The Real Blogger Status

For some time, blog owners would note mysterious problems with photos on their blogs, in various ways - depending upon the browser in use . Some blog owners and readers would report a mysterious red "X", others a big, blank space - and still others would see nothing at all, not even a space. The only common symptom would be My pictures have vanished! Recently, photos hosted under Picasa changed that vague symptom, by displaying two "place holder" icons, depending upon either of two commonly diagnosed problems which had caused the missing photos.

The Google Custom Domain photo hosting problem has been with us for a while. I first reported this problem in August, 2007 - and again, last week . Last year, it was simply a chronic problem that I had noted. Last week, it affected my blogs, but only on one important photo. This week, the problem became more obnoxious. It now affects multiple photos, which are used in multiple blogs (possibly a lot of blogs). The Cumulus Blogs Hidden LinkLists, the Cumulus Blogs MultiStyle Labels, and the Language Translator Bar, are used by a few bloggers who I've never met. Maybe you're one of them (you've read this far, so maybe you are). Look in the sidebars of my blogs - like this blog "The Real Blogger Status" or my networking blog " PChuck's Network ", at the "Topics" section, or even "Topics" in Roberto's Report (Roberto, a bud of mine, uses the same graphics in his blogs). On most days, you'll see one or more missing butt...

This problem has been reported for many months , and comes and goes. Right now, it seems to have come again. Look at the Language Translator bar, in this blog. See the place where there should be a Greek flag (between the "German" and "Italian" flags)? What you see there is "en|el" - no flag. THAT showed up the moment I published this blog as part of Nitecruzr.Net. >> Forum thread links: bX-*00063 >> Copy this tag: bX-*00063 >> Top

Some Bloggers report that blogs published to Custom Domains don't display photos that are posted through Blogger / Picasa. When viewed in Firefox Tools - Page Info, the images are listed, but are not in cache, and are not displayed. Current workaround is to post the affected photos to Flickr or directly to Picasa . >> (Update 11/7): Blogger is aware of, and working on , this problem We're looking into an issue w/ headers and custom domains as I speak, >> Forum thread links: bX-*00063 >> Copy this tag: bX-*00063 >> Top

Here's a picture that my bud, Roberto, sent me from his computer. This is Roberto's view of his blog, in Firefox. This is my view of the same post, again in Firefox. This is my view of the same post in Internet Explorer, and according to Roberto, is exactly what he sees from his computer. You are welcome to view Roberto's blog, and his post, The New 'Save' on Post Editor . Bloggers current advice is that missing images are from blog posts where the pictures are uploaded, then the post deleted . Roberto and I had an IM conversation, on May 22, where he assured me that he had not deleted his post. As a matter of fact, he had created it that very day, yet Firefox was omitting the images right in front of his eyes. I've been writing about this problem for many months , before New Blogger (or even Beta Blogger) was even public. >> Forum thread links: bX-*00005 >> Copy this tag: bX-*00005 >> Top

The issue of uploading images has been with us, off and on, for months. I last wrote about this problem in June 2006, in Image Uploading - 5 . Note this problem might be related to the current problems of Disappearing Images also. Remember though, if you have this problem, you don't report it to Blogger Support, and the problem continues, you have only yourself to blame when the problem continues. Still no images Open 11/1 Cannot upload photos Open 11/1 Unable to Load Photos Open 11/1 where's the picture? Open 10/30 More image problems Open 10/27 (Edit 11/3): If the problem is with the Add Images button not appearing on the post editor toolbar, and the blog in question is published externally (not xxx.blogspot.com), then check your FTP publishing settings . The image upload button will not appear for users publishing via FTP who do not have their FTP login information saved in their settings. As a workaround until we fix this, go to the Settings | Publishing ta...

In my previous article in this series, Disappearing Images - 2 , I discussed the possibility of DNS problems being part of the ongoing photo problem. Today, Blogger and Blogspot (Classical blogs) were down for over 1 1/2 hours for a scheduled equipment replacement . to replace the piece of network equipment that was causing the outages in the past couple of weeks When Blogspot came back up, we were able to view our blogs, but still got errors. We then looked at Blogger Status, and we see an update to todays outage report (posted somewhat after 15:30): blogger and blogspot are back up (you may need to restart your browser to pick up the DNS change) Now, here is why I originally suspected that there is a DNS problem, somewhere in the Google structure. Explaining, or even giving an overview, of configuring DNS service is beyond the scope of this blog. I will, however, introduce you to a referential tool which is used by many techies. DNS Report , which is a subset of the wonderful DN...

In my previous post, in this series, Disappearing Images , I suggested that this is caused by an MTU setting problem . In thinking further, I think that the nature of the photos problem fits both a DNS problem , and an MTU setting problem .It's apparently random, by multiple factors Blog. Photo within blog. Reader of the blog. Time. From reading questions by Blogger, I am guessing that they are focusing on the blogs, and the photos. I think that we need to diagnose the DNS and MTU factors, since we are the ones affected. Bothe DNS and MTU involve 3 groups of factors. The reader (you, or your friends), and client computer. The network, including routers and servers between the readers, and the Blogger servers. The Blogger servers themselves. The problem is seemingly random by time and by person - some people will see the problem, while others won't, even when viewing the same blog. No two computers in the world, including what network activity they are involved in, how they ar...

If you use images (diagrams, pictures, photographs) in your blog, you may already have seen this problem. You or a friend will look at your blog, and where you should see an image, all you'll see is a blank space, or a blue or red "x", or maybe an empty box. This will depend upon what browser you use, what other security devices you have on your computer, and how the blog is coded. Some folks see the problem when uploading pictures , and some after the images have been uploaded. In some cases, the problem will come and go, without any action by either the blog owner, or the reader. I've been a victim (my blog has shown this problem) too. I have yet to see this acknowledged on any of the Blogger issue lists. The one thing that I will say in Bloggers defense is this If you are experiencing this problem, and you haven't reported it, then you are part of the problem . That's a faint defense though. This has been reported, repeatedly. I know that Blogger has...

Image uploading is down again. Haven't been able to post photos for 4 days!... Opened 6/5. 72 hours of no photo posting Opened 6/2. My photos aren't loading... Opened 6/5. Photos don't publish Opened 6/5. (Update, 10/27): This issue is continued in Image Uploading - 6 . (Update, June 29): Problems Uploading Pictures? Try This Process may provide a start in isolating the multiple problems. (Update, June 15): Diagnostics requested by Blogger Support: After a failed image upload in Mozilla Firefox, please complete the following steps: Go to "Tools">"JavaScript Console." Select "Errors," and copy and paste the messages that you see (if any) into your response. (Update 11:17, June 14): By Jason , in Blogger Status : We continue to upgrade hardware and make changes in response to last week's problems. Additionally, we are still investigating the photo uploading problem seen by some users. While this problem has been reported by a...