The Real Blogger Status

We see occasional frustration, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , involving broken or unreliable custom domains. I setup the Custom Domain properly, following the Google directions . For some of my readers, my custom domain is not opening. I can see it is going in an infinite loop in the browser - and after a long time, it's throwing errors. My domain is setup, properly. Why do I have to deal with this? And we will investigate - and in many cases, we find the domain is setup properly .

We've been experiencing - and discussing - referer spam, since 2011 . We still see unaware blog owners, asking in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . When I checked my stats for my blog, and looked at traffic sources, I noticed a link from a different country - and it just seems weird that Russian readers would then go to a US site. When we explain that they're probably seeing another referer spam attack - and that clicking on the links is not always a good idea, we get a variety of responses. Some want to know if there is a purpose, to this noise.

Many popular accessories start with raw HTML / JavaScript code, from different third party services. One of the advantages of publishing a Blogger blog is the abundance of available accessories . With Blogger being in the top 3 of Internet publishing platforms, every third party service wants customers who publish using Blogger. There are plenty of abusive or malicious accessories , that should not be installed, even when offered - and there are ways to best install the accessories, that can be safely installed.

We've been seeing a few queries recently, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , suggesting very subtle account attacks going on. Some reports are about accounts locked (and blogs temporarily offline), because of "suspicious" / "unusual" activity . Other reports are sadder - and mention blogs now owned by another person . When we're able to identify the new blog owner, too many look like intentional hackers. Temporarily offline - or permanently stolen - both are stories that you do not want to tell. Fortunately, both stories can be prevented.

One of the more mysterious causes of blog loss involves deleted blogs, with the owner being forced to recover account access because of "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity . In general, with the report made in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , we may dismiss the owner as a "hacking victim". We may suspect just one more botnet in operation, stealing peoples accounts and blogs - and the victim unwisely revealed his email address. Sometimes, the story is more bizarre.

We see many complaints, worded in various ways, about "missing" blogs, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog is not on my dashboard! or I logged in this morning, and I see Create your blog now You are not an author on any blogs yet ... Help! There are many reasons for these reports - and not all may be what they seem . The causes of "missing" blogs vary widely, from blogs deleted by Blogger (or the owner) to blogs owned under another account (the claimant or a third party). Chances for recovery may vary, similarly.

Every time I carry this computer with me, and login to Blogger or Google from another location - and get the repeated demand that I Insert my USB key, and touch the button. I growl just a bit. Then, I consider what using Google 2-Step Verification means, to me. Many blog owners become unhappy, when they use Blogger. I tried using Blogger from my friends computer - and I have to tell them when I setup my Blogger account! or I need to recover control of my blog - and even though I supplied the right phone, and got the recovery email message, I have to check off which Google services I have used, in the last month!! WTF?? These are simply people who do not use Google 2-Step Verification - and have to prove their identity, in a different way.

Periodically, we see complaints about "Next Blog" content, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . When I click on the "Next Blog" link, I get sent to blogs from many, many different languages. Can I set this to send me to primarily blogs published in English? or "Next Blog" sends me to blogs about "xxxxxxx". My blog is about "yyyyyyy". Why can't I get more blogs about "yyyyyyy"? What these blog owners do not understand is that using "Next Blog" involves compromise.

We see the potential for self induced stress, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , every week. How do I publish a blog, without identifying myself? Then later I forgot my account name / password, and I am not getting any email from "Forgot?"! These are two hypothetical problem reports, that are all too real, for many blog owners.

Some blog owners keep reporting problems with comment replies never posting to their blog - or being received by the comment publisher - in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . When I reply to blog comments through GMail, the reply doesn't show up on my blog. or My readers never get my replies, to their comments! This blog owner is trying to use a feature that should exist - but simply is not available.

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.

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.

Someone publishing a blog, that supports a web based business, may use email to communicate with the customers - and possibly, to distribute the product. With a Blogger blog involved, use of email, to communicate with people who you don't know, creates a security risk . A blog, supporting a web based product, may look more interesting to hackers. If it's worth publishing by the owner, it's worth stealing. If the owner uses email, to communicate with customers or distribute the product, some owners may casually use their Blogger account email - and make their Blogger account vulnerable to brute force account hacking. Some owners may even include password hints, in the blog content - making the hackers job easier. At minimum, a successfully stolen blog may be worth a ransom demand, since the blog likely has commercial value. What enterprising hacker wouldn't invest a few extra dollars to buy a product, to learn an email address and possibly a Blogger account na...

We're seeing signs that Blogger is requiring more detail, in the account and blog recovery processes. Even when able to recover account or blog access properly - using a registered email address or telephone number - Google may ask more questions, to verify identity. Some (would be) blog owners,in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , report that more secrets are required. I provided my email address - and after I got the recovery email, I was asked when the email account was setup! and After I gave my home phone, I was asked for a list of my other Google accounts! Apparently, Blogger / Google Security is trying even harder, to prevent blog theft .

We see signs of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about Stats count adjustments. The number of page views for individual posts and total page views have dropped precipitously. It appears that Google is under reporting these page views, which of course results in less earnings for our website. This blog owner does not understand the effect of referer spam upon Stats - nor the separation of AdSense and Stats. Some blog owners think that they know what pageview counts are appropriate, for their blog - and are unhappy when Stats does not display counts that agree with their expectations.

We're lately seeing a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , from owners of blogs now locked as malware / spam hosts. My blog was deleted because it is marked as spam. I never spammed so why my blog has been confirmed as a Spam Host? This blog owner appears to have simply accepted advice from the wrong person . Using The Internet Archive (aka "Wayback Machine") we can sometimes find cached copies of blogs, even after deleted as suspected malware / spam hosts. In one case, though, viewing the blog was not possible - even having found a copy of the blog, in cache.

We see the occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger , about hosting blog content. How do I self host my Blogger blog, as I do with my WordPress blog? This blog owner does not understand that Blogger and Google provide far better hosting of our content, than any of us can individually provide.

As long as computers exist, and people are needed to provide technical advice, the one problem report that many of us fear is anguished, and brief. I got hacked! To many of us, this means that we have not been doing our job - because the first job of technical support is, unfortunately, security. Hillary Clinton got hacked, recently - and she was lucky. The hacker that attacked her was only poking around - and had no actual intent to cause harm. The owner of a successfully hacked Blogger blog may not be so fortunate. If you act promptly. and plan wisely, you can prevent long term inconvenience.

Blogger blog owners, like everybody else, like to save money. Some blog owners prefer to save money when registering a custom domain, for their blogs. We've seen several free domain registration services, providing what is claimed to be a two level Top Level Domain "co.xx" (where "xx" == various country codes). The latest in this ongoing story appears to be "net.tf" - and 13 other "top level domains" . There is also an additional free service offering third-level .tf domains, under the name United Names Organisation. They occupy 14 second-level domains , including .eu.tf, .us.tf, .net.tf , and .edu.tf. They are run by the same company as smartdots.com, and are given away as URL redirections.

One of the hottest US National news stories, this month, is about Hillary Clinton and how she endangered the security of this country by using an insecure email address . One of her mistakes involved her having a friend who had her email address in his address book, when his email account was hacked. And that is how your friends email accounts can be used, to attack your email account. Even if your email account is not revealed, openly, a friend - or fellow blog owner - who reveals her / his email address, can have his / her Blogger account, blog, and email account stolen. And with the possibility that you and your friend exchange emails, there is vulnerability to your email account, your Blogger account, and your blog .