Showing posts with label Naivete. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Naivete. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Don't Backup Your Blogs, By Duplicating Them

THis month, we have several reports in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue from owners who make backup blogs.
Why was my blog deleted, by Blogger, as spam?
Some blog owners innocently create multiple blogs, to back up their main blog.

Unfortunately, having multiple blogs with the same content may make the blogs look like a spam blog farm - and Blogger detects and deletes spam blog farms.

I've been advising blog owners, for years, that Blogger blogs need informative, interesting, and unique content, to survive as Blogger blogs.

Scraped blogs - whether you scrape your own, or another person's - are a bad idea.

The general focus on "unique" is intended to discourage scraping. Blogger Help: Spam, phishing, or malware on Blogger discusses spam blogs.
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.
In the past, Blogger has been focusing on blog owners who steal the work of other blog owners, ie, "scraping" - or who copy by permission, ie, "syndication".

Blogger Content policy defines scraping more explicitly.

Examining Blogger Content Policy, we see the problem expressed more vividly.
Spam: Spam takes several forms in Blogger, all of which can result in deletion of your account or blog. Some examples include creating blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings, posting comments on other people's blogs just to promote your site or product, and scraping existing content from other sources for the primary purpose of generating revenue or other personal gains.
Having backup blogs can look like "blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings". This is a technique, used by spammers. Why bother to write content? Just use some of the clones, as clones - both to backup each other, and to boost search engine results.

Duplication of content, online, hastens classification as spam.

Backing up a Blogger blog actually duplicates Bloggers efforts. Blogger / Google stores content - ie, your blog - in a cloud of servers, worldwide. If any one server goes out of service, the others are there, to provide immediate backup. You will, likely, never even notice if any one Blogger server goes down.

Alternately, a blog owner might backup a blog because of the spammer publicised unfair blog deletion policy. Here, the blog owner is playing into the spammers hands. If backup blogs were permitted, spammers could publish their spam blog farms with impunity.

Here, what the blog owner wants to plan for by having duplicates, unfair deletion, actually hastens the unfair deletion. This will happen, even if you make the "backup" blog private.

Classification of duplicate content, as abuse, isn't spurious.

If you think about it, a blog classified as spam, because of multiple clones, isn't actually spuriously deleted. If your blog gets a spurious classification, as a possible spam host, you have to appeal the classification. Creating a new blog, with identical content, just makes you look like a non repentant spammer - and increases your vulnerability.

If you want to retain comments and posts, export to an offline file. Just don't spread duplicate content across the Internet.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Blogger Cannot Provide A Blog Spam Review Tool

Among the cases which involve the hopeful, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, we see an occasional query about proactive spam review.
I am worried that my blog, like so many others, may be deleted by Blogger! Is there any tool or service, by which I can scan or analyze my blogspot blog, to see if it's breaking any of Google rules?
And the answer here, simply, has to be "No.".

For any such service or tool to be helpful, a positive review of a blog would have to be accompanied by a certification that the blog is free of any TOS violation. The blog would then be frozen, to prevent any further changes. How many blog owners would want their blog frozen, for eternity?

Short of freezing changes for any blog certified as "spam free", Blogger would become a spam bloggers paradise.

Every spammer would start out with empty or reserve blogs, get the blogs certified, then go to town.

Legitimate blogs, though certified, and invulnerable to spurious spam classification - would still have no chance of being read, with Blogger saturated with endless waves of spam blogs, also invulnerable.

The only possible answer here has to be a firm
No.
No legitimate blog owner would even think of encouraging this service.

Every blog owner has to publish, and to allow for classification. This blog has been deleted three times, in the past - and there's always a chance for a fourth.

As long as spammers exist, spurious spam classification, against any blog, will always be possible. It's not a pleasant possibility, but it exists.

Publish your blog regularly and steadily - and keep it very free of dodgy content. Keep ahead of the spammers - and stay well within the law.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Don't Password Protect A Blogger Blog

We see the signs of naivete, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.
How do I require my readers to enter a password, to keep my blog safe from public view?
This blog owner does not understand the realities of setting up a private blog.

Long ago (very long ago), a computer system might have "private" files, and a shared password, known by everybody, for each file. Nowadays, a private Blogger blog uses team blog access - or team blog ownership - and each team member gets to choose her / his own Blogger account, with a password that he / she decides to use (and hopefully, remember).

Having a group shared password is fine, for a small group, where nobody leaves. What happens when somebody leaves the group?

Group shared pass codes are fine - until the group changes.

Have you ever worked in an office, where the doors are protected by a tumbler key set - or maybe combination push buttons? That's a shared password system. What happens when somebody leaves the group? Every door has to be re keyed - or the locks have to be changed.

What if the blog owner has to change the password for the blog, because somebody shared the password with a stranger - or somebody just left the group? Have you ever gotten to work, and found that your key - or assigned push button combination - doesn't work?

Have you ever had to wait for the department secretary to get to work, and give you a new key, because they changed the locks last week, while you were out of town? Have you had to anxiously search your email, looking for the message from the manager, providing the new password (here's hoping that you can get online, and your computer / phone has a freshly charged battery)?

Personal pass codes promote individual responsibility.

The personal account / password approach is so much more supportable - and it promotes responsibility. Have you ever had the manager ask everybody who came in over the weekend, and left the office in a mess?

With everybody using a common physical key, to open the door, there is no telling who comes and goes. Using individual passwords - or preferably, a card key system - you can audit employee presence, and encourage responsible attendance.

Use personal Blogger / Google accounts, for better security.

Using a personal account / password is so much better than a group shared password. Don't waste time trying to protect your blog, behind a shared password script.

Just make the blog private. Invite designated members - and let each member choose their own account / password, for blog membership.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Static Blogs, And Spam Classification

Blogger blogs are starting to become a regular website publishing platform - not just a blogging platform.

Long ago, a Blogger blog was just an online journal, with posts, and text. Then, Blogger added labels, later static pages - and then the ability to replace the home / main page, with dynamic or static content of your choice. Recently, the original limitation of 20 static pages / blog was relaxed (we are not yet certain that the limit has been eliminated completely, however).

Now, you can practically publish a static website, without even having posts, using a Blogger platform. But, is this a good idea, with Blogger "One button" Publishing?

We have people asking various questions, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, about making a static website.
How do I remove posts from my main page?
and
How do I publish a blog, without posts?
And alternately, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, we see different questions.
Why can't I get AdSense for my blog?
or
Why did Blogger delete my blog?
or maybe
Why can't I find my blog listed, in Google Search?
And all of these questions may well be just different views, of the same problem.

What you can do, and what you should do, with a Blogger blog, may be two different things.

Other Google services may affect success of your Blogger blog.

A Blogger blog may be subject to standards enforced by different Google services.

  • AdSense.
  • Blogger.
  • Google Search / Webmasters.

What you do with your blog, that may be permitted (or tolerated) in one service, may cause problems with another service.

Too many people start a Blogger blog, and only focus on making money. When they don't have a plan for writing content, they try other, more innovative techniques - and there is where many spam blogs start.

AdSense, the Google ad host service, may be less tolerant of innovative techniques, than Blogger. They have conservative standards for blog content, and for behaviour by blog readers. If you include AdSense ads in a Blogger blog, you may find your blog subject to penalties for excessive / self clicking and low quality content, that exceed Blogger standards.

Even without AdSense being involved, a Blogger blog may be subject to search engine penalties for infrequently updated or non unique content. Low quality content, resulting in poor search results, will leave the blog lacking traffic. If the blog uses a third party ad hosting service, which is more tolerant than AdSense about clicking and content, the ads still won't make a lot of money without traffic.

Don't use your Blogger blog as a gateway to a non Google website.

A static blog, that is designed to generate traffic for a non Blogger / Google website, may be a problem, too. Gateway blogs are a popular technique for many spammers. Blogger actively forbids both gateway blogs, and automated posting. This includes feeds from other websites, when used as post content.

You can combine your Blogger blog with a non Google website - but publish the blog as a blog.

It may be possible to have blog posts visible in a section of the blog - and combine the blog, with a non Google website. Even so, the "blog" portion of the blog will still need regularly published, unique content. This is a requirement, whether you are publishing a Blogger blog - or moving your blog to other hosting.

What you can do - and what you should do - will always differ.

The bottom line is what you can do, with a Blogger blog - and what will lead to a successful blog - may be two different things. You're allowed to do anything, that does not violate TOS - but if you want good results, you need to use common sense.

Friday, November 21, 2014

GPT / PTC / PTS Content Is Not Welcome, In Blogger

One of the most easily overlooked details, about Blogger blog content, is that GPT / PTC / PTS Content is not suitable, for Blogger blogs.

Blogger Content Policy has a section which describes GPT / PTC / PTS Content, in passing.
Spam: Spam takes several forms in Blogger, all of which can result in deletion of your account or blog. Some examples include creating blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings, posting comments on other people's blogs just to promote your site or product, and scraping existing content from other sources for the primary purpose of generating revenue or other personal gains.
Unfortunately, spammers have been imaginatively subtle, in their description of various make money fast programmes - and not so many blog owners think it necessary to contact a lawyer, to interpret the Content Policy document, when planning their new blog.

Too many blog owners, asking the frequently seen question in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, get answers they are not prepared to see.

Why was my blog deleted? I need the money from the blog, to feed my family!
And they are told, simply

GPT / PTC / PTS / PTV content is not welcome, in Blogger.

This response generally does not please them.

Maybe, education can reduce the popularity of GPT activity, in Blogger.

"GPT" is a collection of fraudulent and illegal activities.

"GPT" (aka "Get Paid To") is a collection of various activities.

  • PTC, aka "Pay To Click" involves people clicking on ads, to earn the blog / website owner money.
  • PTS, aka "Pay To Surf" involves people clicking on links, to access the blog, and to earn the blog / website owner money.
  • PTV, aka "Pay To Verify" involves people solving CAPTCHAS, so spammers can publish spam, as Blogger blogs and comments, and in our email, using high volume publishing scripts.

These various activities have been carefully packaged, as useful "make money fast" techniques, by the more successful spammers, who called themselves "marketing consultants".

Ads are placed on peoples blogs, so the readers of the blogs will view the ads and buy the merchandise. People who sit in front of their computers, clicking away, are not looking at the ads, or planning to buy the merchandise.

GPT (PTC / PTS / PTV) is a type of fraud. Any blog which provides advice on using GPT - or uses GPT techniques to increase blog activity - encourages the fraud, with clever ads, and shiny payment programmes. Ask yourself how the various GPT "Services" make the money, that they pay to the blog owners, for hosting their ads.

If "GPT" was really lucrative, would the expert waste time selling it?

If the blog owner, who shows you the GPT programme, really had a way to get rich, would he waste effort, telling you how to get rich? No, he would be busy getting rich, without you. Blogs, with ads telling you how to get rich, are not showing you how to get rich - they are helping the blog owner to get rich - and you are paying for his success.

Who pays you to sit at your computer, and solve CAPTCHAs, all day? The people who sell the commercial scripts, that enable spammers to setup accounts and publish spam - like spam Blogger accounts, spam Blogger blogs, and spam Blogger comments. You are just a minimum wage employee, who makes the CAPTCHA solution section of the script run, and produce the spam accounts, blogs, and comments.

Abuse detection, like highway traffic enforcement, doesn't take place in every spot on the globe, on a 7 x 24 x 3600 basis. Some people get caught (blogs get detected), other people (blogs) go un detected - from day to day.

To put and end to "GPT" and other fraud, we go one blog, at a time.

For abuse classification to produce results, each blog must be classified, on its own, as detected. Other illegal blogs will be classified, later.

If you start a blog, fill it with GPT content, and publicise it using GPT technique, you'll be one more blog owner lamenting, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Why was my blog deleted? I worked hard for 1 year, spent much money advertising!

Start a new blog, with legitimate, interesting, unique, and useful content, based on a subject that interests you. Don't become one more victim, of advice from the older spammers.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

'Good Enough' Never Is, With Custom Domains

This month, we're seeing an interesting collection of problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about custom domain setup.
Why is my blog offline - occasionally?
And
Why do some (just some!) of my readers tell me they can't see my blog?
Investigating the problem, we see that the domain is, indeed online - some of the time.

Investigating the DNS addressing, robustly, we find an all too frequently seen set of name servers:
mydomain.com. 14400 IN A 216.239.32.21
www.mydomain.com. 14400 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.
What we see here is a domain, setup by someone who thought that one server would be 'good enough' to get by.

One server will, sometimes, get by - for a while, and for some people.

What some blog owners fail to realise, though, is that DNS service is never the same, all over the world (or the Internet). People in some places will use one DNS name server - and people in other places will use another.

And similarly, DNS service is never the same, from day to day. Today, you might need the services of one DNS name server, and tomorrow you might need another.

This month, we're seeing a number of reports that suggest that the Google name server at "216.239.32.21" is not responding for everybody. Now - don't everybody, who has a custom domain published Blogger blog start spitting coffee, and calling their registrar for emergency support.

People who have a properly setup domain should not worry, needlessly.

mydomain.com. 14400 IN A 216.239.32.21
mydomain.com. 14400 IN A 216.239.34.21
mydomain.com. 14400 IN A 216.239.36.21
mydomain.com. 14400 IN A 216.239.38.21
www.mydomain.com. 14400 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.

People with domains that provide a robust set of addresses are in better shape. The odds that all 4 name servers will fail, simultaneously, is near zero. It's much better than those with one name server, that is 'good enough for me' - and that, right now, provides the basis for this post.

Really, folks.

mydomain.com. 14400 IN A 216.239.32.21
www.mydomain.com. 14400 IN CNAME ghs.google.com.

One "A" name server was good enough for you, last month. It's not, now. How many of your readers, since last month, saw

404 Not Found

How about your search reputation. What happens, when your blog is being indexed, and the search engine gets

404 Not Found

Neither your readers, nor the search engines, appreciate

404 Not Found

And both will react, negatively - and you won't like the results.

'Good enough' isn't - for everybody, all of the time. And this affects the reputation of your blog, both with people, and search engines.

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