We see various problems reported, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, which may involve geographical or network relationships.
Why can't I regain access to my blog, that I stopped publishing 5 years ago?
and
Why can't I see my blog?
and
Why does my dashboard show up in a language that I can't read?
With questions like these, it helps to know how and where the owner and / or readers of the blog get Internet service.
Geographical location and IP address are useful details, when diagnosing various problems with our blogs.
- Access and authentication.
- Connectivity.
- Language.
Address / location diagnosis is not a difficult procedure, given the right tools. As an example, click on each of these three links, one by one. Print or copy text details, as convenient - then combine and compare the details, from the different services.
There are other similar tools, that I may identify later.
I'll show each location discovery tool, from various geographical locations. This will illustrate the uncertainties of geographical vs geolocated location - and why use of multiple ("redundant") online diagnostic tools is a good idea.
I clicked on each link, twice - while connected differently - and made the screen prints from these geographical locations. I may show additional locations as I use them.
- 22 May, 2016: MacDonalds, Martinez CA
- 23 May, 2016: StarBucks, Martinez CA
"IP-Details.com"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Austin, TX
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 64.134.233.29
Provider: MacDonalds
"IP Location"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Valencia, CA
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 64.134.233.29
Provider: MacDonalds
"Info Sniper"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: (Los Angeles, CA)
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 64.134.233.29
Provider: MacDonalds
"IP-Details.com"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Bedminster, NJ
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.3.7
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"IP Location"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Rohnert Park, CA
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.3.7
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"Info Sniper"
Date: 22 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: (Los Angeles CA)
Geographical Location: MacDonalds, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.3.7
Provider: Verizon Cellular
---
"IP-Details.com"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location:
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 50.247.110.187
Provider: StarBucks
"IP Location"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Menlo Park CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 50.247.110.187
Provider: StarBucks
"Info Sniper"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Milpitas CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 50.247.110.187
Provider: StarBucks
"IP-Details.com"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Bedminster, NJ
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.12.193
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"IP Location"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Salinas CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.12.193
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"Info Sniper"
Date: 23 May, 2016
Diagnosed Location: South San Francisco CA
Geographical Location: StarBucks, Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.197.12.193
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"IP-Details.com"
Date: 5 June, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Bedminster, NJ
Geographical Location: Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.213.0.103
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"IP Location"
Date: 5 June, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Berkeley CA
Geographical Location: Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.213.0.103
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"Info Sniper"
Date: 5 June, 2016
Diagnosed Location: Oakland CA
Geographical Location: Martinez, CA
IP Address: 70.213.0.103
Provider: Verizon Cellular
"IP-Details.com"
Date: 2 March, 2017
Diagnosed Location: ?
Geographical Location: Berkeley Inn, Berkeley CA
IP Address: 50.247.98.197
Provider: ?
"IP Location"
Date: 2 March, 2017
Diagnosed Location: Berkeley CA
Geographical Location: Berkeley Inn, Berkeley CA
IP Address: 50.247.98.197
Provider: Comcast Cable
"Info Sniper"
Date: 2 March, 2017
Diagnosed Location: Oakland CA
Geographical Location: Berkeley Inn, Berkeley CA
IP Address: 50.247.98.197
Provider: Comcast Cable
Geolocation is a useful diagnostic tool, when diagnosing various Blogger problems - but geolocated details, using the above tools (or complementary procedures), need to be persistently cross checked. Tomorrow, or from a different location or service, one may see different results.
Access and authentication.
Sometimes when trying to regain access to a dormant blog, you'll be advised to access from the previously used computer. Google uses location comparisons, as part of demographic authentication.
Connectivity.
Some blog disconnections may have geographical origin. Knowing where you, and other blog readers may be (or appear to be), can be useful in determining a geographical relationship between problems.
Language.
Blogger uses geolocation to determine appropriate local language. Knowing where you are - or appear to be - can be useful in determining why you may be seeing the Blogger dashboard and / or your blog, in a given language.
The bottom line.
Along with blog address / name / URL verification, location diagnosis is a useful procedure - but the results need to be considered selectively.
When diagnosing various access / connectivity problems with #Blogger, knowing the IP address and location of the reported problem is useful. It's easy to get the desired details - but the details may need to be verified, carefully.
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/4LkxHxYsj1c/discussion
China has always been a subject of legend and mystery, in "Western" (non Asian) culture. Recently, one unique Chinese artifact - the Great Firewall Of China - has become a subject of legend and mystery too. For both bloggers (publishers of both Blogger and other blogs - and of various web sites) and bloggees (readers of both Blogger and other blogs - and of various web sites), and for people inside China and outside, the GFWC is the subject of discussion in both techie and non techie blogs, forums, and web sites.
People inside China wonderWhy can't I see my Blogger blog?
and people outside China wonderWhy can't my readers, inside China, see my blog?
And those are the simple questions.
People inside China, more realistically (and echoing some of the questions seen occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken) askWhy can't I see all of my Blogger blogs?
orWhy can I see my Blogger blogs, but not my neighbours Blogger blogs (my FaceBook page, my Tweets, ...)?
and people outside China wonderWhy can't some people inside China see (not see) some of my blogs (my web sites, my FaceBook, my Tweets, ...)?
And these questions are asked, differently, by native Chinese citizens, non Chinese citizens, and visitors to China. And everybody will have different observations, and different questions.
The fact is- The GFWC is not one single filter. It, like other Internet components is complex, and is redundant.
- The GFWC is not absolute. It, like other Internet components is lossy. It is subject to both false positives (It blocks some content, some of the time, which it should not block.), and to false negatives (It fails to block some content, some of the time, which it should block.).
Compounding the confusion, we have read that Chinese authorities- Know that the GFWC is not absolute. Some Chinese citizens, some of the time, can access content which the GFWC should filter - were it absolute and 100% reliable.
- Don't care that it's not absolute. The Chinese are a pragmatic people, and the authorities depend upon lots of Government approved content available to all Chinese people, to overwhelm the non approved (foreign and internal) content that's sometimes available to some citizens. And there are other censorship techniques which are used, too.
Wikipedia: Golden Shield Project identifies 5 different types of GFWC techniques. Each of the 5 different types will have different characteristics. Capriciousness, False Negative / False Positive Count, Latency - are all consequences of any firewall, and will vary depending upon techniques used.
Remember China is one of the largest countries in the world - both demographically, geographically, and politically. Internet structure will reflect each of those characteristics.
Capitalism in China has been known to cause variations in the GFWC.During the 2008 Olympic Games, Chinese officials told Internet providers to prepare to unblock access from certain Internet cafés, access jacks in hotel rooms and conference centers where foreigners were expected to work or stay.[7]
The Chinese government knows that its country depends upon tourism dollars. Different areas of the country, which will be more or less visited by foreigners, will have better Internet service, and probably more costly and effective filtering. The effects from the Olympic Games unblocking didn't go away immediately, in every hotel and conference center.
The bottom line here is that anybody who visits China, and anybody who produces a blog or web site and targets Chinese readership, should expect some unavailability varying both place to place, and time to time. Anybody who expects consistent availability, or consistent unavailability, is in for a surprise.
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A few bloggers in the MidWest USA region - apparently AT&T DSL customers - are reporting inability to access Blogger, Blog*Spot, and in some cases, various Google services.
We have a Problem Rollup question in Blogger Help Forum, where the epidemiology of the problem is being explored.
For right now, if you are affected by this outage, please use a proxy server to access all Blog*Spot blogs. And read BHG Resources: My Blog Is Gone, or [FAQ] I Can't See My Blog. What Should I Do? for insight into diagnosing this problem.
(Update 10:00 3/28): This problem has been resolved.
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Several bloggers in the UK are reporting inability to access any BlogSpot blogs.
For right now, please use a proxy server to access all Blog*Spot blogs. And read BHG Resources: My Blog Is Gone for insight into diagnosing this problem.
And find or start a thread, and post diagnostic details, in Blogger Help Group: Something Is Broken- Where are you located, and what ISP do you use?
- What operating system and browser do you use?
- Can you provide a PathPing or a TraceRoute, log to assist us?
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A few bloggers in the UK, most using TalkTalk as their ISP, are reporting inability to access any Blog*Spot blogs.
For right now, please use a proxy server to access all Blog*Spot blogs.
>> (Update 5/29 13:30): It's possible that TalkTalk caused the problem, which was anticipated.Over the course of the last 7 days, we have been upgrading our network across more than 100 exchanges nationwide in order to provide our customers with a better landline/broadband service. As a consequence, some of you may have experienced intermittent call quality & connectivity issues for which we apologise.
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