The Real Blogger Status

Both the historically infamous "Another blog ..", and the currently infamous "Error 12", are part of the custom domain publishing process. Similar to the mysterious "bX" codes being an enhanced version of "We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.", "Error 12" (and variants) is an enhanced version of the monolithic "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address.". "Another blog" (which was generally seen during use of the Blogger Publishing wizard) is complemented by the equally annoying "Not found" (which is generally seen after Publishing is used).

As most of us know, Blogger HTTPS support does not include custom domain publishing . The advantages offered by HTTPS access are widely advertised - and have led to envy between blog owners who publish to custom domains, and native BlogSpot blog owners proudly advertising their new HTTPS connectivity. Long ago, we saw possibly malicious code which helps our readers avoid using country code aliases , to read our blogs from an aliased country. Recently, there was dodgy code which blocked HTTPS mode , to read a customised blog. Now, we have custom code to force HTTPS access, for BlogSpot published blogs.

If you are trying to make your custom domain published blog work, see my guide Troubleshooting Your Custom Domain Problems . If you want to know how to setup a custom domain properly, from the beginning - and avoid the need for Troubleshooting - read Setting Up DNS Addresses For Custom Domains . Avoid the most basic mistakes made - read The Simplicity Of A Custom Domain Setup . If you just setup your custom domain - and want to minimise the effects of the URL change upon your search engine relationships - read Managing The Migration . If you're just browsing, then read on - but get a good cup of coffee first. And welcome, to Nitecruzr Dot Net.

Of the many accessories and features in Blogger, Custom Domain Publishing is possibly the most problematic. Looking at the Labels index in this blog, I see the Custom Domains label on 363 posts (as of 2015/06/15) - which makes it one of the most heavily labeled single topics here. There are several challenges with diagnosing and resolving a custom domain problem. It has various different causes . It leads to many different symptoms, which can easily be confused for other problems . Its symptoms can be chronic or intermittent- and may be immediate, or may take months to exhibit themselves. It may require resolution by any blog guest, by the blog owner, by Blogger Support, and / or by a third party such as the domain registrar.

We see occasional frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , involving broken or unreliable custom domains. I setup the Custom Domain properly, following the Google directions . For some of my readers, my custom domain is not opening. I can see it is going in an infinite loop in the browser - and after a long time, it's throwing errors. My domain is setup, properly. Why do I have to deal with this? And we will investigate - and in many cases, we find the domain is setup properly .

We see an occasional report in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about custom domain publishing. My readers can't view the blog - they get a redirection count error! DNS analysis shows a properly setup domain . When we try to examine the blog, we see a private blog notice - or we are required to login. But why a private blog, using a custom domain?

Some of my favourite problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , are about inconsistent blog online status. It was fine yesterday. Why is it down, now? and I see the blog, just fine! Why are some of my readers complaining? and I can access it, using my phone! Why is Blogger down, on my home computer? and The registrar tells me everything is OK! Whenever I see the latter report, I know exactly where to start.

Blog owners have been trying to block tracking their own Stats pageviews, for a few years. This option has long been unusable, for blogs published to custom domains . Recently, Blogger Engineering updated the option - and the dashboard page with the link.

Some blog owners setup their new custom domain, check all settings carefully (and correctly) - then find that it does not work. We see the confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . The addresses were right - and all the DNS servers updated correctly. But when I open the website, it does not open. It continuously reloads for 5 minutes and after 5 minutes it shows an error. It's frustrating, when everything is setup properly - but still no results.

Sometimes, you have to re publish your blog, to the domain. Maybe, you want to change the BlogSpot or domain URL, or change the blog - or maybe the previous publishing did not complete, properly. If the blog is currently published to a non BlogSpot URL, you can't just publish it, again. You have to start by publishing the blog back to a BlogSpot URL, before you can again publish the blog to a non BlogSpot URL. Given the right planning, and understanding of the tasks involved, you can do all of this in a couple minutes - less time than it will probably take you to read these instructions.

Have you ever heard the old saying I had a friend, and I had a blog. I gave my friend control of my blog - and now, I have neither a friend, or a blog. If you have a blog, and it's yours alone, then it's yours - for eternity, or until you give up control . When you make your friend a blog administrator, you give up control of the blog.

I've been observing custom domain publishing, and how it's affected by applications mapped through various Google services, for a few years. The well known "Another blog", and it's successor "Key already exists", have three possible causes . Actual content, published to the URL. Bogus DNS addresses. Database corruption. If you map a Google service to a URL in your domain, even temporarily, then simply disable the service, you can end up with a domain URL that remains mapped to the service. When you try to publish your blog to that URL, you're going to see "Another blog ..." or "Key already exists ...".

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.

Sometimes, we see the frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about custom domain setup. I try to publish my blog to my domain, and I get We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 14. even when I know I have added the necessary DNS addresses. Why does Blogger ignore my addresses? When we check, using multiple tools - such as DigWebInterface , or Kloth , or WhoIs , we see no addresses. Even, in some cases, when the blog owner is thoughtful enough to include well displayed copy of the zone editor display.

One of the more promising features of Google Domains - besides the ability to access the Google Domains dashboard using a normal Google account - may be a recently discovered option. I could not make my domain work, so I contacted Google Domains Support. They provided a simple adjustment, that actually worked! Google Domains Support appears to be available, to anyone who purchases a domain, using Google Domains.

We are seeing a few blog owners reporting, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , of inability to use various dashboard functions. I am seeing "This Connection Is Untrusted" - You have asked Firefox to connect securely to 7749195048983246407_73be54cd6d1c58526e719a5edd6d94a945570409.blogspot.com, but we can't confirm that your connection is secure. This prevents me from using various preview features. We suspect that the problem involves the Firefox browser, possibly following the latest update .

We're seeing an increasing number of problem reports, mentioning Google Domains. Google Domains is becoming a popular registrar for new custom domains - and this leads to more problems, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Many reports look like timing problems, from long ago . The most common symptom is the mysterious Redirect Warning. I purchased a Google Domains site, and connected it to Blogger so it redirects my blog to my domain, no problem. The problem is now when accessing the BlogSpot URL, it now shows a redirect warning message, which is killing my web traffic. This blog is not hosted by Blogger and has not been checked for spam, viruses and other forms of malware. How do I publish my blog, and keep my readers, with this confusion?

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 "co.vu".

The Google Domains feature, possibly developed as a replacement for the long discontinued and well missed "Buy a domain for your blog", appears to have problems similar to "Buy a domain" when first developed. We're seeing a small, but steadily increasing, flow of problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Problems being reported look similar to those typically seen with domains purchased long ago using "Buy a domain", before the "Transition" period was introduced to Blogger custom domain publishing.

This blog is " blogging.nitecruzr.net ". If I wanted to dress up the URL slightly, I might tell you it's " Blogging.Nitecruzr.Net ". Either URL should work, for reading the blog, equally well - with the domain setup properly. Both blogs published to "blogspot.com" - and to non BlogSpot (aka "custom domain") - URLs are subjected to unexpected mixed case variations , from time to time.

One of the most consistently seen complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , involves blog owners who can't get their blogs working, using custom domain publishing. Thanks to undertrained tech support staff , a common feature at too many registrars, the most common cause of custom domain problems involves failure to use "CNAME" referral - or "CNAME" referral targeting the wrong destination. Both use of forwarding, and "CNAME" referral to the domain root, is seen too often. www.mydomain.com. 1800 IN A 64.202.189.170 or maybe www.mydomain.com. 1800 IN CNAME mydomain.com Please, don't use either of the above address models! Unfortunately, even with the blog properly published to the "www" alias - and with the "www" alias using "CNAME" referral, targeting "ghs.google.com" - we still see problems. With neither of the above mistakes made.

Some Blogger blog owners treat custom domain publishing, as drivers in Miami USA treat the suburban streets. Have you ever been to Miami, Florida, USA? Many of the suburban streets there are long, straight, and intersect at 90 degree angles. And as you get into the outer suburbs, with housing developments which (this year) may be right next to the Everglades - there will be almost no traffic, much of the day. The major streets intersect with stop signs or traffic lights. Many of the natives blow the stop signs, run the red lights, and speed with almost reckless abandon. And auto collisions are frequent - and lawyers and police are very busy.

We're seeing reports from some blog owners, who purchased custom domains through Blogger / Google, who are unable to access the registrars zone editor through Google Apps. Owners of blogs published to custom domains, where the domains were purchased through "Buy a domain", need to use the registrars zone editor to maintain their domains. In the past, the zone editor could be accessed from a link in the "Advanced DNS settings" wizard in the "Admin console" / Google Apps dashboard. The "Advanced DNS settings" wizard provides important tokens, to let the owner of a domain, purchased through Blogger / Google, interact with the registrar. Besides the tokens, there is a link, captioned "Sign in to DNS console", which should lead directly to the sign in screen provided by either eNom or GoDaddy.

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. Where are the pencil / tool icons on my blog? and Why can't my readers comment on my blog? and Why can't I use Stats, on the Blogger dashboard? 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 .

We're seeing a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from blog owners who started with bogus DNS addresses - and who can't retrieve the required verification address from the custom domain Publishing wizard. What is my second "CNAME"? or The domain isn't working, and the Publishing wizard isn't helping! These blog owners have domains with bogus DNS addresses, don't understand their mistakes - and are not being given the required advice from the Publishing wizard, how to fix their problems.

This weekend, a few owners of blogs published to custom domains are reporting problems viewing their blogs. We are seeing various reports, such as unhappily reporting CANNOT VIEW MY BLOG! If we view the blog ourselves - or maybe if the blog owner uses one or more proxy servers to view the blog, the blog will be seen with no problem. Apparently the blog is actually online, regardless of the original observation. Now what? In many cases, the blog in question uses GoDaddy hosted DNS, and a specific set of GoDaddy servers, to provide domain addresses to the blog readers.

This week, we're seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken from blog owners, trying to publish their blogs to custom domains. I'm trying to use the Publishing wizard - and I'm seeing a new error. This operation failed. Try again later. If the problem persist, please file a post on the help forum. What has Blogger changed, recently?

We're seeing a few reports from confused blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , who want a non BlogSpot URL for their blog. I have tried to follow the guide, but my page does not say the same as the guide. Several blog owners, in trying to use "Add a custom domain" to buy a domain, are observing that there is no "Check Availability" sequence.

We've been seeing reports from some frustrated blog owners, about problems with the limited access Google Apps accounts . I've reset my password numerous times and it still doesn't work. Even given the recently provided "bloggeradmin" username, and the standard Google account reset process , some blog owners still cannot access Google Apps to manage their Blogger custom domain published blogs. We do have one bit of hope. One such problem report, recently forwarded to Google Apps Support, was noted by a Google Apps Engineer with the advice We identified a recent change which may have affected the password reset flow for some users. We expect it to either be fixed or rolled out shortly. So, there is some hope for a few unhappy new domain owners. It's possible that this problem has been resolved, with Google Apps now using the new comprehensive Google login screen . >> Top

As Google Apps updates their limited function ("bloggeradmin") account setup process, we see reports from confused Blogger blog owners. After I reset my password, I still get The username or password you entered is incorrect when I try to login, later! and I reset my password - and it changed my Blogger and GMail account - but I still can't login to Google Apps!! The Google Apps password reset uses a standard Google account reset process - and is subject to normal account reset behaviour. If you don't reset the right account, you won't be able to login, later.

Some Blogger blog owners, trying to setup a new blog, discover the hard way that other people are trying to do the same thing. When I try to use "Create a blog", I keep seeing This name is not available. or Blogger is saying it's available - but as I begin to register, it says that it has already received a request for this name. Other blog owners discover that the competition between Blogger blog owners, when using " Create a blog ", also applies to "Buy a domain". And worse yet, "Buy a domain" involves competition with would be website owners outside Blogger / Google.

Too many blog owners, when they setup a custom domain for their blog, do not consider the details. We see signs of the problem, too often, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Can someone give me step by step instructions for setting up a custom domain with xxxxxxx registrar? I contacted xxxxxxx customer service - and they told me a lot of things I didn't understand! Would it be easier just to transfer the domain to GoDaddy? The short answer here would be Yes, it would be easier just to transfer the domain to GoDaddy. Unfortunately, that answer is not completely correct - and the correction may leave you with a broken domain.

This week, we have a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about active and mature domains, suddenly stopped working. I have used my domain with no problems, since last year. Today, it suddenly stopped working, and the browser reports Oops! Google Chrome could not find www.mydomain.com. I asked my friends about my domain - and they tell me that my blog is inaccessible to them, also. I didn't change any settings - and it was fine, until last night.

The literal cause of the error "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address." is that the Google Sites service is mapped to the address in question, in the Google domain services mapping database. Some help articles published on the Internet imply that Sites mappings are the only cause of this error. This misconception creates some of the confusion associated with the error. Sites is not the only service in the services mapping database - but it is the only service with web address mappings. The Sites service contains both service address, and web address, mappings - and both mappings can cause this problem. This oddity creates complexity, and makes a linear check list impossible, when using Google Apps to clear the error - as well as diagnosing the error, in a typical dialogue in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken .

Of all of the problems that are typically reported, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , surely the most frustrating has to be Another blog or Google Site is already using this address. or possibly Key already exists for domain ... One of the reasons for the frustration is that this is not a descriptive error - it's more of a symptom - and this symptom has a number of causes . Since many Blogger blog owners don't understand the principles of problem solving, the solutions for this error may not be obvious.

The Google domain services database lets one or more Blogger blogs, and / or various Google services, be packaged as part of a domain - giving your organisation its own virtual web server. Google Apps is used to manage this virtual web server, as you install and un install various domain services. Sometimes a domain, newly setup in Google after the domain has been purchased from a registrar, will have one or more addresses unexpectedly mapped to various Google services. This will be inconvenient to the blog owner, who may wish to use a given URL for a Blogger blog.

Of all of the known problems with Blogger, in general - and of the known problems with Blogger / Google Custom Domain Publishing, specifically - surely the most frustrating single problem starts with the well known monolithic error Another blog or Google Site is already using this address. The most frequently seen solution to this problem, contrary to the opinions expressed in some blogs and websites, starts with correction of the domain DNS addresses . But even after careful DNS address correction, some blog owners still report the well known "Another blog ..." error.

Sometimes, when you have a Blogger blog, published to a non BlogSpot URL, you may need to repeat the publishing process. Maybe, you want to change the BlogSpot or domain URL, or change the blog - or maybe the previous publishing did not complete, properly. If the blog is currently published to a non BlogSpot URL, you can't just publish it, again. You have to start by publishing the blog back to a BlogSpot URL, before you can again publish the blog to a non BlogSpot URL. Given the right planning, and understanding of the tasks involved, you can do all of this in 5 minutes - less time than it will probably take you to read these instructions.

Last week, Google dropped a bombshell on many small client developers. Starting on December 6, 2012 , Google will no longer offer new accounts for the free edition of Google Apps. Google Apps free edition is sometimes referred to as "Standard Edition." This announcement will bring changes to Blogger, and to custom domain publishing. Many owners of Blogger blogs published using the Google Custom Domain feature have learned to use various Google Apps wizards, to setup and to maintain their domains.

One of the challenges of using Blogger involves following the instructions. Blogger / Google personnel provide Help instructions which are not always updated - sometimes they simply write a new Help instructions document, leaving the old Help instructions in place. The policy of leaving old Help instructions in place - and sometimes conflicting with new displays and procedures - occasionally causes confusion. One scenario where this causes a problem is in publishing or re publishing a blog to a custom domain . I've seen instructions that when you buy a domain from Blogger / Google, using "Buy a domain", you won't need to create a CNAME record. One of the advantages of using "Buy a domain" is the ease of setup. If you use "Buy a domain", you don't have to bother with any of the details. This is generally - but not always - true. (Update 2013/09): The second "CNAME" won't be required, in all cases. If you don't see i...

Recently, Google Apps added a setting to the domain administrator desktop GUI, which controls the redirect of the domain root (aka "naked domain"). We initially observed this setting, as an option in working around the problem of setting the domain root redirect , in the Blogger Publishing "Advanced Settings" wizard. It's also possible that this setting should be used in recycling the domain settings , when faced with the "dreaded "Another blog ..." error. Use of the Google Apps Domain Redirect setting is not complicated. It starts with setup of the domain administrator account. For any newly purchased domain - as well as for domains purchased directly from a registrar , it's a fairly simple matter to setup a Google Apps domain administrator account - then to set (or reset) the redirect.

We're seeing a small but steady flood of reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from blog owners attempting to publish their blogs using a custom domain URL. I am not able to redirect my blog from blogspot to my own domain! Blogger is giving me the error We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 14. This specific problem has been observed numerous times in the past, ever since Blogger added the domain ownership verification process to the custom domain publishing feature. Problem reports require careful diagnosis, involving examination of the basic DNS addresses setup with the registrar, to verify the "Error 14" as the primary problem.

Some Blogger blog owners, trying to save a few dollars while publishing their blogs to a non BlogSpot URL, have used the free service "co.cc" for registering their domains. As "co.cc" increased its base of "customers", their reputation for providing free registration grew - and they became popular with scammers and spammers. Last year, Google, weary of the overall poor search engine reputation of co.cc customers, de indexed all websites registered by co.cc . This week, co.cc apparently stopped serving DNS information for its "customer domains".

Not all registrars are able to support the new Blogger domain ownership verification requirement. Some registrars won't allow a second "CNAME" in the same subdomain - and others can't handle the excessively long target address. Ever since Blogger added domain ownership verification, we've been seeing complaints from some blog owners, who have purchased domains directly from registrars who can't provide the required DNS addresses on their servers. Even though not all registrars have DNS servers that will provide the right DNS address entries, most registrars will allow us to use third party DNS servers. The use of publicly available DNS servers, which can provide the required DNS addresses, will eliminate the need to transfer domain registration - when the registrar is unable to provide the right DNS addresses , using their own servers.

Since Blogger restored Custom Domain Publishing last month, with the new domain ownership verification requirement , there have been a few complaints from customers of some registrars who just can't provide the required DNS address record for ownership verification. My registrar says that I can't have two "CNAME" records in the same subdomain. and My registrar's domain manager wizard displays an error saying "Address too long.", when I try to add the "CNAME". Blog owners contacting the registrar, and asking for help, are generally told That's Blogger's problem! (Update 2012/11): Blogger Engineering has provided a workaround for this problem, with any uncooperative registrar, such as 1And1 - use of a (free) third party DNS host .

Now that the custom domain publishing feature is back online again, there remains one feature of custom domain publishing to be restored to the Blogger dashboard. The very popular Blogger dashboard option to redirect the domain root (aka "naked domain"), to the "www" alias, may not be reliable - or even available . Too many people report I can't redirect the naked domain - I can select the option, but the next time I look, the box will be un checked. and My "www" alias works just fine - but the domain root now returns a "404". Fortunately, there are alternative solutions to provide the naked domain redirect.

We're seeing a few reports this week, from blog owners who recently deleted their custom domain published blogs - who now lament their decision - and who are unable to un delete the blogs. I can't "undelete" my blog, that used to be published as a custom domain URL. I received the following error code: bX-afpmyd. This problem, like others, appears to have started when custom domain publishing was restored , last week.

Several people are reporting seeing the New Blogger GUI in their dashboard - even when they did not intentionally upgrade. Possibly, this was forced by the necessary Custom Domain Authentication Feature , which is now operational - on the New GUI only. I am expecting my Blogger account to change, soon. Let's see if I get a "Your blog post published successfully!" display. So far, I am in Virginia - though I am thinking of a procedural workaround for that shortcoming. I realise that everybody won't have a workaround for their dislikes - though we have to be contemplative, and accept the changes . If you wish to make your feelings known, please post in the latest Problem Rollup: V4 I do not like the New Blogger Interface because ... >> Top

Many owners of Blogger blogs - and most owners of Blogger blogs published to non BlogSpot URLs - know the sad truth . Mapping a blogspot domain to a custom domain is currently disabled. It's been this way, for several long days. If you are the owner of a Blogger blog, currently published to a non BlogSpot URL, you have probably seen the problem, when trying to view your blog - even after setting up righteous DNS addresses , and having published the blog to the domain . 404 . That’s an error. The requested URL / was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

This afternoon, we started seeing some frantic problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . My custom domain published blog is not loading today. What is going on with your servers??? The numbers, of concerned blog owners, are relatively small, compared to normal custom domain publishing problems - but the concern is very real. When we look at the DNS addresses for the domains involved, we see one common factor - a custom domain, relying solely on the Google Apps DNS server "216.239.32.21".

The use of Google Apps, for resetting the domain settings, frequently requires much repetition - yet seldom produces consistent results. Some blog owners are able to disable a single service to get their domain working, others must recycle the service settings repeatedly - and still others must spend time anxiously recycling one service after another, then looking for more, unnamed services to recycle. Some blog owners look for shortcuts in the recommended process - such as deleting the Apps account , which simply wastes time. Unfortunately, very few shortcuts, when identified, are consistently effective for other blog owners later. This lack of consistency leads to various comments mentioning lack of useful advice, in the forum discussions.

The ability to publish a Blogger blog to a non BlogSpot URL - also known as "Custom Domain Publishing" - has been a Blogger option for over 5 years . We have, similarly, observed the problem which is collectively described as "Another blog ..." for almost that long . Every week, we see the signs of frustration in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Why does Blogger never fix the "Another blog" problem? or Why can I never get a straight answer here, about my inability to make my custom domain work? Both of these questions ignore the reality - that "Another blog ..." is actually a symptom, with many different causes .

One of the benefits of custom domain publishing, for a properly setup domain, is that the BlogSpot URL is automatically redirected to the domain. Not all blog owners realise that the BlogSpot to domain URL redirect includes the blog feed - once the Transition period ends, and the blog is republished to the domain. Some blog owners think that the Post Feed Redirect setting needs to be used when re publishing their blog to a custom domain . This is not true, however. Use of the custom domain redirect, plus the post feed redirect, can only result in one of two problems. A feed redirect loop. A feed URL that points to invalid content. In neither case will any newsfeed client, such as a Dynamic Template, Google Reader, Reading List, or any third party feed service, find a feed that can be used.

Next to its immediate cousin error Another blog is already hosted at this address I don't know of too many more frustrating Blogger error states than seeing 403 Forbidden Most cases of "403 Forbidden", seen and discussed recently in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , have geographical affinity - and are typically transient - and apply to blogs published to "blogspot.com". Some cases of "403 Forbidden" however, will involve custom domain publishing , where the blog owner should - but most likely will not - see Another blog is already hosted at this address When publishing the blog to the domain.

For over 2 months, we've been seeing reports from blog owners who published their blogs to custom domains, with domain DNS hosted by eNom , in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I bought my domain name through Blogger,last week. It is being hosted by eNom. Ever since I bought it some of my followers, and sometimes myself, can't access my site. There is either a DNS search or a "Ooops, Google Chrome can't find..." I tried contacting eNom, and they said they can see my site and that all of my settings are correct. They say it must be Google's problem. The keyword here is "sometimes". Ever since I bought it some of my followers, and sometimes myself, can't access my site.

One of the saddest problems reports, seen in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , and mentioning the custom domain purchase process , starts with I had a problem with my credit card, and had to get my bank to allow my purchase. But now, I see We found an existing order for this domain. Please contact support. or maybe I had to answer the phone after I started my purchase, and now the domain that I wanted isn't available. How do I get the domain that should be mine? These problem reports are from people who did not understand how simple the domain purchase process is. Select an available domain. Provide registration and payment information. That simplicity is based on a monolithic restriction. The purchase process does not allow for interruption. It is to your advantage, when purchasing your domain, to complete the purchase, quickly .

As Blogger in general, and custom domain publishing in particular, becomes more popular in Asia and Africa, we are seeing more problems with the Blogger / Google domain purchase process. The basic problem, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , will be expressed so simply. My blog is showing an off-site redirect. You're about to be redirected. The blog that used to be here is now at http://www.mydomain.com. Do you wish to be redirected? What do I do now? Some time ago, this report would have been diagnosed as spurious DNS addresses - and we would point out the necessities of proper custom domain DNS addressing , when setting up the domain yourself. Nowadays, an increasingly common diagnosis, for this problem, is an unsuccessfully purchased domain , using the Blogger / Google "Buy a domain" or Google Apps purchase process.

We've been exploring the issues of Custom Domain Publishing for many years. The problem of custom domain database corruption , also known as Another blog is already hosted at this address. is one of the most commonly observed symptoms, with custom domain publishing problems. The most common cause of the "Another blog ..." symptom is broken database pointers. In the past, the broken pointers have been associated with various Google Apps controlled services. Ad Services. Google Sites. Start Page. Now that Custom Domain Publishing is a mature feature in Blogger, there's a newly seen trend, in problems reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Blogger Blogs.

We are seeing reports from owners of several Blogger blogs, published to custom domains, of intermittent connectivity problems, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Recently, I have been unable to load my custom domain blog www.mydomain.com. My browsers (whether Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) all tell me they are "unable to find the server". Various online utilities report problems also. I am able to get to Blogger and my dashboard for the blog, but nothing will load the page. All other services on my computer appear to be working normally. The problem appears to be somewhat intermittent and varying across different ISPs, and various online utilities which I use. The domains being reported all appear to be registered with eNom - and at first glance, domain registration appears normal. We have to do some detailed investigation to identify a consistent detail, which appears to be common to all individually reported domains.

We are observing owners of a few Blogger blogs reporting that the popular Google Friend Connect accessory, as suggested last year , recently stopped working, on their blogs. I have a Blogger blog but I'm using a custom domain (not purchased through Blogger though) - and my Google Friend Connect is gone now, just like they announced it, concerning the other non-Blogger blogs. From a brief check of several blogs reporting this change, it appears that blogs published to non BlogSpot URLs, using custom domain publishing with incorrect DNS setups , are being treated as non Blogger blogs. The Following / Google Friend Connect accessory, on those blogs, is now stopped.

A few Blogger blog owners, trying to resolve their custom domain publishing problem , may see Google Apps mentioned in the diagnosis procedures, and try the brute force way out - deleting the Apps account. Unfortunately, the Google Apps desktop, when (only when) it provides administrative domain control , simply gives the domain administrator the ability to recycle the domain settings .

We've recently seen a few reported custom domain problems diagnosed as unsuccessful domain purchases , in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Now, we have a good possibility for diagnosis of many common purchasing problems .

One mysterious monolithic error message, reported by Blogger blog owners for some time, is the mysterious "Conflicting Edits" error. There was more than one attempt to edit this resource at the same time. This may have been because you double clicked on a link or a button or because someone else is also editing this blog or post. Please hit the back button on your browser and try again. If the problem persists, please contact the Blogger Help Group. We apologize for the inconvenience.

We get an occasional odd report about a blog, recently setup with a custom domain using " Buy a domain ", which cannot be accessed using either the BlogSpot or domain URL. Upon investigation using a Whois log , we see an odd detail. MYNONXDOMAIN.COM IS AVAILABLE mynonxdomain.com appears to be available An HTTP trace will appear identical to an improperly published domain. Upon further discussion with the blog owner, we also learn that the blog owner has seen no charge against the bank account provided for the purchase process. The only sign of the purchase is the BlogSpot URL, redirected to the domain URL. In this case, the only choice is to publish the blog back to the BlogSpot URL , then repeat the purchase, again using " Buy a domain " - but after diagnosing and possibly correcting your credit card information . >> Top

This weekend, a few owners of blogs published to custom domains are reporting problems viewing their blogs. We are seeing various reports, such as unhappily reporting I can't view my blog! If we view the blog ourselves, or maybe if the blog owner uses one or more proxy servers to view the blog, the blog will be seen with no problem. Apparently the blog is actually online, regardless of the original observation. Now what? In many cases, the blog in question uses GoDaddy hosted DNS, and a specific set of GoDaddy servers, to provide domain addresses to the blog readers.

One frequently seen report, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , comes from blog owners whose blogs are published to non BlogSpot URLs (though the problem reports may not always mention that detail, explicitly). Help! I can't see my blog - I just see The requested URL / was not found on this server.

If you have a car, and drive it frequently - and sometimes under stress - you may have experienced the embarrassment of depleting the petrol level, unexpectedly, at an inconvenient time. This experience is called, in the vernacular, "running out of gas". Like the experience of running out of gas, which is embarrassing and inconvenient, people who publish their blogs to non BlogSpot URLs may occasionally experience the horror of having their custom domains "run out of gas", or expire. Like having your car run out of gas, it is extremely necessary to confirm when your domain has expired.

Many problems with custom domain publishing are transient, and can be fixed by republishing to the domain URL . When encountered by a possibly transient problem, my advice is very basic. Publish the blog back to BlogSpot, then re publish it to the domain URL. And recheck the redirect option. This is good advice, and generally easy enough to execute. One case, when this advice is not easy to execute, is with blogs that were previously hosted externally, and never published to a BlogSpot URL. A blog that was never published to BlogSpot can't be published back to BlogSpot. The FTP Migration effort, completed just recently, retained that option for many blogs. Blogs migrated from an externally hosted non BlogSpot URL, to a Google hosted non BlogSpot URL, won't necessarily have a BlogSpot URL. When this happens, pick any available BlogSpot URL, and change the blog temporarily from custom domain publishing to BlogSpot publishing. You won't necessarily use a BlogSpot nam...

Similar to a redirection to the Google Apps Start Page service , some custom domains will be found to be directed to Google Sites. Again, we'll see an apparently normal (asymmetrical) DNS address configuration . mydomain.net. 3600 IN A 216.239.32.21 mydomain.net. 3600 IN A 216.239.34.21 mydomain.net. 3600 IN A 216.239.36.21 mydomain.net. 3600 IN A 216.239.38.21 www.mydomain.net. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com. --- ghs.google.com. 282206 IN CNAME ghs.l.google.com. ghs.l.google.com. 300 IN A 74.125.43.121 The diagnosis, again, will be made using an (abbreviated) HTTP trace . Sending request: GET / HTTP/1.1 Host: mydomain.net User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv: 1.9.0.5) Gecko/2008120122 Firefox/3.0.5 Connection: close • Finding host IP address... • Host IP address = 209.85.171.121 • Finding TCP protoc...

Sometimes, when you are publishing a blog to a custom domain, you'll have a problem with the settings. Some settings problems can only be solved by repeating the publishing process. But you can't repeat the process - once a blog is published to a URL, you can't just publish again, to the domain URL. In some cases, you have to publish the blog back to BlogSpot, then re publish to the domain. In other cases, you have to return the blog to a BlogSpot publishing, so you can solve some problems now - and return to the domain publishing, at some unknown time in the future. This is all done from the Settings - Publishing wizard, which you access from the Blogger dashboard - and it's as easy as 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. Always start by getting a new ownership verification token , and adding it to the domain DNS address list. Pay careful attention to DNS address entry conventions ! If you are instructed to add a "CNAME", you do have to add a "CNAME" - regardle...

Sometimes, you have to tell people something twice, before they will listen to you. This month, the "Buy A Domain" wizard has that problem. As always, start from Settings - Publishing, and select "Switch to: • Custom Domain ". If you were buying "mydomain.net", for " What address would you like your blog to have? " you should simply enter "mydomain", select ".net", then hit "Check Availability". This month, if you do that, you will see There was an error processing this form. Please try again. URL should end in a valid domain extension, such as .com or .net. In this case, you must enter "mydomain.net", then select ".net". The ".net" bit is validated, too. If you enter "mydomain.com", then select ".net", you'll get the same error. Strange, but true. >> Top

Recently, we've started to see a number of reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken of comments being lost after a blog is newly published to a Google Custom Domain - or in some cases, to a different Blog*Spot URL. Like many problems involving comments, custom domain problems, and / or URL changes in general, this problem warrants further investigation. To start with, there are a few questions which are relevant, which may help us diagnose where the problem originates. Blogger Support suggests two useful details . The exact URL of a post on your old blog which has comments. The exact URL of a post on your new blog which is missing comments. Where are the comments being lost - can you find them still inventoried in " Edit Posts ", for instance? Were the comments moderated, or unmoderated? When were the comments posted (by the blog readers)? When were they approved (if moderated) by you? Is the blog owned (and moderated) by you only, or is it a team eff...

Yesterday, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , we were treated to the start of a wildfire, with many bloggers, quite suddenly, reporting Everything's been fine for months, but now I'm suddenly seeing "You're about to be redirected." and Help, I'm seeing "404 Server Not Found" again! The cause of the problem was subsequently traced to another hacking action on the Internet, where a Distributed Denial Of Service attack was aimed at eNom , one of the custom domain registrar partners with Google. Within that morning, eNom mitigated the problem , and the problem reports in Blogger Help Forum trickled to a halt. But the problem reports were only the primary result of the DDOS. We will, quite likely, see more results, in the weeks to come .

Unsolicited redirect to a Google AdServices, Sites, or Start page is a very common cause, right now, for the well known custom domain symptom " Another blog is already hosted at this address ". And, it's a reasonably easy symptom to correct.

Recently, we're seeing an assortment of complaints about blog feeds, either not working at all, or updating slowly. Whether presented in a browser display, in a Following Reading List / Google Reader, or in a bloglist gadget, the accuracy of the feed as displayed can be affected by a few issues. Custom feed redirection. Custom Domain redirection. Classic vs New feed URL, and Blogger vs BlogSpot / domain served feed. Feeds served by third party servers (FTP publishing). Feeds from private blogs (which don't exist). Cached feed content. Custom Feed Redirection A custom, redirected feed, redirected through FeedBurner or a similar service , will be affected by problems with the service. When you check out a problem with a redirected feed, it may be helpful to compare the redirected feed content with the non redirected feed content. Custom Domain Redirection A feed coming from a blog that's published to a custom domain will be affected by the custom domain DNS i...

A Google Custom Domain is an elegant solution for alternately addressing a blog with a BlogSpot or a non BlogSpot URL , and having the current search engine value of the BlogSpot URL transferred to the non BlogSpot URL. There is no other DNS based solution for doing all of that, and doing that so elegantly. It's so simple to setup, too. You start with a righteous DNS configuration . You publish the blog to the primary address . You redirect the secondary address to the primary address . You are done with the setup. For all of it's simplicity, it has a major flaw in the way it's implemented. This flaw, in Computer Security, I describe as a Chair To Keyboard Interface Fault . A CKI Fault is a frequent factor in computer security problems, and similarly, in custom domain problems . Yet the bloggers, who generate the faults, are not the sole cause of the faults. Custom Domains depend upon DNS, and DNS is not a user friendly infrastructure. DNS, or Domain Name Sy...

Magic shows have been around for centuries - the world is full of magic, when we don't understand what's going on. URL redirection is a Blogger magic trick , similar to the disappearing quarter - a common sleight of hand trick in stage magic performances. Another Blogger magic trick, and one which not all bloggers or blog viewers appreciate, is the interstitial warning display. Interstitial warnings pop up like magic, where you (or your prospective viewer) would least expect them. In front of a "private" blog, where you have to identify yourself to continue. In front of a blog that contains (or is reputed to contain) objectionable material (naughty pictures or such). In front of a blog that is (or appears to be) published off site. In front of a blog that has been blocked, for TOS violation, or maybe for hosting hacking content.

This week, we have various problem reports, from folks with blogs published to various mature custom domains - custom domains that have been online for some time, not ones just setup. All of these reports involve blogs using server "72.14.207.121" in their DNS addresses. Here's an example - "onfiction.ca". onfiction.ca. 10800 IN A 72.14.207.121 www.onfiction.ca. 10800 IN CNAME onfiction.ca. eh-in-f121.google.com (72.14.207.121) 72.14.192.0 - 72.14.255.255 Google Inc. "72.14.207.121" is the third of the original Google Apps servers , replaced by the current 4 servers in November 2008 . The other 2 servers in the original set of 3 have been offline for many months ; and now this server joins the other 2, and is itself permanently offline . If your custom domain uses "72.14.207.121" in its DNS addresses, your blog is probably offline too. And, that's why. You originally had 3 DNS servers providing addresses fo...

This weekend, as the custom domain problems initially observed June 16 continue to be reported, we see now a new symptom. Observed by the administrator of an affected blog, in the Settings - Publishing wizard, will be the warning The DNS record for your domain is not set up correctly yet. If you just purchased this domain the set up process may take up to a day. In several cases, this is reportedly observed for blogs with righteous DNS addresses . Why? Here we have one example, "wakworld.com". First, we see an extracted Dig log . wakworld.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.32.21 wakworld.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.34.21 wakworld.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.36.21 wakworld.com. 3600 IN A 216.239.38.21 www.wakworld.com. 3600 IN CNAME ghs.google.com. Next, an excerpted HTTP trace . Sending request: GET / HTTP/1.1 Host: wakworld.com User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.11) Gecko/2009060215 Firefox/3.0.11 Connection: close • Finding host IP address... • Host IP add...

This weekend, as the broken BlogSpot to custom domain redirect problem stretches into its 4th through 5th days, we see a diverse crowd of bloggers complaining about the problem. Some bloggers have been following this problem since Wednesday, others just discovered it today. One group of complainants which always intrigues me is the ones with the biggest and most popular blogs. What? Blogger can't do this to me, and get away with it! I'll move my 10,000 visitor / day blog to WordPress!! as if the daily visitor count makes them more important. Everybody who is hurting, because of this snafu, is hurting because of links that continue to refer to the BlogSpot URL. The BlogSpot URL is the primary blog address until you publish the blog to a custom domain, and only until then. When you publish the blog to a custom domain, it becomes a secondary blog address . It's a secondary blog address which should diminish in importance, steadily, as your the custom domain address bec...