We deal with a lot of "lost blog control" complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
Lost blog control complaints, that involve blogs published using a dynamic template, are not easily resolved.
There are several types of control / ownership problems, that are not easily resolved, for blogs that use dynamic templates.
We see this a lot - and this is a real problem, with a blog that used a dynamic template.
Blogs deleted for abusive content can't be triaged as easily.
Triage of blogs deleted by Blogger, whether deletion was righteous or spurious, is most successful with blog content examined.
With a deleted blog, content can be examined only using cached copies. Content, in blogs published to a dynamic view, is not always cached - because it's based on the blog newsfeeds, retrieved as the blog is being viewed.
This is a dynamic template blog, displayed from cache.
If cached feed content can't be found, triage is useless. Abuse review must be submitted blindly, with no examination possible. Successful review depends completely upon observation by Blogger Policy Review, and no suggestions by forum members are possible.
Blogs with ownership lost cannot be researched.
The first step in recovering ownership, for many blogs, requires a look at the owner profile information, in the blog source code - and one or more possibly overlooked Blogger / Google+ profiles. The owner profile ID is not frequently seen in dynamic view source listings, however.
Without any ability to identify the owner profile, ownership recovery is left solely to monolithic options provided by "Forgot?" and "Having trouble?".
Blogs locked for suspicious / unusual activity are more complicated.
If a blog, locked by Blogger under suspicious / unusual account activity lock, cannot have the owner identified, the owning account will remain locked. If the owner cannot identify the account, account review can't be requested.
Without the ability to research ownership, using profile information in the source code, the owning account, and blog(s), will remain locked. The owner must log in, in a blind login attempt - frequently requiring brute force technique. Incautious brute force can lead to more locked accounts.
Suspicious / unusual activity lock may be more likely, with dynamic template use.
The original market for dynamic templates was casual / new blog owners. Casual / new blog owners are more likely to attract brute force hacking attacks, by casually revealing account details.
With brute force hacking more possible, account / blog lock becomes more likely also.
The bottom line.
As with any blog in general - but even more so for blogs using dynamic templates - blog ownership details must be retained by the owner. When ownership information is lost, control of the blog will be lost also - and dynamic templates have less chance of successful recovery.
Owners of blogs using dynamic templates should be more strongly urged to use Google 2-Step Verification.
Lost blog control complaints, that involve blogs published using a dynamic template, are not easily resolved.
There are several types of control / ownership problems, that are not easily resolved, for blogs that use dynamic templates.
- Blogs deleted by Blogger, as malware or spam.
- Blogs with ownership lost, by the owner.
- Blogs locked by Blogger, for suspicious / unusual account activity.
We see this a lot - and this is a real problem, with a blog that used a dynamic template.
Blogs deleted for abusive content can't be triaged as easily.
Triage of blogs deleted by Blogger, whether deletion was righteous or spurious, is most successful with blog content examined.
With a deleted blog, content can be examined only using cached copies. Content, in blogs published to a dynamic view, is not always cached - because it's based on the blog newsfeeds, retrieved as the blog is being viewed.
This is a dynamic template blog, displayed from cache.
If cached feed content can't be found, triage is useless. Abuse review must be submitted blindly, with no examination possible. Successful review depends completely upon observation by Blogger Policy Review, and no suggestions by forum members are possible.
Blogs with ownership lost cannot be researched.
The first step in recovering ownership, for many blogs, requires a look at the owner profile information, in the blog source code - and one or more possibly overlooked Blogger / Google+ profiles. The owner profile ID is not frequently seen in dynamic view source listings, however.
Without any ability to identify the owner profile, ownership recovery is left solely to monolithic options provided by "Forgot?" and "Having trouble?".
Blogs locked for suspicious / unusual activity are more complicated.
If a blog, locked by Blogger under suspicious / unusual account activity lock, cannot have the owner identified, the owning account will remain locked. If the owner cannot identify the account, account review can't be requested.
Without the ability to research ownership, using profile information in the source code, the owning account, and blog(s), will remain locked. The owner must log in, in a blind login attempt - frequently requiring brute force technique. Incautious brute force can lead to more locked accounts.
Suspicious / unusual activity lock may be more likely, with dynamic template use.
The original market for dynamic templates was casual / new blog owners. Casual / new blog owners are more likely to attract brute force hacking attacks, by casually revealing account details.
With brute force hacking more possible, account / blog lock becomes more likely also.
The bottom line.
As with any blog in general - but even more so for blogs using dynamic templates - blog ownership details must be retained by the owner. When ownership information is lost, control of the blog will be lost also - and dynamic templates have less chance of successful recovery.
Owners of blogs using dynamic templates should be more strongly urged to use Google 2-Step Verification.
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