Skip to main content

Account Recovery And Account Security Is One Issue

We see the frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, almost daily.
My blog has disappeared from my dashboard, and my subscribers are getting spam! How do I get my blog returned to me?
and
I got a new computer, and now I can't access my blog. Who can I call at Google, to get this fixed??
These are two blog owners who have the same problem, but do not understand the connection.

Blogger used to provide personalised account / blog recovery - but providing one service too often would lead to a need for the other.

It's not possible to verify blog ownership, using one-on-one contact.

It's simply not possible to provide account recovery, on a one to one basis, using ad hoc authentication techniques. Technology - including the ability to create forged identification, and to use the power of the web to crack accounts, makes it too easy for a hacker / blog thief to operate - and too difficult for Blogger Support to manage.

Blogger has to provide account recovery, consistently - and that means blog owners can only use automated tools. This is "due diligence" policy - and it's good business practice.

If the blog cannot be used, it awaits your return - with proper authentication.

If a blog is currently unowned ("dormant", under your former account), it is probably because Blogger won't accept ad hoc authentication. If they were more permissive, it's possible that a hacker would have made persuasive claims, and brute forced their way into your account, and into your blog.

Not only would it not be your blog (it would be now owned by another person), but you would watch it being filled with spam - and possibly publishing spam to your Followers Reading Lists.

And unfortunately, if the blog is currently owned by another person, unless the other person uses the blog for illegal activity, it's likely that the blog will remain owned by the other person.

If email / phone assistance were provided, blog theft would increase.

Blogger agents cannot provide email or phone contact, because were they to provide direct, one on one contact, there would surely be more people later suggesting
I'm a bit worried about this rather public forum!
and
Strange posts have been appearing on my blog!!

Account recovery, and account security, are simply two sides of the same coin. You cannot be permissive with one - and not need to increase the other.

Comments

Nitecruzr said…
Hi Sheryl,

Thanks for your comments, and report.

I would like to work on this, with you. Can you please post in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, so we can explore this in more detail?

Popular posts from this blog

What's The URL Of My Blog?

We see the plea for help, periodically I need the URL of my blog, so I can give it to my friends. Help! Who's buried in Grant's Tomb, after all? No Chuck, be polite. OK, OK. The title of this blog is "The Real Blogger Status", and the title of this post is "What's The URL Of My Blog?".

Add A Custom Redirect, If You Change A Post URL

When you rename a blog, the most that you can do, to keep the old URL useful, is to setup a stub post , with a clickable link to the new URL. Yo! The blog is now at xxxxxxx.blogspot.com!! Blogger forbids gateway blogs, and similar blog to blog redirections . When you rename a post, you can setup a custom redirect - and automatically redirect your readers to the post, under its new URL. You should take advantage of this option, if you change a post URL.

Adding A Link To Your Blog Post

Occasionally, you see a very odd, cryptic complaint I just added a link in my blog, but the link vanished! No, it wasn't your imagination.