The Real Blogger Status

One topic of frustration, occasionally seen in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , involves home based business blogs, that may be victims of their own success . We are not spam - we are a network of blog owners, in select cities all over the country. I am tired of hearing the apologies, this needs to be resolved. The blog owner is being quite polite, but insistent. Blog clusters, whether developed by home / small business owners, or malicious spammers, create problems for all Blogger blog owners. Home / small business blogs are clearly not intentional spam - but their structure makes them easy to mistake for spam blog farms .

We see odd abuse issues reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue - like blog owners reporting a blog with recycling abuse status. My blog was locked one day, unlocked the next, then locked again the following day. Help! Generally, this will be a simple case of borderline abuse / spam content or techniques . Sometimes, the cause of the recycling status is more subtle, than being solely the fault of the owner.

We see frequent evidence of confusion, about abuse classification etiquette , in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog was deleted, as spam - but I received no notice or warning! How could Blogger do such a thing? This indignation may be provided, in the hopes that Blogger would relent. Sorry, here's your blog! But such reaction is seldom seen - and when seen, is not a result of attitude, but of content.

Repentant spammers are not frequently seen, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . When a truly repentant spammer reports a problem, it is difficult to know how to treat one appropriately. They are so rare, we have little experience. This is totally unfair. Actually, life is totally unfair.

We see the potential for self induced stress, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , every week. How do I publish a blog, without identifying myself? Then later I forgot my account name / password, and I am not getting any email from "Forgot?"! These are two hypothetical problem reports, that are all too real, for many blog owners.

We occasionally see a confused content thief / spammer, unsure why the blog was deleted. I removed all of the content that I was told to remove. Why was my blog deleted? or Why was my blog restored, then deleted the following week? Some blog owners do not understand the consequences of repeated review. The more times your blog is reviewed, the more completely and carefully the content will be examined .

An interesting attitude is seen, from some owners of large and unfocused blogs. It's normal, with so many articles in a blog, to have some reports (DMCA / TOS complaints). It's normal, yes. That does not make it acceptable - or beneficial. If you want to publish a large blog - and make lots of money - you have to focus or limit your efforts. You need to spend as much time - if not more time - reviewing content for legality, than owners of comparable, smaller blogs. You can't take time away from reviewing, to create and publish more content - then justify your failure to stay within the limits, by implying that it's normal to have posts that push the limits .

Abuse / Malware / Spam classification of Blogger blogs - and the inevitable bogus fuzzy classification - has been a part of Blogger life, for several years. Recently, we explored known effects of bogus classification, upon reader and search engine reputation. It's not a pretty picture - but it's also not likely to go away, as long as abusive persons, such as spammers , operate in the Internet world. Owners of blogs spuriously classified are not likely to be very objective - but we cannot avoid reality.

As Blogger continues to detect and remove more abusive blogs proactively, we're seeing a gradual shift from blatantly abusive blogs, to blogs that, 5 years ago, would not have been righteously considered to be a problem . The decrease in abusiveness has several results. It's harder and harder to casually decide if a given blog needs to be reviewed - and if it's likely to be restored. Blogs which are marginally - instead of blatantly - abusive are more likely to be subject to repeated classification and review. The owners become less patient with reviews, as they endure each successive review. Which ever the possibilities for a given blog, when review is requested, this will require changes in the final review process.

Some blog owners keep coming back, requesting review, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog has been deleted and restored, repeatedly. Last time, after Blogger unblocked my blog, I received this email ....Upon further review we have determined that your blog was mistakenly marked as a TOS violator by our automated system and, as such, we have reinstated your blog... That was just last month. This month, the same thing, my blog is gone again. This blog owner is failing to read the handwriting on the wall. Unfortunately, to have any future, a blog requires continual new material.

We're seeing a few blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , admitting to casual / multiple TOS offenses. I have received many DMCA complaints - and I always sort them, as soon as possible. This time, my account was disabled. How do I get my account back? For this blog owner, there may not be an easy answer. Blogger does not send out violation notices, so you can just stop what you're doing, when warned by the Policy Review team. They want you to stop what you're doing - and not do other things, that you're doing , that have not yet been detected.

Occasionally, we see a well intentioned, yet anxious blog reader asking about spam review for his favourite blog How do I help get my favourite blog Xxxxxx back online? as if blog review requests can be submitted by the blog readers. Unfortunately, this can't happen this way. Allowing blog readers to request spam review of their favourite blog would just encourage the owners of marginally spammy blogs to convince their readers to "vote", in hopes that lots of votes would influence the Blogger judges. Since Blogger justice is applied equally, to large (more popular), as well as small (less popular), blogs, only the blog owner or administrator can request spam review. We need to keep Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken usable by everybody - and that means discouraging coyote attacks . If Blogger reviews a blog, without involvement of the owner, and the blog is restored, you'll end up with a blog with no owners. The blog will be online - but nobody will be ...

In the modern legal system, justice is (supposedly) available to all citizens - regardless of colour, crede, or financial status - equally. In the Blogger legal system, justice (as in porn / spam classification, or URL availability ) is available to all bloggers - equally. If your blog is unjustly accused of hosting hacking, porn, and / or spam content, or if your blog is unfairly placed behind a content warning , you (the blog owner) are responsible for getting the wrong righted. Due diligence requires that the blog owner has to report any problem with any Blogger blog. Regardless of how many anxious readers your blog may serve, you the owner have to request a review, when the blog is unjustly classified, deleted or locked. And, you have to do so promptly. Blogger must serve owners of small and unpopular blogs equally, with owners of large and popular ones. The blog readers are not part of the review process. The only question is Does the blog host hacking, objectionable, p...