Would Be Blog Owners Report Inability To Create A Blog

We are currently seeing an occasional report, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from a frustrated would be new blog owner.I can't create a blog - the "Create" button is grey (inoperative)!orIt keeps sayingVerifying availabilitywhen I enter a blog name!!Both of these problem reports - and others - may come from people who don't read the instructions, for using the wizard. Alternately, some folks may be reporting yet one more case of over done layered security. The most obvious problems, in the blog creation process, come from people...

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Remove The "Next Blog" Link From The Navbar

Ever since Blogger added the "Next Blog" link to the Blogger Navbar, blog owner and readers alike have periodically asked one question, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.How do I remove the "Next Blog" link, from the Navbar?The "Next Blog" link, long ago added to generate random traffic for new blogs, is occasionally perceived as leading unwary readers to blogs where they should not wish to go. Some "adults" of various intention have asked this question, quite seriously, in fear of their blogs being inadvertently linked to blogs with unsavoury...

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Adding The Domain Ownership Verification "CNAME", For A Non Root Virtual Host

Now that the new required custom domain publishing ownership verification feature has been out for several months, we are seeing it used in domains with multiple virtual hosts. A few blog owners are even publishing their blogs to non root virtual hosts - and here we are seeing a new reason for a persistent Error 12 / 32, which just can't be solved.I have followed all of the instructions, and I am still seeing Error 12. Help!The "Advanced settings" Error 12 instructions - now provided on screen instead of requiring the blog owner to open...

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Troubleshooting Your Custom Domain Problems

Of the many accessories and features in Blogger, Custom Domain Publishing is possibly the most problematic. Looking at the Labels index in this blog, I see the Custom Domains label on 283 posts (as of 2012/11/29) - which makes it one of the most heavily labeled single topics here. There are several challenges with diagnosing and resolving a custom domain problem.It has various different causes.It leads to many different symptoms, which can easily be confused for other problems.Its symptoms can be chronic or intermittent- and may be immediate,...

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Troubleshooting Custom Domain Issues

If you are trying to make your custom domain published blog work, see my guide Troubleshooting Your Custom Domain Problems.If you want to know how to setup a custom domain properly, from the beginning - and avoid the need for Troubleshooting - read Setting Up A Custom Domain. Avoid the most basic mistakes made - read The Simplicity Of A Custom Domain Setup.If you just setup your custom domain - and want to minimise the effects of the URL change upon your search engine relationships - read Managing The Migration.If you're just browsing, then read...

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Stats And The "Don't track ..." Option, Used With Multiple Browsers And Shared Computers

The controversial nature of Stats and the "Don't track ..." option, which requires a third party cookie to enable the option to work, continues. Even with all possible cookie filter properly set, and a consistent cookie clearing policy established, some blog owners persist in reporting that there are problems with Stats inconsistently observing the setting to not track their pageviews. Not all blog owners realise that the Stats "Don't track ..." cookie is unique to each different browser - except when cookies are shared between computers....

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Blog Readers Report Inability To Remove Blogs From Their Reading Lists

We're seeing an occasional report, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about inability to manage the Reading List, using the dashboard "Manage Blogs I'm Following" wizard. Clicking on the dashboard "gear" icon to the right of "Reading List", one should expect to see a list of Followed blogs, in the familiar menu. In some cases, what is seen will be bad news.We are unable to load your FriendConnect data at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again shortly.Upon trying again, the same error is seen, repeatedly....

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Anonymity, Your BirthDate, And Your New Blogger / Google Account

Not all new Blogger blog owners understand why they are asked for their birthdate, when they setup a Blogger or Google account. Some folks see this as a violation of their right to privacy, and enter a fake birthdate. Some real serious privacy enthusiasts might enter "01/01/01", just to get through the setup process - maybe intending to correct it, later. Nobody entering "01/01/01", for one's birthdate, suspects that claiming such a birthdate makes them - in 2013 - appear to be 12 years of age. Unfortunately, 12 years is below the minimum...

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Stats Pageview Counts Fluctuate Daily, Just Not At Midnight

One of the many controversial issues about Stats involves the daily pageview counts, which are reset daily. Most blog owners accept the daily count reset, in principle - they just don't understand why the counts should be reset during their day, instead of at midnight.My pageview count goes up during the day - but in the afternoon, it goes to zero, then starts over again. Why is Stats so unreliable?The pageview count reset would be better understood, were it to happen daily, at midnight, for each blog owner. Unfortunately, there are over...

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We Are At The Mercy Of Every Anti-Malware Protection Program Imaginable

We see reports, from time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about blogs which people can't read, from their computers.One of my readers claims that I have a virus on my blog. He provided the following information:AVG anti-virus detected the following threat on the site: File Name: www.mydomain.com/favicon.ico Threatname: Exploit Black Hole Exploit KitHow do I fix this?Similar to the many reports that we process here, about spurious spam classification, the above report is frequently determined to be a false positive. An anti-virus...

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