The Real Blogger Status

Along with access to your Blogger dashboard, access to your domain dashboard is a sensitive issue. The domain dashboard, also known as the "zone editor", provides control of the domain, as the Blogger dashboard provides control of the blog. The EPP Code, which allows domain ownership transfer, is generally retrieved using the zone editor. And, there are other zone editor features that you, the blog and domain owner, do not want being misused by another person. We tell blog owners to never give someone else use of your Blogger account - and this same advice is equally essential for your domain account. This is part of your relationship with your registrar - and it is your property, alone.

We've seen a few reports, recently, about stolen blogs, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . Why is my blog not on my dashboard - and why is somebody else publishing, and using my name? There are so many reports from people who are not using Google "One Account" login properly , that the significance of this problem report was initially overlooked. More than a few such reports started with the blog owner email address being openly disclosed - generally on the blog, or in comments. Too many blog owners want to be contacted - and they innocently provide their email addresses as a contact point. We've known, for years, about disclosed email addresses, and brute force password guessing . That is not the only way your email address can be used, to gain access to your Blogger account, however.

We see signs of naivete, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . too often. I gave my boyfriend (girlfriend, former spouse, Internet acquaintance, whatever) my account password - and now, I can't access my account. This is a problem which Blogger cannot resolve , in any way. Please, never ever share your Blogger account. Blogger accounts, like Blogger blogs, are free. If someone who you know would like to read your private blog - or contribute to your team blog - add that person as a blog member, and let her / him use his / her own Blogger account (new, or existing).

I've written a few times about protecting your Blogger / Google account, when you use public / shared computers. Generally, any concern about use of public / shared computers discusses cookies, which are simply invisible traces that you might leave behind when using any computer. If you only use your own computer - and never share your computer - this issue is probably of no concern to you. If you use a computer that someone else, who you know, also uses, cookies are a small concern. If you use a computer that other people, who you don't know, also use - as in a public computer in a coffee shop or library - this should be a larger concern.

Some blog owners setup blogs, then casually make their friends administrators, without considering the potential risk to their blogs. From time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , we see reports by former blog owners, who have lost control of their blogs. There are several risks - and not all risks are apparent. Aggressive takeover of the blog, by one administrator. Unintentional self deletion or demotion, by the last active administrator. A team member, causing locking of a team blog. Any of these scenarios can result in inconvenience to the remaining administrators.

Occasionally we see the naive query, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger . Does copying content, into my blog, violate Blogger TOS? The short (and too frequently provided) answer to the question is No, copying content does not violate TOS. Copying content to your blog is perfectly OK - when done legally. That said, you need to consider the issues - and possible results.

Our Blogger accounts, and blogs, are under persistent attack by some rather nasty Internet users. Hackers, using other peoples computers, are constantly attempting to "guess" our Blogger passwords, and take control of our Blogger accounts and blogs. Blogger accounts are particularly vulnerable to attack , because too many blog owners Reveal their account names (email addresses) to the world. Base their passwords upon real life details. Publish blogs, where their real life details are visible to the world. Some blog owners think that by using only one computer forever, they should be able to register that one computer as theirs, and require Google to simply deny access to their Blogger / Google accounts, from any other computer. This is a very simple solution - and it's one which is doomed to failure.

The sport of ocean surfing has been described as something like "constantly falling down an ever advancing wall of water", while trying to stay upright and ahead of the wall of water (aka the "wave"). Publishing a Blogger blog, and dealing with hijackers, pirates, and spammers, is similar to surfing. I am frequently advising people, who complain about the constant waves of spurious spam classifications, blog clones (aka "content thieves"), and referer spam, to keep looking ahead - and keep publishing their blogs. Like ocean surfing, you want to keep looking ahead and remain standing - don't fall down, and let the wave behind wash over you. The latter leads to drowning.