The Real Blogger Status

We see evidence of occasional confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about blog content responsibility. One of my blog posts disappeared. I have tried every known recovery procedure. There is no way to actually contact anyone from Blogger Support. Long ago, Blogger Support would provide assistance, in recovery of deleted posts. That service ended some time ago .

Too many blog owners continue to trust their efforts to Page / Post Editor, over long periods of time, without backup. We see the agony, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , too often. How do I get my post back? I have been working on it for months. I accidentally cleared the screen - and seconds later, the empty post was saved by post editor! Help meeee!! This blog owner is now in for some bad news.

We've been seeing occasional reports of problems, vaguely described in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , referencing posts being overwritten by other posts. I have been working on my post, for days. This morning, I opened it, to edit - and discovered that it now contains material from another, newer post! How do I recover my older post? The answer is simple. You can't. Blogger is not a Content Management System - and when you destroy a post, it's gone. This report is a bit annoying. We can suspect that there is a problem - but we get no clue how to prevent the same disaster from destroying our own blog.

Recently, we've been seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , suggesting more problems with Post Editor, in Draft mode. I keep getting an error, when editing my posts. An error occurred while trying to save or publish your post. Please try again. I am editing Draft posts, some of which are fairly large. This blog owner is discussing yet another facet of the Post Editor feature, AutoSave.

Ever since AutoSave was developed, and added to posts being edited, people have been having problems when editing un published posts. We see periodic cries of anguish, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I had been working on this post, for weeks! Just as I selected a portion to delete, AutoSave kicked in, highlighted the whole post, and saved an empty post!! and I was working on this post, along with another member of the team. We keep making changes, and erasing each others changes!!! Blogger allows long period editing of un published posts - and they provide team blog ownership - but you'll do better to not use either possibility, with any important projects.

Many blog owners spend hours - or days - composing a new post. Occasionally, we see the complaint in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken I had been working on my post, for days. Just as I accidentally erased everything, AutoSave kicked in, and saved my empty post. Now, I have to spend days rewriting! Given the right reflexes, and presence of mind, recovery is simple. Most browsers provide an "Undo" command, which will back out the erasure of the contents - as long as you react properly. Just hit "Undo" - and you're back in business. If using "Undo" is a problem for you, avoid AutoSave . As soon as you have a basic post written, publish the basic post. Then, edit what you just published.

We're seeing a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from blog owners attempting to compose a new post, and seeing Required field must not be blank The problem appears to result from trying to compose a post, without first entering a Post title. It appears that Blogger, trying to stabilise the post editor, is requiring non blank post titles, to save posts being composed. This includes the post being under effects of AutoSave , and the creation of Draft posts.

All too often, we see a naive and plaintive request for help in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken I spent hours composing my post. Just before I published, I hit Ctrl-Z - and at that very same moment, AutoSave kicked in, and saved my empty post! Please get my post restored!! This is yet one more request that can't be easily fulfilled.

Some bloggers, frustrated over the painfully limited design of the Post Editor and un helpful features like AutoSave, have skipped using the Post Editor entirely. They are simply composing their posts in a text editor, and emailing the content. An interesting workaround, and like many workarounds, it has its good and its bad points. The Good. No AutoSave to slow you down. No more tiny Post Editor window to deal with. Composure of posts in the full featured text editor of your choice. The Bad. No way to include labels. To add labels, you still have to use the Post Editor, or the Edit Posts menu . Mail-To-Blogger is a known security risk , if not used carefully. If you're going to create a number of posts, the Edit Posts menu will let you apply labels, to existing posts, without using the Post Editor. If multiple posts have the same label applicable, you can add a label to multiple posts simultaneously. You'll only have to type each label once. That should save a small amoun...

AutoSave is a great feature - if you write continuously, never delete content unexpectedly, and never edit what you just posted. Why is the last issue relevant? Because I am now editing my post, and AutoSave isn't bothering me. Because when you edit a published static page, AutoSave isn't running - and nobody but another author can see my published static page. Don't like AutoSave? Start a static page . Give it a Title (if you're using Titles). Give it a good first sentence or so. Publish the static page. Edit again, and No AutoSave. Continue editing until you're satisfied. Save or Publish, as you see fit. You control when Save ("Update") happens - and nobody can see a static page, when published. When you're satisfied with page content, copy the content to a new post, and publish. Yes, it's that simple. Just remember, AutoSave, and automatic draft generation, works best for short periods of time. You simply cannot type for ho...

Blogger now has an AutoSave function, which will hopefully cut down on the well known pink warning "Could not connect ..." , caused by cookies involved in saving our posts automatically. AutoSave works automatically, for all new or draft posts . See the new button? It changes from "Save Now" to "Saved" periodically. But some Bloggers are now having problems with Post Editor. Some problems appear similar to the recent Singnet issue, but the Bloggers involved have explicitly stated that they are not connecting from Southeast Asia. Users of Mac and Safari seem to be having the most problems. Other Bloggers report that Reader Comments may be disabled for some posts. If you're creating a new post, and you like having your readers comment on your posts, click on "Post Options" below the main post editor window, and make sure that Reader Comments are Enabled. Known Issues (being actively investigated): Publishing problems in Safari (T...