Act Immediately, When Invited

Some moments come fleetingly, and never again.

One such moment may be, when you receive a blog membership invitation.

The purpose of this message is to inform you that xxxxxxx has invited you to join their private blog "xxxxx xxxxx". To accept this invitation, click on the button below.

or

The purpose of this message is to inform you that yyyyyyy has invited you to contribute to their blog "yyyyy yyyyy". To accept this invitation, click on the button below.

Unless you know the blog owner, this may be your one chance.

If you get an invitation to be a designated reader on a private blog - or an author on either a private or team blog - decide, and act as soon as possible.

Any invitation that you get will be temporary. Blog membership invitations expire, after a fixed amount of time.

Accept the invitation, to view and note the URL.

If the blog is private, and you accept the invitation as a reader, make a note of the URL too.

Long ago, you might get a "preview link" in the invitation - allowing you to view the blog, and bookmark / copy the URL for later. The "preview link" feature was abused by too many owners - and appears to be gone now.

No preview = no URL until after you accept the invitation.

Become an author, on a team blog!

Become a reader, on a private blog!



There's a limited amount of detail, in the invitation.

How useful is either invitation, if you don't accept, when viewed later? You can get the owner name (as provided by the owner), and the blog title - and that's it.

• Invitations contain only the author name, the blog title, and a membership token.
• A reader invitation, for a private blog, may not produce an entry in the dashboard "My blogs" list.
• Both author and reader invitations will expire.

Act promptly, for best result.

If you get an invitation, and you file it away so you can "think about it", don't think about it too long.

Once the token expires - and if you don't know the owner - you'll not be able to contact the owner. And until you accept the invitation - and actually view then bookmark the blog - you won't find out the URL.

Act quickly - or never.

---

If you get an invitation to be an author on a private or team #Blogger blog, or a reader on a private blog, act promptly. Invitations expire too soon - they contain few details - and won't be very useful later.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/z-lKeqO-ssA

Read More

Share Posts, From Private Blogs, By Email

Owners of private blogs have, periodically, lamented the lack of options for distribution of comments and posts. We've seen a few queries, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

How do I let my readers subscribe to my private blog?

There's no good answer, to please everybody, here.

You can't use EMail, FeedBurner, or Reading List, for sharing private blog content. FeedBurner requires the blog comments / posts newsfeeds - and private blogs don't produce newsfeeds.

If you need to distribute content from a private blog, you'll have to use BlogSend.

Private blog post subscriptions require the dashboard "BlogSend" feature.

You'll have to use "BlogSend" to provide email subscriptions, for private blogs - and that limits you to 10 subscribers (1 who should be you). That's the "Email posts to" option in the dashboard Settings - Email page.

"BlogSend" aka "Email posts to" is the only option, for private blogs.



You can try to email specific posts, from a private blog.

You can try to use the Blogger post footer "Email Posts" feature.

Just enable the "Email Post Links" option in "Configure Blog Posts". You cannot enable "Show Share Buttons" - but you can enable "Show Email Post Links".

Use "Configure Blog Posts" from the dashboard Layout page.

Look under "Post Page Options" for "Show Email Post Links".



With the option enabled, and the icon visible, it's still a no go.

D'Ohh!



There's still no social sharing of private blog content.

Note the advice for "Show Share Buttons".

Sharing is available only for public blogs.

You can't share blog content, outside Blogger, if the blog is private. That protects private blog owners, from having their confidential posts distributed to the world.

We can't share content from private blogs, using EMail, FaceBook, Google+, Pinterest, or Twitter.

---

If you publish a private #Blogger blog, you cannot email or share comments or posts. Your only option will be BlogSend aka the "Email posts to" dashboard option.

Read More

Dynamic Templates, And Improved "Follow by Email"

We see some concern about providing email subscriptions, from blog owners in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

How do I provide email subscriptions for my blog? Neither Follow by Email or Subscription Links works, for email!

The blog in question is using a dynamic template. In some cases, even "Subscription Links" does not provide a "Subscribe by Email" option - and it appears that the blog owner is really out of luck.

The "Subscribe by Email" gadget does not work, with dynamic templates - and some dynamic templates don't support the "Subscription Links" gadget with "Subscribe by Email" added.

Add "Subscription Links" to a blog with a dynamic template - for some blogs.

In some cases, you may not even want to use "Subscription Links". You can, however, use a LinkList gadget, to do the same thing - and to make an improved "Subscription Links" gadget.

In this case, add "Subscribe by Email" as a linklist gadget.

Just add the "Subscription Link Code", in a linklist gadget. Here is the code, from the FeedBurner Publicize dashboard page, for my blog, Chucks Musings.

The "Subscription Management" page, and "Subscription Link Code".



Add the link caption as "New Site Name", and the link code as "New Site URL".

<a href="https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=ChucksMusings&loc=en_US">Subscribe to Chucks Musings by Email</a>

The "Subscription Link Code" caption, and link.



Just add a new LinkList gadget.

• New Site Name: Subscribe to Chucks Musings by Email
• New Site URL: https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=ChucksMusings&loc=en_US

Copy into a LinkList.



Click "Add Link" - then "Save" - and finally, "Save arrangement".

And we have a new sidebar accessory.

And if you click on the link, you get the FeedBurner "Email Subscription Request" verification form.



So, either add "Subscription Links" - or make a custom LinkList accessory. One, or the other, will give you "Subscribe by Email", in a dynamic template.

---

Some #Blogger blogs, which use a dynamic template, won't display "Subscribe by Email" as an added option, in "Subscription Links". Or, in some cases, you may actually want a more robust "Subscribe by Email" - or "Subscribe" menu.

In this case, add a LinkList gadget - and add the subscription form as a FeedBurner hosted form, using "Subscription Link Code".

Read More

FeedBurner Feed Redirection, And "BrowserFriendly"

Some blog owners and readers ask about blog feed displays, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

I clicked on this text at the bottom of the blog page:

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

and I got a screen full of gibberish.

This is a known oddity, in Chrome.

The Chrome browser, unlike Firefox or Internet Explorer, lacks a built in newsfeed reader.

If you, the blog owner, want to see a useful display of blog content, when you click on "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)", you can do that. Just add a Chrome extension, such as "RSS Subscription Extension (by Google)".

With the right extension added to Chrome, you will see blog content - instead of a screen full of gibberish. But what about your readers?

Give your readers a consistent and useful newsfeed display page.

If you want your readers to see useful content - plus a toolbar that helps them subscribe, using email or a feed reader, you can setup a FeedBurner feed, and add the BrowserFriendly service.

Just activate BrowserFriendly, from the FeedBurner Optimize page. Then, select the BrowserFriendly options that interest you.

You can choose from a number of popular feed readers to support, or add your own.



If you have Email Subscriptions added, your readers will have a selection for that, in the BrowserFriendly display.

NOTE: Because you use FeedBurner Email Subscriptions, a link to subscribe via email will automatically appear with your subscription selections.

You can add the original blog feed, to BrowserFriendly.

For more consistent reader statistics and subscriptions, you can make sure that the BrowserFriendly display uses the original posts newsfeed.

If you have configured your web server to redirect from your old feed to your new one, you should tell subscribers to use your old, redirected address so that the redirect can work its magic and subscribers always use that address, but FeedBurner tracks 100% of your traffic. FeedBurner will always show that address to potential subscribers instead of the FeedBurner feed address in BrowserFriendly.

Click on "Use your redirected feed URL on your BrowserFriendly landing page", to open the "BrowserFriendly" Redirected Feed URL setting wizard.



Copy the "Original Feed" URL from "Edit Feed Details" into the "Redirected Feed URL".

BrowserFriendly gives all readers, ignoring the browser, a good subscription page.

Whether your readers use Chrome, Firefox, or Edge / Internet Explorer, you can have them using the FeedBurner BrowserFriendly newsfeed display, and subscription wizard. All of your readers will have a more consistent access to your blog feeds and subscription options - and you'll have a happier reader community.

Complementing BrowserFriendly, you may wish to look at SmartFeed and Format Burner, to provide the right feed format. And if any of these ideas create conflicting needs, you can use multiple FeedBurner feeds.

---

With a #Blogger blog that uses email / newsfeed subscriptions to attract and encourage readers, you can provide a more consistent subscription display for your reader community, by using #FeedBurner and the BrowserFriendly service.

Read More

Blogger Magic - Check / Edit FeedBurner Feed Details

Whenever you have a problem with FeedBurner - or need to change details, the "Edit Feed Details" wizard is an essential tool.

It's a very simple display - just 3 data elements - but it's a pretty useful 3 elements, if you use FeedBurner with your blog..

The FeedBurner "Edit Feed Details" wizard is an essential tool, when researching a FeedBurner problem.

Start from the FeedBurner "My feeds" display - and select a feed in the list.

"Edit Feed Details" is at the top of the feed dashboard.

Start from the feed dashboard.

Click on "Edit Feed Details".

And there is the "Edit Feed Details" display.



Here, you can view, and edit:

• Feed Title.
• Original Feed URL.
• FeedBurner Feed URL.

Feed Title.

You can change the feed title here - or in the service settings.

Optimize - Title/Description Burner lets you change to title used in the feed itself. Publicize - Email Subscriptions - Email Branding lets you change the title used in the email based feed service.

You may want to check the blog title, also.

Original Feed URL.

If you change the URL of your blog, or want to use a different blog, you can use the FeedBurner Feed URL ("Original Feed") to make the change transparent, to everybody who Follows your blog using a FeedBurner service. The original feed URL may change - but the FeedBurner Feed URL does not have to change.

FeedBurner Feed URL.

Besides changing the title, you can change the feed URL ("Feed Address"), if you need.

Simple changes / powerful results.

These are simple changes - that can have powerful results.

---

Any #Blogger blog owner who uses #FeedBurner to distribute / modify content of a newsfeed, or an email subscription, needs to know and use the "Edit Feed Details" dashboard wizard. The ability to change the feed title, the blog feed URL, and / or the FeedBurner feed URL, at will, makes this a useful wizard.

https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/oUYseDHCerU/discussion

Read More

Blogger Magic - FeedBurner Email For Your Blog

Some people who will enjoy your blog may prefer to follow it using their email.

It's not difficult to setup email delivery of the comments or posts - from various source selections. FeedBurner offers a wide assortment of delivery options, for the many sources.

Blogger offers the "Subscribe by Email" gadget and service, which delivers the posts newsfeed. That's one feed possibility - and you can have many more, with very little work.

Using the many options provided by FeedBurner, combined with the many feed possibilities, you can produce a generous set of email subscription options.

1. Setup a FeedBurner feed.
2. Activate the "Subscribe by Email" service, for the feed.
3. Add a FeedBurner form, to the blog.

Setup a FeedBurner feed.

To add a standard blog posts subscription, add a "Subscribe by Email" gadget (for blogs with non dynamic Blogger templates) - or a "Subscription Links" gadget (for all blogs, including those with dynamic templates).

The standard blog posts subscription is not the only possibility. You can setup a FeedBurner feed for any blog published feed - including various label based feeds.

Start with the URL of any blog native feed.

Give the feed an Address and a Title.

The feed is setup. Proceed to the dashboard, to Activate the feed.



Activate the "Subscribe by Email" service, for the feed.

Activate "Email Subscriptions", for the FeedBurner feed that you setup.



From the FeedBurner dashboard Publicize - "Email Subscriptions" - "Subscription Management" page, Activate the "Email Subscriptions" service, for the feed.

The service is active - now check out other options.



With the "Email Subscriptions" service activated, look at the various formatting and distribution options available.

Add a FeedBurner form, to the blog.

You can use the form provided with "Subscribe by Email", if you are setting up the standard blog posts feed. For any other feed, you can use either form provided on the "Subscription Management" page, installed as an HTML / JavaScript gadget.

If you want to be fancy, you can make a fixed location ("floating") subscription icon.

Just use your imagination.

FeedBurner presents you with endless choices, for letting your readers enjoy your blog from their Email inboxes. Think about what will look good on your blog - and what will interest your readers.

---

Not all #Blogger blog owners know how easy it is to use #FeedBurner email delivery, to provide your readers the option to view your blog - in many content options - using their email inboxes.

Read More

Add A Fixed Location "Subscribe" Button To Your Blog

To encourage email subscriptions, and other social connections, some blog owners provide gadget toolbars, with useful links.

Some blog owners would like to position their gadgets in fixed screen positions.

I want to have a subscribe button hover at the top of the page, while people read my blog.

This blog has a hovering AddThis toolbar, which provides selected social sharing options. And, it has a hovering "Top of Page" button.

Adding a custom subscription gadget, in a fixed screen location, is not complicated.

AddThis has a large library of social sharing gadgets, with their icons - but they don't have any email subscription selections. But you can add an icon based "subscribe" button, "hovering" at the top of the page.

An occasional request suggests using a popup window, containing a subscription form. We don't recommend using a popup window - but a subscription form, on a FeedBurner hosted page, will provide the same function.

1. Add FeedBurner "Subscribe by Email".
2. Add a "Subscribe by Email" FeedBurner hosted form, and a link.
3. Add a suitable icon, containing the FeedBurner subscription link.
4. Try It.

See below "Try It.", for the detailed procedure.

Add FeedBurner "Subscribe by Email".

Using the dashboard Layout page, and "Add a Gadget", add a "Subscribe by Email" gadget. This creates a blog posts FeedBurner hosted feed.

FeedBurner provides the "Subscribe by Email" gadget, with the choice to display either an on screen form - or a simple link to a FeedBurner hosted form page.

Add a "Subscribe by Email" FeedBurner hosted form, and a link.

Once a "Subscribe by Email" gadget has been added, get the gadget link from the FeedBurner dashboard, at Publicize - "Email Subscriptions" - "Subscription Management" - "Preview Subscription Link…".

Start from the dashboard, at Publicize - "Email Subscriptions" - "Subscription Management".

The "Preview Subscription Link…" window contains the code, that we need.



Add a suitable icon, containing the FeedBurner subscription link.

Choose an attractive icon to contain the FeedBurner supplied link. Add an HTML gadget using "Add a Gadget", containing the icon with the link to the FeedBurner form - and displayed in a fixed location.


Try It.

I added a button, and a new subscription, to my test blog, "Chucks Tech World".

See the icon, in the top right margin?

See how the new icon floats?

See how it floats from the top - and from the right?



Start with an icon, uploaded:

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-R3uaQFsSkF7azHhm7XAnONPpN0QRrpZ0hhW9S0Y5AqdP3Ar3iopGgFViycf75jvJ-tcpRgd_sSJsGrdb-qHCRsJtyMcq_1dQ7RfZnlhbEveDjdAYj16U6TrBivx0ym6VfzLJwQtT9Fk/s1600/Subscribe+Icon.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-R3uaQFsSkF7azHhm7XAnONPpN0QRrpZ0hhW9S0Y5AqdP3Ar3iopGgFViycf75jvJ-tcpRgd_sSJsGrdb-qHCRsJtyMcq_1dQ7RfZnlhbEveDjdAYj16U6TrBivx0ym6VfzLJwQtT9Fk/s320/Subscribe+Icon.png" /></a>

Here's the FeedBurner Subscription Link:

<a href="https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=ChucksTechWorld&loc=en_US">Subscribe to Chucks Tech World by Email</a>

Here's the Floating Top Of Page Button:

<a style="display:scroll;position:fixed;bottom:20px;right:60px;" href="#" title="Top"><img border="0" height="60" width="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2HLf375pL7ukmgwXSv3ti2luCRyGVIsZEL5d6FGjrsfaN_HYL8vy8Jr1BNRzB6cRoLeBP_JSX5r6FX8l7tjV5fkOdQU3ISmbtwLORtbbwnHACD1QWmEPawWFylh4lCixVTPGc2tpaRhA/s320/Up+Arrow+4.jpg" /></a>

And put them all together:

<a style="display:scroll;position:fixed;top:40px;right:60px;" href="https://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=ChucksTechWorld&loc=en_US" title="Subscribe by Email" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="60" width="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-R3uaQFsSkF7azHhm7XAnONPpN0QRrpZ0hhW9S0Y5AqdP3Ar3iopGgFViycf75jvJ-tcpRgd_sSJsGrdb-qHCRsJtyMcq_1dQ7RfZnlhbEveDjdAYj16U6TrBivx0ym6VfzLJwQtT9Fk/s320/Subscribe+Icon.png" /></a>

And that's it.

I now have a hovering subscription icon, in my test blog. Given a collection of icons, carefully arranged, you can have a hovering toolbar - to maybe complement a social media button toolbar.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners would like a hovering button or toolbar, to provide an email subscription form. This is an accessory that is not difficult to add.

Read More

Dynamic Templates, And "Follow by Email"

We see occasional concern about providing email subscriptions, from blog owners in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

How do I provide email subscriptions for my blog? Follow by Email does not work!

The blog in question is using a dynamic template - and it appears that the blog owner is out of luck.

The "Subscribe by Email" gadget does not work, with dynamic templates.

Add "Subscription Links" to a blog with a dynamic template.

For email subscriptions, and a blog with a dynamic template, you use the "Subscription Links" gadget. Here is my blog, Chucks Musings.

Use "Subscription Links" with a blog that has a dynamic template.



When you add "Follow by Email" to a blog with a non dynamic template, it sets up the "Email Subscriptions" service, in FeedBurner. "Subscription Links" is a collection of various subscription services - and won't activate "Email Subscriptions".

You may need to activate "Email Subscriptions".

You will probably need to activate the "Email Subscriptions" service, to use "Subscription Links" instead of "Follow by Email".



To use "Subscribe by Email" as a selection in "Subscription Links", be sure that the "Email Subscriptions" service is activated, from the FeedBurner dashboard.

Alternately, add "Subscribe by Email" in a linklist gadget.

Sometimes, you may not want to use "Subscription Links". So, just add the "Subscription Link Code", in a linklist gadget.

Here, we have a new sidebar accessory.

And when you click on the link, you get the familiar FeedBurner "Email Subscription Request" verification form.



So, either add "Subscription Links" - or make a custom LinkList accessory. One, or the other, will give you "Subscribe by Email", in a dynamic template.

---

Owners of #Blogger blogs, wishing to provide email subscriptions, find that "Follow by Email" won't work with a dynamic template. Fortunately, "Subscription Links" will provide email subscription - though the necessary FeedBurner service has to be activated.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/lsAVQuj_FOw

Read More

Private Google Groups Email Distribution Is Broken

Some blog owners have reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about broken email distribution.

There are various ways to distribute Blogger blog content, to email. For those unable or unwilling to use FeedBurner Email Distribution, one popular alternative is Google Groups.

One drawback of FeedBurner based distribution is that FeedBurner uses the blog newsfeed - and is unusable for private blogs.

Google Groups is the best content distribution medium, for private blogs.

The only scalable distribution medium, for private blogs, is Google Groups. Right now, Google Groups, for some owners, is not accepting incoming email.

This problem may not be unique to Blogger blogs. There are other reports of this problem, in the Google Groups Support Forum.

We are asking for details, in a previously posted forum Problem Rollup topic.

We have a previously discussed article, and a Problem Rollup topic, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue - where we are requesting details, as phrased above, about the problems. If you have details to contribute, solution to this problem may result from your contribution.

Please help Blogger Engineering to help you - and make your responses polite, relevant, and responsive. If this problem is to be identified, and you are affected, resolution depends upon you. And also report your problem in Google Groups Support.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners are reporting that distribution of private blog content, using Google Groups, is not operational. This problem may not be unique to Blogger blogs, as there is some discussion in Google Groups Support.

Read More

Follow By Email, And Read More Solutions

Some blog owners use email, to distribute blog content - and like the post summarisation technique, Jump Break.

We see occasional hopeful questions, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, about Jump Break, in emailed post content.

How do I use Jump Break, in my posts email subscriptions?

This is one need that probably won't be solved, precisely as requested.

Jump Break is simple enough, to add to the blog - one post at a time. To work, from an index page, it needs 2 components.

• A summarised post segment, with the "Jump Break" token, <!--more-->, in the index page display.
• A post, with the "more" anchor embedded.

The "Read More" target URL is easy enough to pass, and to use, in email.

Here's the "Read more" URL, from a previous post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/01/dear-followers-of-this-blog.html#more

The Jump Break token isn't easily interpreted, outside the Blogger environment.

The "Read more" URL is easy to pass, in email distributed blog feed. The "Jump Break" token, unfortunately, is not properly interpreted. Email displays can't handle control strings, such as

<!--more-->

or

<a·name='more'></a>

But you can use an alternate "Read More" feature.

If the blog can use FeedBurner Email Distribution, however, you can get FeedBurner to format a post summary. A post summary uses a truncated "teaser" post, truncated before the post is distributed - instead of Jump Break, interpreted when the post is viewed.

There are 2 possible ways to use "Read More", instead of "Jump Break".

You have 2 possible solutions here.

1. Setup a FeedBurner feed, based on the feed summary.
2. Setup a FeedBurner feed, based on the full feed - and use the Summary Burner option.

I setup 2 test feeds, from this blog.

1. The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 1.
2. The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 2.

You may click on either or both - and examine / compare the results. The first is based on the summary posts newsfeed, as coming from this blog, and simply redistributed by FeedBurner - and the second is based on the full posts newsfeed, as coming from this blog, and summarised then redistributed by FeedBurner.

You may subscribe to either, or both, feeds - and see what you get, in your Inbox.

1. Subscribe to The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 1 by Email.
2. Subscribe to The Real Blogger Status - Summary Option 2 by Email.

Both "Read More" solutions are easy enough to setup, using FeedBurner.

Setting both feeds up was rather simple.

1. The "Feed Summary" solution is simply a standard FeedBurner Email Distribution, sourced from "/feeds/posts/summary".
2. The "Summary Burner" option is simply a standard FeedBurner Email Distribution, sourced from "/feeds/posts/full" - and "Summary Burner" activated, with a "teaser" of 400 characters.

Activate Summary Burner from the Optimize tab.



You activate the "Summary Burner" service, from the dashboard Optimize tab. If necessary, setup a second FeedBurner feed.

Option 2 (Summary Burner) lets you adjust the "teaser", and the caption. That's the only choices - and the only challenge.



If you compare the two options, you'll notice that Option 1 is simply a fixed "teaser" of 400 characters - and that Option 2 gives you an adjustable "teaser", plus a caption of your choice. With both options, the link to the full post is in the post title.

So, it's a toss up. I'd probably go with option 2, which is more adjustable - but it's your choice, for your blog. It takes less than a minute, to change from one to the other.

Read More

Renewing Your Custom Domain Registration

Some Blogger blog owners, having experienced the anxiety of custom domain setup, intend to carefully maintain their domain registration.

We see a few queries, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, about domain registration renewal.

How do I make sure my registration gets renewed?

or

How do I renew registration before it expires?

or, possibly

My blog now displays a search page! Have I been hacked?

Some registration issues will depend upon how the domain registration was originally purchased.

Domains purchased directly from a registrar - whether using eNom, GoDaddy, or a third party registrar, will have to be renewed directly from the registrar. It's not possible to migrate a direct purchase to Blogger / Google registration for payment, any more than to use the Blogger / Google automatic DNS setup. Once you purchase domain registration from a registrar, you are on your own.

If you used Blogger "Buy a domain", Google Apps, or Google Wallet, to purchase the domain registration, you should get email reminders when registration is expiring. However, this will depend upon whether your Blogger / Google account, under which you purchased the registration, uses an active and accessible email address.

If you choose to anonymise yourself by using a bogus or inactive email address for your Blogger or Google activities, don't expect to get email reminding you, or allowing you to renew domain registration.

The most reliable way to assure the domain remains registered is to use domain auto renewal. You can check your auto renewal settings using the Google Apps administrator account, for the domain (now called the "Admin Console"). Be aware of the oddities of the Google One Login wizard, and Google Apps, when logging in.

For domains purchased before December 2012, you'll use email from Google Apps, or an entry in your Google Wallet log, to retrieve the token to setup your Google Apps account. For domains purchased after November 2012, you will have only a limited access Google Apps account, which you should reset the password, to access.

If you intend to use domain auto renewal, make sure that the bank account (credit, or debit) is active, and currently paid. If your bank rejects the payment, you should get a notice - but again, this will come reliably when the email account associated with the domain is active and accessible by you.

Procedures for renewal after expiration are different - and may cost substantially more than the normal yearly fee.

The best renewal experiences, of course, start with advance planning.

>> Top

Read More

Recovering And Protecting Your GMail Account

Blogger blog owners may have productive action, when their Blogger accounts are successfully hacked through an attack on their GMail accounts.

GMail account owners can get detailed instructions on recovering a successfully hacked account, and on preventing future hacking attacks from being successful. Some of the instructions are specific to GMail use - but overall, Blogger account owners will benefit from their use.

To benefit from the GMail instructions, one should consider the differences between Blogger, email, and Google accounts.

GMail provides instructions for recovering hacked / stolen GMail accounts.

Gmail Account Recovery: Gmail Account Recovery and Security provides complete and detailed instructions for recovering a hacked and stolen GMail email account.

The Recovery instructions include specific mentions of Disabled / Suspended accounts, successfully Stolen accounts, and accounts locked or deleted because of Underage owners.

Accompanying the recovery advice is Gmail help and information: How NOT To Get Hacked. These are instructions for preventing a recurrence of a reported problem. This includes discussion of using a strong and secure password, identifying hacking techniques that involve the account owner, and preventing attacks which are conducted using the computer or network in use by the account owner.

Prevention instructions are similarly focused on GMail account security.

The Prevention instructions, many which are common sense issues to any IT professional or security expert, are specifically written to apply to GMail account owners. There may be additional issues which apply in general, to Blogger accounts - and specifically, to Blogger accounts which are based on non GMail email accounts.

There are a few differences between Blogger blog ownership and GMail account ownership, which will cause issues that cannot be easily resolved by Blogger Support, or by GMail Support, to the satisfaction of the (former) blog owner.

GMail accounts, unlike Blogger accounts, do not contain transferrable assets.

GMail accounts are, by nature, single owner - and ownership of a GMail account is never transferred. In contrast, Blogger blogs can be under team ownership - and ownership can be transferred.

• Intentional team blog ownership. Team blog ownership can cause problems with loss of blog control, when all known blog administrators (accidentally or intentionally) remove themselves as administrators, leaving an unknown administrator.
• Intentional transfer of control. A blog owner may assign administrator status to another person, voluntarily - then later regret his decision.
• Un intentional transfer of control. A blog owner may assign administrator status to another person, voluntarily - and the other person may then remove the former owner administrator status.
• Ownership theft after account hacking. A hacker, having temporarily gained control of a Blogger account, may transfer ownership of a blog to another Blogger account.

All of these scenarios are regarded as simple transfer of blog ownership, by Blogger Support.

Though maybe not preferred by the (former) blog owner, the blog in question will now be under control of another person. It's possible that some of these scenarios are considered by Google Security, when reviewing Blogger / Google accounts after hacking activity is detected.

Blogger accounts based on non GMail email have typical third party issues.

Blogger accounts, based on non GMail email addresses, will be subject to the typical uncertainty which accompanies any third party service in Blogger. Some details may be involve the email provider, while others will involve Blogger - and arbitrating between the two will be the responsibility of the Blogger account owner.

Owners of Blogger accounts which are based on non GMail email addresses will need to contact the providers of the actual email service, for resolution of some of these issues.

In general though, the GMail Account Loss Prevention and Recovery instructions provide good advice, for any Blogger account owner.

Read More

If You Comment On Blogs Extensively, You Should Consider Using Google 2-Step Verification

One recently identified cause of deleted Blogger blogs appears to involve brute force hacking against our Blogger / Google accounts.

We've known, for some time, about blog owners receiving alerts about "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity. The alerts frequently involve locked or deleted Blogger / Google accounts - and generally include the owner having to change their password, solve a CAPTCHA, and / or provide their phone number (mobile or home phone) to login.

Later, people started reporting that their blogs were being deleted - possibly as a result of having to change their password, solve a CAPTCHA, and / or provide their phone number.

I've been observing - and blocking - an annoying style of comment based spam, which I have termed "nice blog" spam, for some time.

Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

This style of spam, from what I can tell, has been published by the millions, in various blog comments, on both Blogger and non Blogger platforms.

The reason for the spam always intrigued me. Observing that the spam was published in the millions, suggested to me that it had a special purpose, intended by its creators. Looking at a typical spam message, in my email (since I moderate before publishing), I could see no consistent type of content.

• Some messages would contain links, others not.
• Some messages would mention what looked like commercial products, other references were obviously imaginary targets.
• Some messages would appear to be mere babble.

Recently, I discovered one strong possibility for the purpose of the spam - a very ingenious form of email address mining. The spam comment is only needed to allow a hacker to subscribe to a given comment stream, using the "Email follow-up comments to ..." option. It's possible that the subscription is not even affected by moderation - whether the blog owner is moderating, either before or after the comment is published to the blog, the hacker remains subscribed to the comment stream.

All that the hacker / spammer has to do is to publish a spam comment, select the "Email follow-up comments to ..." option, and watch while his Inbox fills up with subsequent comments from other Blogger / Google / OpenID account owners. Any comment containing an email address, and linking to a Blogger blog, would go straight into the hackers database.

Later, the hacker could go to work against the Blogger accounts referenced in the comments. In some cases, this would result in successfully hijacked Blogger blogs, which would become part of a spammers blog farm where advertisements of various nature could be hosted. Valuable blogs, with established reader populations, could also be used to serve malware (and more hacking) to unsuspecting readers.

The demographics of some hijacking attacks provide interesting clues. In one episode, we had a significant number of home / personal / small business blogs that had been hijacked by one specific individual. Many of the victim blogs

• Contained details relevant to the owners, which provided clues to passwords used by the owners.
• Were owned by people who used commenting extensively, for networking both with friends, and with business targets.
• Were read (and commented upon) by similar people, who similarly provided password clues in their own blogs.

Having been part of the restore process, both with people who had their blogs hijacked, and who had their accounts locked and blogs deleted, I observed that the former (hijacked blogs) seem to have decreased in volume as the latter (accounts and blogs locked / deleted) increased in volume. I don't think that the relationship is coincidental - or spurious.

My opinion is that the locking of Blogger / Google accounts - and subsequent deletion of blogs - directly results from detected attacks against the accounts in question ("suspicious" / "unusual" activity). Noting that the attacks seem to be more common to people who comment on blogs as a form of networking, it appears that commenting can lead to accounts and blogs being locked or deleted, as Google protects us against hacking.

Considering this possible cause and effect relationship, Google 2-step verification is a good idea. Click here, for Google instructions on setting up 2-step verification.

Use of 2-step verification helps safeguard our accounts against brute force hacking. This will help anybody who is anxious about accounts and blogs being deleted or locked, as a result of "suspicious" / "unusual" activity. If you own a blog which is subject to this threat, you should consider using 2-step verification.

The sanity (heart attack, ulcer) that is saved may be your own.

>> Top

Read More

Google+ Circles Is Replacing Following / GFC

Those of you who have been Following this blog, in the past, may have recently noted a new gadget in the sidebar.

Just below the "Follow Me" gadget, you'll see "+Follow Me". The latter gadget looks similar to the former - but has some subtle differences. Some differences are visible, others not so visible. And some differences are not visible to the eye - but will still affect your access to this blog.

The Google+ Circles gadget, which on this blog is labeled "+Follow Me", appears similar to the Following / Google Friend Connect "Follow Me" gadget - but appearances can be very misleading.

The larger pictures are one obvious difference - but that's not the most significant difference. Some difference need to be discussed now, rather than later, for maximum benefit.

Blogger Followers lets your Followers Follow one specific blog.

Following / Google Friend Connect lets your acquaintances Follow a single blog. I have several blogs, and a different group of Followers for each blog. The Google+ Circles gadget shows everybody in all of your publicly visible circles, merged together. The merged concept may, or may not, be to your liking.

Google+ Collections now let you separate different content - so you can share one blog to one Collection, and specific people can Follow ("Circle") one Collection. I'm not convinced though that all of my Followers understand this distinction.

Blogger Followers let you use email and newsfeed subscriptions.

With Following / Google Friend Connect, your Followers can use email, or any number of newsfeed clients, to read the complete content of your blog - including each complete post, if you setup the blog feed that way. Google+ Circle members can read a snippet of any blog post intentionally Shared, in their stream - but will have to click on the link to the blog, in the snippet, to read the entire blog post. If you have read this far, that's what you have already done.

Following / Google Friend Connect works best for public blogs - and supports a reader audience of unlimited size. A Google+ Circle, likewise, supports a reader audience of unlimited size.

With a properly setup Google+ Circle, and a Blogger blog with a list of designated readers - and your readers properly accepting the emailed membership invitation, up to 99 of your designated readers can Follow your blog. As before, the limit for private blog distribution, as for any team blog, is still 99 members.

Anybody Following a blog, using the stream of any author of the blog, will see a snippet of each post Shared in their stream. To read the complete post, they will have to click on the link in the snippet. With a private blog, the reader will have to be a blog member, to read the complete post.

Many Blogger blogs have a lot of Followers, which will be missed.

Many publicly visible Blogger blogs have Following communities which vastly exceed my 4700 member population (my "Follow Me" gadget, as of April 2013) - and the possibility of losing those communities will not be willingly accepted by everybody. The integration of Following with the newsfeed subscription - and with the dashboard Reading List - is not automatic with Google+ Circles.

A blog with multiple authors (aka "team blog") will have either a Google+ Circles gadget for only one author - or multiple Circles gadgets, to fairly let people subscribe to the various authors Google+ streams. Neither solution will be exactly equal to the Following / GFC blog feed subscription - especially if the various team members are similar to me, and my range of interests.

Right now, it appears that a blog can have just one Circles gadget. How team membership blogs will use Google+ is another question to ask.

Many blog owners have multiple interests - and publish multiple blogs.

Similar to the team blog, we may wish to consider the multiple interests of each blog owner. I am one person, with a number of interests.

People who have intentionally subscribed to the newsfeed from this blog, and are specifically interested in my blog about Blogger blogs, may not be extremely interested in my blog about cooking - nor in my blog about jokes, pranks, and miscellaneous ramblings. Unfortunately, if you Follow my Google+ stream, you'll get a bit of each subject.

Some people may use Google+ Collections, to separate their different interests. It's possible that some Google+ Followers are now Following my RBS Collection.

Again, the Google+ Circles gadget appears to contain the total Followers for one person, for all interests of that one person. I have not yet found a tool that will allow me to analyse the interests of each of my Followers, and to accurately determine the specific areas of overlapping, between my own personal interests and theirs.

It will be impossible for many blog owners to keep an accurate Circle complement, and segregate each circle according to interest, so they may Share only relevant material with the specific members of each different Circle.

Integration of Blogger Follower, and Google+ Followers, requires compromise.

As the Google+ Circles gadget evolves, some significant improvements - and some compromises - will be required. Like the Internet, Blogger, and Google, are constantly evolving. This may require compromises by many Blogger blog owners.

We now have a rollup discussion, where each blog owner is asked to provide their thoughts about the above described issues - and possibly, others that concern you. Anybody who experienced the Blogger GUI upgrade of several years ago may, from experience, realise how much better off we may all be, with these issues discussed now - rather than later.

Read More

Some Blogger Blogs Being Locked As Malware Hosts

For a long time, we've been dealing with various malware / spam mitigation issues, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Recently, malware detections, long simply identified as "Malicious JavaScript" in the well known Spam Appeal Guidelines, was given its own identity, and a separate classification / appeal process. We're now seeing several common types of JavaScript, included in blogs which are typically mentioned in forum reports.

It may be helpful to describe some examples of JavaScript code being seen, so blog owners can avoid making the same mistakes, by not including these scripts in their blogs.

There are several common types of JavaScript applications, found in many blogs with the owners requesting review / unlock action.

1. CPA / Cost Per Action.
2. Multiple popups, such as a generic "Welcome!", followed by "Like my blog, before you read it!".
3. Password protection, on a page basis.
4. Security warning popups, suggesting that you need to install a recommended security software.
5. Social networking popups, demanding "Like my blog, before you read it!".
6. Traffic Redirection, targeting other blogs / websites.
7. Traffic redirection, targeting the canonical URL for the host blog.

CPA / CPALeads / Cost Per Action, and similar online marketing terminology, involves providing a reward for viewing a blog, or for subscribing to the blog feed. Some CPA scripts may be used to collect email addresses, also known as "email address mining", later used for hacking activity or spam distribution.

CPA scripts present another problem. Since Blogger blogs are intended to reward the readers by providing interesting and unique content, blogs which use CPA may be improperly designed or maintained. Blogger wants the blog owners to publish blogs which entertain or inform their readers - not blogs which require artificial or ingenious techniques to generate traffic, and visitor activity.

Multiple popups, such as an initial "Welcome to my blog!" greeting, followed by the well known FaceBook "Like my blog, to read my blog!" demand. If multiple popups should become an established practice, it's possible that malware producers could enjoy this technique, to conceal a malware installation.

Password protection, on a page basis, is an attempt to make a blog (or blog portion) private, by using a password. This protection is easily defeated, as the password is provided in the page (post / template) code, as plain text - and can easily be identified by anybody knowing how to view page source as text.

Besides the "protection" being easily bypassed, this is a problem because security scanning programs - such as the malicious scripting bot - can't pass through JavaScript code easily. When encountering this JavaScript application, your blog will be righteously classified, as a malicious script host.

Security warning popups, suggesting that your computer is infected - and offering, for immediate installation, the perfect tool to remove the claimed malware. Security experts know that this is similarly a favourite malware installation technique, where the computer owner would give permission to have the offered software installed - and the installed software would later install a botnet client or similar malicious trash.

Social networking popups are an arrogant way of wasting your readers time, and guaranteeing eventual malware classification of your blog. Popular among some WordPress blogs, the circular FaceBook "Like my blog, to read my blog!" demand is a good way to make genuine readers go elsewhere.

If you want genuine readers, who read a Blogger blog because of thoughtful, unique content, you will not get them by demanding that they boost your FaceBook popularity, before reading your blog. This is just another way of buying "Likes" - and it belongs in WordPress, not in Blogger.

Traffic Redirection, targeting other blogs / websites is a technique attempted by many hackers and spammers. The use of some blogs as gateways, leading to redistributors, which in turn lead to payload blogs or non Google websites, is part of many hacking / spam attacks. Google is trying to restrict the use of Blogger blogs as malware / spam hosts - and actively prevents scripts, which only shuffle readers from one blog to another, without choice.

Even though Blogger will not encourage you to move your blog, to Tumblr, Weebly, WordPress, or wherever, you are allowed to do this - if you feel the need.

Hello, faithful readers:

This blog is now hosted at my new blogging host. Please update your blog lists and bookmarks!

If you must do this, it's OK to post a notice, in your Blogger blog. You can even put a link, to the new blog, in the notice. You just can't use JavaScript, to automatically redirect the reader to the new blog.

Traffic redirection, targeting the canonical URL for the host blog, is a technique used by some blog owners who perceive Country Code Alias Redirection to present a problem. Some accessories installed on their blogs, and various non Google services which may be used to provide activity on their blogs, may not properly reference the canonical URL tag included in all Blogger blogs.

Since Blogger / Google wants all Blogger blog owners to benefit from improved world wide access to Blogger blogs, blogs which employ automatic canonical URL redirection may damage the effect of CC alias redirection. Blogs which host scripts which immediately redirect readers to the canonical URL, and are considered undesirable by any host government, may force an offended host government to block the entire Blogger service, in their country.

To prevent malicious misuse of Blogger by hackers and spammers, and to encourage effective long term use of Blogger by legitimate blog owners, Blogger / Google may detect any blogs which use these types of scripts as part of their general malware / spam classification strategy. Given the ability and willingness of the blog owner, to remove the JavaScript code in question, most blogs can be returned to service - but each blog will remain offline, until the removal is verified.

It's to everybody's benefit to identify, and to avoid use of, these scripts in our blogs, before it's too late. If your blog contains one of these scripts, why not remove the problem now, instead of waiting until you too have to post your problem report, in the forum

Help me! My blog was just locked for

MALICIOUS JAVASCRIPT

What do I do, now?

Read More

If You Moderate Comments Using Email, Mark The Spam Properly

One evidence of confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, comes from blog owners who are moderating comments, to their blogs, using comment moderation email.

I am constantly assailed by spam comments, being published to my blog, delivered to my Inbox! Is there anything I can do, about the spam, except just keep deleting?

Comment moderation, using email, offers several choices for action - but only one action will have any actual effect upon the spam.

When you moderate comments using email, and you are using comment moderation email - not comment notification email, you'll have the same choices for comment moderation, as when you use the Blogger dashboard wizard.

• Publish
• Delete
• Mark as spam

You'll have an additional choice, too.

• Moderate comments for this blog.

The latter choice gives you - when you are properly logged in to Blogger - quick access to the dashboard Comments wizard, to moderate from there.

As with using the dashboard wizard, the choice here is crucial. You need to mark spam comments as Spam. If you delete, the comment goes away - and nothing is done to train the spam filters. Spam comments, deleted, will simply let the spammer continue to annoy you.

With email messages, there are two more actions which some people take - and neither will do anything, directly, about comment spam.

• Some people will delete the email message - and this simply removes the email message, and the emailed copy of the spam, from the Inbox.
• Other people will use the "Spam" email mark. This selection is used to train the email comment filters - but it will only indirectly train the comment spam filters.

Neither deleting the email message, nor marking the email message as spam, will do anything about comment spam.

If you're looking at the comment notification email message, you'll have no comment moderation choices. Here, your only choice will be to delete the email message - if you're concerned with Inbox capacity. You can't moderate, using comment notification email.

Marking an email message, containing a spam comment, as spam - whether you are viewing the comment moderation or comment notification email message - accomplishes nothing. When you mark an email message as spam, you're reporting the sender of the email message. With comment moderation or comment notification email, marking an email message as spam reports the Blogger comment forwarding wizard - and this does nothing about the originator of the spam comment.

Use email to moderate comments, if you like. It's a convenient way to quickly moderate comments - and for some, more convenient than the Blogger dashboard. But make the right choices, when moderating.

>> Top

Read More

Control The Email Settings, Relevant To Your Blog

Some blog owners don't always think about the various email settings, which are part of their Blogger blogs, and the possible effects to their email - or somebody else's email.

There are several settings, where a blog owner may enter an email address.

• Email posts to
• Comment Moderation.
• Comment Notification Email.

These settings don't require acceptance by the recipient, making for some interesting possibilities for causing problems in other people's email, as well as one's own email.

There are several Blogger dashboard settings - related to post publication and to various commenting activities - with differing effect to one's own, or somebody else's, email.

• Settings - "Mobile and email" - "Email posts to" - aka "BlogSend" - generates a minimally formatted text copy of each post, when published, to up to 10 email addresses.
• Settings - "Posts and comments" - "Comment Moderation" generates a minimally formatted copy of each incoming comment, before the comment is published - and allows moderation of the comment, while reading the email message - when the recipient has the proper authority.
• Settings - "Mobile and email" - "Comment Notification Email" generates a minimally formatted copy of each incoming comment, before the comment is published or rejected.

Since none of these settings require acceptance by the recipient, there are various possibilities for causing interesting email delivery.

Unlike various subscription services which use email, such as a FeedBurner Email Subscription service, an email address added to any of these three settings requires no formal acceptance. If a blog administrator should add an email address, whether their own (primary or additional personal email address), a willing friend or relative, or an unknown victim's address, there is no initial email sent to the recipient

You (or somebody else) has added this email address as a recipient of "Email posts to" / "Comment Moderation" / "Comment Notification Email". Do you approve of this additional traffic source to your email service?

or a similarly worded notification / approval. Given a clueless or malicious blog owner, it's possible that one (or all) of these settings could be used to harass an unwitting third party, or to (unwittingly) confuse oneself.

The "Email posts to" feature, also known as "BlogSend", generates a minimally formatted text copy of each post, when published, to up to 10 email addresses. This setting has been used, in the past, to provide distribution of newly published posts for private blogs, as well as a simple distribution for posts from public blogs.

Since it's limited to 10 entries, BlogSend does not provide a suitable service for any blog with a reader population of any appreciable size. For a blog owner with any technical experience, FeedBurner Email Distribution is a much better solution for post distribution - when the blog in question is publicly accessible.

For distribution of a private blog to more than 10 readers, one may use Google+.

The "Comment Moderation" and "Comment Notification Email" settings, used together, can generate interesting duplication of email to one's own (or somebody else's) email service. If these settings are made without thinking, some interesting confusion can result. Email addresses can be added to each of these settings without consideration of the relationship or level of authority enjoyed by the owner of the email address, relative to the blog in question.

Comment Moderation Email is presumed to generally be a function performed by blog administrators - but email resulting from this setting will be sent to anybody addressed. A blog administrator / member - or other non administrator of the blog or an unwitting stranger - will receive email suggesting several options,

Publish
Delete
Mark as spam
Moderate comments for this blog.

If the recipient is not an actual blog administrator, the links in the email provide confusion, and no result.

Comment Notification Email might be generally addressed to blog members - but is not necessarily limited. Since notification of comments is sent separately from moderation, recipients of a notification can become confused when they fail to find the comment, mentioned in the notification, present on the blog.

A blog administrator, using either an email moderation message - or using the blog Comments wizard, may or may not decide to Publish - or to designate a comment as Spam - regardless of a notification message having been delivered to each designated recipient.

Comment notification email may look similar to comment moderation email, less the comment processing options - possibly causing more confusion. A blog owner, adding his own email address to both comment moderation and comment notification, may see the combination as unknown duplication. And blog owners may confuse the proper use of comment moderation and comment notification email.

A blog owner, transferring ownership of a given blog, may overlook updating of the email settings. A new blog owner, receiving a blog being transferred, may likewise overlook these settings, and may lack the associated email, until the omission is corrected.

Either the previous owner, or the new owner, may be confused temporarily - and may wonder why they are still getting email / not getting email, until they examine and correct the setting in question. Alternately, if someone's email address was added maliciously, by a blog owner intending to harass somebody, one can see interesting possibility for conflict.

Read More

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.

Read More