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.

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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

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Custom Domain Publishing And Private Blogs

We see an occasional report in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about custom domain publishing.

My readers can't view the blog - they get a redirection count error!

DNS analysis shows a properly setup domain. When we try to examine the blog, we see a private blog notice - or we are required to login.

But why a private blog, using a custom domain?

The purpose of publishing to a custom domain is to increase readership - by making a blog more visible, using a non BlogSpot URL.

A private blog has limited readership, based on permissions provided by the owner. The need to make a blog private conflicts with the need to increase reader population.

Besides the functional conflict, there's a second problem with combining a custom domain published blog, and access by invitation. Both the custom domain redirection, and the private blog redirection involve interstitial code.

This is a private blog. Combine this, and a custom domain redirection - and you get trouble.



A potential blog reader, when accessing the blog by the BlogSpot URL, will redirect to the domain URL - and then to the access checking interstitial. Some browsers will interpret this as a possible security issue, and cite

Too many redirections!

In other cases, the two redirections may lead to a redirect loop - and the reader will see a white screen of death.

What ever the result - "Too many redirections", or a redirect loop, the potential reader will never see the blog.

If you want to publish a blog, and limit reader access by invitation, you're better off publishing to BlogSpot. If you want to use a non BlogSpot URL, a public blog makes sense.

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You are allowed to publish a #Blogger blog with a designated reader population - and you're allowed to publish a blog to a non BlogSPot URL.

You can publish a private blog to a custom domain, if you wish - but this is not recommended. Learn why combining limited access with a non BlogSpot URL is not a good idea.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/5IUByvxKYeg

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Blogger Magic - Make A Private Or Team Blog

Some blog owners like to restrict access to their blog - and others want to have multiple people able to publish, or maybe to administer their blog.

A few even want multiple administrators, and restricted access. Both private and team blogs involve use of the Permissions wizard, and the membership invitation / acceptance process.

Making either a private or a team blog starts from the Permissions wizard. Just keep the multiple functions, and the different links, in mind.

The Permissions wizard, on the dashboard Settings - Basic page, is how we setup both private and team blogs.

You invite members - prospective authors and readers - using "Add authors" and "Add readers", respectively.

Start from the dashboard Settings - Basic page, in both cases.

Start from the Settings - Basic page.

Find the Permissions wizard.



The "Add authors" link is used for adding both administrators and authors.

Click on "Add authors", to add prospective administrators and authors.

Click on "Add authors", and add prospective blog authors.

Add a list of names / email addresses, comma separated.



Paste or type email addresses of prospective administrators and authors, into the "Add authors" window. Or use "Choose from Contacts".

To make an administrator, wait until the invited author has accepted membership. Then, change "Author" to "Admin", in "Blog Authors". Don't change an author to administrator, unless you understand the risks!

The "Add readers" link is used for adding readers.

Click on "Add readers", to add prospective readers.

Click on "Add readers", and add prospective blog readers.

Add a list of names / email addresses, comma separated.



Paste or type email addresses of prospective readers, into the "Add readers" window. Or use "Choose from Contacts".

Select either "Only blog authors" or "Only these readers", for private blogs.

You can make a blog private to Authors - or have both Authors and Readers. Select "Only blog authors" or "Only these readers", respectively.

Each prospective member must accept membership.

For an invited author or reader to become an active member, they must open the email and accept membership.

Prospective authors and readers are listed as "open invitations" - under either the "Blog Authors" or "Blog Readers" window - until they accept the membership invitation.



Accepting membership involves opening the emailed membership invitation, and clicking on the invitation link. The new member can use an existing Blogger account - or setup a new Blogger account, on the fly.

A GMail account is not required - just a Blogger / Google account - existing or new.

Remember membership limits.

Whether you are making a private or a team blog, remember that every blog is limited to an absolute total of 100 members.

• You.
• Any additional administrators.
• Authors.
• Designated Readers.

Designated readers (in a private blog) are part of the 100 member limit. Un designated readers (in a public blog) are not part of the limit. A public blog can have any number of readers.

Membership revocation may not be immediate.

You can revoke or update membership of an administrator, author, and / or reader - but membership changes don't always take effect, immediately.

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Making a #Blogger blog with administrators, authors, and / or readers starts with the Permissions wizard - and continues with each prospective member accepting membership, using email sent by the Permissions wizard.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/Vd_L5xAtKFY

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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.

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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.

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Private Blogs Limit Other Blog Features

Private blogs affect other Blogger features - and the combination of results are inconsistent.

With dynamic templates, the private blog selection causes an inoperable display. Conversely, with Google+ Comments, enabling Google+ Comments disables the private blog (designated reader) selection - and vice versa, in the various Blogger dashboard pages.

The two interactions - and differing mutual exclusiveness - contribute to some interesting diagnostic sessions, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Intriguingly enough, when one of the known limitations with private blogs is diagnosed, some blog owners may treat the limitation as a personal insult.

Not all blog owners understand the technical limitations, with private blogs and other Blogger features. The limitations are based on simple technical interactions.

• Dynamic templates, and private blogs.
• Google+ comments, and private blogs.

Dynamic templates, and private blogs.

Private blogs do not publish blog newsfeeds. Dynamic templates require comments and posts newsfeeds, to generate the displays.

You can make a blog private - and you lose the "Dynamic Template" selection, in the dashboard Template page.

Some of the templates offered on the Template page, for a public blog.
Simple.
Dynamic Views.
Picture Window.
Awesome Inc.

Some of the templates offered on the Template page, for a private blog.
Simple.
Picture Window.
Awesome Inc.



If the blog has a dynamic template already, you can change to private access (edit Permissions, and designate readers), with no warning. The next time the blog is accessed, you will see the Spinner of Death.

My Dynamic Template test blog, set to Private.



Google+ comments, and private blogs.

When Google+ is used, no access to the Blogger permissions database is available. Since Google+ Comments are (or can be) Google+ stream posts, Google+ Comments can only support public blogs.

If you enable Google+ Comments, you will see a warning in the Permissions wizard - and you'll have no ability to Edit "Blog Readers".

Google+ Comments enabled. Learn more

If the blog is private already, you'll similarly see a warning on the dashboard Google+ page.

Google+ Comments are unsupported on non-public blogs and blogs marked as containing adult content. Learn more

So Google+ Comments, and private blogs, are mutually exclusive, on the dashboard - though Dynamic Views and private blogs are not, with intriguing result.

Why won't my blog load? It was fine, yesterday!

And when the blog address is provided with the problem report, we can see the problem.

Learn More.

• More information about Dynamic Views blogs.
• Manage Google+ Comments for Blogger.
• Control access to your blog.

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The option to designate permitted readers, for a #Blogger blog, affects other Blogger features. Not all blog owners know about or understand the limitations that exist.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Without The PostID, A Deleted Post Is Not Easily Recovered

If you delete a post (page) in your blog, it's a simple matter to recover the post - as long as you know the PostID. Unfortunately, once the post is gone, finding the post (page) id is not a simple matter - especially for those who would typically delete a page or post without planning. Blogger does not provide the PostID in any list, that we might save, periodically, to reference later.

The task of retrieving a deleted page or post is particularly frustrating, for owners of private blogs. Private blogs probably won't be cached, nor do they publish a blog feed - and without either a cache entry, or a feed reference, the PostID for a deleted post is not easily obtained.

Right now, once you delete a page or post, in a private blog, you're out of luck - unless you have cached the blog on your own computer. Retrieving from local cache is not an issue to be productively discussed in Blogger Support, as it is going to be as individual as your computer may be.

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How Not To Make Your Blog Private

Blog owners have been asking, for years, how to protect their blogs against viewing by undesired or unknown readers.

How do I password protect my blog?

When told that Blogger password protection involves membership invitations, accepted using a Blogger Google account, some would be private blog owners decline the suggestion.

That's too complicated for my readers! Can't I just give everybody a password?

But Blogger does not use common passwords.

Some blog owners, who are technically astute, find add on template code, provided by third parties - which demands a password, in a popup window, to continue. This is where their problems start.

The addition of third party supplied JavaScript code, to our blogs, has always been a dodgy process.

With third party JavaScript code used to provide password protection against unknown readers, this is even more hazardous to your blog. From time to time, we have a blog owner who installed password protection code in his blog template - and subsequently found his blog locked.

I received email saying that my blog has been removed, and has been marked as spam. The email is as follows:

Your blog has been reviewed and confirmed as in violation of our Terms of Service for: MALICIOUS_JAVASCRIPT. In accordance to these terms, we've removed the blog and the URL is no longer accessible.

Can you please review and unlock my blog?

But the story does not end there. Subsequent review of the blog was denied, by Blogger Support.

Your password prompt is not dismissable - and forces users to close their entire browser session, as the Cancel button does nothing. This is malicious behavior, and prevents anyone one on our team from even reviewing your blog content.

This leaves the blog owner with a deleted / locked blog, and no chance of getting the blog back.

Besides the potential threat above, which becomes actual only after spam classification detects the add-on code as malicious, any security expert will recognise two reasons why this solution is worthless.

1. JavaScript code can be blocked, by any reader with a well implemented security policy.
2. If not blocked, anybody can view source code and find the "password" right there, in plain sight.

This "solution" is therefore worthless for two reasons.

1. It is risky.
2. It does not work.

Why risk loss of your blog, for a risky solution that does not work? There's only one way to protect your blog from unknown readers.

1. Send each would be blog reader a membership invitation, using the Permissions wizard.
2. Instruct each reader to open and accept the invitation, using any preferred Blogger account.

Don't script your blog, and risk deletion - and incidental damage.

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