The Real Blogger Status

The monolithic "Operation Aborted" error , seen with blogs being viewed through Internet Explorer, has been with us for many months. Last week, the problem took a much more serious turn, and affected many blogs - such as many of the blogs in Nitecruzr Dot Net . After several days, and some intense work by Blogger engineers, the problem seems to have diminished significantly - yet it continues to be reported sporadically in the forums. As of yesterday 5/27, Nitecruzr Dot Net is still affected. Right now, it appears to be seen, primarily, by bloggers using Internet Explorer V8. Removal of the Following and Friend Connect gadgets, where present in a blog owned by a viewer of the problem, helps eliminate the symptom many, but not all, of the times seen. Some bloggers have stated that changing from the inline comment form, to a popup or separate form, has helped eliminate their version of the problem. Presumably, the problem, if this is going to be effective, will be seen onl...

Many months ago, I discussed a legal (though highly antisocial) exploit of our blogs - a web site that devotes itself to hijacking those surfers who mistype "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com" as "xxxxxxx.blogpsot.com". Today, we see that in addition to "blogpsot.com", we have similarly "blogpot.com". It's the same deceitful trash, too. The same picture of the Holy Land, and the same phony biblical prophecy and assorted fraud. Please advise your readers to type your blog's URL with care. Type "xxxxxxx.blogspot.com" - not "xxxxxxx.blogpot.com", "xxxxxxx.blogpost.com", or "xxxxxxx.blogpsot.com".

As people become used to Blogger Following as just another tool to connect people, they start to think about the implications . And we see questions like How do I block someone who's been following my blog secretly? I couldn't see her in my Followers list (hence I couldn't use the "Block this user" link), but I have looked at her profile and could see that she's Following my blog. Following, when you look at the bottom line, is no more than a feed subscription and an icon (possibly) displayed on your blog, and linking back to the profile of the Follower in question. If someone Follows your blog anonymously, all that they get is a subscription to the blog feed. If you publish a feed from your blog, and if the feed is open to anybody (which, right now, is the case ), then it's open to everybody. If someone wants to use Following to subscribe to the feed, you can't stop this. You can't block it before, or after, the fact. You can't Block w...

Since New Blogger, and the Pick New Template wizard, was launched, many bloggers have been wishing for a 3 column template. So far, Blogger hasn't provided us with one, so a while ago, I got ambitious, and made my own. You can see the basic result, in my 3 Column Template Laboratory , and in my previous article, Making A 3 Column Template .

The problem with Blogger Follower and Google Friend Connect gadgets causing the ever increasing volumes of problem reports about "Operation Aborted", in Internet Explorer , continues. Bowing to public pressure, I have removed the Following and Friend Connect gadgets from my blogs at Nitecruzr Dot Net. Note that I still have my Followers, my blog simply lacks the Followers gadget in the sidebar. Anybody wishing to Follow my blogs (or yours, if you do similarly) can find the "Follow Blog" link in the navbar. I made the navbar visible on all blogs, to enable this tactic to work. And the people who Follow my blogs will continue to Follow them. I look forward to an update by Blogger Support , so I may restore the Following / Friend Connect gadgets, when this snafu is resolved - may it be soon. (Update 5/29): Noting several comments that this blog is still issuing "Operation Aborted" to some readers, I have also changed my comments form placement, from ...

Recently, we see perplexed queries from bloggers I published a comment of over 8000 chars a few days ago, but now I get this message: Must be at most 4,096 characters. (for HTML, at least). Still, the Help Database says nothing about this limit. And checking the referential Blogger Help: What are the limits on my Blogger account? , we indeed see no such limit mentioned. Oh no, what to do now? This is, possibly, a new limit initiated with recent changes to Blogger. I personally can't see how you would type anywhere near 4,096 characters in the tiny comment entry box, let alone 8,000 characters. I got curious, and I generated an example. Here is 4,093 characters of text. [32] Sed ut perspiciatis, unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam eaque ipsa, quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt, explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem, quia voluptas sit, aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed...

We see confusion occasionally from bloggers trying to use Following or Friend Connect I want to Follow this person, but when I click on the Follow button I'm asked to sign in. I'm already signed in to my blog, am I being hacked? or I clicked on the users picture. Where is the button to Block the user? Both questions come from someone who isn't aware that Following / Friend Connect are applications separated from Blogger, and separated intentionally.