The Blogger "Contact" Form - What You See Is What You Get

Blog owners add the Blogger supplied Contact Form, then wonder about the details, and what options are available.

The Blogger supplied "Contact Form" gadget provides a very basic form, with few options. There's not a lot to do or see.

With the Blogger "Contact Form" gadget, what you see is what you get.

You add the form to the blog, and you change the Title of the form.

Use is simple. You fill out the form, and Send. The content, once sent, can't be edited.

The reply address is whatever you entered, in the "Email" box.

If you are the owner of the blog, the message goes to you. If the blog has multiple administrators, Send a test message, and have everybody check their Inboxes. Find out who should expect to see Contact messages, and what email addresses are targeted.

If you test the form on your blog, when using a Blogger account based on a non GMail email address, you may not receive the test entry in your Inbox.

If you, as the blog owner, want a form with more options, or the ability to manage form recipients, you use a third party form. You can use Google Docs, and create a simple "Contact Me" form, in 15 minutes. A Google Docs created form can have multiple, designated recipients, and can be edited by the sender. The Docs based form entry goes into an online database, which can be accessible by designated recipients.

You can embed a Google Docs based form in a page or post - and you can create your page or post as a separate tab, in the blog - as I added my Blogger "Contact Me" form or alternately, my Expanded Followers gadget, to this blog.

What you see below is my demonstration Google Docs form, embedded using an IFrame. The IFrame code is provided with the form, which required a brief 10 minutes to create. When you create your form, hit "Send form", then "Embed", to get the code for your form. You can see my improved Contact form, in my page, "Contact Me, Improved".

<iframe src="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JvoY2yf5aTChnvXlCgGsUerSCtI7RHpRdkq5SPBPm90/viewform?embedded=true" width="700" height="800" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>

There are various third party, non Google "Contact" form suppliers - some free, others not - some reliable and safe, others not. Be careful, if you decide to use a non Google, third party, product.

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Account Recovery, Authentication, Contact, Privacy, And URL Availability Are All Related

Every day, we get various impassioned pleas from blog owners (active, former, and would be), in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, requesting assistance.

How do I get access to my blog, that I published 10 years ago?

and

How do I keep my blog from being visible in Google?

and

How do I contact the owner of a blog that was published 10 years ago (and never updated)?

All of these are valid concerns - and answering one question sometimes involves referring to various other concerns.

Blogger Support, some time ago, confirmed our right to privacy, as blog owners.

Our policies aren't pro-stalker, they are pro-respecting the privacy of user information. We simply can not release information without due process.

Effective use of the Internet requires some amount of ownership privacy.
The concept of Internet privacy in general, and blog owner privacy specifically, has legendarily been part of some major world political events. If we as blog owners are going to retain our rights to privacy as blog owners, we have to be aware of the limitations, and the results.

Not all blog owners are aware of the complex natures of Blogger authentication. We have two long used authentication options - account name / password (primary), and backup email access (secondary).

Some blog owners refuse to remember their account name and password, routinely.
Some owners routinely ignore the primary option, and use the secondary, regularly. When their email address changes because they change employer, graduate from college, or change ISP, we see the plaintive cry from former owners

I need Blogger to send the recovery email to my new address!

or

I can't use my previous email account!

To prevent the latter issue, Blogger / Google recently introduced a tertiary authentication option - SMS / Voice Recovery. This allows us to use a text message (SMS transmitted), or a voice message ("home" phone transmitted), to the "cell phone" or "home phone" of our choice. This approach, not universally popular, causes another privacy concern.

• It requires advance action. People currently unable to use the primary or secondary authentication options are not going to find a solution here.
• It requires the blog owner to register a "cell phone" or "home phone" number. People with privacy concerns don't appreciate this.

  I'm not giving Google my phone number!

  as if Google intends to add us to another phone spam database.

There is no Blogger required minimum publishing level.
Another privacy issue involves people who think that blog ownership involves some minimal publishing activity, and who require use of the Blog URL to match their blog subject and title.

I need contact to the owner of blog xxxxxxx!

Here, the would be blog owner ignores the owner's right to privacy, in requiring contact information.

Some people request that Blogger monitor posting level, and contact inactive blog owners.

Can Blogger just email owners of blogs with no posts for a year, and ask them to confirm their intention to continue? Those who don't respond can have their blogs taken away, so somebody else can make better use of the URL.

These would be owners seem to think that all Blogger accounts are based on active and valid email addresses, and that all URLs should be universally monitored.

Blogger can't satisfy everybody - you may have to pick an available URL!
The bottom line here is that there are several limitations, that we may have to learn to live with.

• Blogger won't disclose blog owner details, gratuitously.
• You, and you alone, are responsible for maintaining control of your blogs.
• If a given URL is not available, find one that is available now, and start your blog, today.

Compromise, and move forward. Remember, blog content is the value, in your Internet presence. Don't require that Blogger compromise security, to give you improper access to your blog.

Our Ability To Blog Anonymously Is Confirmed

In a recent statement in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, Blogger has confirmed our right to publish our blogs anonymously.

Our policies aren't pro-stalker, they are pro-respecting the privacy of user information. We simply can not release information without due process.

Since this is a legal issue, you'll have to follow appropriate legal channels. Sorry we don't have an easier answer at this point, but I hope you can understand where we are coming from in terms of the importance of respecting privacy.

The promise of anonymity is an important reassurance for those who wish to publish blogs, without fear of being identified.

Anonymous blog owners can only be identified based on proper court order.

Only properly issued governmental court orders will result in blogger identification. We also note a previous advice.

we do not give out contact information for the owner of a blog

If you require the identity of any blog owner, get a lawyer, and / or an order from a judge. Or, do some detective work, on your own.

Blogger Support will not contact an owner, based on your request.

Blogger Support cannot unilaterally take your word as justification of your need to contact the other party. In addition, they cannot consistently contact all blog owners, when necessary.

You may publish a blog, in complete anonymity - but prepare for the risks.

And if you, as a blog owner, desire complete anonymity, there are more ways to protect your identity. However, please recognise that anonymous blogging requires that we accept responsibility - and always prepare for challenges, if the blog is ever deleted.