"Delete permanently" Means Delete, Permanently

For a long time, blog owners have been requiring the ability to delete their blogs.

In the beginning, people would delete a blog - whether intentionally or mistakenly - then change their mind, or realise their mistake.

I did not really want to delete my blog.

And the inevitable question.

How do I get my very important blog back? Surely, it's in your computer somewhere??

But this question was not always answered, with encouragement.

Too often, Blogger Support would be forced to give the bad news.

You deleted it, and it's gone.

Blogger added the "Deleted blogs" dashboard list.

Eventually, Blogger Support tired of providing negative answers - and Blogger Engineers added the "Deleted blogs" display, to the dashboard.

A blog, deleted by the owner, and listed under "Deleted blogs", can be recovered by the owner, when desired - up to 90 days from deletion. Unfortunately, the dashboard "Deleted blogs" list was not the final solution.

Some blog owners did not want a deleted blog listed, under "Deleted blogs".

Some people would delete a blog - then sometime later, learn that the blog was not really deleted.

I deleted my blog - but now I see it listed, under "Deleted blogs". How do I delete my blog, so it does not exist?

And the answer.

Wait 90 days - and it will be removed.

But that answer did not always satisfy.

I can't wait 90 days - I want it deleted, now!

And for that requirement, there was no answer.

Some blog owners might report deleted blogs, resurrected - but not by them.

Occasionally, we used to see a report in the forum, mentioning a blog that had been deleted - and was now online, with a new owner. Some resurrected blogs might have hacking, malware, or spam added by the owner - others might be part of an identity theft campaign.

Regardless of the nature of each attack, a few former owners were not happy with their personal situation.

Blogger recently added the "Remove permanently" option.

Recently, Blogger added the "Delete permanently" option, to the dashboard "Deleted blogs" list. Now, a deleted blog can be removed immediately, at the discretion of the blog owner.

• A blog, when deleted, goes offline - and is moved to the "Deleted blogs" list.
• If the owner wants the blog restored, he can use "Restore blog".
• If the owner wants the blog gone, he can use "Delete permanently".
• With "Delete permanently" used, the blog disappears from "My blogs".
• With the blog removed from "My blogs", there is no way for the former owner, or a would be new owner (impersonator / spammer), to request un deletion.

And, as noted in Blogger Help: Back up, import, or delete your blog

• When you delete a blog: you have a short period of time to restore it if you change your mind.
• When you permanently delete a blog: all of your blog information, posts, and pages will be deleted, and you won’t be able to restore them.

The "Delete permanently" option can't be reversed.

When used, the option "Delete permanently" has immediate and permanent results.

• The blog is removed from "Deleted blogs".
• The blog contents cannot be restored.
• The URL can never be re used.

In the words of the philosopher,

He's dead, Jim.

End of story.

Let's examine the deletion sequence.

Here's my dashboard - showing my test blog, awaiting deletion. Compare this display, with my test blog, deleted.

Go to the dashboard Settings - Other page, and click on "Delete blog".

There is the "Delete blog" wizard - and a chance to "Download Blog".

So, click on "Delete This Blog".

And, it's deleted. But what does that really mean?



Here's my dashboard - showing my test blog, deleted. Compare this display, with my test blog, awaiting deletion.

Here's my deleted blog, in the "Deleted blogs" list.

Here, I can click on "Undelete" - because I did not choose to Delete permanently. Or, I can click on "Permanently Delete", and end this, immediately.



We do get an on screen warning, before permanent deletion.

Deleting Nitecruzr Delete Blog Test is permanent and you won't be able to undo it



And again, end of story.

---

A #Blogger blog, once deleted, can be restored within 90 days - if "Delete permanently" is not used. Once "Delete permanently" is used, the blog and all content is gone - and the URL can never be used, again.

Verify BlogSpot And Domain URLs

Whenever dealing with any problem with a blog, you should verify the URLs involved.

Some of the most baffling problems, with blog connectivity, identity, or ownership, can start from simple typographical errors. This possibility will involve both native "blogspot.com" and custom domain URLs.

The Publishing wizard window, in the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page, is essential for identifying errors. Whether you paste or type a URL into the registrar's zone editor, the Publishing wizard, or the browser address window, you can make a mistake. Checking the Publishing wizard is as important as examining a Dig log extract - or as viewing an HTTP trace.

Verifying the URLs involved, in the dashboard Publishing wizard, is as important as examining a Dig log extract, or an HTTP trace.

This will be the case, when dealing with various "blogspot.com" connectivity problems, researching a custom domain problem, or a dashboard or ownership problem.

Both screen prints, and text copies, are very useful - and not redundant.

Both a screen print, and a text copy, of the Publishing window (and / or the browser address window) is very useful, when diagnosing connectivity problems - or possibly, researching ownership issues, or similarly vanished blogs. And with a custom domain, similar detail from the registrar zone editor is useful.

A text copy of the contents is needed, to avoid having to re type the URL - and maybe cause a different problem when comparing the URL. And a visual copy of the Publishing wizard is good, to identify the context of any problem.

Let's look at two blogs - and what we need to examine / verify.

My test blog, published as "nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com".

Here, we see a "blogspot.com" URL, in the browser address window.

http://nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com

Here, we see the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page, for a "blogspot.com" published blog.

The Publishing display, for a "blogspot.com" published blog.



Useful text details, from Publishing, for a "blogspot.com" published blog:

nitecruzr-test-ssl.blogspot.com                                  Edit

If you are requesting assistance with your native Blogger blog, the latter details, in both a screen print and text copy, will be useful.

My blog, published as "blogging.nitecruzr.net".

Here, we see a custom domain URL, in the browser address window.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net

Here, we see the Blogger dashboard Settings - Basic page. for a custom domain published blog.

The Publishing display, for a custom domain published blog.



Useful text details, for a custom domain published blog:

blogging.nitecruzr.net                                                  Edit
bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com                               redirects

With a custom domain published blog, next click on "Edit", and make a second screen print.

The second page of the Publishing display - which only applies to a custom domain published blog.


You maybe have seen this display, similarly formatted, in an infamous "Error 12" or similar display.

The domain root redirection, properly selected.



More essential details, for a custom domain published blog:

Third party domain settings
http://  blogging.nitecruzr.net
  X   Redirect nitecruzr.net to blogging.nitecruzr.net.

If you are requesting assistance with your custom domain published Blogger blog, the latter details, in both a screen print and text copy, will be useful.

A zone editor display, for my domain "nitecruzr.co.uk".


A zone editor display, from GoDaddy. Every registrar will have a different display.


If you purchased the domain using a credit or debit account, the bank statement and / or charge advice will frequently have a description which details the purchase. In some cases, this will include the domain name.

Comparing the URLs in the browser window, and in the Publishing window - and in Dig logs and zone editor displays (for custom domains) - we can identify typographical errors, and other mistakes. Typographical errors can be a cause of various problems, when publishing blogs to custom domains - and to "blogspot.com".

Some problems result from failure to copy and paste, properly. They can be as challenging to diagnose, as failure to observe registrar name server syntax.

Having verified the URLs, in some cases, you will continue with an affinity diagnosis, and with a differential diagnosis. This is all part of my simple 12 link test set.

You, the blog owner, may consider "duplicate" and "redundant" to be synonyms. When we research a blog problem, "duplicate" != "redundant". Many confusing problems have been solved, by comparing combinations of various above details - and by finding inequality, in one or more displays.

---

Diagnosing problems with #Blogger blogs can require careful diagnostics, using details found in dashboard screen prints and detail text copies, in Dig logs, and in HTTP traces. All details must be carefully compared, both visually and using text extracts, to diagnose some problems.

Much of this may seem superficial, to experienced support analysts - yet be obscure to some blog owners.

Confusion About Blogger / Google Support Policies

We're seeing confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about unfairly limited Blogger / Google support policies.

Why can I not Follow my favourite blog, without using a Google account?

and

Why must I upgrade my computer, to be able to use Chrome?

Some blog owners and readers take the support policy limits personally, as if Blogger / Google is punishing them - or their readers - for not using the right account to login, or not upgrading their software.

Every different account host - and every different browser or operating system - requires more unique code, that must be provided by Blogger / Google, in their libraries.

Blogger / Google are trying to make their products efficient and stable.

Blogger / Google is trying to make their applications and browser more stable. More stable products yield happier users, and more users.

Complex code libraries, caused by the need to support every different non Google account (previously supported by Blogger), and every different operating system of every age, cause Chrome and Followers to be slow and unstable. Slow and unstable applications and browsers yield unhappy users, and less users.

More complex code libraries require Blogger / Google to spend more time updating their code, for every change made outside Google.

Which choice makes more sense?

1. Less complex applications and browsers, less time spent maintaining less complex code libraries, more customers, more satisfied customers.
2. More complex applications and browsers, more time spent maintaining more complex code libraries, less customers, less satisfied customers.

My money says Door #1 makes the most sense, from a business viewpoint.

Efficient and stable applications require effort by users, as well as coders.

Blogger / Google simply can't support every different non Google account in their applications, and every different browser and operating system, and maintain a business. People who want to use Blogger and Google have to make some effort, and help Blogger and Google to help them.

Blogger cannot support non Google accounts, and provide an efficient and stable Followers gadget.



If you try to update Chrome - and you see advice

Sorry, you can't update Chrome, using this operating system.

or if you (or your readers) try to Follow your blog, and see

We're sorry, the site owner has blocked you from joining this site.

Neither refusal is Blogger / Google being petty, and forcing you (or your readers) from having unlimited choice, capriciously. This simply represents Blogger / Google making a tough choice, and trying to provide efficient and stable products, for their customers who are willing to make some effort.

---

Some blog owners do not understand the need for #Blogger and #Google to support use of a limited range of non Blogger / Google products, in their various features. Support policy for products like the new Followers gadget, which now supports only Google accounts for Following - and Chrome, which supports only newer versions of Windows operating system - are not understood.

Using A Killfile, To Filter Blogger Comments

We periodically see hopeful - yet naive - requests from blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger, asking about comment moderation improvement.

How do I add a disruptive commenter to a killfile list - and never see his/her nonsense ever again, without moderating every comment, being published?

This would be a popular feature - if it could be provided, in any way that would achieve results.

Using a killfile, to filter disruptive / malicios commenters, is not a likely possibility.

Anybody who does not want to be identified can comment as desired.

It is not possible to reliabily identify a comment publisher, who does not wish to be identified.

• Blogger / Google identity.
• IP address.

Disruptive individuals can't be identified, with any chance of success. Anybody who wants to publish comments can do so, using multiple accounts, and / or IP addresses.

Both Blogger / Google accounts and IP addresses can be easily cloaked.

Using either multiple Blogger / Google accounts - or IP addresses - is a trivial exercise for anybody who is determined enough to persistently publish unwanted comments.

Given the impossibility of identifying people who don't provide effective identification, Blogger is unlikely to provide a feature that would accomplish nothing - and possibly interfere with legitimate commenting.

The only solution for blocking unacceptable comments will always involve collaborative, fuzzy filters, trained by each blog owner.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners would like to use a killfile, to filter unacceptable comments. They don't understand that anybody who wants to persistently publish disruptive or malicious comments can easily mask their identity - and make killfile use an exercis in futility.

Hosted AdSense Accounts, And Blogger

Some Blogger blog owners are confused by the ability to use AdSense, with various Google and non Google services.

I monetized my YouTube videos - but when I try to sign up for AdSense, it says I need a website. So I went to Blogger to make one - but it says that I now have to buy a domain. How do I start?

The blog owner has an AdSense account - but it's Hosted by YouTube. And you can't use a YouTube Hosted AdSense account, with native Blogger.

In general, hosted accounts are useful only under the service that hosts them - and only "blogspot" published Blogger blogs can be used with a Blogger hosted account.

Rules for Blogger, and for non Blogger, content are complicated. Each service has different standards.

• An AdMob hosted account is good, only with AdMob, on a mobile computer.
• A Blogger hosted account is good, for a Blogger blog, when published to "blogspot.com".
• A YouTube hosted account is good, only with a YouTube channel.

These are rules which affect Blogger published content. Rules for Non Blogger published content are not symmetrical.

AdMob Hosted AdSense Accounts.

If you want to use a Blogger blog with a AdMob hosted account, you have to fully activate your AdSense account.

Blogger Hosted AdSense Accounts.

With a Blogger hosted account, you can only use a blog published to "blogspot.com". To use a Blogger custom domain published blog, you have to upgrade your Blogger hosted account.

YouTube Hosted AdSense Accounts.

With a YouTube hosted account, you have to upgrade your YouTube hosted account, to monetise a Blogger blog.

Interestingly, if you start with an approved and verified Blogger hosted account on a properly qualified blog, you can use that account to monetise a YouTube channel. You just can't go from YouTube to Blogger so easily.

Fully Activated AdSense for Content.

To upgrade to AdSense for Content, you need a properly qualified top level domain website - and a verified address with an AdSense PIN.

• Blogger custom domain published blog.
• Non Google hosted top level domain published website.

You need to plan any upgrade, carefully.

As I have observed previously, standards for publishing to an AdSense for Content account are much higher, than for a hosted account. You need to plan any upgrade, for a Blogger blog using a custom domain - or when you're using any other AdSense account.

The end result here is that AdSense Help Forum: Blogger, YouTube, Partner sites will not go away, from lack of questions. The online forums will always be needed, for answering AdSense hosting and upgrade questions.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners, enjoying successful AdSense use with AdMob, YouTube, or other hosted accounts, want to add AdSense ads to their Blogger blogs. They do not always understand the complications involved, in the upgrade.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/adsense/partner-sites-eg-youtube/jB3MjTjNl_A

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/G3cdbaKFSyM

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2016/03/you-cant-use-hosted-non-blogger-adsense.html

Stats "Don't Track" - You Cannot Satisfy Everybody

Blogger recently redesigned the Stats "Don't track ..." option - and removed third party cookies from the picture.

The "Don't track ..." wizard is now accessed from the blog URL. The wizard still produces cookies - but they are ordinary first party cookies, which are much less feared than third party cookies.

But, every silver lining has a cloud.

In making the "Don't track" wizard accessed under the blog URL, Blogger created a new requirement - which is no more understood, by some blog owners, than "third party" cookies.

"Don't track" now runs scripts from the blog URL, instead of the Blogger dashboard.

In order for a blog to observe - and preserve - the "Don't track" setting, any computer that the owner uses has to permit first party cookies - and all scripts - from the blog, instead of from the Blogger dashboard.

Since "Don't track" is designed to be used by the blog owner, this new requirement should not be a problem. Every blog owner should be able to trust herself / himself, to not add dodgy code to his / her own blog.

Owners of blogs published to custom domains will have to tweak the URL used by the "Don't track ..." Stats wizard, to set "Don't track" - since custom domains do not support HTTPS.

Many security products block scripts from personally owned blogs.

Unfortunately, general security practice is to block scripts from "blogspot.com", "blogspot.xx" (for every "xx" for every country local domain"), and preferably for blogs published to custom domains.

You can trust scripts from "blogger.com", and the Blogger dashboard. You cannot trust the individual blogs, since you cannot trust every blog owner. Even if you could trust some people not to intentionally try to hack your computer, you cannot trust everybody to not stupidly install malicious software from a very convincing hacker, providing one more "gotta have this" blog accessory.

And since you cannot trust the individual blogs, you will have filters. And those filters have to be adjusted, to trust your own blogs - if you want to ignore your own pageviews.

Some blog owners add security software, and don't know how to maintain the filters.

There are too many Blogger blog owners who have installed protective software on their personal computers - without knowing how to adjust the filters, in the protective software. And some of those owners think that it is a Blogger responsibility, to provide them instructions, how to adjust the protective software on their own computers - when only they are capable of knowing what they installed.

---

The new version of the Stats "Don't track" option is an improvement, because it no longer requires third party cookies - and involves the associated security risk. Unfortunately, it now requires blog owners to permit scripts, from the blogs themselves.

This is not a security risk, in that only personally owned blogs need to be trusted - but the blog owners do need to know how to adjust the filters involved. And not everybody with a computer knows how to configure their security accessories.

With AdSense, Ads Are Not Based On The Minimum

One sign of confusion, in AdSense Help Forum: Blogger / Host Partners, involves new blog publishers, who want to immediately add ads, after starting their blogs - and need reassurance, about how soon they will be seeing income.

What is the actual qualification level, for AdSense?

This is a question, from somebody who probably does not understand the AdSense approval process.

If AdSense is run properly, final approval is not based on any fixed minimum. There are too many different blog / website subjects, and advertising targets, to have a consistent minimum across all product lines.

I've seen too many blogs with very little content - significantly below the often stated "minimum" of 50 posts, 100 - 200 words / post, showing ads - to believe that there really is one common minimum qualification level.

Advertising and other paid promotional material added to your pages should not exceed your content. Furthermore, the content you provide should add value and be the focal point for users visiting your page.

Some of the experienced helpers in the forum seem to suggest a very restrictive "qualification level".

100 posts, 500 to 1,000 words / post.

There are more blogs that will never get ads - even after being given approval.

Qualification is based on supply vs demand, for each blog subject.

My suspicion is that the qualification level is based on what ads are being sold (by the ad managers) vs what blogs and websites are being offered for ads (by the owners).

It would make no sense to qualify a blog about automobiles, based on current standards for selling ads about bicycles.

• At any time, these may be more blogs about bicycles, than about automobiles.
• Automobiles cost more than bicycles, so it's likely that one automobile ad click is worth more than one bicycle ad click.
• Next month, there may be more advertisers selling ads about bicycles (in San Francisco), than about automobiles (in Los Angeles).

Approval is based on blog and post size - ads are sold, based on a variety of details.



Qualification is based on a combination of details.

At minimum, I would bet eligibility for ads is based on a combination of metrics - including current demand.

• Post count.
• Post length.
• Post subject.
• Blog language.
• Blog location.
• Demand for ads of a given language, location, and subject.

If a given ad manager is prepared to pay for 5 blogs about automobiles in Los Angeles, the best 5 blogs, based on current metrics, will be "qualified". This week, some blogs with 50 posts may be chosen to host ads.

Next month, with the Tour de France scheduled for San Francisco, there will be more market for ads about bicycles there. With more ad managers paying for ads about bicycles in San Francisco, blogs about automobiles in Los Angeles will have less demand.

Automotive blogs may be chosen based on 75 posts / blog and 200 words average / post - and some blogs about bicycling in San Francisco, being more in demand, may be chosen with 25 posts / blog and 100 words average / post.

Work on your blog more - and your blog will host ads sooner.

To anybody asking

What post count, post length, traffic level is required, for qualification?

I would suggest a different approach.

Work on your blog - and don't spend time asking about qualification level.

What you need, to make serious bucks, is going to be more that mere qualification level. And ad managers want to pay for ads hosted on blogs that will be in business longer, and deliver relevant traffic consistently - because that's where more paying customers originate.

And blogs that make more money have owners who are better motivated to publish more - and stay in business longer.

Better / more content --> More earnings --> Better future --> Preferred for ads

That's your qualification levels.

---

Some #Blogger blog owners want to host AdSense ads on their blogs - with their blogs immature, and lacking content. They ask about qualification levels, rather than look at how valuable their blog may be (or not) for hosting ads of a given subject.

They ignore the concept of supply and demand - even though that's very likely as important as blog subject - or size.

Domain Ownership Verification May Not Be Required

Not all blog owners, publishing a blog to a custom domain, will be required to verify domain ownership.

Originally, this was not the case. When ownership verification was added to custom domain publishing, in 2012, every use of the Publishing wizard - even for domains previously purchased using "Buy a domain" - would require a new "CNAME".

Since many registrars limit the number of address entries / domain, the new "CNAME" meant half the maximum number of hosts / domain. Of course, most blog owners patience ran out long before the magical maximum - but there was always that spectre hanging over every custom domain.

Recently, the domain ownership verification requirements changed.

Now, instead of requiring ownership verification for each host, only publishing to the domain root generates the apocryphal "Error 12" and variants. Some blog owners, publishing to non root hosts, or trying to publish with spurious addresses, find their domains published without even the hint of verification.

Successful domain publishing requires you to add righteous base DNS addresses, and get the domain working.

• If you correct the base DNS addresses, and the domain works without the second "CNAME" added to the domain, the second "CNAME" is not required.
• If you correct the base DNS addresses, and the second "CNAME" is required, instructions for adding the second "CNAME" will be provided - when you publish to the domain.
• If you don't correct the base DNS addresses, the domain is not going to work - even with the second "CNAME" added to the domain.

Start by setting up a new domain with righteous base DNS addresses, then Publish to the proper address.

If you get the base addresses right, you may be given instructions for the second "CNAME". If so, you return to the zone editor, add the second "CNAME" using the instructions, and repeat the Publishing wizard. If the Publishing wizard indicates success

mycustomdomainblog.blogspot.com redirects to www.mydomain.com

you are almost done.

Use a text proxy and verify that the domain is now operational. If the text proxy shows a problem, check your base DNS addresses - and correct if necessary. Allow for proper DNS latency - and check domain operation again.

For best results, make sure that the domain root redirects properly, to the "www" alias.

If any doubt or confusion, start a new topic in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, and request assistance. Let us help you, before you try using a spuriously setup domain, and maybe avoid the old corrupt domain.

Key already exists for www.mydomain.com

Why subject yourself to needless pain and suffering? Don't worry, needlessly, if you don't get the well known "Error 12" when you hit "Save", and see

mycustomdomainblog.blogspot.com redirects to www.mydomain.com

Verify operation of the domain, maybe using an HTTP trace - and start getting the domain indexed by the search engines.

Blogger Support Won't Play Wheel Of Fortune With Us

Long ago, Blogger Support used to provide personalised account recovery service, to blog owners who had forgotten their account names and passwords - and give "hints" in open forum discussion, reminiscent of the popular TV game show, Wheel Of Fortune.

But reality intervened - and now, everybody who wants to recover access to a Blogger account / blog must use one of the automated account / blog access recovery tools- ignoring however defective they may appear to be.

We have seen several sad stories, played out in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Round #1

An unhappy "blog owner" would request assistance.

I forgot the password. Can somebody help me recover access?

Blogger Support would email recovery instructions to "whatever @ gmail . com", and advise the "blog owner"

I emailed your reset instructions to "w****** @ g**** . com".

Sometimes they would get the reply

That does not help me. Can I buy a vowel?

Blogger Support, always optimistic, would give it another go.

I emailed your reset instructions to "w***e*** @ g**** . com".

then

I emailed your reset instructions to "w*a*e*** @ g**** . com".

finally

I emailed your reset instructions to "w*a*e**r @ g**** . com".

Finally, the successful "blog owner" would reply

Thank you so much! I am so happyyyyyyyy!!!

But the story did not always end there.

Round #2

The next month somebody would report

My blog disappeared from my dashboard while I was in the hospital, in a coma. I now want to tell everybody how I am doing - but my blog is now full of spam, and nobody can read it!! Whatever can the problem be?

And the blog mentioned in Round #2 turned out to be the same as in Round #1.

Round #3

The final verdict would be that Blogger Support, while playing "Wheel of Fortune" in Round #1, had been playing with a hacker, who was then able to steal somebody else's blog.

Bonus Round

After that happened a couple times. Blogger developed the recovery tools, and wrote the final FAQ. And, stopped providing real time, personalised advice.

And that is that. You cannot prove that you are the owner of the blog, because you cannot communicate directly with Blogger Support. You have to use the tools provided - and / or search each email account, persistently.

Blogger Support will not play "Wheel of Fortune" any more. Everybody is urged to never reveal their email address, to the world.

In some cases, the blogs would be deleted, as new spam hosts - but ownership is seldom recoverable.

Bankrupt

Your best solution, now, is to start a new blog - then combine the two blogs, in a blog cluster.

Google Domains Is Not Yet Available, Worldwide

Some would be domain owners are reporting the sad truth about Google Domains.

I tried to use a Google Domains invitation, and got a refusal.

We're sorry. You appear to be in a country where Google Domains is not yet available. You may search for domains, but you will not be able to purchase a domain unless you have a U.S. billing address. Learn more

Get notified when Google Domains is available in your country.

So thanks anyway!

Google Domains is currently a beta product - and as of December 2017, it is available in 14 countries.

This is a normal strategy, used by Google - beta products are typically deployed on a country by country basis.

Google Domains offers distinct advantages, over "Buy a domain" and registrar direct domain purchases.

• They will control the purchase - and offer a more stable bank payment process.
• They will control the DNS infrastructure - and offer a more stable setup process, and ongoing blog access.
• They provide excellent real time support, 7 x 24 basis.

Google Domains are available in a few countries - with more being added, periodically.



As of March 2018, Google Domains may be available in 15 countries - Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, UK, USA, and Vietnam. If you live in any of the other 180+ countries, you have to use GoDaddy - or another third party registrar.

Deploying a bank payment network, and a DNS infrastructure (to name two details), on a world wide basis, won't happen immediately.

It's all too easy to overlook the international issues, when dealing with Blogger and Google. My apology to those of you who were unduly excited, for nothing.

Have patience, your time will come.

Design Your Blog, As You Develop Your Audience

Similar to starting a blog and immediately focusing on making money, we sometimes see people who start a blog, and immediately start designing the template, with custom features.

A beautiful, shiny design is useless, if your readers don't like it. Different blogs will attract different reader populations, who will respond to different designs.

Every Blogger blog is unique, because you are unique - and because you (hopefully) publish blogs that are all different from each other.

Different reader populations will respond to different features.

Depending upon what your readers are, they will respond to various unique features of any given blog. Find out who your readers are, and what they like, before you design your blog.

Start with any standard Blogger template, and with content, to attract readers. Work on getting traffic, from content indexed by the search engines.

Develop content, and get the blog indexed. Content leads to search reputation.

Publish informative, interesting, and unique content - and advertise the blog responsibly. And be patient. There are an infinite number of techniques which will give you better results.

Look at blogs with similar content, and see what works.

As your blog gets traffic, you'll learn of other blogs similar to yours - some of which are published by your readers. See what designs, features, and layouts interest your readers - and learn how to use those techniques.

A well designed blog can have a new template added, any convenient time.

You can modify your blog, including the design, without losing content or readers, any time it pleases you. That's the beauty of online, progressive publishing.

Start with content - and focus on getting readers. Work on the blog design, after you have content and readers.

Static Pages Do Not Appear In Newsfeeds

We see occasional confusion, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

How do I let my readers subscribe to my pages?

A static page, by definition, does not produce newsfeed content. This is one original purpose for the static pages feature, in Blogger blogs.

You can publish posts, to any non home page, as you wish - and create a dynamic page.

From a label based dynamic page, you can publish a labels newsfeed. Then, you can publicise your label feed.

Any feed based accessory gadget - such as a "feeds" gadget, a "Subscribe to my blog" gadget, or even a "Subscribe to email from my blog!" gadget will use a labels feed, as well as a posts feed. A label search produces a subset of the posts - and a labels feed is simply a subset of the blog posts newsfeed.

If you want specialised content on a page, separate from the main page - and you want to distribute your content using a newsfeed - make a dynamic page based on a label. That will give you the feed that you need.

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.

The Account / Blog Recovery Instructions Don't Work!

Every day we see the complaints, of the hundreds.

Your instructions, for recovering access to my Blogger account, don't work!

And alternately, we see the anguish.

I can't login to my Blogger account, because my account is locked!!

And the final complaint, which is the most heartbreaking.

I can login, but my blog is not on my dashboard - and someone has filled my blog, with spam!!!

These are all reports about the same problem, in alternate universes.

Any time Blogger Engineering changes their account / blog recovery options, and cuts down on the numbers of one of the three, the other two will surely increase in number - because all three are symptoms of the same problem. People simply refuse to remember their account names and passwords.

There is one solution, which would be 100% effective, and drive the numbers of each of the hundreds, to zero.

Everybody, without exception, would simply remember their account name and password.

Were that to happen, Blogger Security could remove all "backdoor" accesses and recovery tools, and blog thieves would have to go back to Barista College, or Hamburger University. There would be no more stealing control of peoples accounts or blogs - save maybe by watching somebody in public, as they login.

The recovery instructions do work, for people who make some effort.

The recovery instructions do not work, because you, the blog owner, simply don't make enough effort to remember / retain control of your accounts, or to protect your accounts. And in some cases, you simply have protected your identity, to make you completely anonymous - and can't identify yourself, because you are anonymous.

Remember your login details, and be one of the millions who work on their blogs.

If you remember your account name and password - and do not ever let your account name and password be known in public - you will never have to worry about account / blog recovery. You would then be one of the millions who do not care about account / blog recovery, because they never need to use the recovery tools.

Be prepared to re authenticate, when you travel!

And if you travel, be prepared! Setup Google 2-Step Verification before you step out the door. And whether you travel, or stay in the same place, use your account, and publish your blog, regularly.

Millions don't worry. Become one of the millions. Reduce the numbers of the hundreds.

If you're learning this concept too late - as many are, periodically - start a new blog, and combine the old and new blogs, in a blog cluster.

Use Google Drive For Team Document Development

Ever since AutoSave was developed, and added to posts being edited, people have been having problems when editing un published posts.

We see periodic cries of anguish, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

I had been working on this post, for weeks! Just as I selected a portion to delete, AutoSave kicked in, highlighted the whole post, and saved an empty post!!

and

I was working on this post, along with another member of the team. We keep making changes, and erasing each others changes!!!

Blogger allows long period editing of un published posts - and they provide team blog ownership - but you'll do better to not use either possibility, with any important projects.

I've been warning people, for a long time, that Blogger is not a Content Management System.

Blogger provides neither Draft mode edits, nor team membership, as compared to a CMS. Both Draft editing, and team blog membership, provides potential for loss of content, that only you (the original blog owner) will be able to recover.

AutoSave, And Editing A Draft Post
We've known about AutoSave, and it's ability to destroy carefully edited posts, for years. AutoSave is known for it's tendency to cause the entire post to be highlighted - and, after you just pressed delete, to save a newly deleted, empty post.

If you, as the author, have been working on a post for days - or weeks, and you save an empty post, your work is now gone. And Draft mode provides no consistent ability to recover previous versions of the post.

Team Membership
Team membership provides either authors (who can only edit their own posts), or administrators (who can edit, and destroy, everything). There is no middle ground.

If you want to have people able to collaboratively edit a post, you have to make them all administrators. When you do that, every team members absolutely must be someone whom you can trust.

If one team member takes it upon herself (himself) to take over the blog, and remove the other members (and you), this is a problem that you must handle - since you made the decision to give control of the blog, to that person. Blogger Support cannot get involved, legally, since it is (was) your blog.

And, even if team members play by the rules, two people, editing the same post, can easily interfere with each other. The Blogger post editor provides no ability for two team members to edit the same post, simultaneously.

Use Google Drive For Collaborative, Long Term Editing
Having noted the limitations, Google has provided a solution. Google Drive provides a real, Content Management System approach to long term, group development of documents, with version based recovery.

Just start a document, and invite people to help you edit the document. When the document is ready, embed it into your blog. You, and your team, can work on the document - and your only very trusted blog administrators can work on your blog.

If you don't like the embedding options, you can download the document as Rich Text or Plain Text, then copy the text into a new blog post and format the post as you like. If AutoSave misbehaves, you have the original Drive document, as a backup.

You can keep the blog, and the document, separate. When you embed the document, you can let some people continue to edit, while others can read the blog / document, as developed - and the general public can, as you like, be unable to view either one. And your trusted administrators / webmasters can develop the host blog.

Blogger and Google Drive, together, provide interesting possibilities. Imagine the possibilities. Use Google Drive, For Team Document Development Use Google Drive, To Develop Important And Group Documents Use Google Drive, To Develop Important And Group Documents

Spam Blog False Positive Classifications Do Exist

No matter what Blogger does with improving the spam classification process, they will always generate some false positive classifications.

The more that they improve the classification process overall, the more obscure the false positive classifications will be. Some false positives will require intense investigation of the blogs, to identify the relationships between the blogs involved - and to prove, to Blogger Policy Review staff, that a false positive classification is present.

Some time ago, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, I had occasion to deal with a blog owner who was a currency trader, by profession. This person had published a cluster of blogs, where he discussed legitimate issues involved in currency trading.

Currency trading is an essential part of exchange of merchandise, between different countries (the export / import business) - and the Blogger spam classification process had deleted his blogs, as suspected spam hosts.

For you to understand the situation that I'm recounting, you need to understand one principle of currency trading.

When someone sells US Dollars ("usd") and buys Great Britain Pounds ("gbp"), to help a client in the USA import merchandise from the UK, there has to be a second trader, buying US Dollars and selling Great Britain Pounds. The first trader is doing a "usdgbp" trade, and the second, a "gbpusd" trade.

The blog cluster, that was setup by the trader, discussed issues about trades between Great Britain Pounds, Japanese Yen ("jpy"), and US Dollars. The trade combinations possible, with just 3 currencies, would be

1. GBPJPY
2. GBPUSD
3. JPYGBP
4. JPYUSD
5. USDGBP
6. USDJPY

Most traders handle dozens of currencies, in various trades. A staff of a dozen traders would handle all of the world currencies - with some trades involving 2 traders working together, on either end of the trade.

The trader in question had published a cluster of 6 blogs - all using the same base blog name (we will call it "Currency Trading"), which gave him 6 blogs - with legitimate names.

1. Currency-Trading-GBPJPY.blogspot.com
2. Currency-Trading-GBPUSD.blogspot.com
3. Currency-Trading-JPYGBP.blogspot.com
4. Currency-Trading-JPYUSD.blogspot.com
5. Currency-Trading-USDGBP.blogspot.com
6. Currency-Trading-USDJPY.blogspot.com

Each blog discussed specific - and very trade sensitive - issues about trades between the specific currency pairs. Each blog provided relevant and unique discussions about the issues.

Thanks to splog detection, a false positive detection - based on legitimate splog classification technique - had, nonetheless, left this blog owner with 6 deleted blogs.

Thanks to one of my previous IT responsibilities, as tech support for a bank currency trading desk network, I recognised the naming convention used by the 6 blogs, and the reason for the 6 blogs - and was able to convince Blogger Policy Review staff about the problem.

Some blogs are part of legitimate blog clusters, which use well defined naming conventions. Others have names that are coincidentally similar to other blogs, owned by different people.

In either case, the reasons for the naming similarities are where we start, in identifying any spuriously deleted blogs - and in describing the reasons for the spurious deletions. Blogger Policy Review staff have to be made aware of the legitimate reason for a naming similarity, and any other details, so they can make an informed decision.

Knowledge about obscure relationships, such as the naming convention for currency trading blogs, are not part of every Blogger helper or staff persons background. Sometimes, the blog owner has to provide details, objectively and patiently, to help convince Blogger Policy Review to restore the blogs involved.

Unfortunately, not all blog owners are patient enough, to be interviewed, to some degree of success. Also unfortunately, some self stated blog owners are actually hackers or spammers, misusing Blogger Help Forums resources.

Some owners of legitimate blogs claim that their being subjected to an interview shows suspicion placed on them, rather than an attempt to identify the problem - and successfully prove, to Blogger Policy Review staff, that a false positive spam classification is present.

The complicated and devious relationships, involved in some spam review request investigations, make a Tom Clancy novel seem like a 5 minute segment of the 6:00 news.

>> Top

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.

'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.

The Daily Post Limit Is Not Likely To Be Raised

We see signs of optimism, occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

How do I convince Blogger to let me publish more than 50 posts / day, in my blog?

Blogger Support has repeatedly declined to make any change to the daily post limit.

"50 posts / day" is a soft limit - and is thought to include pages (static pages), and posts (dynamic pages), aggregated.

You are allowed to publish any quantity, daily.

You are actually allowed to publish any volume of pages and posts, that suits you. If you exceed the daily limit, which is thought to be near 50 pages and posts / day, you will simply have to solve a CAPTCHA, for each page / post over the daily limit.

It's possible that the limit is aggregated for all computers in the neighbourhood, similar to blog creation.

Can you actually write a new page / post every 1/2 hour, all day?

50 posts in 24 hours is roughly 1 page / post every 30 minutes. If you, arbitrarily, allow 4 hours / day to eat, sleep, and do everything else, that's 1 page / post every 24 minutes. Can you really write 1 page / post every 24 minutes, for 20 hours? Day after day?

Can you actually write a page / post every 1/2 hour, with acceptable content?

Blogger is a personal web site publishing platform. You're supposed to publish a Blogger blog with informative, interesting, and unique content. Can you really publish as much as 50 pages / posts each day, and stay within the limits of acceptable content?

Publish quality posts, in reasonable quantity.

Let Blogger have a chance to keep the level of spam down, in their content space. Publish good content, in limited quantity. Don't ask for Blogger to make it easier for spammers to operate.

Blogger Does Not Support ".htaccess" Based Redirection

If you rename a non Blogger hosted website - and you retain ownership of the previous domain (or re publish a website within the same domain), you can redirect traffic from the old URL to the new URL, for some websites, using the ".htaccess" control file.

Some Blogger blog owners, used to setting up ".htaccess" based redirection for non Blogger websites, have renamed their blog - either from one BlogSpot URL to another, or maybe from a custom domain URL to another URL. Finding the links in the blog now broken, they wonder.

How do I setup .htaccess for the old URL?

This is an option that Blogger does not provide.

Blogger, in general, does not encourage redirection of traffic.

Traffic redirection is an option which many spammers would appreciate. Blogger hosts too many spammers and other miscreants, and they want less spammers - not more.

Redirect within a blog, using custom redirects.

You can use custom redirects, for redirecting specific URLs within a blog. Custom redirects work on a single URL basis, they do not support any type of masking or URL patterns. And custom redirects can't be used for redirecting from one blog to another - or for redirecting outside Blogger.

Blogger does not provide file / folder access.

".htaccess" is a file that is installed in the domain root - and blog owners do not have access to the "blogspot.com" root folder.

If you have just re published a blog from a custom domain back to BlogSpot, you are retaining the domain, and you do not plan to re use the domain for a non Blogger hosted website, you may be able to setup .htaccess on the domain - if the domain host supports it.

Short of that, you are going to have to focus on getting the blog re indexed, under the new URL - and get on with publishing the blog.