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, with entries separated by commas.

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

The existing "Blog Authors" list is updated, and invitations are sent, when you hit "Save changes".

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, with entries separated by commas.

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

The existing "Blog Readers" list is updated, and invitations are sent, when you hit "Save changes".

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.

---

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

Blog Membership Is The Responsibility Of The Blog Administrators

We see occasional confusion in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? about gaining (or re gaining) access to a given blog.

I made my buddy an administrator - and now, I can't control the blog. Who do I contact to get this corrected?

and

I was reader of a blog which is now private. Can Blogger provide me contact to the blog owner?

Not everybody realises that Blogger does not provide blog access / membership control.

Though Blogger / Google is theoretically responsible (to a very limited degree) for content of the blogs which they host, access and membership control of any blog is the responsibility of the blog administrators / owners. And control is ownership.

If you provide your friend control of your blog, and your friend removes your control, the blog is now your (former) friend's responsibility. Blogger will not help you regain control, either.

If you want access to a private blog, Blogger won't help you there, either. Blogger supports our desire to publish a blog anonymously and in complete privacy - and if we (or anybody else) publishes a blog privately, they are responsible for proving contact information.

If you lose control of your blog, by forgetting the owning account name / password, and losing access to any backup tokens, you have lost control of your blog. Hoping that a responsible owner still exists, Blogger will retain the blog in question, until a responsible owner shows up. Threatening a lawsuit, because Blogger has stolen your blog, is frivolous misuse of court time.

In neither case, will you do anything but waste time, by posting in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I? and demanding personal attention, from a real person in Google.

>> Top

Make A Team Blog And Keep The Members Separate

Occasionally, we see a confused query

How do I allow access to my blog, and keep my GMail account private to me?

or

How do I have my friends using my blog, and each person use their own name in publishing posts?

These are people who do not understand the concept of team blogs.

Team blogs use a separate Blogger / Google account for each member, they do not require everybody to share one Blogger / Google account. You add each team member as an Author, in Settings - Permissions. When you do this, note two cogent details.

1. Each blog is limited to 100 Members (Authors + Administrators + Owners), in total.
2. You can invite members, using the email address that you know. People can accept membership using what email adddress (Google account) they wish. People may be able to accept multiple member entries, which may affect the 99 author limit.

If either of those two details are a problem to you, perhaps you should look at Content Management Systems. A CMS may give you more control over access to your blog.

>> Top