The Real Blogger Status

We see too many problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about locked accounts and deleted blogs. My Google account was suspended because of 'suspicious activities'. Last month, I realized that my two connected blogs, to that account, were also put offline! Somebody else was unable to use the supplied account / blog recovery tools - and tried guessing what could not be remembered .

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.

Recovering ownership of a Blogger account or blog may be a frustrating process. Recovering control of a long forgotten account or blog starts with having a token sent to the recovery email address. If you don't have access to the recovery email account, you may be able to use the Google Account recovery wizard - if you can at least provide the email address that you used long ago, and a few personal details. But what if you don't remember the email address - or even the URL? Blogger won't just tell you what the address was - and they don't know who you are, so would do they know the URL of your blog?. In the latter case, you may have to involve your friends - and some detective work.

The effects of browser cache, upon our Internet life, are not always understood. Most of us know, by now, to clear cache and restart the browser , after updating a blog, for consistent testing. Some folks know that blog security changes don't always take complete and immediate effect . Recently, we're seeing a new effect, reported by owners of Blogger accounts locked, after hacking activity is detected. I got a message mentioning suspicious account activity, when I logged in to Blogger. I provided my phone number, and I received a code on my phone, that I had to enter before I could then log in. My blog was working fine just after I logged in. A short while later, though, it was gone. Why was my blog deleted, because I unlocked my account? This blog owner is just slightly confused, about the cause and effect here.

Many blog owners are occasionally confused, by the effects of various Blogger / Google security processes. We see the agony, daily, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from those who only want to login to Blogger and work on their blogs. The side effects of the security processes are similar - and depending upon various owner specific details, can be easily confused for each other. The possibility of confusion requires careful initial analysis, when we are faced with an angry blog owner. My blog was deleted, by Blogger. How could they do this? I do not publish spam! This is a typical problem report, which can reflect any one of the processes, each requiring different action in the forums .