The Real Blogger Status

This week, we're seeing a few reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken from blog owners, trying to publish their blogs to custom domains. I'm trying to use the Publishing wizard - and I'm seeing a new error. This operation failed. Try again later. If the problem persist, please file a post on the help forum. What has Blogger changed, recently?

This month, we have a small flood of reports, from blog owners who are seeing the latest monolithic error. You have logged out from another location. Do you want to log in again? This error has actually been reported previously - but in smaller volume - for some time. It appears to be similar in nature to a previously reported problem, " Conflicting Edits ". The problem appears to possibly affect anybody who has logged in to Blogger - and it appears to be persistent, and has inspired imaginative measures, from some blog owners.

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.

The ability to publish a Blogger blog to a non BlogSpot URL - also known as "Custom Domain Publishing" - has been a Blogger option for over 5 years . We have, similarly, observed the problem which is collectively described as "Another blog ..." for almost that long . Every week, we see the signs of frustration in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Why does Blogger never fix the "Another blog" problem? or Why can I never get a straight answer here, about my inability to make my custom domain work? Both of these questions ignore the reality - that "Another blog ..." is actually a symptom, with many different causes .

One mysterious monolithic error message, reported by Blogger blog owners for some time, is the mysterious "Conflicting Edits" error. There was more than one attempt to edit this resource at the same time. This may have been because you double clicked on a link or a button or because someone else is also editing this blog or post. Please hit the back button on your browser and try again. If the problem persists, please contact the Blogger Help Group. We apologize for the inconvenience.

As a possible supplement (and maybe an eventual replacement) for the old monolithic error Another blog is already hosted at this address we now have Blogs may not be hosted at naked domains

Of about half the comments that folks provide to this blog, the contents of the comment being posted warrants an immediate response from me. So I'm quite used to the procedure of comment moderation - having selected the Publish link in my email, then opened the specific post, and composed a response on the fly. And for the past week or so, several times / day, I will see Your request could not be completed. upon hitting the " Post Comment " button. Retrying the " Post Comment " button generally gets the comment posted, though it's still annoying. The text "Your request could not be completed." is a well known phrase, some time ago (though to have been) replaced by the endless series of bX- code errors . This month, it looks like the well known monolithic error is back again. >> Top

Along with the similar cry, " Why Isn't Google Solving The Server Not Found Error 404 Issue? ", this is a concern of many blog owners . Many blog owners only want to publish to their newly setup non-BlogSpot URL, and have their readers able to access their blogs. Like the answer to the latter question, the answer to this question is simple. Google is solving " the problem ". One problem, at a time.

This is a cry echoed by many, and for some time. Some, who ask this question, ask a similar question too, " Why Isn't Blogger Solving The "Another blog is already hosted at this address" Problem? " And there is but one answer, to both questions. Google is solving "the problem" . One problem, at a time. But "the problem" will never be solved, as long as bloggers keep referring to it as "the problem" . It simply isn't one problem - it's many problems, with the same symptom.

If you're a Blogger Unpaid Staff Member, like me, you just posted to your blog (and with no errors ), and you're getting any of the several afflictions that so many are complaining of, when trying to access your blog: A blank screen. The blog will load as HTML, or look like garbage. Only part of the blog will load. Any or all of the following may apply: Posts will be missing from the body. Part or all of the sidebar will be blank. The footer will be missing. Maybe your blog WILL load, but it will take like 5 minutes each time you open a new post. Obviously, your visitors won't stand for THAT, which is why your visit count is way down. Or maybe you're trying to Create or Edit a post, and having no luck. Maybe the Post Editor won't load properly. Or it loads so slowly, that you start to type into the post window before it finishes loading, then when it refreshes as it loads, what you just typed in gets erased. Maybe you're missing key pieces of the post window ...