The Mysterious Disappearing Reading List

One long known mystery, reported from time to time in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, involves the dashboard Reading List, and panic from disappearing entries.

Where are the blogs, in my Reading List?

Some Blogger blog owners and readers can spend days setting up their Reading List complement - and see their work vanish, in seconds.

One of the reasons why this problem has not been solved is that it is not reported in consistently high volume, and has no obvious pattern. Another is that many people who use the Reading List - as opposed to a third party NewsFeed Reader - are not of the highest in technological skill level, and do not have the patience to provide coherent and relevant details about the problem.

From my observation of forum problem reports, I suspect that there are at least 3 different problems, which cause this intermittent Reading List scenario.

It's likely that each problem is caused in part by the people, who depend upon the Reading List to follow blogs published by them, and by other people. Some people also publish their own blogs, while others only read blogs, using their own Reading List - and this can complicate both the diagnosis, and resolution, of the problems.

At least some of the reports of "My Reading List has disappeared!" involve three long known problems - each problem caused, in part, by the Blogger account owners who use the Reading List.

• Cookie / Script Filters, which prevent the Reading List code from identifying the reader, and displaying the personal Reading List.
• Multiple Blogger accounts, where an account owner sets up their personal Reading List while logged in to one account, and later uses a different Blogger account, with no personal Reading List setup for that account.
• Load Timeout is a problem with the Reading List assembly process, similar to timeout by the Dynamic Template assembly process.

The cookie / script filtering issue is similar to another long standing problem - Blogger Comments, particularly using the Embedded comment form. Third party cookies, which carry the identity of the person logged in to Blogger, being filtered and unavailable to the Reading List generation code, lead to the empty Reading List display. The Blogger Comments problem, like the Reading List problem, seems more common to people with lower tech skills set.

The cookie / script filters issue may also involve people who access the Internet through countries subject to country code alias redirection. People who live in the UK may not consistently update their security filters to permit cookies or scripts from "blogspot.co.uk", as they do for "blogspot.com". People who live close to international boundaries may not be aware of the vagaries of geolocation, and how their country code alias redirection may be affected, from day to day.

Another filter issue may involve recently updated filters. Thanks to ever changing security needs, and frequent unannounced updates by many security product vendors, a filter which worked yesterday may not work today. People unaware of the intrusive nature of security updates won't think to check the update log for any security product.

The empty Reading List problem can be caused by aggressive cookie / script filters, as is a similar problem - inability to remove specific blogs from the Reading List.

The multiple accounts issue is common to almost every Blogger feature. Ever since Blogger added the "Create an account" link to the Blogger / Google login screen, people have been setting up multiple Blogger accounts. Some people setup multiple accounts accidentally, and others do so on purpose.

If you combine the "Create an account" link with the ease of setting up a non GMail based Blogger account, you see that many people who don't use GMail can easily setup a new Blogger account without realising what they are doing. The owner of a new account, newly able to login, finds an empty dashboard. People who use the Reading List, purely to Follow other peoples blogs, will not be interested in the empty "My blogs" list, and will simply observe the lack of entries in the Reading List.

Other people setup additional Blogger accounts intentionally, to host different blogs under different accounts. People who intentionally segregate their blogs may not understand the similar personal nature of the Reading List.

Cookie / script filters can also block the contents of the Google "One Account" display from being properly generated - and may similarly contribute to creation of multiple accounts. The "reflexive action" design of the "One Account" display also contributes to use of the wrong account, in multiple account situations.

Both aggressive cookie / script filtering, and use of multiple Blogger accounts, can lead to lack of proper identification of the Blogger account owner - and to an empty Reading List.

The load timeout issue is similar to Dynamic Template load timeout. If you have any interesting assortment of feeds, in your Reading List, clear cache, cookies, and sessions, restart the browser, and login to Blogger. Immediately, scroll to the bottom of the screen, and watch the Reading List on your dashboard.

The list will, initially, be completely empty - then suddenly, it will fill with some number of posts, instantaneously. This is the same way a blog displays, in a dynamic view.

The various feeds in the Reading List have to be merged, so the individual posts can be displayed in proper sequence - in the same way that the components of a dynamic template display are assembled. This will make the Reading List display vulnerable to intermittent local and network problems, as the dynamic templates are vulnerable.

Different client computers will be differently vulnerable to load timeout, because of details like differing reading list content, individual network problems, and individual local computer problems. Reading List load timeout will have the same effect as Dynamic View load timeout - no display. This will be a truly intermittent problem.

Besides the inconsistent and intermittent load timeout, we'll see consistent errors, like the empty Reading List - and the mysterious lack of ability to remove Reading List entries.

All of the above issues are caused, in part, by the Blogger account owners. Blogger Engineering has worked for many years to solve the problem of cookie filtering and commenting, in vain. I suspect that they have also worked on the Reading List display problem, with similar result.

As long as people use their own computers, with security components of their own choosing - and neglect to consistently use the same Blogger account - Blogger is never going to solve the problem of the empty Reading List. The panic will never go away.

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.

Your Blogger Account: Anonymity Vs Security

One of the most frustrating problems with Blogger accounts involves the conflicting goals of anonymity and security.

1. We are allowed to publish a Blogger blog in complete anonymity. Blogger acknowledges and supports that need.
2. Anonymity comes at a price. Should you succeed in intentionally becoming completely anonymous, then forget the account name or password, there will be no way for Blogger to help you to recover access to your Blogger account.

Every week, we get reports from people who can't access their blogs because they changed their email address without proper planning, or they don't know which account owns a given blog. And some time ago, we dealt with a small flood of reports from people whose Blogger accounts - and blogs - had been stolen, using some devious hacking techniques.

Blogger and Google have added additional options for account authentication.

Considering the need to prevent account and blog hijacking, yet allow people to be able to recover account access after changing email address, this is a righteous advance. The options may not please people who value anonymity, though.

Blogger / Google has added an additional account verification option, Two Step Verification.

2-Step Verification improves your chance of successful account recovery.

Two-Step Verification will improve the chance of your being able to recover account access, if you forget the account name or password.

For those unable or unwilling to accept 2-Step Verification, and where tracking cookies are not regarded as a devious plot, Blogger uses demographic authentication. First seen by people who travel being asked to prove identity, demographic authentication appears to be used when you need to recover account access, or when you login from a different computer.

2-Step Verification may not be acknowledged by everybody as a major advance.

For people who have had their Blogger account hacked and blogs stolen, or people who fear this fate, demographic authentication may be seen as a positive direction for Blogger / Google to take, For people who fear "big brother" and the never escapable cameras and total lack of privacy, an authentication process which tracks each of us, as we login, may be seen as privacy violation.

We will be recognised, demographically, by computer, by geographic location, and by Internet connection. This may substitute for, or enhance, 2-Step Verification.

Two Step Verification - which uses your cell phone or home phone as a verification token - will not work, for everybody.

• It requires advance action. By the time you realise that you have forgotten the account name / password, and you cannot use the backup email address to reset the password, it's too late to register your cell or home phone.
• If you value anonymity, you may not want your activity tracked.
• If you value anonymity, you may not want Google to have your cell or home phone number, stored in their databases.

For people who understand the risk of having ones Blogger account hacked - or who want to provide an additional option for account recovery when necessary, however, this is a solid option.

Your Blogger Account: Privacy Vs Account Recovery

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see questions about publishing a blog, anonymously.

How do I publish a blog, without having my identity revealed?

One of the best techniques for keeping yourself anonymous is to use different Blogger / Google accounts, for different blogs. But, there's a downside to that technique.

I can't regain access to my blog, because I don't remember the email address!

Sometimes, it's a bit more embarrassing.

I can't regain access to my blog, because I don't remember the GMail address!

And here, we see blog owners who took the need for secrecy a bit far.

Regardless of whether a Blogger account is based on a GMail, or a non GMail address, backup access - should one forget the account name or password - uses the email address.

You can't maintain anonymity, if you ever have to reveal your email address.

If you want to publish your blog without revealing your identity, that's fine - Blogger permits this - and even supports your need. In order to support this need, though, you have to allow them to refuse to disclose any personal details.

Neither the account name - or email address, should you forget either, can be disclosed, without revealing your identity.

If you maintain email account access, you can always recover Blogger access.

One of the reasons for using one's email address (Gmail, or non GMail) as your Blogger account name is so you won't forget the account name. If you forget your email address, you'll have worse problems than just inability to publish your Blogger blog.

You need your Blogger account based on an active email address.

Unfortunately, if you choose to use one "email address" to read and send your email, and a second "email address" (whether bogus, or genuine) to publish a Blogger blog, you are not as likely to remember your Blogger account name. That's a decision that you have to make. If you want to publish your blog anonymously, don't expect Blogger to gratuitously break your anonymity, later.

If you forget an identity detail, you must break anonymity.

In this case, you're going to have to hope that you can supply your email account hosts - either GMail, or non GMail - with enough personal details (anonymity not possible, now) so they can restore your email account, and / or recover access to your Inbox - and you can open the Blogger account recovery message, and regain access to your Blogger account.

If you'e forgotten the backup email address of the active account, again, don't expect Blogger to tell you what you need to remember. Now, you'll have do do some research, and hope that you can find the forgotten email address mentioned in email, in one of your remembered accounts - or maybe in a friends email account.

You'll have problem with a deleted / locked account or blog, without email.

This scenario will be intensified, when a blog is deleted for any of several different reasons - possibly including accused DMCA Violation.

There is one valid reason to have multiple email addresses.

There is one reason to maintain two (or more) email addresses. If you have a small business, or you communicate through your blog using email, don't use your Blogger account email for casual contact with the public.

Here, using two (or more) email addresses makes sense - but maintain Blogger account names and email addresses, constantly.

Use Google Two Step Verification, for extra protection.

At any rate, if you're able to recover access, this time, consider using Two Step Verification, for future protection. Especially if you travel.

Blogger Accounts, Inadvertently Created

Occasionally, someone reports an odd problem with a Blogger account, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

I changed the email address on my account, and when I logged in again, it said that I had no blogs. Now, I can't manage my blogs. Help!

or

I have two blogs, but I can only see one in my dashboard! When I log onto the older one and click on the "dashboard" link, it takes me to my new blog.

These complaints come from blog owners who don't realise that your email address is part of your Blogger (Google) account in two ways.

1. As the account name.
2. As a contact mechanism.

This is only a potential problem - as long as the email address never changes.

There's no problem - as long as the account stays as it is when created, and as long as the email account associated with the account name stays active. Sometimes, a blog owner will get a new email address (new ISP, new job, new school).

We ask people to always update their Blogger email addresses, when they get new email. The blog owner will think right - and will change the email address in the Blogger (Google) account.

The contact email address (#2 above) will change, but the account name (#1 above) will not change. Alternately, the blog owner will click on the wrong link, when logging in. And occasionally, a cookie or other security setting will contribute to this problem.

Mistyping the email address, when accepting membership, is a problem.

Another problem is called a "typo". When the new member types the email address, sometimes he / she will get it wrong. And since no verification is sent - let alone verified - the new member now has a new Blogger account.

Fortunately, the blog owner who sent the invitation should get a mysterious email message.

The purpose of this message is to inform you that your invitation to xx...@gmail.com was accepted, but using a different email address.

And the different email address will be the new account name, created by the new blog member.

With a new email address, incorrectly changed, the problem becomes real.

Oblivious of the possible problems, the blog owner will try to login using his new email address as the account name, and will be told

The email you provided does not exist.

and below that

Don't have a Google Account?
Create an account now.

Here is where much confusion started, long ago. I'm not convinced that the new login process is any better.

If the blog owner gets the account name wrong, and sees "Create account", what do you think will happen?

And, here we are at "Create your Google Account", 2015.



Now, a new Blogger account is created - and maybe a new blog, too.

Now somewhat confused

I know this is the email address.

the unhappy blog owner selects "Create account", creates an account with the right email address (or whatever he's allowed), and logs in.

Now, he has what he should have done in the first place, except for one major detail.

The blog(s) are still owned by the old account.

Now, he sees an empty dashboard, with the advice

You are not a member of any blogs. Create one now to start posting!

and below that

Create Your Blog Now

Even more confused, the blog owner may even create a new blog, under his new account.

This can be resolved - with patience and understanding.

Now, he has become a very unhappy blog owner. This problem can be corrected, but a bit of work is required.

1. Understand the above scenario.
2. Use Blogger / Google tools, and identify all accounts that you've setup.
3. Ensure that the dashboard view that you see is up to date, by clearing cache, cookies, and active sessions, and restarting the browser.
4. Starting from the unwanted Blogger (Google) account (generally the one with the original email address), transfer ownership of the blog(s) to the wanted account (generally the newly created account with the new email address).

If you're here because you just deleted the blog - and you can't un delete because you have multiple Blogger accounts, you have a similar, and equally frustrating procedure in your immediate future.

The new (2014) Google "One account" login will continue the confusion.

As of July 2014, and with the New (2014) Google MultiLogin wizard, the confusion continues.

But the process of correcting the problems starts with understanding how the problems occurred, in the first place. That sometimes requires introspective thinking, and the lack of that is frequently why you end up reading this, and similar evidence of confusion.