Sometimes, we see odd confusion in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.I deleted my blog - can somebody help me restore it? I worked so many days writing it!
or alternatelyI am trying to write a new blog, but it says my url has already been taken (by me).
If the first owner is kind enough to include the URL of the deleted "blog", we may use our favourite online diagnostic tool - and discover that the blog is still online, and not deleted! In the second case, we may find a new blog, with one post.
Investigating further, we discover that the problem here involves terminology. This article that I am writing, "Blogger Terminology - Blogs Vs Posts", is a post, which is part of my blog, "The REAL Blogger Status" (which right now is actually The ONLY Blogger Status - but that is another tale).
The terminology here is pedantic, to us - but it's very real, to the blog owner who has just deleted an important post. Or to the owner who has published one post - and now wants to publish a second (not blog, post).
A Blogger blog is a collection of pages and posts, under a common root URL.
A Blogger blog contains pages and posts.
You publish new posts (and pages), to a blog, to add indexable content. Both pages and posts will add value, given informative, interesting, and unique material.
So why do some people confuse blogs, and posts?
So what is the confusion, between blogs and posts? I've seen some helpers muse that social networks, like FaceBook, may offer the option to create a "blog" as part of your Wall. A FaceBook "blog", which is equivalent to one Blogger "post", becomes one more article that's part of the FaceBook experience - which is passed on by one's acquaintances.
People used to writing on FaceBook walls may be used to creating a "blog", which we simply call a "post". It's a simple mistake. Similar to "blog" vs "post", some blog owners confuse "pages" and "posts".
Call it a "blog" - or a "post" - your choice - just please don't work on it, unpublished!
Whatever you wish to call it, please don't spend days editing it, before Publishing. Terminology aside, losing days of work is not a trivial concern. The lament described above is very real, for too many blog owners.
Also, don't create a "duplicate" blog, to publish a new article - add a post (or a page) to the existing blog.
I almost hesitate to start this post, because of the date. However, I promise you, this is no joke. Recently (and before today, so I don't see this as a joke), Blogger made a change to their servers, and to how they display "404 Address Not Found". And, I've seen some confusion resulting from the change.
Here, for instance, is a link to this blog. And here is a link to this post.
Simple enough? How about a link to a non existent web site. See the display?
Server not found
Firefox can't find the server at nitecruzr-non-existent-blog.
Duh. What's a server?
OK, "Chuck's Non Existent Blog" doesn't exist. Or, it exists in my mind, purely to make this point. Don't think about this too hard though.
How about a just deleted blog?
Blog has been removed
Sorry, the blog at nitecruzr-non-existent-blog.blogspot.com has been removed. This address is not available for new blogs.
This blog did exist - for a few minutes. It doesn't exist now, and the name isn't available to anybody else either. And no, you can't have it.
Or maybe a (previously) non existent blog?
Blog not found
Sorry, the blog you were looking for does not exist. However, the name nitecruzr-second-non-existent-blog is available to register!
This blog didn't exist, until I registered it. Now, it does exist.
Clear so far?
OK, now get this - a link to a non existent post, in this blog. Bloggers will, from time to time, delete posts that they have linked elsewhere. Or maybe they will mistype a post name when setting up a link, as I did (intentionally). And pity their readers, who don't know all of this technical mumbo jumbo.
The blog you were looking for was not found.
And, what's a blog?
But, "The Real Blogger Status" does exist. The post "This Post Does Not Exist", however, again exists only in my mind. Too many bloggers confuse the concepts of "blog" and "post", and this display is only going to enhance that confusion.
Looking at the last two examples shows that Blogger does recognise the difference between a "404 Blog Not Found" (the example second above) and a "404 Post Not Found" (the example immediately above). And if we know what each error display looks like, we can tell the difference too. But how about our readers, or the newbie blogger?
Can you see the confusion there? I've seen confusion here and there with some bloggers, referring to this post, as a blog - so I wrote this post. If I didn't understand web servers just a little, I'd be wondering if my blog was now gone. But, this blog exists. Really.
>> Top
The title of this blog is "The Real Blogger Status".
This blog contains many posts. The name of this blog is "bloggerstatusforreal", and its URL is now "blogging.nitecruzr.net" (it's also known as "bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com"). There can be only one BlogSpot blog with the name "bloggerstatusforreal", though there can also be "bloggerstatusforreal.com", and "bloggerstatusforreal.net", and each can be separate web sites, if desired. And any blog can have the title of "The Real Blogger Status".
You can create another blog, if you wish.
You can create as many blogs as you need, and they are all free. Use the Dashboard link "Create a Blog", to create another - but you will have to use another blog name - if you wish to publish to "BlogSpot.Com". If you want to create another blog in a custom domain cluster, that's easy enough, after you create a BlogSpot blog.
