The Real Blogger Status

We see frequent evidence of confusion, about abuse classification etiquette , in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog was deleted, as spam - but I received no notice or warning! How could Blogger do such a thing? This indignation may be provided, in the hopes that Blogger would relent. Sorry, here's your blog! But such reaction is seldom seen - and when seen, is not a result of attitude, but of content.

Repentant spammers are not frequently seen, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . When a truly repentant spammer reports a problem, it is difficult to know how to treat one appropriately. They are so rare, we have little experience. This is totally unfair. Actually, life is totally unfair.

We see the potential for self induced stress, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , every week. How do I publish a blog, without identifying myself? Then later I forgot my account name / password, and I am not getting any email from "Forgot?"! These are two hypothetical problem reports, that are all too real, for many blog owners.

Too frequently, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , we try to advise blog recovery for a legitimate blog, unrighteously deleted by Blogger. Occasionally, when advised to Find a dashboard link labeled "Deleted blogs" / "Locked blogs". then Having found the link, you submit a Review request. The response is There is no dashboard link, referencing 'deleted blogs / locked blogs'. There are several causes of this condition - but there is only one real solution. The (would be) owner has to login with the right Blogger account , and find the necessary "Deleted" / "Locked" blogs section, of "My blogs".

We occasionally see a confused content thief / spammer, unsure why the blog was deleted. I removed all of the content that I was told to remove. Why was my blog deleted? or Why was my blog restored, then deleted the following week? Some blog owners do not understand the consequences of repeated review. The more times your blog is reviewed, the more completely and carefully the content will be examined .

Some spammers do not appreciate the subtle details of the Blogger anti-spam policies . Spam: Spam takes several forms in Blogger, all of which can result in deletion of your account or blog. Some examples include creating blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings, posting comments on other people's blogs just to promote your site or product, and scraping existing content from other sources for the primary purpose of generating revenue or other personal gains.

At any given time, we can see a small sample of the Blogger blog universe, as reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . One sample, that we may see, is composed of the blogs which have been deleted / locked, by the Blogger spam classifier - which the owners want restored.

An interesting attitude is seen, from some owners of large and unfocused blogs. It's normal, with so many articles in a blog, to have some reports (DMCA / TOS complaints). It's normal, yes. That does not make it acceptable - or beneficial. If you want to publish a large blog - and make lots of money - you have to focus or limit your efforts. You need to spend as much time - if not more time - reviewing content for legality, than owners of comparable, smaller blogs. You can't take time away from reviewing, to create and publish more content - then justify your failure to stay within the limits, by implying that it's normal to have posts that push the limits .

Abuse / Malware / Spam classification of Blogger blogs - and the inevitable bogus fuzzy classification - has been a part of Blogger life, for several years. Recently, we explored known effects of bogus classification, upon reader and search engine reputation. It's not a pretty picture - but it's also not likely to go away, as long as abusive persons, such as spammers , operate in the Internet world. Owners of blogs spuriously classified are not likely to be very objective - but we cannot avoid reality.

As Blogger continues to detect and remove more abusive blogs proactively, we're seeing a gradual shift from blatantly abusive blogs, to blogs that, 5 years ago, would not have been righteously considered to be a problem . The decrease in abusiveness has several results. It's harder and harder to casually decide if a given blog needs to be reviewed - and if it's likely to be restored. Blogs which are marginally - instead of blatantly - abusive are more likely to be subject to repeated classification and review. The owners become less patient with reviews, as they endure each successive review. Which ever the possibilities for a given blog, when review is requested, this will require changes in the final review process.

Some blog owners keep coming back, requesting review, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . My blog has been deleted and restored, repeatedly. Last time, after Blogger unblocked my blog, I received this email ....Upon further review we have determined that your blog was mistakenly marked as a TOS violator by our automated system and, as such, we have reinstated your blog... That was just last month. This month, the same thing, my blog is gone again. This blog owner is failing to read the handwriting on the wall. Unfortunately, to have any future, a blog requires continual new material.

We're seeing a few blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , admitting to casual / multiple TOS offenses. I have received many DMCA complaints - and I always sort them, as soon as possible. This time, my account was disabled. How do I get my account back? For this blog owner, there may not be an easy answer. Blogger does not send out violation notices, so you can just stop what you're doing, when warned by the Policy Review team. They want you to stop what you're doing - and not do other things, that you're doing , that have not yet been detected.

Spend some time surfing Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue - both in detail, for recent periods - and random sampling, over long periods. Read the comments, and questions. You'll see both complaints about spammy (aka "abusive") content - and objectionable (aka "adult") content. And, you'll see review requests, referencing previous abusive and adult content penalties. Given enough surfing, you'll discover that each is simply the other side of the same coin.

With Blogger blogs becoming more popular in countries where English is not the native language, we've seen a lot of blogs classified as spam - both righteously, and spuriously. Most spam reviews, originally, involved blogs with commercial spam - excessive advertisements, with little subject content. As the focus of spam classification shifted to blogs with content, we've been seeing more non commercial classifications - large blogs with unfocused subjects, and content scraped or syndicated. Combining the two trends - more blogs in non English languages, and spam classifications which focus on non commercial content, we see blogs which require more people to review. And the people required need familiarity with the languages, and the subjects, of the blogs which need review.

Many blog owners would like to retrieve deleted blogs - or contents of deleted blogs - or contents of live blogs, deleted. Some folks just deleted their blog, and immediately realised a mistake. Others deleted a blog, long ago. Some had their blog, deleted by Blogger - and just want the content back, so they can "start over". Some may delete a post, and realise that mistake. Others make a mistake with content, and find Blogger deleted the blog. And some get a new job, graduate from school, get a new ISP - and realise, too late, that they forgot to update their Blogger account to use the new email address for account recovery.

Many blog owners, alarmed by their blogs being classified (righteously, or spuriously) as spam hosts, decide to pack up and move to another hosting service . We see the question, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , too often. Can I just get read access to the content, so I can take it and go elsewhere? And the answer is firm and simple. No. You can't have deleted content back, without review.

We see too many problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , about inconsistent content penalties . My blog was deleted - then I got a letter of apology from Blogger. But my blog was deleted, again! and My blog does not contain copied content, why was it deleted? These blog owners, and others, are complying with the letter of the law - as they see important. Unfortunately, other blog and website owners have rights too - and Blogger will also enforce their rights - now, and in the future. To have a righteous blog, you have to remain innocent of all possible TOS violation categories.

We've been providing advice for blog owners, unhappy about unfair spam classification, for a few years, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Some blog owners have similar questions about unfair objectionable content classification. Content Warning Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is objectionable. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger  Terms of Service . These blog owners, seeing how objectively we are able to evaluate spam classifications, request similar service for content classifications.

If you are a fan of any TV medical dramas - or if you have any medical background, you probably know the term " triage ". In a medical setting, triage is applied to conditions where multiple patients are present, and far outnumber the medical staff available to provide immediate treatment. When a "triage" technique is needed, one doctor examines each patient, briefly, and places each in one of three categories. Immediate care needed, and beneficial. Immediate care not needed. Treat when cases of #1 priority are complete. Immediate care not needed, or useful. Treat when cases of #1 and #2 priority are complete.

Part of the spam review process involves verifying that a spam review request is needed. Not every blog owner understands the reason for not requesting spam review, needlessly. A blog has to be owned under the Google account being used, and locked as a suspected spam host, for a spam review to be useful. A spam review, when properly conducted, starts with the "Restore" / "Review" buttons, in the "Deleted blogs" section of the personal Blogger dashboard. As of December 2014, the "Restore" / "Review" buttons are not working for everybody - and this is causing some confusion.