Avoid Use Of FeedBurner "Password Protector"

Some Google products contain features that have limited usefulness, when applied to Blogger blogs.

FeedBurner has a feature, "Password Protector", which may be useful, to newsfeed readers that support HTTP authentication. Within FeedBurner, we have the "Email Subscriptions" service - which does not support feed authentication.

Your readers will be required to use newsreader or aggregator software that supports authentication to view your feed.

Some Google, and non Google, services will have a problem, with a FeedBurner protected feed.

Newsfeeds, published by Blogger blogs, are supposed to be publicly accessible.

A blog with designated readers will not produce a newsfeed. Blogger does not support authenticated newsfeeds.

To use Password Protector, look on the FeedBurner dashboard, under the Publicize tab, for "Password Protector". Enter a Username and a Password, and hit "Activate". But don't do this, without knowing the downsides.

Password Protector uses a single username / password combination. All blog readers will use the same username.

FeedBurner warns us of possible problems, caused by this service.

Important: This service prevents our Email Subscriptions service from delivering email updates from your feed, and it will also password protect your feed's content when redisplayed using our Headline Animator graphic. This graphic itself becomes password protected, which is undesirable if you wish to use it to promote your site/feed. Therefore, we recommend not using Headline Animator or Email Subscriptions, and this Password Protector service, with the same feed.

From what I can see, Blogger Reading List may ignore the authentication requirement. People may use Reading List, and view the blog feed, redirected through FeedBurner - even if not authorized.

We know, however, that email subscriptions will not work, with a protected feed. Looking at an HTTP trace of the feed from my test blog http://techdict.nitecruzr.net, we see a symptom of the problem, with this option.

http://techdict.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://techdict.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7834.70.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/49.0.2623.112+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=AUTO

Sending request:

GET /feeds/posts/default HTTP/1.1
Host: techdict.nitecruzr.net
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7834.70.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/49.0.2623.112 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 74.125.28.121

• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·302·Found(CR)(LF)
ETag:·W/"32e869db-18a9-4ccf-8ad9-dbded29f2b25"(CR)(LF)
Date:·Wed,·27·Apr·2016·15:04:06·GMT(CR)(LF)
Content-Type:·text/html(CR)(LF)
Server:·blogger-renderd(CR)(LF)
Expires:·Wed,·27·Apr·2016·15:04:07·GMT(CR)(LF)

Cache-Control:·public,·must-revalidate,·proxy-revalidate,·max-age=1(CR)(LF)
X-Content-Type-Options:·nosniff(CR)(LF)
X-XSS-Protection:·1;·mode=block(CR)(LF)
Location:·http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChucksTechWorld(CR)(LF)

This appears to be just a redirected blog posts newsfeed, targeting a FeedBurner published feed.

Here, we see a normal redirected blog posts feed.

But what happens, when we try to open the feed?

http://www.rexswain.com/cgi-bin/httpview.cgi?url=http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChucksTechWorld&uag=Mozilla/5.0+(X11%3B+CrOS+armv7l+7834.70.0)+AppleWebKit/537.36+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/49.0.2623.112+Safari/537.36&ref=http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html&aen=&req=GET&ver=1.1&fmt=TXT

Sending request:

GET /ChucksTechWorld HTTP/1.1 HTTP/1.1

Host: feeds.feedburner.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; CrOS armv7l 7834.70.0) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/49.0.2623.112 Safari/537.36
Referer: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
Connection: close
• Finding host IP address...
• Host IP address = 172.217.0.14

• Finding TCP protocol...
• Binding to local socket...
• Connecting to host...
• Sending request...
• Waiting for response...
Receiving Header:

HTTP/1.1·401·Unauthorized(CR)(LF)

WWW-Authenticate:·BASIC·realm="FeedBurner·feed·ChucksTechWorld"(CR)(LF)

The "HTTP Viewer" service does not support feed authentication (and only works with "HTTP:" protocol). And, we see the result.

It's possible that this feature will be useful, with feeds that are used outside Blogger (noting the Reading List ability). If you're publishing a Blogger blog, however, you're not likely to get any useful result.

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Owners of #Blogger blogs, which use the FeedBurner "Password Protector" service, may find that the service delivers less protection - and some interference - other than the service name suggests. It would probably be best to avoid use of this service.

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Commenting Requires Login, To Suppress Spam

Some blog owners don't understand the need to identify themselves, when commenting on our blogs.

We see an occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about comment authentication.

Why, if I've selected "Anyone - including Anonymous Users" under comment settings, for "Who can Comment?", do my visitors complain of having to login?

This blog owner, like many others, does not understand the Blogger spam mitigation policy, in Blogger Comments.

Blogger lets us select who we wish to allow to comment, on our blogs.

When we do not moderate, they require authentication, to cut down on the spam. Moderated comments, with CAPTCHA ("Show word verification") not required by the owner, appear to go straight to moderation.

Comment authentication makes genuine comments more normal.

By requiring authentication, Blogger makes it more likely that a comment, awaiting moderation, will be genuine - instead of more spam. This encourages us to moderate comments more frequently - and helps us publish moderated comments, more promptly.

And more frequent moderation discourages spam - and makes it more likely that we will see actual comments, later.

Blog owners choose how to allow comments.

As a blog owner, it's your choice how / whether to allow comments.

• Anyone - includes Anonymous Users.
• Everybody with a Google, or an OpenID, account.
• Everybody with a Google account.
• Blog members only.
• Comments disabled.

Blog readers choose how to publish comments.

Depending upon the choices that you provide, your readers choose how they may authenticate.

• "Anyone" allows a reader to comment anonymously - or identified.
• If they wish to comment anonymously, they login, using a CAPTCHA.
• If they wish to comment using a profile, they login, using an account.
• Login is generally only required, with the first comment.

"Anyone" allows a reader to comment anonymously - or identified.

"Anyone" allows anyone to comment anonymously (if they wish). To cut down on spam, anyone commenting has to login.

If they wish to comment anonymously, they login, using a CAPTCHA.

Solving a CAPTCHA lets them remain anonymous - but still identify themselves as a person, not a bot. Any comments, awaiting moderation, or published, are more likely to be genuine - not spam.

If they wish to comment using a profile, they login, using an account.

They can login, as permitted, using a Google or OpenID account. Anyone able to login with a Google or OpenID account can still publish a comment anonymously, if they wish.

Login is generally only required, with the first comment.

If someone has to login repeatedly, to comment, they have a problem with identification, and filters. With cookies and scripts properly permitted, login (with the first comment) will be remembered (with any later comments).

The Blogger / Google login status, and the ability to post comments, is sensitive to both cookie and script filters. Your readers may need to enable (stop filtering) "third party cookies", in their browser and on their computer - if they wish to comment, most easily.

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Both a #Blogger blog owner - and blog readers - get choices how to authenticate when commenting. Depending upon the choices made by the owner, the readers get more, or less, choices.

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Protect Your Online Life - Prevent Blog Loss

We've been seeing a few queries recently, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, suggesting very subtle account attacks going on.

Some reports are about accounts locked (and blogs temporarily offline), because of "suspicious" / "unusual" activity. Other reports are sadder - and mention blogs now owned by another person. When we're able to identify the new blog owner, too many look like intentional hackers.

Temporarily offline - or permanently stolen - both are stories that you do not want to tell. Fortunately, both stories can be prevented.

If you know the risks, and you can protect yourself and your Blogger account, you can be simply irritated by the ongoing hacking attempts.

I, personally, am no stranger to semi successful hacking. This blog has been taken offline twice, since Blogger / Google started their hacking mitigation program ("suspicious" / "unusual" account activity detection).

Once the activity takes place, and is detected, your account will be locked, and your blogs taken offline - though you may not see the two conditions as connected. However, if you protect yourself, you can treat an attack as a mere nuisance.

Consider what details are used, by Google, in requesting backup authentication.

When Google requests additional identity details, after you have successfully provided your account name / email address, and your password, they will ask for demographic details such as:

• Any passwords that you have used previously.
• What services (such as GMail, Google+, YouTube) have you used - and when did you first use them.
• How recently did you use a given service.

They appear to request these details randomly, in an effort to keep the hackers guessing.

Observing that these details are sometimes requested, it would make sense to have a 2 part policy.

1. Don't reveal these details, about yourself, online.
2. Take a few hours, whenever you have time - research, and record these details so you will have them when they are useful.

If you travel frequently - or if your Internet service makes you appear to move around your immediate neighbourhood - you may need these details sooner than you would expect.

If your Internet service changes, giving you a new email address - or if you change jobs, graduate from school, move and have different / new Internet service - prepare for the change. The first time you login, after a change, have the details needed, where they can be conveniently retrieved.

You may see this notice - even when you did nothing wrong - if your account is disabled for "suspicious" / "unusual" activity. Google code can be fickle, at times.

Here's hoping that you don't suffer from high blood pressure or chronic indigestion.



Google 2-Step Verification is a better way to protect yourself.

Google 2-Step Verification uses any of several options.

• A physical USB key, registered by you before trouble starts.
• Backup, one use authentication codes, retrieved by you before trouble starts.
• An authentication code generator, installed on your smartphone / tablet, registered by you before trouble starts.

Note the requirement "before trouble starts". After you get the "Your account is now locked" advice, and see your blogs now offline, it may be too late.

I, personally, see the "suspicious" / "unusual" activity notice - or receive "Please provide additional proof of identity" - several times yearly. Using my USB key, inserted into the computer, and tapping the button, I am generally back online within minutes.

If you're lucky, you may need neither additional details, or 2-Step.

Not everybody will need either proof of identity. I suspect a large proportion of the world population will go through life without ever seeing the "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity warning.

And if I convince you to do any or all of this, you never need to do it - and you come to me in 5 years and call me a wanker or worse, for wasting your time - I'll smile and at least know that you are not one of the people in the forum.

My blog is offline and I had to spend time figuring when I setup my GMail and YouTube accounts!

or

Help me! My blog is missing from my dashboard - and it's throwing spam at my readers!

I really prefer being called a wanker (or worse).

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Some Blogger blog owners are reporting new instances of "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity - some successfully executed, and blogs stolen. The sad part is that much of this can be avoided, by advance owner action.

Researching backup authentication details, and / or use of Google 2-Step Verification, can allow the owner of an attacked Blogger account to growl, and respond - and possibly have the account and blog(s) back online in minutes or hours. But the work has to be done before trouble starts.

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The Followers Gadget, And Internet Identification

How many of you have used your favourite Internet application recently - and received a convenience login suggestion?

To continue, please tell us who you are!

Login with your FaceBook, Google, or Twitter account.

Many small business Internet services, instead of making you setup one more unknown account, are letting you login, and use their product, based on your FaceBook, Google, or Twitter account.

This is not a magical concept. It requires a lot of work, to make this happen.

The major Internet services, such as FaceBook, Google, and Twitter, act as identification sources for many smaller services.

Letting FaceBook, Google, and Twitter identify us is good, for everybody.

With FaceBook, Google, and Twitter providing identification services, we see a win - win - win situation.

1. FaceBook, Google, and Twitter get to set the standards for identification - and make the Internet safer for everybody.
2. The lesser known services can concentrate on their product - and not worry about identification.
3. The users of the lesser known services have one less account / password to maintain.

I login to AddThis, using my Google account. That's one less account, for me to maintain.



This is called Open Protocol Authorisation - or OAuth. I use OAuth to login to AddThis - and to other services, at various times.

Followers used to use OpenID Authentication - and complicated code.

For many years, Blogger used a similar concept - OpenID authentication - with the Followers gadget. People could Follow our blogs, using a Twitter, Yahoo, AIM, Netlog, or OpenID account - and they could identify their activities (similar to our Blogger / Google+ profiles) using a profile hosted by Orkut, Netlog, Plaxo, or Twitter.

This use of a third party service, for account and / or profile hosting, is not magical. OAuth / OpenID standards or not, each different service has its own peculiarities. Coding, to allow for these peculiarities, makes the Followers gadget more complicated than it should be.

Complicated code is not good. Blogger has to maintain duplicated code to allow for different browsers, operating systems, world wide government bureaucrats, and more. More time spent fixing problems == less time spent improving features.

Followers has shown problems to different people, at various times.

The Followers gadget, for many years, has well known problems.

"Were sorry ...

This gadget is configured incorrectly."

Everyone who uses Followers, on their blogs, has surely seen this notice.



The gadget, on this blog, has shown that error, more than once. Many would be Followers have told me so.

Many of us have tried to surf the Followers gadget, on their favourite blog, and seen this display too.



A lot of people saw the latter, in 2015, when using the gadget on this blog.

Now, Blogger is simplifying Following - and dropping some Followers.

This year, Blogger Engineers are removing excess code in the Followers gadget, to make it more reliable. This requires removal of code which supports OpenID accounts in Twitter, Yahoo, AIM, and Netlog - and profiles hosted in Orkut, Netlog, Plaxo, and Twitter.

Now, Following supports only Blogger / Google / Google+ accounts and profiles. Note that Blogger / Google / Google+ accounts do not have to be GMail.

Removal of the excess code requires removal of the OpenID accounts and profiles. And, we have been seeing our Followers counts drop, since mid December 2015.

It's important to note that anybody "Following" our blogs, using OpenID, can continue to use any email or third party newsfeed subscription - neither of which are affected by the account / profile cleanup. They were not using Reading List to read our blogs, since Reading List requires a Blogger account. And with the Followers gadget broken, no new readers were surfing to our blogs.

I don't like the drop in numbers, any more than the next blog owner. But I also don't like being unable to surf, using the Followers gadget.

So, I'll endure what looks like a 20% drop in Followers count - and be able to use the Followers gadget. And hope that having a working gadget, with less Followers, will still lead to more traffic - more so than having a broken gadget with more Followers. And, move forward.

And, my deepest apologies to those of you who were Following - but are not now - and wanted to find out why you were dropped.

Just use a Blogger / Google account, and Follow again, using a working Followers gadget, or using the Reading List wizard, please. And we'll put this sad story behind us.

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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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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.

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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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Blog Readers Report Comments, Supposedly Published Using A Mobile Computer, Appear To Disappear

Recently, we've been seeing a few problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, mentioning problems publishing comments on Blogger blogs, when using mobile computers.

My readers tell me that they can't comment on my blog, using an iPad. Comments disappear, when they try to publish them.

As with a previously explored problem with comments on a non mobile computer, this problem may involve unfamiliarity with the publishing sequence.

The dialogue involved in publishing a comment, when using a desktop computer with a full size display and a non mobile Blogger template, is not simple. Depending upon the various commenting options selected by the owner, the publishing sequence may be even more complex. Blog owners may need to consider the additional details involved in comment publishing, when using a mobile computer.

Using Blogger on a mobile computer involves various compromises - and the comment publishing process on a mobile computer even more compromises.

• The small display size, on a mobile computer, makes finding the various controls involved a challenge. Both the small size of everything involved, and the necessity of repeatedly scrolling around the screen, looking for the controls used in comment publishing, is frustrating.
• The "mobile template" is an attempt to make up for the small display size. The mobile template puts the various controls on a series of displays, with various buttons and links used to move from display to display.

People unaccustomed to the sequence of steps involved in the comment publishing process may not see all of the controls required, when using a mobile computer. Neither the wide non mobile template, nor the deep mobile template, displays the comment publishing sequence easily. People who are not very experienced with the comment publishing process, in general, might become confused with the displays.

As an example, let's look at the basic comment entry dialogue. So simple - when you are used to it, and can see all of the components.

• On a desktop / full function display, you'll see an entry box, and a "Publish" button beneath the box. You use the keyboard and / or mouse to enter text into the box, then click on the "Publish" button.
• When the required display space is larger than the physical screen space, you'll have a horizontal and / or vertical scroll bar, indicating that scrolling is required, to locate other display content. You'll use the mouse to manipulate the scroll bars, and make other portions of the display visible.
• A mobile display will have an entry box, and an on screen keyboard. The onscreen keyboard will occupy a fixed amount of display space, with the entry box occupying the available remainder.
• The mobile display won't have scroll bars - if other portions of the display are not immediately visible, you'll use your finger to scroll around the screen. If you are not familiar with screen layout, you'll have to scroll around, aimlessly.
• The "Publish" button will be somewhere near the entry box - but depending upon screen size and orientation, may not be immediately visible. You may have to scroll around the screen to find the "Publish" button.
• People not used to using a mobile computer may be unable to find the "Publish" button. Finding other display content that may appear to replace the "Publish" button, they may be confused when their comments are not published, and report that their comments disappeared.

Both the authentication sequence (when authentication is required), and the CAPTCHA entry sequence (when a CAPTCHA is involved), when involved in mobile computing commenting, will make the comment publishing process even more complicated. The authentication sequence may be more complex, if the browser in use has a problem with Blogger authentication - and "third party" cookies.

Since most blogs are designed primarily for non mobile computer use, commenting using mobile computers may not be obvious, for a while. Many readers may simply not publish comments, to the same activity level, when using their mobile computers.

>> Top

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Enabling Blogger, If You Now Have An ISP Provided Email Account, That Uses Google Apps Based GMail

We're seeing problem reports from some confused blog owners, who are apparently customers of ISPs who have made the switch, from using a private email infrastructure, to using GMail based email (administered using Google Apps).

When I try to sign in I get this message.

Blogger has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain

How do I administer my blog?

We've known, for a while, that having a Blogger account based on a Google Apps provided GMail account may not be a good long term strategy - particularly if the Apps account is based on a domain which you own, and the domain was purchased to host one of your blogs.

Possibly considering the latter scenario, Blogger / Google now requires that you enable the Blogger service, for any new Google Apps controlled domain - if you wish to use email addresses in that domain to host Blogger accounts. This is a safety measure, helping to prevent you from having a Blogger account that you can't control - or can't recover access when you forget the password.

All of that is fine - when you control the domain that you wish to use to host your Blogger account. But what if you don't control the domain? What if you previously setup a Blogger account based on an email domain owned by your ISP (employer, school, what have you ...) - then later the domain administrator decides to upgrade the domain, to use GMail based email? What happens to your Blogger account?

Short of convincing the domain administrators for your ISP (school, employer) that you have a genuine and urgent need to have a Blogger account, based on an email address that they provide, you're going to need a new email address - provided by someone other than Google, or your ISP (school, employer).

Start by setting up an email account in some third party web service - maybe "Yahoo.com". Then, you have two possibilities. If you're reading this article just before your ISP makes the switch, and you can still use your Blogger account, transfer control of your blog(s) to a new Blogger account that's based on your new email address.

If you just discovered the change by your ISP - maybe because you now see the bad news

Blogger has not been enabled by the administrator of the domain

you are going to have to recover control of your blog, based upon access to your ISP's email account - and setup a new Blogger account based on your new non ISP based email account.

1. Generate a new account recovery email message.
2. Setup a new email account, outside your current email service.
3. Clear cache, cookies, and sessions.
4. Restart the browser.
5. Login to your current email service, find, and open the email message.
6. Click on the link in the email message.
7. Setup a new Blogger account, based on the new email address.

Whatever you do when setting up your new Blogger account, please make sure to verify the email address - and setup recovery options, carefully.

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