The Real Blogger Status

People reporting a problem with blog access / performance, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , will be frequently advised to diagnose their problems using affinity / differential testing . Some diagnostic advice starts with simple instructions to " clear cache, cookies, and sessions ". Some people, alternately, advise "use a different browser" - and test as a reader. These different strategies, seemingly redundant, will frequently lead to different results.

Knowing how to read, and follow, sitemap entries is a useful skill in diagnosing many Blogger problems. The Blogger generated sitemaps, which apply to each blog, index both pages and posts. This blog, like every other blog, has two sitemaps, automatically generated . " sitemap.xml " (posts) roughly duplicates the "Archives" gadget - but has advantages, over the gadget. " sitemap-pages.xml " (static pages) is not redundant, to any Blogger accessory.

Whenever dealing with any problem with a blog, you should verify the URLs involved. Some of the most baffling problems, with blog connectivity, identity, or ownership, can start from simple typographical errors. This possibility will involve both native "blogspot.com" and custom domain URLs. The Publishing wizard window, in the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page, is essential for identifying errors. Whether you paste or type a URL into the registrar's zone editor, the Publishing wizard, or the browser address window, you can make a mistake. Checking the Publishing wizard is as important as examining a Dig log extract - or as viewing an HTTP trace .

An HTTP trace is a very useful tool, for diagnosing and documenting connectivity issues, and many other blog problems. I use the Rex Swain HTTP Viewer , for this purpose. HTTP Viewer lets you package a given display, in the URL, so you can give simple instructions (accompanied by an unavoidably complicated link): Click on the link: http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://klarfamilylife.blogspot.com&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7834.70.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/49.0.2623.112+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=AUTO And when the link is clicked, the necessary HTTP trace is displayed. There is no need to provide instructions how to actually enter the necessary values, on the HTTP Viewer home page, to generate the necessary display.

Whether you're setting up or troubleshooting a custom domain , knowing how to read a Dig log is a useful skill. There are hundreds of registrars, serving the Internet community, each with their own dashboard. Blog owners, setting up their domains for their Blogger blogs, must deal with the syntax and terminology used by each different dashboard. A Dig log lets the blog owner identify the DNS addresses for the domain, using a consistent display.

One subject of mystery, in Blogger lore, concerns the infamous "bX" codes . One forum personality, long ago, compiled a blog listing several hundred known codes, and their supposed "diagnoses" - and would later use the blog as a reference, when advising how to solve a given "bX problem". That same person showed complete lack of understanding, in a single sentence. It's disheartening to see that the bx error code problems are still existing. The "bX" codes are not problems - they are simply symptoms of problems , identified using a canonical code structure.

The process of examining browser source listings for a blog, and of having a blog owner carefully examine blog template code, is an important part of diagnosing many Blogger problems. With blogs published to dynamic templates, neither source listings , nor template "Edit HTML" , contain as much useful information, as with blogs published to non dynamic templates. Dynamic templates reference scripts, that are hosted in external libraries - and that cannot be updated or viewed. The idea of having templates that were less customisable was originally supposed to encourage people to work on post content, and increase stability of their blogs - not create instability.

This week, we're seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , mentioning a badly shortened dashboard Reading List. When I want to read the list of the blogs I follow, I can only see 1 blog, instead of the usual 30. When I click on "Show more", nothing happens. A brief affinity analysis , of current forum reports, suggests that the affected blog owners are using Draft Blogger.

Right now, we have several different problems, being reported in quantity, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Image / video upload. Stats, and the "Don't track your own pageviews" option. Some specific bX codes, and miscellaneous network issues. Recently, the problems with image and video uploads were reported to Blogger Support - and eventually, we got a monolithic response Use draft.blogger.com. In other cases, we've been told Stop using Draft Blogger! The contents of Draft Blogger, and its differences from Production Blogger varies, at the convenience of Blogger Engineering.

When you go to the doctor to report a health problem, you'll likely tell him Doctor, I have a pain. and he will likely ask you Where does it hurt? If you tell him My stomach hurts. he will probably ask When does it hurt? and How long has it been hurting? None of these are formalities or mere protocol, they are systematic problem identification procedures. We diagnose problems with Blogger, using similar techniques.

We see panic, exhibited by many blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I used the W3 Template Validator, and got hundreds of errors! Is my blog broken? This blog owner, like many others, does not understand the differences between W3 Standard HTML / XHTML, and Blogger HTML / XML. The unpleasant truth is that, ever since Blogger released the Layout class templates , in 2007, Blogger has been providing templates that can't be successfully validated using HTML / XHTML standards. Blogger has a lot of features that don't validate, according to public standards.

Sometimes, you may find yourself reporting a problem, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken - and observe that nobody else has the same problem. If there's any normal problem activity in the forum, you might find yourself waiting - in vain - for an immediate answer to your problem report. While you wait for advice, why not do some basic analysis of your problem? A differential test set of your problem, based on some reasonably basic details, can help you see where many problems may originate.

One of the most misunderstood features of Blogger blogs is the mysterious bX codes . Every day, we see the frustration It says there's something wrong and I should give this "error code" so Blogger can fix it. What should I do? Where can I send the "error code"?

Several weeks ago, we observed that some blog guests and owners were reporting problems posting comments to blogs with embedded comment forms . I can't comment on anybody's blog! I get in an endless loop to sign in! Today, we're getting reports of a new problem. I try to post a comment. When I click "Post" it tells me Your account does not have access to view this page. It appears that Blogger is trying to refine the comment authentication problem, by providing warning of the problem. In the attempt, they may be causing more confusion. It's also possible that this new symptom may be a side effect of the new Blogger browser support policy .

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.

When you go to the doctor to report a health problem, you'll likely tell her (him) Doctor, I have a pain. and he (she) will likely ask you Where does it hurt? If you tell her My stomach hurts. he will probably ask When does it hurt? and How long has it been hurting? None of these are formalities or mere protocol, they are systematic problem identification procedures. If you write in BHF: Something Is Broken and report My readers can't access my blog. or maybe I can't access Blogger! you'll likely get similar questions.

If you are observing a problem with accessing your blog, and you report your problem in BHF: Something Is Broken , there are several details which can be very useful when you report your problem. Is the problem periodicity constant, cyclical (predictable), or intermittent (un predictable)? Is the problem scope universal (affecting all of your readers), partial (affecting some of your readers), or local (affecting you only, or maybe you and a few neighbours)? When did the problem start? If I am one of the helpers who responds to your question, and who tries to help you solve your problem, I will probably be asking you some or all of the above questions. These are standard questions , which should be used to diagnose any problem involving blog availability. If you are going to answer the first two questions objectively, you will need some tool for measuring the periodicity and scope of the problem. Here, the best tool that I can recommend, for measuring anything other than a cons...

One of the most frustrating problems reported occasionally in in BHF: Something Is Broken comes in very terse langauge. I can't access my blog. or slightly longer I can't access any blogs .or possibly I can't access Blogger. In situations where the blog owner, and / or any number of blog readers, are cooperative, and able to take a few minutes to perform some simple tests, we can conduct a Affinity based analysis - or possibly an Affinity / Differential Analysis.

This is a very difficult question to answer, because of its almost infinite complexity. There are several different causes. There are more symptoms than the number of causes. There are still more ways that bloggers might report the symptoms that they see. The reports, and the symptoms, will vary in both accuracy, detail, and relevance. Different problems can be fixed only by people with different roles, relevant to the blog. Some problems can be fixed only by the blogger (blog owner). Others can be fixed by the owners of the client computers or their network service providers. Still others can only be fixed by Blogger Support or third party server owners. The epidemiology of the problems will produce different observations. A few problems are occasionally observed by Blogger / Google staff. Some problems will be observed by the blogger. Others may be observed by the bloggers friends / blog readers. A very few problems will be observed by everybody. The term "blogger" can its...

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 .