The Real Blogger Status

URL redirection is a Blogger magic trick, similar to a common sleight of hand trick in stage magic performances. The Blogger HTTPS Redirection , a recently added feature in Blogger security, may be a similar Blogger magic trick - and a possible problem. Some browsers treat websites with multiple redirects as possibly malicious. Private blogs, accessed through the Blogger / Google interstitial login , may also complicate HTTPS Redirection.

We see an occasional report in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about custom domain publishing. My readers can't view the blog - they get a redirection count error! DNS analysis shows a properly setup domain . When we try to examine the blog, we see a private blog notice - or we are required to login. But why a private blog, using a custom domain?

Not all blog owners are willing to accept their blog being accessed behind a reader applied Content Warning. We see occasional signs of lack of understanding, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why is my blog blocked, by Google? It is a legitimate blog, with a serious subject!! This blog owner considers the needs of his blog above the general Blogger reader population. For best results, the desire to display, without the warning, needs to be accompanied by a willingness to remove content, when necessary. Right now, the readers have spoken .

Last month, we observed that SSL, though generally available for blogs published to "blogspot.com", did not work for all such blogs . Owners of blogs who used the "www" alias of "blogspot.com", such as my BlogSpot mirror blog " https://blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com/ ", reported annoying error messages, when trying to access the "www" alias of the blog, using SSL. Your connection is not private For my BlogSpot mirror blog, you'll see the problem, when viewing " https://www.blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com/ ". The problem apparently involves the SSL certificate for "blogspot.com", which does not include the "www" aliase for the subdomains (such as "blogger-status-for-real.blogspot.com").

Some blog owners are not going to be able to provide SSL access to their blogs - even with SSL enabled . Blog owners who prefer to use the "www" alias of "blogspot.com" - and who have chosen to enable SSL access for their blogs - report "Invalid Certificate" errors, when trying to access. And other blog owners report problems, when they have photos, hosted by Google and Picasa, using "http:".

Besides the problems discussed, when trying to research ownership or retrieve content from deleted and private blogs , we have problems researching ownership and retrieving content for blogs published behind an interstitial warning. The interstitial warning is actually one reason why private blogs are so hard to research and to retrieve. Any blog, published behind an interstitial warning, becomes a challenge - both for ownership research, and for content retrieval.

Some blog owners keep coming back, requesting review, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog has been deleted and restored, repeatedly. Last time, after Blogger unblocked my blog, I received this email ....Upon further review we have determined that your blog was mistakenly marked as a TOS violator by our automated system and, as such, we have reinstated your blog... That was just last month. This month, the same thing, my blog is gone again. This blog owner is failing to read the handwriting on the wall. Unfortunately, to have any future, a blog requires continual new material.

Spend some time surfing Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue - both in detail, for recent periods - and random sampling, over long periods. Read the comments, and questions. You'll see both complaints about spammy (aka "abusive") content - and objectionable (aka "adult") content. And, you'll see review requests, referencing previous abusive and adult content penalties. Given enough surfing, you'll discover that each is simply the other side of the same coin.

We've been providing advice for blog owners, unhappy about unfair spam classification, for a few years, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Some blog owners have similar questions about unfair objectionable content classification. Content Warning Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is objectionable. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger  Terms of Service . These blog owners, seeing how objectively we are able to evaluate spam classifications, request similar service for content classifications.

Along with problems with comments and unwanted CAPTCHA forms, we're seeing some reports about problems with persistent and unwanted interstitial displays, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . The interstitial display, and its use of cookies, is similar to the new mandatory anonymous comments CAPTCHA form . If your identity can't be determined, or your decision to view a blog can't be remembered, an interstitial warning is displayed - just as the CAPTCHA form is displayed, when your readers are preparing to comment.

Occasionally, we see a report in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , that reflects on the reader audience - not necessarily only the blog content. Why is my blog behind a Content Warning? Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is objectionable. Occasionally, a quick eyeballing of the blog in question may turn up some dodgy content, which may be suggested, in the forum, as problematic. This story may not end immediately. But, I've had that picture gallery, for years! Why did I just get the Content Warning? Here, the blog owner is not considering changing standards - or the possibility that the blog, becoming more popular, may be adding readers who don't appreciate a photo gallery started years ago.

Not all blog owners understand the necessity of having unique content , as the basis for a healthy blog. We see questions periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about inappropriate use of content from other blogs and websites. Why was my Blogger account deleted? I never argue when given copyright notices! or Why don't I have any readers? I have great content - the other blogs, where I get the content, get lots of traffic.

This week, we're seeing some reports from a few blog owners who recently received a disturbing email message, mentioning their blogs and adult advertisements. I received an email stating I have adult content on my blog, and that a new policy will cause certain blogs to be deleted. Is my blog vulnerable to deletion, under this new policy? Like many spammers, these blog owners may be asking for a whitelisting of their blog - which is something that Blogger just won't provide .

As Blogger in general, and custom domain publishing in particular, becomes more popular in Asia and Africa, we are seeing more problems with the Blogger / Google domain purchase process. The basic problem, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , will be expressed so simply. My blog is showing an off-site redirect. You're about to be redirected. The blog that used to be here is now at http://www.mydomain.com. Do you wish to be redirected? What do I do now? Some time ago, this report would have been diagnosed as spurious DNS addresses - and we would point out the necessities of proper custom domain DNS addressing , when setting up the domain yourself. Nowadays, an increasingly common diagnosis, for this problem, is an unsuccessfully purchased domain , using the Blogger / Google "Buy a domain" or Google Apps purchase process.

Some blog owners find evidence of opinion from their viewers, but cannot accept the opinions expressed. Why is there a "Content Warning" on my blog? They don't understand the collaborative opinion being expressed, when this warning is displayed.

In the latest round of controversy about the interstitial warning display, we see reports from more publishers of "adult content" blogs, reporting inability to try the dynamic templates on their blogs. Why are Dynamic Views not available for my blog? Is this yet another conspiracy against "adult content" blogs? From what I can tell, it's simply another scenario where the interstitial warning causes problems.

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...

Recently, we're seeing quite a few owners of "adult content" and private blogs reporting problems with their Stats displays. Blogger Stats are no longer counting! and On my Stats display, the pageview counts have not changed since this morning!! and Stats aren't loading, for my blog! These reports are coming from owners of various blogs which have an Interstitial Warning display in front of their blogs - either because the blog is subject to an "Adult Content" warning , or because the blog is published privately . The Interstitial Warning has been known for other instances of interference with visitor information . We have a rollup discussion in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where this problem is being explored, in detail. From what we can tell, this problem started sometime late 3/26 Pacific time. >> Top

Occasionally, a blog owner may find his blog prefaced by one of two possible content warnings. The two warnings may look the same (to some folks), but they are set - and removed - in completely different ways. Blog owners need to understand the differences.