If Your Blog Was Deleted, It's Good To Know Why

Of the many problem reports that we see in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, possibly the most ambiguous might be

My blog was deleted. How do I get my blog back?

The confusion, evidenced here, is normal - but overlooking the reason for the deletion can waste time - and delay or prevent getting the blog restored.

Any time someone reports a deleted blog, it's good to consider the possible causes for deletion.

1. Was the blog deleted by the owner?
2. Was the blog deleted by Blogger - as a suspected abusive content host?
3. Was the blog deleted - because the owning Blogger account was locked by Blogger / Google?

Each of these possibilities can have different consequences - different recovery protocols - and different prognoses. To avoid wasting time - and affect the options for recovery - it's good to triage the diagnosis.

Only the blog owner can recover a deleted blog - under specific cases.

A blog deleted by the owner must be recovered by the owner. If the blog was deleted because the owning Blogger account was deleted, the owning account has to be restored, to start. And the time limit, for restoring a blog, deleted by the owner, is limited.

A blog deleted for TOS violation must be restored, by Blogger, after review.

A blog deleted by Blogger, as a suspected abusive content (malware, porn, spam) host, must be reviewed and restored by Blogger. The good news here is that the review and restore process has, theoretically, no time limit for either initiation or completion.

A blog locked, because the owning account was locked, requires account review.

A blog deleted by Blogger because of a deleted or locked Blogger account, likewise, has no time limit. However, there are two possibilities here.

1. If the Blogger account was locked for "suspicious activity", the account must be unlocked, following owner request - then the owner must wait, patiently, for the blog(s) to be verified and restored to service.
2. If the account was deleted, because of ownership of other blogs suspected as spam hosts, all blogs suspected must be reviewed.

Here, having the Blogger account associated with an active email account is a necessity, for finding the warning notices from Blogger, and deducing which cause contributed to the deletion. And, we see yet another reason for limiting your use of multiple email / GMail accounts.

Start by making sure that you (or another owner) did not delete the blog.

Bearing in mind the limited time window for getting an owner deleted blog restored, it's a good idea to first identify all owner initiated deletions. If we wait for Blogger to review the blog, as a suspected spam host, and they respond with

The blog was trashed by the owner.

this won't help the owner when he realises

Oh yeah, I may have deleted it - last year (and over 90 days ago!).

Some blogs may be missing from the dashboard - but not deleted.

Occasionally, blogs missing from the dashboard may be confused for blogs deleted. Some blog owners, abruptly faced with

You are not yet an author ...

may become confused, and think that a blog has been deleted.

A blog owner with multiple Blogger accounts - having intentionally anonymised himself, or possibly because of inadvertently creating an additional Blogger account, may think that a blog has been deleted. Hopefully, this will not lead to creating a second blog, with a similar address.

Know how to research any deletion problem.

If you're able to login to Blogger, know how to identify your Blogger profile or how to identify your Google+ profile. If you're not able to login, learn how to login, properly - and possibly, why you are not able to login.