The Real Blogger Status

I've written a few posts about editing post content - and discuss clearing cache after editing, to see updates. Generally, my posts reference cached posts content. Sometimes, blog owners need to clear cached feed content, in addition to / instead of clearing cached post content. There is a difference between post content, and newsfeed content - and how both are cached. Newsfeed cache is not as frequent a concern.

Occasionally, we see a blog owner in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger , asking about newsfeed formats. Which is better, for my readers - Atom or RSS? How do I choose, what to provide, in my blog? The competing newsfeed formats - Atom and RSS - have been a part of Internet life, for many years. Both formats have their devotees - and this is why there are two formats. Both formats have their own advantages - and disadvantages .

Private blogs affect other Blogger features - and the combination of results are inconsistent. With dynamic templates, the private blog selection causes an inoperable display. Conversely, with Google+ Comments, enabling Google+ Comments disables the private blog (designated reader) selection - and vice versa, in the various Blogger dashboard pages. The two interactions - and differing mutual exclusiveness - contribute to some interesting diagnostic sessions, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue .

Some Google products contain features that have limited usefulness, when applied to Blogger blogs. FeedBurner has a feature, "Password Protector", which may be useful, to newsfeed readers that support HTTP authentication. Within FeedBurner, we have the "Email Subscriptions" service - which does not support feed authentication. Your readers will be required to use newsreader or aggregator software that supports authentication to view your feed. Some Google, and non Google, services will have a problem, with a FeedBurner protected feed.

Whenever you have a problem with FeedBurner - or need to change details, the "Edit Feed Details" wizard is an essential tool. It's a very simple display - just 3 data elements - but it's a pretty useful 3 elements, if you use FeedBurner with your blog.. The FeedBurner "Edit Feed Details" wizard is an essential tool, when researching a FeedBurner problem.

We see occasional reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , from Blogger blog owners who want to share their blogs using BlogLovin. Why can't I claim my blog? BlogLovin is somewhat monolithic. They use the blog feed, and a BlogLovin URL with embedded token, to process / validate blog claims - and their diagnostics, when a claim is a problem, are not always effective. Some blog feeds can be validated, yet not be found by BlogLovin. And other feeds won't validate.

If you did not use a Blogger / Google account when you Followed this blog, years ago, you are probably not Following now . During the past month or so, this blog has gone from 5,300 to 4,800 Followers . Owners of other blogs have reported similar reductions. Look at the Reading List, in the Blogger dashboard - if you use Blogger. Is this blog listed? If so, you are Following this blog, using a Blogger account. If not, you may want to add this blog to your Reading List .

We deal with a lot of "lost blog control" complaints, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Lost blog control complaints, that involve blogs published using a dynamic template, are not easily resolved.

We see occasional evidence of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about reading newsfeed content. I click on the link at the bottom of the page, and I get a screen full of gibberish. When we check the problem report, and verify browser involved, it will almost always be for users of the Chrome browser .

Last week, Google turned off the long deprecated Google Feed API . Among many Blogger features that were affected , were 4 identified gadgets. Feed Newsreel Slideshow Video Bar Several days after the API was turned off, Google realised their mistake, and turned it back on again. The Newsreel gadget, unfortunately, remains out of service - and we have seen many reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue .

Google makes changes to their software environment, constantly. This week, they deprecated the Google Feed API . Unfortunately, many Blogger gadgets require that feature to display feed content, on our blogs. This week, numerous reports about broken feeds, in various gadgets, are being seen, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . The broken feeds are a direct result of the deprecated API.

Blog owners use many techniques for getting new readers - and for keeping existing readers happy. Some blog owners use techniques which work inconsistently, because they are not designed to work the way they are being used. Some blog owners becomes concerned when their blogs, listed in blogrolls on other peoples blogs, don't seem to be updated as regularly as they would expect. Blogrolls are good tools for getting new readers, in a casual manner. They may not be as good, for predictable, scheduled visitor activity.

We see new blog owners ask the obvious question, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . How do I help people Follow my blog? There are several tools for community building , or Following - and different people will make different choices, which to use. The choices depend upon the community that any blog serves - and the purposes for following .

We've been using FeedBurner Email Distribution for years, to provide a turnkey email based publication distribution . With any email distribution system, the most essential function, in list management, is to add and remove subscriber entries. FeedBurner gives you that ability - if you look, carefully.

We've seen a few reports in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , mentioning mysteriously resurrected posts, appearing in email or on peoples desktop displays. When investigated, the blog owner will observe that a new post, which had been originally published after the one mysteriously appearing, was recently deleted. Further investigation shows that the mysterious post, that just re appeared, was the 26th most recently published post.

Some blog readers wonder about how to follow blogs, recently turned private by their owners. We see some concern , in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . I Follow a blog which was recently made private. Its entry in my dashboard Reading List froze, and I can't get it working by removing and re adding! This would be reader does not realise the results of making a blog private. Private blogs do not publish blog feeds . When a blog is made private, the feed stops - and the Reading List and all other feed subscriptions - comments and posts - stop updating. With no feed published, a blog cannot be added to Reading List - though the members picture icon may remain visible, in the Followers cloud.

We're seeing a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , mentioning problems with the blog feed. I try to claim my blog in BlogLovin, but they tell me that my feed is invalid! or My subscribers stopped getting my posts by email!! Both BlogLovin, and the FeedBurner "Follow by Email" service, depend upon the blog posts newsfeed.

One blog publishing technique, discouraged by Blogger , involves "automated posting". Content created with scripts and programs , rather than by hand. Some blog owners want to make their blog part of their social networking strategy. That is a laudable goal - but the blog has to have its own distinct content , as well.

We see occasional questions from blog owners, and readers, about options for reading posts, from a given blog. The most obvious way to read the posts is to read the blog, as published, online. If the owner of a blog that interests you uses Google+ publicity , reading either online, or in the Google+ stream, may be your choice. For Blogger hosted content, both owners and readers have a few more possibilities.

We see occasional questions from blog owners, and readers, about options for reading comments, and comment updates, from a given blog. The most obvious way to read comments - or replies to comments - is to read the individual posts. If a blog that interests you uses Google+ hosted comments , reading either on the post, or in the Google+ stream, may be your choice. For Blogger hosted comments. both owners and readers have a few more possibilities.