The Real Blogger Status

Periodically, we see questions about email delivery, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . How do I setup email delivery, for my domain? Long ago, this was fairly easy to setup. It won't be so easy for everybody, however. Email delivery starts with the required DNS addresses - which are domain and registrar specific. Email for BlogSpot URLs is not possible - and email for custom domains will require specific domain services. Not all DNS hosting services will, automatically, provide email.

The Google Admin Console (formerly known as "Google Apps" desktop) is an essential tool, for many Blogger custom domain publishers. Any blog owner, who purchased a domain from Google before the introduction of Google Domains, may need access to the Admin Console. It's used to change payment or renewal details, to change domain settings - or possibly, to transfer control of the domain outside Blogger / Google.

I've been observing custom domain publishing, and how it's affected by applications mapped through various Google services, for a few years. The well known "Another blog", and it's successor "Key already exists", have three possible causes . Actual content, published to the URL. Bogus DNS addresses. Database corruption. If you map a Google service to a URL in your domain, even temporarily, then simply disable the service, you can end up with a domain URL that remains mapped to the service. When you try to publish your blog to that URL, you're going to see "Another blog ..." or "Key already exists ...".

From time to time, we see questions about using a Blogger / Google custom domain, with publishing services outside Blogger / Google. Some Blogger blog owners want to combine their Blogger blogs, with non Blogger blogs and websites - and others want simply to move their blogging activity to non Blogger services. And a few think ahead, and wonder how adding or moving to another service will affect the ability of their existing readers to find their blog, and / or their ability to get new readers. As with using a Blogger blog with an existing non Google domain , this is not a simple project - and to do this properly will require research - and well informed decisions. Some assistance can be provided by Blogger or in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger - and other portions of the project will require advice or instruction from the support groups for the new service.

Recently, we've been seeing a number of reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from people suddenly unable to login to Blogger and maintain or publish their blogs. It appears that more and more private network owners are converting their email and office applications suites, to use Google Apps / Docs. This gives the various employers and schools the ability to block people, using their email, from also using extraneous / unnecessary services like Blogger and YouTube - and encourages the employees and students to spend their time more productively. People with Blogger accounts, that are based on the converted email domains, are seeing problems accessing their blogs.

Recently, we've been seeing a number of reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from people suddenly unable to login to Blogger and maintain or publish their blogs. It appears that more and more private network owners are converting their email and office applications suites, to use Google Apps / Docs. This gives the various employers and schools the ability to block people, using their email, from also using extraneous / unnecessary services like Blogger and YouTube - and encourages the employees and students to spend their time more productively. People with Blogger accounts, that are based on the converted email domains, are seeing problems accessing their blogs.

We're seeing reports from some blog owners, who purchased custom domains through Blogger / Google, who are unable to access the registrars zone editor through Google Apps. Owners of blogs published to custom domains, where the domains were purchased through "Buy a domain", need to use the registrars zone editor to maintain their domains. In the past, the zone editor could be accessed from a link in the "Advanced DNS settings" wizard in the "Admin console" / Google Apps dashboard. The "Advanced DNS settings" wizard provides important tokens, to let the owner of a domain, purchased through Blogger / Google, interact with the registrar. Besides the tokens, there is a link, captioned "Sign in to DNS console", which should lead directly to the sign in screen provided by either eNom or GoDaddy.

Some Blogger blog owners, having overlooked the reality of custom domain renewal , discover their mistake too late. We see various queries, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , about domain registration, after it's too late. My blog now displays a search page! Have I been hacked? or maybe My blog is showing content that my kids should not see!

In some cases, the earlier provided procedure , for accessing the limited access domain administrator account, may not work, for your Google Apps domain. If you have trouble with providing both the account name and password, you will need to reset the password using the Google administrative reset. Instead of the wizard at " accounts.google.com ", you will need the administrative reset wizard, at " https://admin.google.com ". A Google Apps administrative account reset uses the same set of initial displays, as the previously discussed limited access account reset - and it offers the same opportunities for confusion . Be prepared to add the appropriate Google account (whether GMail, or non GMail based) to the login menu, as necessary.

In the not so distant past, explaining how to login to Google Apps was a painfully tedious process. If I wanted to login to the Google Apps account for this domain, "nitecruzr.net", I would construct a URL in the browser address window (or use a bookmark) https://www.google.com/a/nitecruzr.net/ServiceLogin The URL for your domain would be different - and explaining the difference was frequently a nuisance, in the login sequence instructions. When explaining how to login to a recently created limited access Apps account , I would focus on the account reset process . For this domain, "nitecruzr.net", I would access the account reset wizard as http://google.com/a/cpanel/nitecruzr.net/ResetAdminPassword or possibly http://google.com/a/nitecruzr.net/ResetAdminPassword Again, your URLs would differ. Maintaining separate bookmarks, for each different domain, was a time sink. With the new Google Apps integrated account login, all of that has changed.

Recently, Google Apps redesigned their desktop GUI. Now, it's easier to maintain auto-renew settings for your custom domain. Of course, "easier" may not be the same as "more initially obvious". Along with the GUI redesign of Google Apps, Google changed payment procedures for domain registrations.

We're seeing some panic today, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from a few blog owners who have received email, which implies that their custom domain registrations are approaching expiration - and can't be renewed. I registered my domain several months ago, through Google. I have the receipt for the payment in my email, my Google Wallet account, and my credit card statement. Why am I getting this email now, some months after registering my domain - but well before my registration should be expiring? Our records indicate that the payment for registering your domain mydomain.com was unsuccessful. Payment failures happen for a variety of reasons (such as insufficient funds or an expired card). You can update your payment information to resolve the issue. Please log in to your account and update your payment information. If you take no action, your domain will not be renewed on . This confusion is especially unfortunate, given the recent discontinuation of...

We've been seeing reports from some frustrated blog owners, about problems with the limited access Google Apps accounts . I've reset my password numerous times and it still doesn't work. Even given the recently provided "bloggeradmin" username, and the standard Google account reset process , some blog owners still cannot access Google Apps to manage their Blogger custom domain published blogs. We do have one bit of hope. One such problem report, recently forwarded to Google Apps Support, was noted by a Google Apps Engineer with the advice We identified a recent change which may have affected the password reset flow for some users. We expect it to either be fixed or rolled out shortly. So, there is some hope for a few unhappy new domain owners. It's possible that this problem has been resolved, with Google Apps now using the new comprehensive Google login screen . >> Top

As Google Apps updates their limited function ("bloggeradmin") account setup process, we see reports from confused Blogger blog owners. After I reset my password, I still get The username or password you entered is incorrect when I try to login, later! and I reset my password - and it changed my Blogger and GMail account - but I still can't login to Google Apps!! The Google Apps password reset uses a standard Google account reset process - and is subject to normal account reset behaviour. If you don't reset the right account, you won't be able to login, later.

Some Blogger blog owners, having experienced the anxiety of custom domain setup , intend to carefully maintain their domain registration. We see a few queries, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , about domain registration renewal. How do I make sure my registration gets renewed? or How do I renew registration before it expires? or, possibly My blog now displays a search page! Have I been hacked?

The literal cause of the error "Another blog or Google Site is already using this address." is that the Google Sites service is mapped to the address in question, in the Google domain services mapping database. Some help articles published on the Internet imply that Sites mappings are the only cause of this error. This misconception creates some of the confusion associated with the error. Sites is not the only service in the services mapping database - but it is the only service with web address mappings. The Sites service contains both service address, and web address, mappings - and both mappings can cause this problem. This oddity creates complexity, and makes a linear check list impossible, when using Google Apps to clear the error - as well as diagnosing the error, in a typical dialogue in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken .

Of all of the problems that are typically reported, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , surely the most frustrating has to be Another blog or Google Site is already using this address. or possibly Key already exists for domain ... One of the reasons for the frustration is that this is not a descriptive error - it's more of a symptom - and this symptom has a number of causes . Since many Blogger blog owners don't understand the principles of problem solving, the solutions for this error may not be obvious.

The Google domain services database lets one or more Blogger blogs, and / or various Google services, be packaged as part of a domain - giving your organisation its own virtual web server. Google Apps is used to manage this virtual web server, as you install and un install various domain services. Sometimes a domain, newly setup in Google after the domain has been purchased from a registrar, will have one or more addresses unexpectedly mapped to various Google services. This will be inconvenient to the blog owner, who may wish to use a given URL for a Blogger blog.

Ever since Google ended its free Google Apps accounts , we've been seeing reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about problems encountered when setting up a new Google Apps account, to administer a newly purchased custom domain. Every time I try to login to Google Apps, using instructions in the email message, I get Server Error: We could not process your request at this time, please try again later.

Last week, Google dropped a bombshell on many small client developers. Starting on December 6, 2012 , Google will no longer offer new accounts for the free edition of Google Apps. Google Apps free edition is sometimes referred to as "Standard Edition." This announcement will bring changes to Blogger, and to custom domain publishing. Many owners of Blogger blogs published using the Google Custom Domain feature have learned to use various Google Apps wizards, to setup and to maintain their domains.