Your Blog Is Forever - But Requires Your Effort

Some blog owners misunderstand the apocryphal promise from Blogger to us

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.

From the tone of some questions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, some blog owners seem to think that Blogger promises us unending service, without requiring any effort on our part.

We need to think of Blogger blogging as a partnership, between Blogger and us. Blogger is a business - and some principles of business apply to how they treat us.

In our constant stream of demand for features and service, as owners and readers of Blogger blogs, we need to remember that Blogger (and Google) are a business. Various principles of business will occasionally apply, in their policies. These policies may not, necessarily, be responsive to our immediate and personal needs - though they may support the overall needs of Blogger, in general.

• Due diligence. Some Blogger policies may be necessary to support the Blogger customer community, in general.
• Due process of law. Some Blogger policies may be necessary to support the rights of other individual Blogger customers.
• Return on investment. Some Blogger policies may be necessary to support Blogger as a business.
• Personal Responsibility. Some Blogger policies may be necessary to allow us to maintain our Blogger blogs, and personal computers, to support our personal needs.

Due diligence. Blogger may make some decisions in order to protect themselves, and their customers, in general. Blogger may refuse to disclose personal information about us, if we cannot prove our identity. Even if we cannot accept, or understand this policy, Blogger may maintain this policy to better support the Blogger community, in general.

Due process of law. Blogger may refuse to respond to our personal demands, to protect the rights of other Blogger blog owners. They may not delete blogs which we don't own, purely because we complain that the content of some blogs may say bad things about us.

Return on investment. Blogger may refuse to support us, when we have not made any similar effort to assist them to support us. If we require service, that requires much effort from them, and provides no benefit to the Blogger owner community in general, we may not get support immediately - or at all.

If we ignore our Blogger accounts and blogs, for many years, our accounts and blogs will be there waiting for us. Our access to our accounts and blogs may be restricted, however - and Blogger Support may not fulfill our personal needs.

If we ignore their warnings about coming changes, we may not be supported after such changes are finally implemented.

Personal Responsibility. Blogger cannot support our blogs, and our use of our personally owned computers, when our personal decisions compete with their policies. Our use of different browsers, varying local security policies, and of different non Blogger products in our blogs, require us to take personal responsibility.

As owners and readers of Blogger blogs, as of similar Internet services, we have to take ownership of our personal decisions, similar to many Blogger policies. We cannot demand more of Blogger, than we do of ourselves.







http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2012/02/your-blog-is-forever-but-access-to-and.html
Your Blog Is Forever - But Access To, And Support Of, Your Blog, Requires Your Effort
Your Blog Is Forever - But Requires Your Effort

Deletion Is Not Alternative, If You Cannot Authenticate

Some supposed blog owners, unable to login to their Blogger accounts because they forgot the Blogger account name or password (or never bothered to remember either), try to compromise.

They figure that, if they can't regain access to the blog, then Blogger will be willing to simply delete the blog - and everybody will be happy. They appear to have overlooked the repeatedly stated policy, which promises us that our blogs will be ours, as long as we wish to own them.

The problem is, blog deletions are as sensitive to illegal action as account recovery - and illegal actions are a very real threat to our blogs.

Blogger exercises due diligence, in requiring proper authentication for Blogger account recovery.

Blogger can't delete a blog, any more freely than give control of a blog.

Any requested deletion, of any supposedly owned blog, must be no less controlled.

Blogger promises us

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.

This means that our blogs will not be deleted, or transferred to the control of another person, without careful validation of the person requesting the deletion or transfer. If the other person cannot prove rightful ownership of the blog in question, Blogger is not legally entitled to delete the blog, any more than they are entitled to transfer control of the blog.

We are permitted to own and publish our blogs, without any minimal required activity, and without any required proof of our real life identity. We are entitled to publish our blogs when we see fit - and are entitled to come back to our blogs after any length of time - if we are able to authenticate ourselves.

Blogger lets us publish, at any rate we prefer.

Blogger will not harass us when we are inactive, whether or not anybody else offers to publish to our URL with more vigour. Neither will they give anybody else control of our blogs, either to publish - or to delete. Similarly, they won't give me - or you - access to somebody else's blog, or harass somebody else.

If you find yourself unable to access your blog, and delete it on your own, try using the improved Google account recovery wizard, before asking that Blogger delete your blog for you.

In limited cases, the Google tool Removing Content From Google may be useful. Finally, concentrate on making your blog or website more useful, and organically improving your reputation.