The Real Blogger Status

Some blog owners don't understand the need to identify themselves , when commenting on our blogs. We see an occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about comment authentication. Why, if I've selected "Anyone - including Anonymous Users " under comment settings, for "Who can Comment?", do my visitors complain of having to login? This blog owner, like many others, does not understand the Blogger spam mitigation policy, in Blogger Comments.

Not all blog owners appreciate the effort by Blogger, to make anonymous comments a usable feature, in our blogs. Anonymous comments have a complicated form - and people don't want to comment. They have to select certain pictures, related to a subject. When using a mobile template, they don't see all the buttons needed - and there are many steps until you finally publish a comment. Could is be simpler? With no checking pictures, with just typing few numbers, or without any security question at all? This blog owner would prefer Blogger commenting, before 2015, when anonymous comments meant unending waves of spam.

Blog owners periodically ask about publicising their blogs, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why do my comments point to my profile - and not directly to my blog? This blog owner just wants to drive traffic straight to the blog.

Blog guests and owners who wish to use OpenID, for posting comments, may need to logout from Blogger, before commenting. It appears that when commenting, someone logged in to Blogger or Google will use the Blogger / Google account for authentication, automatically - instead of an OpenID account - even when preferring to use OpenID, and the blog permits use of OpenID.

We're seeing questions about commenting, and identification, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why do I have to click on 3 pictures of steak, to post a comment? This blog reader is not enjoying the new CAPTCHA - and has a problem with using it, repeatedly. When you comment, you now have to identify yourself as a person - not a robotic process (aka "autobot" or "bot"). For most of us, this is not an issue. We login to Blogger (or Google) once a day, and we're done. The "once a day" solution does not work, for everybody.

This week, we're seeing complaints from quite a few angry blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why do I have to solve a CAPTCHA, to comment on my own blog? and Everybody sees a CAPTCHA - even if they are logged in to Blogger! Previously, the CAPTCHA was visible only to those not logged in to Blogger, or to those wishing to comment, anonymously.

We see an occasional request, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger , about commenting and the profile used when authenticated. How do I have my comments linked directly to my blog? I don't want my comments linked to my profile, with people having to hunt for my blog links! This person does not understand why we have Bogger / Google / Google+ profiles, linked from our comments. Even if we can't provide direct links to our blogs, when commenting using a Blogger or Google account - we can do that, if we can comment, using an OpenID account. An OpenID account links directly to our designated blog - when we specify the right blog URL, while logged in using OpenID, to publish a comment. Your Blogger blog will provide an OpenID account, just as well as a FaceBook or WordPress account will do, for any Blogger blog using Blogger hosted commenting. Blogs using third party commenting systems may, or may not, support OpenID.

Several weeks ago, Blogger added a security feature to Blogger commenting, to reduce comment spam . Note: Even if you don't have word verification turned on, anonymous commenters might be asked to enter some text. This helps protect your blog from abuse. This change has not pleased everybody. I disabled "prove you're not a robot" for commenting. Why do my readers still have to solve a CAPTCHA, each time they comment? This blog owner is not looking at the bigger picture. This new feature will benefit many blog owners - when Blogger is used, properly.

One of the most common complaints, seen regularly in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , involves publication and visibility of comments. Why can't I publish comments, on some blogs? or Why can't I see my comments, after I publish them? or even Why do my blog posts show no comments? These are questions asked by blog readers and owners, alike. The answers all start with security filters and settings.

We've seen a few questions about comments, supposedly published - but vanishing, when using a mobile computer, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . This symptom, as reported, reminds us of the long ago reports of "vanishing comments" - but using desktop computers . At least one of the folks who isn't able to comment said she was attempting to do so from her mobile phone. Is Blogger now losing comments from mobile devices? The answer here is not quite so ominous, though the situation is still frustrating - to both the blog owner, and the various visitors.

Not all Blogger blog owners know that the ability to comment is a privilege which they control. Like the ability to publish and read posts , it is also a responsibility which they need to control, carefully. Any blog owner who wishes to publish a blog, and not be subject to frequent deletion of the blog, as a suspected malware or spam host, needs to understand the responsibilities, and the risks.

Not all blog owners understand the need for people to post anonymous comments, against our blog posts. Periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see the naivete expressed by some. How do I find out who is posting anonymous comments to my blog? These people do not understand the need for anonymous commenting.

One problem that we see a lot, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , comes from people who claim to have problems "staying logged in to Blogger". I can't comment on anybody's blog! I get in an endless loop to sign in! and I can't stay logged in, to post on my blog! I login, but when I click on "View Blog", it logs me out!! The frustration compounds itself, as people with one symptom see reports of the other symptom, confuse the two, and complain about the problem that Blogger never fixes.

From time to time in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see the naive query / suggestion How do I disable "anonymous" comments, yet permit people to comment using "Name / URL"? This question is common among blog owners who think that people who comment, providing a blog / website URL, are somehow authenticating themselves.

Blogger supports anonymity - both in our ability to maintain and to own a blog anonymously, and our ability to comment on blogs anonymously. But this anonymity comes with a price. I need to contact the owner of "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com", but there is no contact information and the blog is private. or How do I find out who left an anonymous comment on my blog? or I can't access my blog - I forgot the password and the email address doesn't exist any more. or I deleted my account, and they won't give it back to me! All of these are queries by bloggers who do not understand the price of anonymity.

Besides the currently known problems with commenting , which involve the post template and various local computer settings, there are some odd details that not everybody is aware of. If you have a private blog, you'll face a lesser known challenge with comments.

One monolithic complaint, frequently seen in Blogger Help Forum , is My readers can't comment on my blog. This complaint, as with many like it, could benefit from some structured diagnostic practice . Start by observing the complaint level that's currently endemic in the forums. Sometimes, Blogger will cause their own problems (yes, this is known to happen), and you'll see a flood of complaints. Here, it is helpful to be familiar with the normal complaint level .

One of the reasons why we identify ourselves, when we post comments on somebody else's blog, is so we can use our own blogs to authenticate or strengthen our comments. A second may be to generate relevant links to our blogs , as part of making our own blogs part of the blogosphere. A third, and possibly overlooked, reason would be to have the option to remove a comment, in the future. Should we wish to post without authenticating, ie anonymously, the third option isn't available. A comment posted anonymously might be posted by anybody, not just us. Anonymously posted comments, or comments posted using OpenID, can only be deleted by the blog owner. And how many blog owners will be anxious to remove any comment posted anonymously, as requested by any one blogger? I posted that comment, can you remove it for me? Take my word for it, I posted it! Yeah right. If you want the option of changing your mind, post under an authenticated identity . And be consistent - always u...

With Blogger Blogs, not everybody can do everything with every blog. Blogger doesn't provide anything as simple (or as obnoxious) as Simple File Sharing under Windows XP . They don't call it Simple Blog Access, but the choices that they do provide aren't a lot more granular. Except for Authors, who have access only to their own posts, all access is against the entire blog. If you truly have a need to have different levels of access for different portions of your blog, consider splitting the blog into two or more different blogs, each with the components with differing access needs. You setup blog membership and permissions from the Settings - Permissions wizard. It's a pretty simple wizard. You will need a current and operational email address (and not to an address that requires sender verification either) for each prospective member. Administrative access is at blog level. Anybody with access to any part of a blog has equal access to the entire blog. You have ...