The Real Blogger Status

Google Domains describes their view of the domain transfer process, in Google Domains Help: Transfer a domain out . The transfer process supports different transfers. From a person with an account at one registrar, to another account at that same registrar. From a person with an account at one registrar, to an account at a different registrar. From one person, to a different person, at that same registrar. From one person, to a different person, at a different registrar. As a project, I found it best to define, size, and assign the complete transfer process in 6 tasks. The project can be adjusted for a domain served by any sending registrar - and targeting any receiving registrar - based upon formalities required by each registrar.

One intriguing blog theft technique is tried also by people who have recently lost control of their blogs. I recently changed my email address (and forgot my password) . Can Blogger please send a password reset to my new address "xxxxxxx", instead of "yyyyyyy"? The blog owner is overlooking the obvious - that this is exactly what any blog thief might try, too. Too many blog thefts start with the owner unwisely advertising the email address .

When you accept membership in someone else's blog, you are going to use a different browser, than the one used by the owner. If you are accepting membership in your own blog, as part of a blog ownership transfer that you started, you might be tempted to use one browser, for the entire process. If you do this, you can end up with a blog owned under your current Blogger account - but using your (would be) new account's email address. This may cause you to lose control of the blog. If you manage to retain control of your blog, you'll continue to use the current Blogger account - as the new Blogger account will never get control.

Have you ever heard the old saying I had a friend, and I had a blog. I gave my friend control of my blog - and now, I have neither a friend, or a blog. If you have a blog, and it's yours alone, then it's yours - for eternity, or until you give up control . When you make your friend a blog administrator, you give up control of the blog.

Every domain transfer - from one owner to another, or one registrar to another - starts with obtaining then providing the EPP code for the domain. The EPP code is an ownership certificate, similar to the mysterious second "CNAME" , used by Blogger to verify domain ownership. You get the code from the current registrar - and pass the code to the new owner or registrar. Whether you are moving your domain registration from Blogger to another registrar . or maybe moving from another registrar to Blogger , passing the EPP code to the new registrar is essential, in having the potential registrar accept registration.

If you use GMail for your email, you may have seen the opportunities in GMail Settings, which let you manage and use multiple email accounts. GMail lets you use both GMail, and non GMail, email accounts from one - or from different - GMail desktops. This lets you manage multiple email identities from one single GMail account - and gives you opportunities to cause yourself various problems.

Google has been providing single login access, to (almost all) Google services, for many years. Properly maintained, we can have one Google account, which lets us access all services, using one login. The single login approach is a convenience, when all of the services, which we use, are part of the same Google account. The single login approach becomes a challenge, when some of the services, which we use, are part of different Google accounts . As owners of Blogger blogs, there are some scenarios, where we have to deal with two different Google accounts simultaneously. Accessing non Blogger applications, like Google Apps . Recovering account / blog control . Transferring control of a blog . When we have to deal with two Google accounts, simultaneously, the single login approach becomes a problem.

Recently, we've seen a few problems reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , requesting return of blogs stolen from the rightful owner. Supposedly, the "rightful" owner is the person posting the problem report. We've learned from past experiences that this may not always be the case, however.

We have known, for a while, that every Blogger blog has to have at least one administrator . That rule is enforced by the Permissions wizard, which gives any administrator the choice to demote or remove any administrator, from the Permissions list - but only when there is at least one other administrator in the list. When the Permissions list is displayed, if there are at least two members with administrative authority, each administrator entry, in the list, has a link to demote or remove that member. If there is only one member with administrative authority, there is no such link - and that member can be neither demoted or removed from the list. As long as only the Permissions wizard is used, to demote or remove administrators, this article would be meaningless (see the above link). But, there is another way for administrators to be removed - and this occasionally leaves blogs with no administrator.

The question of disposition of blogs, left behind by deceased blog owners, comes up in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , from time to time. As Blogger blogs - and similar Google products - become mature, and as more people who publish Blogger blogs become susceptible to old age and death, this problem will become more critical. As recently as 2010, in order to assume control (or request deletion) of such a blog, Blogger required only a faxed copy of the death certificate. In 2013, Google refined the recovery process, and added additional requirements for account recovery.

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see various queries about our blogs, and how to gain or regain control. How do I get a blog, which is attacking me (impersonating me, insulting me, publishing my secrets), removed from Blogger? How do I claim a dormant URL? How do I recover control of my blog? My blog is now under somebody else's control! How do I get my blog back? Any of these queries may be simply one more attempt to gain control of someone else's blog, or URL. As we gain experience in reading between the lines in Blogger Help Forum, and as Blogger Support gains experience in researching blog histories, we can start to see patterns, and signs of multiple attempts to assume control of the blog - or the URL - in question.

Occasionally blog owners get confused about the effects of blog ownership changes, and various Settings values. We'll see odd questions in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? . I just changed the email address of the blog owner - but comments are still going to the old address. and How do I change the email address used in emailing my posts to my blog? Not all blog owners realise that blog ownership, and various Settings values, are separate from each other.

Almost daily, we see a confused query in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken I lost ownership access to my blog. Can Blogger restore my access? Not every blog owner realises that the Permissions wizard has a safeguard, ensuring that every blog will always have at least one administrator. Anybody who is the former owner is now a member of a team blog - and at least one other team member is an administrator.

The process of transferring control of a blog , from one Blogger account to another, involves 4 distinct steps, using 2 different Blogger accounts, alternately. If you do any step out of sequence, or if you fail to properly keep the 2 Blogger accounts separate, you end up with a blog successfully controlled by neither account. There are 3 ways to keep the two Blogger accounts separate - and the easiest yet most reliable is to use two separate browsers.

We see this naive question, from time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? . I added my friend as an administrator, to my blog. He changed permissions, locked me out, and now I don't have access. Can Blogger get my blog back? Here, we have bad news for you.

One subject which generates some frustration, as reported in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , concerns blog ownership - and specifically, "How do I take over ownership of a blog which I need to control?". In some cases, this is because the blog was owned by someone who just died , or maybe somebody optimistically chose the wrong "friend" to co-administer a blog . As Blogger blogs become a more common website platform for small businesses, we are seeing a third scenario How do I get control of the blog about my business? The employee who setup the blog has left the company. Like similar issues about blog ownership , this is not as simple as it may appear.

Some blog owners are confused about how to setup a team blog. Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see the query How do I setup a second account, that I can give to my blog authors? I don't want them knowing my personal login and password! as if there is only one account possible, for a blog.

Occasionally, we will see an ominous problem report in BHF: Something Is Broken Somebody is posting articles in my blog, but it's not me! When we see this, the first thing that comes to mind is unwanted comments, generally when comments are not actively moderated. That's not always the case , though.

When somebody invites you to be a member of a blog To read a private blog. To become an author. To become an administrator, or maybe the new owner of the blog. You get a token in your email, attached to a membership invitation. When you exercise the token, by clicking on the link in the email, you connect the blog with your Blogger account. What you do, when you exercise the token, affects both your immediate and future access to the blog in question - and you need to understand the details.

As I've written a few times, your blog is yours - forever . Generally, "forever" is equivalent to eternity, or as long as Google stays in business. In some cases, when a blogger passes on to the next life, the survivors left behind may decide that it would be best, for all concerned, that one or more blog(s) left behind should be discontinued. In other cases, the survivors may wish to continue the blog, as a memoriam. Blogger will support this need, as long as the survivors can prove their close relationship with the deceased blog owner. This is most easily done, by providing a proper copy of a legally issued death certificate. With the death certificate available, post a question in BHF: How Do I? , and wait for contact with a Blogger Support person. Blogger Support will inform you how to transmit the death certificate to them, using a legally recognised medium. (Update 2012/07): Blogger has enhanced these requirements , to allow them to exercise both compassio...