Comment Publishing Preview, And "Error 400"

We're seeing a problem with Blogger Hosted Comments - and "Bad Request Error 400", following the use of the comment "Preview" feature.

When a blog owner or reader composes a long or important comment, use of the Preview feature is normal. Right now, after hitting "Publish", following a successful Preview, one frequently sees the bad news.

Bad Request
Error 400

There is a workaround for this annoyance - and it's not difficult to use.

Until Blogger Engineers fix the "Error 400" problem, there is a workaround - and the workaround adds very little time to comment publishing.

The most obvious alternative would be to not use Preview. But how well can you eyeball your comment, without Preview?

If you find it inconvenient to eyeball check a comment without using Preview, it's a small effort to copy then paste, before Publishing. Just a little planning, before composing, lets you copy then paste.

OMG, where is my comment? All my work, gone??



Opening a new tab / window lets you publish, after the preview / edit cycles (and avoid the "Error 400"), when composing an important or long comment.

Here's the key to the workaround. "Open link in new tab" - a context menu option, for any link.

With most browsers, you'll either "Alt" click or right click on the link, to get the context menu.

1. Recover the comment content, if you're looking at the "Error 400".
2. Open the post, where a comment is needed.
3. Open a comment composition window, in a new tab / window.
4. Compose the comment, carefully edited.
5. When satisfied by the Preview display, click Edit once more.
6. Copy the edited comment.
7. Close that browser tab / window.
8. Open a comment composition window, again.
9. Immediately paste into the new comment composition window.
10. Immediately Publish.
11. Done.

Recover the comment content, if you're looking at the "Error 400".

If you're looking at the "Error 400" display, right now, refresh the display and follow the prompts. Recover the comment composition window, with your work in progress. Skip ahead, to Step #6.

Open the post, where a comment is needed.

Start with a post - and the "Post a Comment" link at the bottom of the post.

Open a comment composition window, in a new tab / window.

Click on the "Post a Comment" link - and use the "Open in new tab / window" browser option. With most browsers, you'll either "Alt" click or right click on the link, to get the context menu - and the "Open in new tab" / "Open in new window" option.

Compose the comment, carefully edited.

Use Preview and Edit, and the composition window, as necessary. Compose, preview, and edit - until your comment is properly phrased.

When satisfied by the Preview display, click Edit once more.

If it's an important or long comment, you'll use the Preview - Edit sequence, a few times. Just finish, with a final "Edit".

Copy the edited comment.

From the comment composition window, hit "Ctrl - A" to select everything as edited, then "Ctrl - C" to copy.

Close that browser tab / window.

Close the tab / window - and bid farewell to the carefully written content, and the Bad Request.

Open a comment composition window, again.

Click on "Post a Comment" from the displayed post - again, using "New tab / window". You will have an empty comment composition window.

Immediately paste into the new comment composition window.

Immediately paste the copied comment ("Ctrl - V") into the empty comment composition window.

Immediately Publish.

You already previewed and edited your comment - now, Publish.

Done.

The comment publishes - and, you're done.

Do this a few times - you'll see that this adds maybe 30 seconds to the comment composition / preview / edit cycle.

How long does it take to compose (preview, edit) a comment, to your liking? I take a lot longer than 30 seconds.

Just copy, close, open, paste, and publish.

And you're done.

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Publishing a comment, using #Blogger hosted comments, following use of the Preview feature, subjects us to "Bad Request Error 400". Using a browser supplied new tab / window, and copying then pasting, we can workaround the "Error 400".

Privacy Concerns Over Posts Being Published, And Preview Mode

Some Blogger blog owners, as they develop a post, use Preview mode to periodically observe what the post looks like.

A few owners are confused about the privacy of a post, as it is Previewed. Some think that the temporary nature of the Preview window makes the content, as Previewed, intentionally unavailable for viewing by their readers.

Fortunately, the links - even though they may be clickable by the readers, lead nowhere.

Here is a Preview URL for this post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=yV1fKDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.vf2Wk6Ed_TXX54XVpLn3uA&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

If you're interested, click on the link. Does it show you anything? How about another?

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=zx9iKDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.r_B4NGbmR453Nsa2tYZPKg&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

See anything interesting?

This post, being edited.

This post, being previewed. See the preview URL?



The preview URL:

https://24069595_d291cd04e6207d111fa5388b4e8893fada5ac690.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=xZUz-VoBAAA.O0Vfemj-2Qck1xmWN_at645qjM-E809UONHYWYK-IbP8yGx0F6eRm-z3UxF8qMPs.HwrOVypOYd44GQ-D0znhaw&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

Click on the URL, above - and see what you get.

Presumably, the tokens attached to the URL make the visibility of the post temporary - and the previewed post becomes secure by obscurity. That is, if anybody cares enough to view this.Why did I see evidence that 5 people had already read the Preview (and now, said evidence is gone)?

But like every Blogger feature, there are always ways to complicate the issue.

Similar to people who, years ago, published web sites, with the web site access logs published as part of the web site (and became the original target of referer spam attacks), we have Blogger blog owners who publish a real time access log on their blogs.

A popular blog accessory, Feedjit, provides a real time list of blog pages, as read by various people. Similar to a visitor log, but displayed in real time, and shown to the public in general, Feedjit shows everybody what blog content is being viewed.

And here is the complication, of the Preview content. Some blog owners are concerned that the public can view their Previwed content, because Feedjit displays the URLs of the Preview displays, as they (the blog owner) develop a new post.

Please examine the URL quoted below - does any component of that URL contain any tag, suggesting to you that the content is treated as private? It's simply obscure, because (without the involvement of Feedjit, or a similar access display log), the Preview post is not visible. To check it, here's the latest Preview URL for this post.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/b/post-preview?token=PYh8KDYBAAA.ySUB0XKSvMXVATQkgsbJpQ.6T7Xf_PcgR7nXI_xZCq_Kw&postId=1855542079708688719&type=POST

Personally, I don't use Preview mode that much. I like to Publish my posts over a period of days - if not longer. None of my posts are actually static, I call this Progressive Publishing. You're welcome to view any of my posts, any time you feel the urge.

Watch this post, and see what changes. To start, I'll now observe that, with the post Published, all of the Preview links (above) all appear to load the finished post - until the token (in the URL) expires. If you just clicked on any of the above Preview links, you are probably now seeing

Invalid security token: Error 403

since the Previews, for this post, have long expired.

The conclusion would be that Preview content is only visible until the post is Published. Until the post is Published, the Preview is available to everybody - if you choose to publicise the URL of the Preview.