Blogger Magic - Followers / Reading List Visibility

When we use Blogger Following, we create a link to our profile, from each blog that we Follow.

That's the primary purpose of Following - to see, and to be seen. We also create links from our Followers profile, to each Followed blog. That's the purpose of having a profile - to describe ourselves, by the blogs that interest us.

Everybody does not want other people knowing about every blog that we Follow, though. To let us Follow blogs without being seen, we can Follow anonymously - or hide a blog, from our profile on other blogs.

When we Follow a blog, we can choose to Follow anonymously, or publicly.

We can change the option, to Follow anonymously or publicly, when needed. If we Follow publicly, we can hide this blog, in our profile, on other blogs.

We can also hide blogs in Reading List, to keep the list manageable.

Change between Anonymous and Public Following.

There are two ways of changing between anonymous and public Following.

1. Use the Followers gadget.
2. Use the Reading List wizard.

Use the Followers gadget.

If you are Following a blog publicly, you'll have your icon in the Followers facepile (the icon cloud in the gadget). You can edit your profile, and Follow anonymously - or continue to Follow publicly, but with this blog hidden from other blogs.

Click on "Options", when you are logged in to Following, as yourself.

Then, click on "Site settings".

Or, if you are Following publicly, you can click on your icon, then "Settings".

Now, you have the Settings wizard, for this site.

Click on "publicly" - since you can see this, when Following publicly.

If you're Following publicly, you can choose to Follow anonymously - or continue to Follow publicly, but not include this blog on your profile.



If you are Following a blog anonymously, you won't have your icon in the facepile. If you want to now Follow publicly, and you are properly logged in, you'll still have "Options" - then "Site settings".

Use the Reading List wizard.

There are two Reading List management wizards - one for Blogger profiles, the other for Google+ profiles.

Changing Reading List, with a Blogger profile.

If you have a Blogger profile, you use the Blogger "Manage Blogs I'm Following" wizard - that you access from the Blogger dashboard.

If you have a Google+ profile, you'll use Google friend connect "Sites I've joined".

Start from the Blogger dashboard home page.

Click on the "gear" icon, to the right of "Reading List".

Some blogs are Followed publicly.

You can make any publicly Followed blog, Followed anonymously.

Just click on "Change to anonymous".

Some blogs are Followed anonymously.

You can make any anonymously Followed blog, Followed publicly.

Just click on "Change to public".



Changing Reading List, with a Google+ profile.

If you have a Google+ profile, you use Google Friend Connect: Sites I've joined. You can't click to this wizard, from the dashboard.

If you have a Blogger profile, you'll use Blogger "Manage Blogs I'm Following".

Start from "Sites I've joined".

Find the blog that's relevant - and click on "Settings".

Some blogs are Followed publicly.

This blog is being Followed publicly.



If you choose to Follow publicly, using a Google+ profile, you can choose to display this blog, as part of your profile - when your icon is displayed on other blogs. Alternately, you can Follow this blog publicly - but make it non visible, from other blogs.

To Follow anonymously, click on "Follow anonymously", and "Save".

Some blogs are Followed anonymously.

This blog is being Followed anonymously.

To Follow publicly, click on "Follow publicly", and "Save".

If you Follow publicly, you can choose to hide the blog from your profile. You'll be visible, on this blog - but your profile, on other blogs, won't point to this blog.



Hide and un hide a blog, in Reading List.

Besides anonymity in Following, we can hide a blog, to make Reading List manageable.

So, be aware of the options for choosing private ("anonymous") vs public Following.

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When we Follow a blog, using #Blogger Followers, we have several options to control our visibility on different blogs. We can make ourselves fully or partially visible - or non visible.

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Blogger Magic - Maintain Reading List Brevity

When you Follow a blog, the blog feed is added, as a subscription, to your dashboard Reading List.

This lets you read the blog content, conveniently, using the newsfeed. Separately from the Reading List, you can choose whether to have your personal Followers icon displayed, in the icon cloud on the blog display.

Besides maintaining anonymity in Following, you can hide any number of blogs, in the Reading List index, to make the index manageable.

You can display your Reading List, with the various blogs indexed in 3 states.

• Hidden, and not shown.
• Hidden, and temporarily shown.
• Visible.

Just learn to hover the mouse cursor in the right spot, to the left of the index entries, to change the state of the individual blogs.

Hidden or not, the blog content will continue to display, in the main Reading List display. Hidden blogs simply appear or disappear - as needed - in the Reading List index.

Here's an example of Reading List index entries.

Start from the Reading List section of the dashboard home page.

Here, we see two blogs that are being Followed, both visible.

To hide a blog, hover the mouse cursor to the left of a given blog name, and click on the down arrow.

To show all hidden blogs, click on the right arrow to the left of "Hidden blogs".

Now, all blogs are displayed - and the hidden blogs are indicated.

To un hide a hidden blog, hover the mouse cursor to the left of the blog name, and click on the up arrow.

And we again have two blogs, both visible.



The actual content of the Reading List display does not change - just the Reading List index, on the left.

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To help you use the #Blogger dashboard Reading List effectively, you have the ability to display or hide specific blogs in the index. This does not change Reading list content - just the index - and makes it easier to locate important blogs, repeatedly, in the index.

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Deleting Your Blogger Account

We see regular queries about deleting a Blogger account, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

A Blogger account is simply a Google account, used to publish or read blogs. If you want to delete a Blogger account, you need to delete the Google account.

If you are using your Google account for other services, maybe GMail, Google+, and / or YouTube, you won't want to delete your Google account. But you can make the Blogger portion of your Google account invisible, to the public.

With a little planning, you can make your Blogger account empty and invisible, to the world.

Delete, or transfer ownership of, any blogs that you own.

If you have any Blogger blogs, you'll want to delete them - but plan the deletion, for best results. Alternately, you may prefer to transfer ownership of your blog(s), to a different Blogger / Google account.

Edit your profile, and remove all personal details - and make it private.

If you're using a Blogger profile on your Blogger account, edit your Blogger profile, and remove any personal details that people surf - like Location, Work, and Additional Information.

Remove all personal details.



Then, uncheck "Show my profile". With your blogs gone, and your profile empty and private, there won't be any way for folks to find your Blogger account.

Uncheck "Show my profile", as a final step.



If you have a Google+ profile, check that, too.

If you are using a Google+ profile, with your Google account, edit check your posts and your Google+ profile, for any mention of your Blogger blogs.

Finally, don't publish any Blogger blogs - and you won't have a Blogger account. This may be part of the process of making yourself anonymous.

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Some blog owners decide to delete their #Blogger accounts, without understanding that you can't separate Blogger from Google. A Blogger account cannot be deleted, without deleting the Google account.

With a little effort and planning, though, you can remove all traces of a Blogger account - and leave the Google account intact.

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True Online Anonymity Begins With A New Identity

We see occasional queries, from blog owners who require separation of their blog ownership from their real lives, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

I want to have myself anonymous, so that people do not know who I am when I blog. i think it will contribute to a more exciting blog!

An air of mystery is OK, as long as it's not being used to mask criminal activity.

Taking a public account and blog, and removing all personal details, can be an exercise in futility - or at least, ingenuity.

Blogger / Google code contains details, which may reveal too much.

We know that Blogger permits us - and will support us - to publish a blog, anonymously - with our blogging and real life identities kept separate. They don't provide details, though - possibly because each person may have their own ideas how separate they want everything to be.

Both Blogger accounts and blogs contain obscure details, which might be exploited by someone who is experienced in identity tracing.

One detail, which is frequently used in blog ownership analysis, is the "me" tag, in the blog header. The "me" tag is not documented - it's just there, in the blog source code.

I like to cook.

Who knows if the "me" tag in my "Recipe" blog, leading to my Google+ profile, could one day lead the wrong person to my door?



Who knows what other details may be present, in a Blogger / Google profile, or blog internal code?

For true anonymity, start with a clean account and blogs.

If you want true anonymity, start with a new Blogger account which contains no personally identifying content. And if possible, delete your current Blogger account.

Then setup a new Blogger blog - and again, add no personally identifying content. And do not link between anything in your clean, new Blogger account, and anything in any other accounts.

The best chance for anonymity starts with 100% isolation of the new Blogger account.

Conduct frequent personal identity audits, and educate yourself.

As you publish your blog, look at each opinion and story, and ask yourself how this could be used against you.

Spend some time on the Internet, and read about identity verification, pursuit of fugitives, and similar detective work. Spend some time reading stories about the US Witness Security (WitSec) Program, and similar programs in other countries - and how they protect their clients.

Their stories could become your learning opportunities.

True anonymity will have disadvantages.

If you truly make yourself anonymous, there will be no backdoor authentication details. You will not be able to recover control of the blog if you ever forget the account name or password.

If you remember account / password, you may not need backdoor authentication.

Neither Blogger: Forgot your username or password? - or Google: Having trouble signing in or viewing your blog? - will have any details which can be used to recover access, if you become truly anonymous. If there are any such details which could be used by you, to recover access or control, those details might be your downfall, when an experienced detective is put on your trail.

You will need protection from Google Hacking Detection, eventually.

If your account gets locked from "suspicious" / "unusual" activity, or when you change computers or travel, you will need anonymous backup authentication. You will need one or more components of Google 2-Step Verification. Just recording account name / password in a password storage vault won't help, if Google Hacking detection becomes involved.

You're going to have to have some backup authentication - just choose what you use selectively, keep it up to date, religiously - and never lose it.

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Some #Blogger blog owners want to separate their blogging and personal lives - and want their blogs to not lead anybody to their real life existence. This can conflict with effective blog publishing - as a blog, by design, is an online extension of ones real life.

Given enough forethought, and research, it may be possible to separate our online life from real life - but it won't be a one time activity. Personal online anonymity will require constant self examination, and preparation.

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If You Cannot Prove Ownership Of Your Blogger Account, Your Next Step May Involve Court Action

We've explored the issues of Blogger account and blog recovery policy, repeatedly.

We've mentioned the business concerns, the personal support issues, the strategic hacking possibilities, and even the personal implications of prevention.

With all of the warnings, we continue to see evidence of blog owners who just don't understand the message, posting in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I started a blog under an alias, to be able to post anonymously, and can't remember the login details or the e-mail recovery. How can I regain access to my blog?

Last year, Blogger Support offered the "final" word about account recovery assistance, in the forum.

Due to the sensitive nature of these issues, we won't be able to troubleshoot your issue in this public forum.

Even giving that advice, some blog owners still insist that Google is not cooperating, in refusing to restore access to Blogger accounts and blogs, to people who cannot prove their right to ownership.

The policy on ownership recovery, provided by Blogger, is quite simple. Anybody requiring recovery has to prove their right to a given Blogger account or blog, using the tools provided.

Because Google doesn't ask for much personal information when you sign up for an account, we don't have many ways to verify that you own an account.

Blogger / Google provide two automated recovery tools - and that is the limit of their involvement. Every Blogger blog owner, who actively publishes a blog, and who wants to keep their blog under their control, needs to appreciate this limit - this is how Blogger and Google prevents devious hijacking of our blogs.

For those blog owners who truly need - and deserve - control of their lost blogs, there is one final recourse. Any owner, who cannot use the Blogger / Google automated tools, are entitled to take their concerns outside Google, and have their identity certified by the courts. Start by hiring a lawyer, take the matter to a judge, and get a properly issued court order. Then, serve the court order, properly, to Google.

Let's let the courts assume responsibility of deciding who is a worthy blog owner - and who is potentially a blog thief or hacker.

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Third Party Gadgets And Recent Malware Detected Blogs

Earlier this week, we noted an increased level of activity in reports about blogs locked as suspected spam hosts, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. Upon review of the increased volume of spam referrals, with the majority of the cases found to be spurious, Blogger Support provided advice, about a new reason for deleted blogs.

Yesterday, our malware detection system began receiving reports of malicious content on some blogs. While the blog content on many of these blog may be malware-free, 3rd party widgets on these blogs may contain malware.

When a blog is locked for hosting malicious third party gadgets, the blog will be present in the dashboard "Deleted blogs" list - and should be unlocked, on the spot, using the "Restore" option in the list.

The Known Issues advice continues, and describes a planned action.

We’re currently in the process of contacting all blog owners with instructions.

Until Blogger Engineering comes up with an automated contact procedure, owners of blogs which are deleted by Blogger may do well to check their dashboard "Deleted blogs" list, before asking for spam review in the forums.

Owners who find their blog listed, in "Deleted blogs" will be able to immediately restore the blog in question. Having restored the blog, it will be accessible in the "Locked blogs" list - where only the administrators can access it - and remove any possibly malicious third party gadgets, which may have been recently installed. So far, we've seen problems reported with

• Email address collection.
• Third party advertising.
• Traffic redirection
.

All of these are known to trigger malware classification, and cause locked blogs. While the blog is in "Locked blogs", it will remain offline, and inaccessible by readers and search engines.

Once all malicious / unsafe accessories and tweaks have been removed, the owner can submit the blog for unlock review, using the "Request Unlock Review" button in "Locked Blogs". Given a successful review, the blog will be returned to the main "My blogs" list, and restored to service.

Once malicious accessories and tweaks have been removed from the blog in question, it's a good idea to not reinstall them. Repeated detection will lead to Blogger account termination, similar to the penalty for repeated DMCA violations.

There are several reasons why all owners of such blogs may not see their blog listed, in a dashboard list. Owners of these blogs will still be obligated to report their problem in the forums - and to patiently wait while Blogger Support can restore their blogs.

The latter scenario will provide one more example while poorly planned anonymous blog ownership is not a good idea.

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Everybody Won't Get Proper Notice About Their Blog

One problem that we're seeing in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken involves blog owners, who recently discovered their blogs deleted or locked, by Blogger - and without any notice received.

The account actions may be required with the blog deleted for a suspected TOS Violation, such as hosting malware, porn, or spam - or locked because of "suspicious activity" on the Blogger account.

Why was my blog deleted? I never got proper notice!

Too many people depend upon email notification - and may not receive proper notification, in all cases.

Blogger provides a dashboard based malware / porn / spam classification notification / recovery process, which may not be available for everybody. Similar to malware / porn / spam classification, there will be issues with DMCA violation notification.

This is also a problem when accounts are locked for "suspicious activity", and when blogs are locked for hosting malicious third party gadgets.

There are several reasons why some blog owners won't get notification of their blogs being deleted or locked, by the various Blogger / Google security processes.

Nobody should expect advance warning of any action being taken.

Besides notification limitations, nobody should expect to get advance warning of action being taken - as this would simply encourage the intentional spammers to never request review. Intentional spammers, if permitted, would play 3 Card Monte, endlessly, with their spammy blogs.

Both the notification, and advance warning, limitations contribute to confusion about the various Blogger / Google security recovery options. All email based notifications may not be properly delivered.

The owner of any email account, which may not deliver email properly, is still responsible for reading any important email messages.

Some blogs are owned by accounts which use intentionally bogus email addresses.

Too many Blogger blogs are owned by Blogger accounts which are based on inactive or nonexistent email addresses. Owners of these blogs will never see email notification, when they - intentionally or not - make themselves anonymous.

Some email clients may misfile an incoming email message.

In other cases, some people may get the email notifying them of problems - but their email program may misfile the email, in a folder which they may not check, regularly. In some odd cases, somebody other than the owner may get the email.

Blogs owned by teams will be subject to action against any one member.

In team blog ownerships, any blog owned by the team is subject to action, against the Blogger / Google account, used by any team member. Blogs affected will simply disappear from the dashboards of all team members - with no opportunity provided for appeal or review.

Some blog owners maintain too many Blogger and email accounts.

Finally, too many blog owners maintain multiple Blogger / Google accounts, and are not completely sure which Blogger account may own a given blog. These owners may not even see the dashboard based "Deleted Blogs" button / link, because they will be logged in to the wrong Blogger account.

Each blog owner is responsible for any problems, regardless of cause.

Not all of the above scenarios are entirely the fault of the blog owners - but the blog owners are the ones who will have to deal with the resulting problems. It's possible that this may seem unfair - but it's reality.

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Anonymity, Your BirthDate, And Your New Blogger / Google Account

Not all new Blogger blog owners understand why they are asked for their birthdate, when they setup a Blogger or Google account.

Some folks see this as a violation of their right to privacy, and enter a fake birthdate. Some real serious privacy enthusiasts might enter "01/01/01", just to get through the setup process - maybe intending to correct it, later.

Nobody entering "01/01/01", for one's birthdate, suspects that claiming such a birthdate makes them - in 2013 - appear to be 12 years of age. Unfortunately, 12 years is below the minimum age for owning a Blogger blog.

Since Blogger / Google tries to protect the young people on the Internet from inadvertently exposing themselves - or their families or friends - to unknown dangers, people who may appear to be of insufficient age are subject to having their Blogger / Google accounts, and Blogger blogs, deleted or locked.

If you entered a fake birthdate some time ago, and now find your account or blog locked or deleted, you need to prove your age to Google - and you should do this promptly.

The Google Accounts document Frequently Asked Questions about Google Account and Age Requirements explains how you do this. The process of verifying your age / birthdate is not convenient - and some privacy enthusiasts may claim that it too violates their privacy rights - but it is necessary, to let you correct your birthdate - when you are legitimately of legal age.

Now, you have to hope that you did not, intentionally or mistakenly, also provide a bogus email account as your Blogger / Google account name / recovery email address. The process of identifying yourself as the owner (former, nominally underage) of a given Blogger / Google account is easier to do, when you have access to the email account stated as the account recovery email address.

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