The Real Blogger Status

As Google+ Comments become more widely accepted in Blogger blogs, we see some confusion in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken about comment moderation options, and missing dashboard features. Besides the frequently seen confusion about ownership and visibility, of comments published under Google+ Comments, some blog owners become concerned when they cannot find the expected dashboard settings and utilities. Google+ Comments use community based moderation - and don't need dashboard, or email, based moderation by the blog administrators. The Blogger dashboard is a bit simpler, with Google+ Comments in use.

We're starting to see regular evidence of dissatisfaction, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , about Google+ based Blogger commenting. We've known about some undesirable features of Google+ commenting , for a while now. No ability to moderate comments, made against your blog, before they are published. No ability to moderate comments, from the dashboard. No controls for moderation, or for notification, of comments. No ability to view all comments, made against your blog. No ability to block all undesirable comments, made by people who don't like your blog. These are just a few details, which directly affect commenting.

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.

Recently, we're seeing a few frustrated blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , who have decided that the recently provided CAPTCHA ("word verification") screening puzzle is simply too much for their readers to handle. Some blog owners have discovered that removing the CAPTCHA, from their blog comment wizard, is not all that easy, either. Everytime I click on "Save settings", to disable word verification on my blog, as soon as I return to the settings, it is enabled again. How do I get rid of the CAPTCHA? Some blog owners have not yet learned that the New Blogger GUI (2011) just is not ready for public use.

Ever since the New Blogger GUI (2011) was offered to us several months ago , we've been seeing odd questions about options for Comments in our blogs, in the New GUI. How do I select the "Full page" or "Pop-up window" comment form, for my blog? and How do I select CAPTCHA verification? and occasionally Can I still have notification of comments, as published? The latter question is easy enough to answer - it's just not as obvious as the other settings, in the New GUI. The first two questions represent genuine concerns, for some blog owners.

Not all blog owners understand the need for people to post anonymous comments, against our blog posts. Periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? , we see the naivete expressed by some. How do I find out who is posting anonymous comments to my blog? These people do not understand the need for anonymous commenting.

This week, we're seeing signs that Blogger is about to push the New Blogger GUI (2011) a step closer to reality . In about two weeks from today, all Blogger accounts that haven’t yet made the switch will be upgraded to the new user interface. You will be able to opt-out at any time by clicking the “Switch back” link; however, all accounts will eventually be permanently upgraded. For all the optimism, the New Blogger GUI (2011) just is not ready.

Until late May 2011, we would see various odd and mysterious problem reports, about posting comments, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I posted a comment, but now I can't delete it. It's labeled as "Anonymous" - even though I used my Google account! and I tried to publish my comment, but the Publish button doesn't do anything. Both complaints were representative of the many different problem reports seen.

We have a small flood of reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , from owners of blogs that use the inline ("Embedded below post") comment form, that their comment form is not visible. The comments section of some of my blogs do not show up. When I change the comments settings to "Pop-up window", it works - but when it is "Embedded below post" it doesn't work!

We've known for a while the frustration (and conversely, the mystery ) caused by incorrectly entering your email address for your Blogger account. There are other ways to cause frustration (and mystery) also, when incorrectly entering an email address.

The new comment moderation system, which was initially not available on all blogs , has been in place for just over 2 weeks. As it becomes available on more blogs, some blog owners have decided that it's actions are not to their liking , and would like to return to the old, manual moderation process.

Last year, in Private Blogs And Commenting Policy , I documented a private blog conundrum. I had discovered the oddity that designated readers in a private blog are unable to publish comments, when commenting is authenticated as "Only members of this blog". At the time, I merely suspected a design oversight on the part of Blogger engineers, in deciding that designated readers to a private blog were not afforded the courtesy of being allowed to comment.

Besides the currently known problems with commenting , which involve the post template and various local computer settings, there are some odd details that not everybody is aware of. If you have a private blog, you'll face a lesser known challenge with comments.

Apparently one (of several) recent problems , with Inline (Embedded Below Post) Comments, is related to Post Pages. In Settings - Archiving - "Enable Post Pages?", we observe the notice Warning: If you disable Post Pages the embedded comment form will not work. Click here to change your comment settings first. If you can't enable or disable Post Pages, you should check your (Settings - Comments -) Comment Form Placement, and ensure that you have not selected "Embedded below post". There, we see The embedded comment form can not be used if you have Post Pages disabled. Apparently, the Comments setting overrides the Archiving setting. >> Top

One monolithic complaint, frequently seen in Blogger Help Forum , is My readers can't comment on my blog. This complaint, as with many like it, could benefit from some structured diagnostic practice . Start by observing the complaint level that's currently endemic in the forums. Sometimes, Blogger will cause their own problems (yes, this is known to happen), and you'll see a flood of complaints. Here, it is helpful to be familiar with the normal complaint level .