("corrupt data"), such as unexpected artifacts from a previous blog, or odd URL constructs, it gives up and won't continue.

Sometimes when giving up, this corrupts the database even worse - possibly resulting in problems that can't be repaired using currently popular procedures, republishing the blog, or even by removing domain mappings, using Google Apps - after the original problem cause is corrected.

Now, we need to see

We can't let you publish your blog to this non-BlogSpot URL, because the Google database isn't tidy.

Instead, we get (yet again!!)

Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.

All that we can do is triage each problem, one at a time.

We triage each problem, one by one.

We use Dig logs, and using HTTP traces, and advise the responsible parties. Rarely, we provide online advice

Hey blog owner! You can't publish there! You're already published to that URL!

and more frequently

Hey blog owner! Fix your DNS configuration!

Too often, it's

Hey Blogger Engineers! Here's another case where the blogger can't use his purchased, and properly configured, domain!

It's the same problem, though, with different symptoms.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. In 2012, Blogger started identifying specific causes of "Another blog", using "Error" codes, similar to replacing "We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request." using "bX" codes.

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