The Real Blogger Status

Blogger recently redesigned the Stats "Don't track ..." option - and removed third party cookies from the picture. The "Don't track ..." wizard is now accessed from the blog URL. The wizard still produces cookies - but they are ordinary first party cookies , which are much less feared than third party cookies. But, every silver lining has a cloud.

Almost 2 years ago, motion picture actor Paul Walker and Roger Rojas decided to joyride, take a spin , in suburban Los Angeles California. What followed was $500,000 + destruction, at speed exceeding twice the posted 45 MPH. Driven in an industrial / office complex , the street legal race car - his buddy Roger at the wheel - left the road, and wrapped itself around a tree. It takes money to own, and to race, a super car - like a Porsche Carrera GT, that took Paul's life. It takes no money, however, to own a super web application - like a Blogger blog.

Too often , we see the report, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I can't login to my Blogger account! or My blog was just deleted!! Neither of these problem reports are unusual - and generally, there are various control and diagnostic options which may be available, to help us recover control of the account or blog in question.

One naive attitude, about publishing a Blogger blog, involves adding features to one's blog - and the observation that every Blogger feature or modification is not uniformly available, with entry level instructions. We see the complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , too frequently. I can't get this feature to work! Why is Blogger so complicated? and I have no idea what I need to do. Please guide me, in simple language - as if I were 6 years old! Both attitudes show lack of understanding about technical projects in general - and Blogger features, and modifications, in particular.

We're seeing a scattered collection of reports, mentioning problems publishing comments, using OpenID authentication. This problem appears to be related to the Blogger rollout of SSL support, for our blogs, which is currently in progress. SSL, or Secure Socket Layer, represents the next step in blog / website security - a step which the Internet community has been taking, for many years. Blogger has been using SSL (aka "HTTPS" login), in their dashboard, for several years. https://www.blogger.com That's a secure Blogger login. The problem with Blogger using SSL in our blogs is that moving to SSL requires care, to avoid confusing our readers. Lack of care will subject our readers to the well known "mixed mode" warnings . This site has insecure content. Only secure content is displayed. Firefox has blocked content that isn't secure. These are several examples of what were normal, years ago, on many websites. Blogger does not want our readers subje...

Problems with the Stats "Don't track ..." option , in general, are not new. Ever since Blogger added that option to Stats, years ago, it's been a problem for some blog owners. Sometimes, the problem is individual, other times (as this year) the problems are seen by more people. The most common problems with the "Don't track" option, when selected by the blog owners, involve cookies, hosted by various browsers - and interpreted by Blogger scripts. Cookies and scripts are misunderstood features in Internet life . Some countries require websites, published by their citizens, to display disclaimers, warning readers that "This website drops cookies onto your computer!" - as if cookies are are part of an evil plot.

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.

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 source of confusion, about the occasionally misunderstood country code aliasing of BlogSpot published blogs , comes from the way the aliasing is being installed, world wide. Country Code Aliasing is a new feature - and it's still being tested. Since it's being tested, it's not being immediately installed in all countries, world wide - and this will cause confusion, until it is fully installed.

For several weeks, we're been seeing various reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , mentioning problems with template updates, being made using the Template Designer wizard. The reports are not so widespread to indicate a complete malfunction - but neither can we dismiss the problem, as being unique to one browser, one template type, or one particular update pattern. It's likely that we are looking at a number of problems, aggregated and compounded, into one common symptom. I cannot Save changes in Template Designer. With a problem report like this, some examining of the details may be appropriate.

The new two level commenting feature has been out for a short 2 days - and already there are at least half a dozen separate problems being attributed to the introduction of that feature. Not every blog owner understands how intrusive this new feature must have been, to install, into Blogger. The previous two Blogger feature releases - dynamic templates, and the New Blogger GUI, required major changes to the Blogger GUI. Two level commenting, while not requiring major GUI changes, was still challenging to develop. Two level comments required a significant upgrade to the content of our blogs, and were activated without the decision of the blog owners involved.

Very few computers, owned by Blogger blog owners, members, and guests, are only used for participating in Blogger blog based activity. Almost everybody here publishes - or at least surfs - to other websites. Occasionally, when surfing to an unfamiliar blog or website, we may see an odd bit of advice. Your browser has cookies disabled. This may present a problem, as you surf this website. Click here to learn how to enable cookies, so you may use this website best. or We see that you are blocking JavaScript. If you want the full benefit of this website, you'll need JavaScript enabled. These are signs of computers that are properly protected, to prevent unwanted access by undesirable individuals or websites. Unfortunately, what is protecting us is also preventing us from using the blogs and websites in question.

Have you, as a car owner, ever had the privilege of purchasing a new car? Maybe you budgeted / planned / shopped around for months, to buy the car of your dreams - certain that you would be so distinctive in the purchase of that particular colour, model, trim level, what have you? Maybe, the day after you took delivery of your new car, you drove it to the nearby shopping mall - and there, to your dismay, you discovered reality. You are not the only owner of that particular make / model / trim level. Look at all of the other people, driving your same car! Where did all of the other cars come from? People with blog problems, needing technical assistance, will go through the same reality adjustment.

We've been looking at problems with logging in to Blogger , as reported in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , for some time. In 2010, we explored a problem with the "Remember Me" option . In 2011, we had a new twist on the login problems - inability to logout from Blogger. I cannot sign out of my Blogger account, to access a different Blogger in account. Blogger keeps returning me to the same account.

Just last month, we observed a problem with Blogger Stats displays, which was diagnosed to involve the "Content Warning" Interstitial display . The problem was escalated to Blogger Support - who fixed the underlying problem, and who is now working on a second problem , possibly a problem which resulted from the fixing of the first problem. Many blog owners who suffered from the first problem are also suffering from the second problem - and some blog owners are confusing the two problems. Some of the latter are not being objective, and are angrily accusing Blogger of ignoring them, in their hour of need. Very few of the people reporting the second problem have spent a great deal of time objectively evaluating the urgency of that problem. Stats is not a major functionality in Blogger blogs. It's a feature that helps the blog owner evaluate blog traffic. Lack of a Stats display (let alone one portion of a Stats display) does not affect blog functionality. The reader...

Last week, we observed a problem with Blogger Stats displays, which was traced to the involvement of the "Content Warning" Interstitial display . The problem was escalated to Blogger Support - who fixed the underlying problem, to some degree. Now, we have reports which show that Stats is now displaying figures for "Traffic Sources" and for "Audiences" - but not for Posts. The details of the displays for the different time ranges - "Now", "Day", "Week", "Month", and "All time" are interesting - and noting the varying reports, from the different blog owners affected by the problem, is also interesting. One of the more obvious observations comes from the nature of what has been fixed, to date. I see counts for Audience, and for Traffic Sources - but my Posts display still shows No stats yet, check back later. This is because the Content Warning interstitial display has apparently been corrected to allow...

The Blogger Stats accessory, which complements established third party products like SiteMeter and StatCounter , has been offered as a Blogger option since 2010. We see periodic complaints about it's accuracy and functionality. My numbers don't add up! and I can't get it to ignore my visits to my blog! and When I check my stats in the late afternoon, I show a number of page views for "today". If I check my stats in the evening (just a few minutes later, maybe), the stats for "today" show zero and the numbers, just seen for "today", now show for "yesterday". There are multiple discussions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , which open with one of the above topics, and which contain "answers" describing another of these concerns.

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.

In the "Western" world, and for the young of heart, there is one very special day of the year, celebrated by (almost) everybody - December 25, aka "Christmas" . While this was once (and still is now, for many) a religious holiday of great importance, for many young people it is important as a secular holiday - you get presents. For celebrants of both the religious and the secular versions of Christmas, this is a time of joy. But, there's a sadness here too. Not everybody that I know always gets everything that they would like to get, even for Christmas. The lack of unlimited funds makes Christmas a time of anguish and depression, for some people.

I'm scared of elephants, if they're allowed to run wild. What time is it, when an elephant sits on the hood of your car? OK, Chuck, I'll bite - What time is it? Time to get a new car. LOL. Many years ago, when I moved to California, and having heard of the possible damage to your car (probably, an uninsured expense too) should an elephant sit on it, I put up a sign in my back yard. No Elephants Permitted Here! And, apparently the sign served its purpose - I haven't seen a single elephant in my back yard - or sitting on my car - since I moved here. An unlikely tale, you probably say. More crudely, you'd ask me What have you been drinking today, Chuck? So, what's the point of this narrative? Just this, that most bloggers may not waste time in putting up signs to keep elephants away - but they have other, stranger superstitions . My favourite examples of the latter would be advice from some bloggers about how to avoid the mysterious bX codes , the equal...