URL redirection is a Blogger magic trick, similar to a common sleight of hand trick in stage magic performances.
The Blogger HTTPS Redirection, a recently added feature in Blogger security, may be a similar Blogger magic trick - and a possible problem. Some browsers treat websites with multiple redirects as possibly malicious.
Private blogs, accessed through the Blogger / Google interstitial login, may also complicate HTTPS Redirection.
Interstitial webpages may pop up like magic, where you (or your prospective viewer) would least expect them.
- In front of a "private" blog, where you have to identify yourself to continue.
- In front of a blog that contains (or is reputed to contain) objectionable material (naughty pictures or such).
- In front of a blog that is (or appears to be) published off site.
- In front of a blog that has been blocked, for TOS violation, or maybe for hosting hacking content.
One of the problems with HTTPS Redirection may involve private blogs.
To access a private blog, you must be identified.
To access a private blog, one must be logged into Blogger, using an account that is a member or owner of the blog.
If you are not logged in to Blogger, you may be asked to identify yourself, to access the blog.
If you are logged in to Blogger, but using a non member / owner account to access the blog, you may simply be refused access.
Both of those displays come after the link to the blog - and before the blog is viewed. They are called "interstitial" webpages.
If you try to access a private blog, and are not a member / owner, you should see the well known Blogger / Google interstitial login webpage. In order to check that you are a member / owner, the infamous Google Login Cookie must be accessed.
The Google Login Cookie, created under the Google login sequence and accessed from a Blogger display, is a "third party" cookie. If the browser blocks "third party" cookies, as many do, the browser may refuse access to the private blog - even if the prospective reader is logged in to Blogger, as a member or owner.
If third party cookies are not blocked, too many redirects may present a problem.
If third party cookies are not blocked, some browsers may still have a problem - too many redirects. Some browsers may object to multiple redirects to other websites - as possible malicious content. A redirect to an interstitial display, following the "HTTP to HTTPS" redirect, may be one too many redirects.
The mysterious Blogger "private blog" interstitial display, which lets people login to a private blog when necessary, may contribute to the "too many redirects" problem, for browsers which are sensitive to multiple redirects. Even if a private blog member / owner is logged in properly, the interstitial display is still involved, in checking for proper login - and this is where the infamous "third party" cookie is involved.
You may need to adjust your security settings, for best results.
If you are trying to access a private blog - and you see "This blog is open to invited readers only", or you are forced to login, again (!!), you will need to check and correct your cookie filters. You might want to similarly check and correct your script filters.
Please remember that the filter that is affecting your private blog access - whether cookie or script - may not be part of your browser native settings. Check thoroughly.
One of the challenges involved with the recently added #Blogger "HTTPS Redirect" may involve private blogs, and the Blogger private blog interstitial login. "Third party cookie" filters, and the Blogger private blog interstitial login, will complicate this problem.
https://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/WiR84_IRF8w/discussion
We see an occasional report in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about custom domain publishing.
My readers can't view the blog - they get a redirection count error!
DNS analysis shows a properly setup domain. When we try to examine the blog, we see a private blog notice - or we are required to login.
But why a private blog, using a custom domain?
The purpose of publishing to a custom domain is to increase readership - by making a blog more visible, using a non BlogSpot URL.
A private blog has limited readership, based on permissions provided by the owner. The need to make a blog private conflicts with the need to increase reader population.
Besides the functional conflict, there's a second problem with combining a custom domain published blog, and access by invitation. Both the custom domain redirection, and the private blog redirection involve interstitial code.
This is a private blog. Combine this, and a custom domain redirection - and you get trouble.
A potential blog reader, when accessing the blog by the BlogSpot URL, will redirect to the domain URL - and then to the access checking interstitial. Some browsers will interpret this as a possible security issue, and cite
Too many redirections!
In other cases, the two redirections may lead to a redirect loop - and the reader will see a white screen of death.
What ever the result - "Too many redirections", or a redirect loop, the potential reader will never see the blog.
If you want to publish a blog, and limit reader access by invitation, you're better off publishing to BlogSpot. If you want to use a non BlogSpot URL, a public blog makes sense.
You are allowed to publish a #Blogger blog with a designated reader population - and you're allowed to publish a blog to a non BlogSPot URL.
You can publish a private blog to a custom domain, if you wish - but this is not recommended. Learn why combining limited access with a non BlogSpot URL is not a good idea.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/5IUByvxKYeg
Along with problems with comments and unwanted CAPTCHA forms, we're seeing some reports about problems with persistent and unwanted interstitial displays, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.
The interstitial display, and its use of cookies, is similar to the new mandatory anonymous comments CAPTCHA form. If your identity can't be determined, or your decision to view a blog can't be remembered, an interstitial warning is displayed - just as the CAPTCHA form is displayed, when your readers are preparing to comment.
Interstitial warnings require cookies, both to identify you, and to remember your decisions.
- In front of a "private" blog, where you have to be identified, to determine your relationship with the blog.
- In front of a blog that contains (or is reputed to contain) objectionable material (naughty pictures or such), to remember your desire to view the blog, and your decision to continue.
- In front of a blog that is (or appears to be) published off site, to remember your desire to view the blog, and your decision to continue.
- In front of a blog that has been blocked, for TOS violation, or maybe for hosting hacking content, where you have to be identified, to determine your relationship with the blog.
If the cookie can't be read, the interstitial code will try again.
If a preference cookie can't be read after being created, the blog display may force you to try again, and re display the interstitial warning. If a session cookie is not accessible to the blog display, the reader gets treated as someone not logged in.
In neither case, does the reader get to go to the next screen, and view the blog.
Both session cookies, and preference cookies, are vulnerable to "third party" cookie filters.
- A preference cookie is created under "blogger.com", where the interstitial runs.
- A session cookie is created under "google.com", where you login.
These are third party cookies, being read under the blog published URL.
Both types of cookies are read under "blogspot.com" - or under whatever custom domain, or whatever country code alias, is being used by the blog, as displayed.
Whether a cookie is needed, but non existent - or needed, but can't be read - the result is the same. The reader is unable to continue, and does not get to view the blog, when necessary.
If the computer has a cookie filter, the cookie won't be read.
If a reader is subject to a filter that blocks "third party" cookies, and a preference or session cookie is needed, the reader will be unable to continue. This is a condition that Blogger Engineers cannot program around, because it is part of the security code, in the browser.
Thanks to the Google "One account" login, as Blogger is made a way of life to more of a reader population who have no interest in maintaining security on their computer, these issues will become more problematic.
Occasionally, we see a report in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, that reflects on the reader audience - not necessarily only the blog content.Why is my blog behind a Content Warning?Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is objectionable.
Occasionally, a quick eyeballing of the blog in question may turn up some dodgy content, which may be suggested, in the forum, as problematic.
This story may not end immediately.But, I've had that picture gallery, for years! Why did I just get the Content Warning?
Here, the blog owner is not considering changing standards - or the possibility that the blog, becoming more popular, may be adding readers who don't appreciate a photo gallery started years ago.
As your blog matures - and when you are successful at encouraging reader and search engine reputation - your reader audience should be increasing.
If your reader population expands, some readers may be less tolerant.
If you are now advertising your blog to a more selective audience, some folks in that audience may object to some blog content, enjoyed or ignored by your earlier audience.
If you spend time perusing your visitor logs - and if you have a more robust visitor log than Stats, you may find some interesting clues. StatCounter (not SiteMeter) shows, among other details, the "Exit Click" for each visitor. If you see any one post abnormally represented, among the "Exit Click" inventory, you may be looking at content that's possibly not appreciated by some portion of the reader community.
Here, I'll note that you won't necessarily see any statistics for a post that is posted entirely on the main page. If your main page is a significant portion of the blog, you may wish to add Jump Break to your posts, to encourage your readers to click to the individual post pages, and read each individual post.
Be aware of your reader population - and consider their needs.
Whatever your strategy for advertising your blog, be aware of changing visitor interest. Don't "spice up" your blog with "eye candy", and expect to remain free of a Content Warning, forever.
Encourage your readers, with informative, interesting, and unique content. Don't abuse them with eye candy, then demand removal of the Content Warning, without compromise.
Not all blog owners understand the necessity of having unique content, as the basis for a healthy blog.
We see questions periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about inappropriate use of content from other blogs and websites.Why was my Blogger account deleted? I never argue when given copyright notices!
orWhy don't I have any readers? I have great content - the other blogs, where I get the content, get lots of traffic.
Google describes the overall issue, about copying content from blog to blog, quite plainly, in Blogger Help: Spam, phishing, or malware on Blogger.Spam blogs cause various problems, beyond simply wasting a few seconds of your time when you happen to come across one. They can clog up search engines, making it difficult to find real content on the subjects that interest you. They may scrape content from other sites on the web, using other people's writing to make it look as though they have useful information of their own. And if an automated system is creating spam posts at an extremely high rate, it can impact the speed and quality of the service for other, legitimate users.
Spam classification is one of several penalties, which involve copied content. I've seen various content penalties, that are reported, from time to time, in the forums.
Some penalties involve copyrighted material - but non copyrighted material, improperly used, can cause problems. And unrighteous charges will inconvenience you, and cause other problems.- Content Warning
- DMCA Violations
- Spam Classification
- Search Engine Reputation
Content Warning
If you copy controversial content, that does not belong in your blog, some of your readers will object. Originally used to block "adult" content from being viewed by younger readers, the "content warning" / "objectionable content" classification is broader in scope than it appears to be. This accusation is sometimes used by readers, who may object in quantity, to any irrelevant subject in any blog.
A Content Warning interstitial will damage your search engine result listings. You'll have to request a review of the blog, to get the warning removed. The people who review content warnings may not do so with high priority.
DMCA Violations
If you improperly copy copyrighted material, and the lawful owners complain, you can be cited for DMCA Violations. You will end up with posts - and later the blog - deleted or locked.
You'll have to search the ChillingEffects database, for details, and appeal the citation. If you don't appeal a citation, and if you continue to make the same mistakes, you can be classified as a "non repentant" abuser - and your Blogger / Google account will be deleted or locked.
Spam Classification
If you unwisely copy material, or supply material to be copied, your blog can be classified as a spam host, with the offense described as "scraping / syndication". This will require a spam review. Until the review is concluded, and the verdict is satisfactory, your blog will remain offline.
If you publish multiple blogs concurrently, with the same content, you can be classified as a spammer. If you publish multiple blogs sequentially, with the same content, you can be classified as a "non repentant" spammer - and your Blogger / Google account will be deleted or locked.
If your blog consists mainly of copied material - even if properly attributed, you will need your own material also. A blog with only copied content is still subject to classification. I strongly recommend no more than 10% copied content, to 90% original content - if you want any decent reputation.
Search Engine Reputation
If you copy or share content - whether cited for content, DMCA, or spam - your blog's search engine reputation will suffer. Multiple blogs and websites, with the same content, will result in higher reputation blogs and websites getting better placement in a SERP. Your blog will end up at the bottom of any relevant SERP listing - and your traffic level will drop.
Using Dynamic Content
If you copy a script from a third party website, that references dynamic content owned by that website, you are responsible for ensuring that the script works - or deal with the consequences. If you host videos served from the website in question, on your blog, this is similar to hot linking. If the video in question is removed by the website owner, and stops playing from your website, you must contact the owner of the website.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line here is that blog content needs to be informative, interesting, relevant, properly targeted, and unique. If you push the limits, you will regret your decision, eventually.
Your blog will need a good search reputation, to get readers. Start with good content, based upon what you know, and are willing to share.
Some blog owners find evidence of opinion from their viewers, but cannot accept the opinions expressed.Why is there a "Content Warning" on my blog?
They don't understand the collaborative opinion being expressed, when this warning is displayed.
Long ago, the "Flag Blog" link, in the navbar, was a misunderstood feature.
The "Report Abuse" navbar link provides offense classification selections.
The "Flag Blog" button was later replaced by the "Report Abuse" link, with multiple classifications of offenses.
Enough readers, reporting "Objectionable content" - and the blog gets a warning.
Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is objectionable.
The text of the warning is somewhat self explanatory.Some readers of this blog have contacted Google because they believe this blog's content is objectionable.
The conclusion here is simple.- The opinion is collaborative - multiple readers have expressed this opinion.
- The blog content is offensive - the readers object to this content.
A warning, in front of your blog, can have several causes.
If you are seeing this warning displayed in front of your blog, there are several possible causes.- You are accepting contributions from other people, and not carefully checking what you accept.
- You are pushing the limits - a bit too far.
- You are marketing your blog, inappropriately.
And you have several options.
You have several choices.- Objectively examine the content in your blog, and remove anything objectionable.
- Market your blog more carefully, to a more appreciative audience.
- Set the voluntary "Adult Content?" option to "Yes".
- Accept the involuntary warning.
You publish your blog to educate or entertain your readers, right? Why spend time providing content that your readers don't appreciate?
In the latest round of controversy about the interstitial warning display, we see reports from more publishers of "adult content" blogs, reporting inability to try the dynamic templates on their blogs.Why are Dynamic Views not available for my blog? Is this yet another conspiracy against "adult content" blogs?
From what I can tell, it's simply another scenario where the interstitial warning causes problems.
The interstitial warning display, another Blogger feature which appears to involve third party cookies, will be yet one more Blogger feature that will be problematic on computers with overly restrictive security settings.
Complaints about inability to post comments to blogs which use the embedded comment form, a well known problem with third party cookies, are seen daily in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.
To prevent needless frustration from yet one more "third party cookie" filter problem, it's possible that Blogger decided to block use of dynamic templates with blogs that are accessed through the "Content Warning" interstitial display. We should note that private blogs, a Blogger feature that are accessed through the "invited readers" interstitial display, are blocked because the dynamic templates build their display using the blog feed - and the blog feed is not published with private blogs.
There's also a problem with the interstitial display itself, and the redirected display. The redirect will make "Adult Content" blogs, blogs published to badly setup custom domains, and private blogs, all unusable with the dynamic views.
Like it or not, it appears that neither blogs involuntarily classified as "Adult Content" (by Blogger, responding to reader complaints), nor blogs voluntarily classified as "Adult Content" (by the owners, from Settings - Other), will be permitted to benefit from the new, dynamic templates. Nor will badly setup custom domains, or private blogs.
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There are known limitations, to the effectiveness of making a blog private.
The problem of access latency, where a blog made private won't block everybody immediately, is one. Another is the possibility of co workers of a legitimately designated reader being able to read a private blog, on an office network that uses a caching proxy server. But there are other perceived problems with private blogs, that don't actually exist.
One perceived problem is seen when examining the visitor log for a private blog. Some one without access permission, loading a private blog, will load the "Private Blog" interstitial warning on top of the requested page. The visitor log will show the page in question being loaded. But look closer - do you see any other pages being loaded?
A log from StatCounter is perfect for this task. For any visitor to your blog, you can see a record of each link clicked during the visit. For an uninvited visitor to a private blog, you'll likely see one click - the "Entry Page" - and that's it. And even if the "Entry Page" is listed in the visitor log, chances are that all that was actually seen was the interstitial page.
So if you're examining the visitor log for your private blog, relax. Your private content is, most likely, safe.
We've known for a while that private blogs have limitations, such as latency.
If you originally publish your blog as public, and later make it private, cached copies of the blog will be all over the Internet, for anybody to read, after it's supposedly private. This week, we see another, possibly more serious limitation.Why was my coworker able to read my very private, personal, password protected blog yesterday? I had it set to "Blog Author Only" and yet she found it and was able to read the whole thing.
It has never, ever been public. I started it last September and set the permissions to "blog author only" at the start for all posts. I have never invited anyone else to read it...and have never, ever logged into it at work.
The private blog interstitial may not be loaded, for any would be reader, for several reasons.
The private blog interstitial won't be loaded, before every access to the blog.
People with blog content cached locally - either on their computer, or their network - won't always requires Blogger server access, when a blog page is displayed. Some visitor logs will detect blog access, even when cached content is retrieved - and even when the private blog interstitial is not involved.
Some readers may inadvertently provide access to other network users.
Occasionally, while using slow Internet access, I might load a private blog.
As the blog loads, the browser identifies the various components of the blog, such as various pictures loading, in the browser status area. An odd interstitial notice might be seen.
This blog is open to invited readers only
It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog. If you think this is a mistake, you might want to contact the blog author and request an invitation.
This might come up well after the blog main page contents have loaded.
If you are surfing from a network which uses a caching proxy server, it's possible that one person who has permission could properly load the blog in their browser. With the blog having been loaded once, the proxy server may not load the interstitial page again. Anyone else on the network could later view the blog without the interstitial page - even if they do not, supposedly, have permission to do so.
If your Blogger profile is part of your public blogs, or people link to your profile while surfing profiles, and your private blog is listed as one of your blogs, someone may click on the link, and may get a view of the blog.
Invited readers may intentionally share their recently received invitations.
A second problem comes when you invite people as members of your blog. The invitation goes to specific people, who are free to forward the invitation to their other email accounts, and even to the email addresses of their friends. You may invite one person, and you may see a dozen persons later reading the blog. This may even account for a known discrepancy with the 100 member limit.
These security deficiencies are not ones that you can control. You have no way of denying anybody access to your profile, if it's published publicly. Nor can you stop people who you invite to your blog, from forwarding the invitation to their friends.
If you want to keep your blog private, it would be a good idea to at least remove it from the list of your blogs, in your profile.
Private blogs are not immune to referer spam.
Some entries in some visitor logs might make us think that unauthorised people are reading a private blog. Referer spam is not blocked by the private blog interstitial - since referer spam does not involve actual blog access.
As previously stated, visitor logs are not 100% accurate.
These various issues contribute more reasons why no visitor meter will ever be 100% accurate.
I've been writing about browser display differences for a while - known differences between Firefox and Internet Explorer are legendary. Most differences, though, are in how the blog gets rendered - simply different display appearance. Cosmetic issues, not all so minor but still cosmetic.
Then we have the case of "run4istrun.blogspot.com", which is intended to be published to "run4istrun.com". The problem was originally reported as "blogspot URL not redirecting as Blogger says it should (for an FTP Published blog)", as indeed it wasn't redirecting, when viewed in Safari. In the latter case, it was just another "404 Not Found".
One intermittent problem with FTP Publishing is that blogs published using FTP are having an annoying redirect notice (called by Blogger Support, the "interstitial"), implying some degree of possible insecurity, inserted in front of the home page when the BlogSpot URL is loaded. I reported this, first, several months ago. The Safari browser, in this case, simply causes more confusion.
This is what you expect (though not prefer) to see, in Firefox.You're about to be redirected.
This is what you see, in Safari, run in Windows.You're about to be redirected.
This is what you see, in Safari, run in Apple.This page can't be found.
A significant difference there, folks. Safari users, beware.
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The "Content Warning" advisory page, appearing ahead of blogs with questionable content, protects the casual blog surfer from viewing content which may be objectionable to some readers. It's presence on any given blog is supposedly the result of voluntary action by a blog owner, who can set "Adult Content?" to "Yes", at his / her discretion.
The presence of the advisory page, supposedly has slight effect upon prospective readers of the blog.- Prospective readers must read the notice, and decide whether they wish to view possibly gratuitous content, and that after they click through the notice.
- The blog, when listed in a search hit list, will show the text of the content warning, in place of the blog description and post extract.
Recent claims by some readers make it appear that this setting may be, in some cases, not set voluntarily, and that it has additional consequences. The warning page also seems to interfere with the ownership verification process, in Google Webmaster Tools.
>> Forum thread links: bX-*00079
>> Copy this tag: bX-*00079
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For many years, using "Next Blog" for surfing through the Blogosphere has been a dodgy activity.
No matter when you surfed, you were sure to find something pretty nasty, and frequently hazardous to the health of your computer (and maybe to you).
In January 2008, that changed. Blogger started scanning blogs for undesirable content, and blocked many nasty blogs from being targeted by "Next Blog" surfing. Besides using automated blog scanning, they also provided a voluntary classification of our blogs.
Not all potential readers will be encouraged, when seeing a content warning.
If someone genuinely wants to host possibly offensive content, he can do that - inaccessible from "Next Blog" or casual surfing, and behind a warning page.
In some cases, this is a voluntary classification, accessible from Settings - Other - "Adult Content". In other cases, this warning is applied to your blog by a faceless bot, similar to the much hated anti-spam bots.
The "Content Warning" screen, that your readers are now faced with, every time they surf to your blog, has its downsides.
The warning does not block the spiders - though it does limit indexed content.
One of the problems of the "Content Warning" screen is that the search engine spiders, when they index the blog, pick up the text of the warning, rather than the blog name and description.
When you look at the search hits that include such a blog, that's what you will see. That won't be good for your reader confidence, unless they expect to see objectionable content, anyway.
Even though a blog is behind a "Content Warning", though, it is still being indexed.
You can use Search Console to understand this better. If there is any problem with indexing the web site (blog), a GWT / SC report will help you sort that.
The warning also interferes with crawling redirected blogs.
Another interstitial warning comes with redirected blogs, published to either a custom domain (sometimes), or to an external server by FTP (frequently).
The Content Warning interstitial advice also appears to interfere with private blog access. If you have a restricted access blog, you may want to avoid involvement with the interstitial warning, voluntary or involuntary.
And recently, we've noted that it degrades the quality of information from visitor meters.
One popular feature of better visitor meters is the ability to see what web page your visitors are coming from (the "referer"). When the interstitial warning page is displayed ahead of the blog, it is shown as the referer page, and you lose the ability to tell what actual web site your visitors really come from.
All that aside, remember one detail - just because a blog is indexed, in the search engine of your choice, does not guarantee it good visibility, in a search hit list. A search hit list indexes web pages in order of popularity.
If your blog covers a popular topic, through no fault of yours, other more popular web sites may appear in the list above yours. If the description of your blog, in the search hit list, shows simply the interstitial text, you may not get as many new readers, as you would hope for.
Content Warning Some readers may find the content of this blog objectionable. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog.
That warning doesn't tell people anything useful about your blog. Less readers = less reputation with the search engines - and less readers still.
So, if you have a Content Warning in your blog, you may lose search engine reputation, and you may not see your newer posts listed in the search hit lists as promptly. But check Google Webmaster Tools, to see if there's actual indexing problems. Chances are - there's not.
