The Real Blogger Status

Every time I carry this computer with me, and login to Blogger or Google from another location - and get the repeated demand that I Insert my USB key, and touch the button. I growl just a bit. Then, I consider what using Google 2-Step Verification means, to me. Many blog owners become unhappy, when they use Blogger. I tried using Blogger from my friends computer - and I have to tell them when I setup my Blogger account! or I need to recover control of my blog - and even though I supplied the right phone, and got the recovery email message, I have to check off which Google services I have used, in the last month!! WTF?? These are simply people who do not use Google 2-Step Verification - and have to prove their identity, in a different way.

One of the hottest US National news stories, this month, is about Hillary Clinton and how she endangered the security of this country by using an insecure email address . One of her mistakes involved her having a friend who had her email address in his address book, when his email account was hacked. And that is how your friends email accounts can be used, to attack your email account. Even if your email account is not revealed, openly, a friend - or fellow blog owner - who reveals her / his email address, can have his / her Blogger account, blog, and email account stolen. And with the possibility that you and your friend exchange emails, there is vulnerability to your email account, your Blogger account, and your blog .

Blog owners continue to forget the account name and / or password of their Blogger accounts, then demand alternate recovery options. Every week, we see the reports in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue , claiming that changing their email - or getting a new phone - caused somebody to unfairly lose access to her / his blog. Too many blog owners refuse to understand that the email address and phone number are simply backdoor accesses to their Blogger accounts .

Whether you give up your blog willingly, have your blog stolen from you, or accidentally enable your blog to be stolen - once your blog is in someone else's control, Blogger cannot, legally, help you. We see the naivete, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken . I made my friend an administrator of my blog, and he changed me to an author. Can Blogger restore my ownership? And the short answer, too frequently given, is denial. No, Blogger cannot help you. Blogs stolen, supposedly from their rightful owner, can generally not be returned by Blogger.

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.

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.

We see the pain, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken , of blog owners who do not understand the need for keeping the name of their Blogger account a secret. I forgot the email address that I was using. Why can't Blogger just tell me the address?? and some ask How did this unknown person "xxxxx xxxxx" get control of my blog? Years ago, the local police would have to convince home owners Please, stop leaving a spare key under a rock, near the door! Both many blog owners (today) - like some home owners (years ago) - had the same basic problem - naivete.