The Real Blogger Status

Periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see the naive request. Please, take a minute and let me know how safe my blog is. Here, the blog owner wants to know whether it's possible that his blog might be classified as a spam host, in the near future. This is a request that, no matter how genuine a blog, and a blog owner, may appear now, cannot be fulfilled with any degree of accuracy and authority.

The new Blogger commenting system has been in place, in many of our blogs, for almost 3 months . Many bloggers have started to notice a marked decrease in spam, hitting our Published, and Awaiting Moderation, queues. The spammers, who attempt to abuse our blogs, are seeing the effects of the new filters, also. They will have to increase their spamming activity, to keep a steady level of income. This will require constantly increased levels of spamming activity . Besides posting more spam to our blogs, spammers will spend time posting in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken and similar forums, and causing confusion there. As spammer activity is increasingly attenuated, we'll see more complaints. Don't expect them to openly complain I can't publish my comments, because they are being filtered! as people will recognise complaints like that, and know who is publishing them. Expect more devious complaints The new spam filters don't work! Blogger needs to trash...

I've been writing about the joys and tribulations of both custom domain publishing, and FTP publishing, for many months. I've provided a rough comparison about the two hosting options, as well as my opinion about the future of FTP publishing . Now Blogger has provided a live forum , where you can make your concerns and questions heard. A Q&A forum for comments and any questions you may have about the hosting options on Blogger (FTP vs. Custom Domains vs. BlogSpot) The forum is a worthy complement to a possible shift by Blogger regarding the future of FTP Publishing. Rick Klau, the new Blogger Product Manager, offers a comprehensive analysis of the future . If you use FTP today, I'd like to start a conversation about whether this is the right approach for your blog. I've been talking with bloggers over the last couple weeks on this subject, and have found most users, when presented with the option of hosting their blog using Blogger's Custom Domain option inst...

As we work on various issues in Blogger Help Group , we discuss various issues with many different bloggers, with many bloggers operating on different schedules than we do.

Every day, well intentioned bloggers post anxious demands in Google Blogger Help Group This person listed their blog in several forums. As an admin of two of them, I have had many complaints over it about spamming. We have blocked his address from our forums, but it seems he has many of them and he keeps spamming it hourly. Please shut this blog down. http://bigspamblog.blogspot.com So getting "bigspamblog.blogspot.com" removed should be such a simple task, but it's not. The problem is that, for everybody who reports a spam blog in BHG, someone else reports that their blog was just falsely accused of being a spam blog . Not every blog reported to be a splog actually is a splog, and not everybody reporting a splog actually is reporting a splog to get it removed. So Blogger has to verify each spam blog report, before acting on a demand posted here. Many spammers post in BHG OMG, remove bigspamblog.blogspot.com! and while we wait for Blogger to take action, they watch th...

By popular request, and as an extension to my commenting policy , I have now added a forum for discussion of all Blogging related issues . Spammers, don't waste your time - the forum will be moderated - aggressively. >> Top

Once we get our blog working, with lots of steady reader traffic, we want interactions with our readers. Eventually, we get tired of native Blogger commenting, and its inability to use comments to conduct casual and meaningful conversations with our readers. Sometimes, our thoughts turn to having a forum, where we and our readers can chat with each other.

In another techie forum, far, far from Google Groups: Google Blogger Help, there are a couple sub forums dedicated to providing advice about Computer Networking. Every couple months, somebody will post in there Can you provide explanation of how Ethernet works, and how was it developed. or What are the advantages of using WiFi over Ethernet? Please cite 5 major factors. These questions are easily recognised by the experienced helpers there, and are quickly labeled, as "Homework Central". And there's an unspoken competition among the experienced helpers there, to quickly and imaginatively label such questions, so no newbie forum members might confuse the threads with others containing serious content. Such threads are not completely unwelcome, when they are occasional, as they provide some relief from the tedium. The experienced helpers will occasionally come up with witty responses - sometimes more questions, sometimes mildly helpful answers. Homework Central trolling...

Every week, JohnBlogger or some other indignant blogger posts in one of the Google Blogger Help forums Hey, you need to get rid of blog http://obnoxiousblog.blogspot.com . In most cases, they are doing a good and noble thing - informing Blogger (through the forum) that obnoxiousblog needs to be purged. Sometimes, a Blogger Employee will cruise through the forum, see the post, and remove obnoxiousblog. But this won't happen all of the times, and it won't happen immediately. And until obnoxiousblog is removed, JohnBlogger is helping the criminals that provide obnoxiousblog, and others like it. And obnoxiousblog (and others like it) are part of immense groups of splogs , that are used for hacking, and providing you with more spam in your email, in your online discussions, and in the web in general . And, even if it does happen, and Blogger purges obnoxiousblog, there will be 10 like it to take its place , almost immediately. Hundreds of splogs like obnoxiousblog are posted dai...

John X (name changed to protect) writes I post regularly in another Google Group, which deals with other aspects of Google products. In that group, we generally get 2 - 3 spams daily. Here, you get almost none. Why is that? Well, John, it's not a coincidence. There are a few regular posters here who, some time ago, became fed up with the spam problem. And they started doing something about the problem . It appears that threads in the forum, with a subject of "Another Spammer" or "Spam", get less casual traffic than "Free Music Downloads" or "Hot Babes Under The Covers". With some spammers starting threads using the latter titles, the antispam posters here would reply, and change the Subject to one of the former values. This would make the spammers feel less welcome. By re labeling the threads, thus cutting down on the traffic to their web sites, they get hit where it hurts - in the wallet. A win for the good guys. So the spammers dec...

If we use each Google Blogger Help forum for its specifically intended purpose , each forum will be more effective. When people have individual problems, those problems will be easier to find and to solve. And when there are widespread problems (like the WildFires from the past weekend ), those problems will be easier to identify, and to show to Blogger Support for resolution. You can have any content in your blog that isn't against the Blogger TOS . But advertise your blog in a forum where advertising is welcomed, not in the Google Blogger Help forums. If you advertise your blog using gibberish, posted as technical advice, you'll be seen as a spammer too. Helpers here have no patience for gibberish, or similar trollish activity. The Google Blogger Help forums are for asking for help with technical blog problems, and for providing genuinely useful advice to others who report problems. They aren't for advertising your blogs, worthy though they may be of promotion. Shar...

Online forums, which are part of the Internet (in general), and the Web (in particular) (and no, the two are not the same) are used for many purposes. Some are advertisements, others social, and still others for requesting, and providing, advice. Since they are part of the Internet, many folks find it useful to provide some information (advice, discussion, or other content) in the forum itself, and link to additional information elsewhere on the Web. The discussion of whether to provide advice in the forum itself, or in linked articles, is a constant issue in many forums. Some argue that it's more friendly to the one seeking advice, if the help is provided in the forum thread. Others think that it's more effective when provided in a linked article. Only one thing is known for sure - you can try to help everybody, but don't expect to please everybody . These are all results which can be obtained from a Progressive Publishing strategy. Accurate . The post itself, and...

Blogger Blogs, and similar online and other IT products, use peer support to help their customers. Blogger, similar to other companies, provides Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , where Bloggers with various problems can write in and say I have a problem [My Problem]. Can anybody help me? If you properly compose your problem report in Blogger Help Forum, and state your version of [My Problem], one of several things may happen. A solution will be known, and will be instantly provided by one of the many helpers. A solution will be derived, from subsequent questions by one of the many helpers. You will be advised to report your problem, to Blogger Support . Now, if you are so fortunate to have scenario 1 or 2 apply in your case, it is possible that the solution can be found in either Beta Known Issues , Blogger Help , or Blogger Status . It's possible - but not too likely - if it was, you (or someone like you) would have found it, and publicised it, long ago. If...

The Google Blogger Help Group is the official help area for (Google) Blogger Blogs, where the users help themselves (with slight exception). There are 6 forums in Google Blogger Help . How Do I? Something Is Broken Publishing Trouble Login Issues Customizing Templates Share Your Blog Some people occasionally confuse the first 5 with the last. How Do I? Something Is Broken Publishing Trouble Login Issues Customizing Templates are for providing help. People write in when they need help, they ask for help, and the helpers try and answer their questions. The contents of these forums is generally relevant to current issues , as all properly provided advice from the helpers is posted as answers to the various questions. Share Your Blog is a different forum. There, everybody gets up and yells, Hey everybody, check out my blog! Hey everybody, check out this neat article that I just wrote! Hey everybody, here's some useful advice! Some people ignore the amenities of Share Your Blog, and...

These forums are for getting, and providing, help in using Blogger one button publishing. They are not forums for advertising whatever commercial products or services you supply. Spam is simply not permitted here. Spam is like dog shite. The longer it stays: The more it stinks. The more dog shite you end up with. The harder it is to remove completely. You have to remove the spam immediately. The quicker it's removed, the less return the spammer gets, and the quicker he moves on and leaves his shite somewhere else. The less everybody complains (the stink), the less other spammers feel encouraged (the quantity), the easier it is to remove (the cleanup details). If you see it, get rid of it. Only Blogger Support can remove it, and they will only do so when they get enough reports about it , and it rises to the top of their queue. So everybody reading the forums, and this article, has to do their part, and report the spam . We laugh at, and curse, Blogger and Google, almost da...

Even though There Is No System Wide Failure , Bloggers are in shock. This is like any natural disaster; every time earthquake surviviors hear a noise, they think it's another quake. Here, every time Blogger times out, or gives an error message, people think that its down again. But we still have to analyse, and report, the problems. So, what do you say to posts like these? To the Blogger Staff Reading This Group Damn, Down Again, Is There Someone Smart Enough to Fix This Mess? It's now Tuesday and Blogger has died yet again BLOGGER is down. Again. Just as it has been repeatedly for the past three weeks. I'm out of here next month. How to best reply to these posts? What is the problem? Publishing (Blogger.com), or Viewing (Blogspot.com)? Does the problem affect all blogs, or just specific ones? Is the problem seen from all computers, or just from yours? And finally - - wait for it - - HAVE YOU REPORTED THE PROBLEM?? It almost seems as if some folks live to post This ...

There are several ways to instinctively ask for help , in an online forum like Blogger Help Forum , don't allow the helpers to help you as effectively as they should. Let's see if we can identify some problem areas.