The Real Blogger Status

Blog owners do not always understand the reasons behind the mysterious blog security check (following "suspicious" / "unusual" activity account lock). We see periodic complaints about deleted blogs and locked accounts - and the inconvenience involved, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I get the security and all - but I don't get how a blog is just deleted. This blog owner, like so many, does not understand how Blogger is trying to keep our blogs under our control - even after detection of "suspicious" / "unusual" activity.

Occasionally, we have a would be blog owner, becoming confused about blog access, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I can look at the dashboard Posts page - but there are no posts listed. or I can't access the Template Designer (edit the template, add users to the blog, ... ). or maybe Why is Settings so small? These are bloggers who are confused over a blog where they are an Author , or have no access - as opposed to a blog where they are an Administrator . Along with knowing how to identify yourself , knowing what access you have to a given blog can be a key detail, when you are dealing with identity confusion - such as inadvertently created duplicate accounts , or possibly duplicated blogs .

Too many would be blog owners (blog thieves?) complain how unhelpful Blogger is - and even, that Blogger is fraudulently denying them access to their Blogger account, and their blogs. They fail to acknowledge that Blogger / Google has a responsibility to millions of blog owners, who remember their login details - and who do not want thieves stealing their blogs . If you need assistance recovering control of your account and your blog(s), you need to help Blogger to help you. Prepare to provide proof that you are (should be) the account owner.

We're seeing signs that Blogger is requiring more detail, in the account and blog recovery processes. Even when able to recover account or blog access properly - using a registered email address or telephone number - Google may ask more questions, to verify identity. Some (would be) blog owners,in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , report that more secrets are required. I provided my email address - and after I got the recovery email, I was asked when the email account was setup! and After I gave my home phone, I was asked for a list of my other Google accounts! Apparently, Blogger / Google Security is trying even harder, to prevent blog theft .

Some blog owners use Mail-to-Blogger, for publishing to their blogs, without considering the issues. Some owners can't get Mail-to-Blogger to work. I get Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently: or I don't get any error - and the post never shows up in my Posts list. Other owners have no problems getting theirs to work, and later find posts that they didn't send - and don't appreciate . Where did all of the spam come from? Using Mail-to-Blogger seems simple - but maybe should not be treated so. The Mail-to-Blogger email address, at Settings - Mobile and email, is a major part of the challenge , in this case.

One of the hottest US National news stories, this month, is about Hillary Clinton and how she endangered the security of this country by using an insecure email address . One of her mistakes involved her having a friend who had her email address in his address book, when his email account was hacked. And that is how your friends email accounts can be used, to attack your email account. Even if your email account is not revealed, openly, a friend - or fellow blog owner - who reveals her / his email address, can have his / her Blogger account, blog, and email account stolen. And with the possibility that you and your friend exchange emails, there is vulnerability to your email account, your Blogger account, and your blog .

We continue to see complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , from people not receiving acceptable help in recovering account / blog control . Some supposed blog owners accuse Blogger of unlawfully denying them access to their blogs , when refused personal attention.

We're seeing reports from people who claim to be traveling, and who can't login and access their blogs. Google appears to now authenticate us using current location, as well as account name / password . We see occasional reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about new security procedures. I am traveling, and I need to access my Blogger account from another country. I know my account name and password - and I logged in successfully. But after logging in, I am still being asked to prove my identity!! This blog owner is finding a problem, with Google taking extra measures to protect our accounts and blogs.

We see various questions about getting advice and non standard accessories / code, from blogs and websites advertised outside Blogger / Google control - generally in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why can't I see my blog? Every time I click on "View blog", I get a face full of ads! and Where can I get accessories, gadgets, and templates for my blog?? and How do I know what accessories, gadgets, and templates are safe, for my blog? and Why did Blogger lock my blog, as a malware host? All of these folks are discussing the same issue - blog content security. Some are asking properly , before they cause their problems - but others are not .

Every day we see the complaints, of the hundreds. Your instructions, for recovering access to my Blogger account, don't work! And alternately, we see the anguish. I can't login to my Blogger account, because my account is locked!! And the final complaint, which is the most heartbreaking. I can login, but my blog is not on my dashboard - and someone has filled my blog, with spam!!! These are all reports about the same problem , in alternate universes. Any time Blogger Engineering changes their account / blog recovery options, and cuts down on the numbers of one of the three, the other two will surely increase in number - because all three are symptoms of the same problem. People simply refuse to remember their account names and passwords .

Thanks to a recent decision by the European Courts, many people are claiming the right to delete their blogs, and to have the search engines stop indexing their blogs. Some people believe that this newly defined right entitles them to recover control of their blogs, published long ago, with access (account name and password) long forgotten. A few such people even have blogs owned by "legacy" Blogger accounts, never converted to Blogger / Google accounts. Nobody has the right to unilaterally take control of a blog that may belong to somebody else. If you cannot prove yourself to be the owner of a given blog, Blogger Support should not provide to you control of that blog. Whether you want to delete a blog, or to change the content, you have to prove ownership of the blog .

Whether you give up your blog willingly, have your blog stolen from you, or accidentally enable your blog to be stolen - once your blog is in someone else's control, Blogger cannot, legally, help you. We see the naivete, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I made my friend an administrator of my blog, and he changed me to an author. Can Blogger restore my ownership? And the short answer, too frequently given, is denial. No, Blogger cannot help you. Blogs stolen, supposedly from their rightful owner, can generally not be returned by Blogger.

Every week, we see the anguished cry of blog owners, who don't have access to maintain, or publish to, their blogs. Help me! My email address changed last month, I dropped my phone into the sink, and now I can't sign in to my blog! If you look at the fine print, you see the full story.

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've been discussing deleted blogs, resulting from Blogger accounts locked after suspicious account activity is detected , for some time. Recently, we've seen a variant on the account lock / deleted blogs problem. I made one of my friends an admin for my blog. When Blogger deleted His Blogger account and his blogs, they deleted my blog also. Here, we see the possibility of detected hacking, affecting other members in a team blog ownership.

One Blogger mystery involves the varying periods of blog unavailability, after hacking activity is detected . My blog just disappeared from my dashboard - and no, it's not listed under "Deleted blogs"! When the owner mentions the notice about "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity, or having unlocked the account (by solving a CAPTCHA, receiving a phone message, changing the password) - and is advised to wait "24 to 48 hours" - many ask the obvious. Is "24 to 48 hours" really accurate? In reality, the legendary "24 to 48" hour time period is only a ball park figure - and both Blogger / Google, and the blog owner, contribute to the uncertainty.

With more Blogger blogs being updated to use Google+ Comments , we're seeing a few questions in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , about comment moderation. How do I moderate comments, with Google+ Comments enabled on my blog? This is a question for which there is no easy answer - and this is one of the least appreciated feature limitations of Google+ Comments .

The effects of browser cache, upon our Internet life, are not always understood. Most of us know, by now, to clear cache and restart the browser , after updating a blog, for consistent testing. Some folks know that blog security changes don't always take complete and immediate effect . Recently, we're seeing a new effect, reported by owners of Blogger accounts locked, after hacking activity is detected. I got a message mentioning suspicious account activity, when I logged in to Blogger. I provided my phone number, and I received a code on my phone, that I had to enter before I could then log in. My blog was working fine just after I logged in. A short while later, though, it was gone. Why was my blog deleted, because I unlocked my account? This blog owner is just slightly confused, about the cause and effect here.

Many blog owners are occasionally confused, by the effects of various Blogger / Google security processes. We see the agony, daily, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from those who only want to login to Blogger and work on their blogs. The side effects of the security processes are similar - and depending upon various owner specific details, can be easily confused for each other. The possibility of confusion requires careful initial analysis, when we are faced with an angry blog owner. My blog was deleted, by Blogger. How could they do this? I do not publish spam! This is a typical problem report, which can reflect any one of the processes, each requiring different action in the forums .

Recently, we've been seeing some odd problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , suggesting deviously hijacked blogs. My blog is requesting me to login, using a user name and password, when I view it. Given the URL of the window requesting the login, it's a simple matter for us to use the right forensic Internet software, and to locate a relevant snippet of code, frequently installed as part of the blog template. Sometimes, when we reply to the blog owner with advice to remove a bit of dodgy code, we get a response suggesting disbelief. Our advice Use the Template Editor, and remove the highlighted code snippet. may receive a confused or skeptical response. Where did that bit of code come from? I never installed that! How did the code in question get installed? Discussion of one possible scenario may require thinking outside the box. Not every unrecognised blog change is being caused by memory loss by the blog owner, after an intentional accessory install ...