The Comment Notification Option Is Subject To The Realities Of Authentication, And Cookie Filtering

Some blog guests cannot understand why they can't get notifications, when someone leaves a comment after them, attached to a post comment form.

Why don't I see the option to "Email follow-up comments to xxxxxxx@yyyyy.zzz"?

or maybe

I selected the option to "Email follow-up comments to xxxxxxx@yyyyy.zzz", but I don't get any reply notifications. Why am I being mistreated by Blogger?

These people do not realise that comment follow-up notifications are subject to the same problems as the embedded comment form.

Many people, preparing to post a comment on their favourite blog, look forward to reading replies from other blog guests - and become confused when they do not see the option to

Email follow-up comments to xxxxxxx@yyyyy.zzz

They don't realise that they will only see that option when they are logged in using a Blogger account - and when their login status is available to the code behind the comment form. Like the desire to post a comment, using one's Blogger / Google account, this option requires availability of the Blogger login cookie, identifying the commenter as being logged in.

An incorrectly set cookie filter can either prevent availability of the comment notification option, when using the embedded comment form (if "third party cookies" are blocked) - or can prevent availability of the option on any comment form (if cookies, in general, are blocked). In either case, the commenter will be treated, by the comment form code, as not being logged in - and no option will be provided.

Also, if the commenter is successfully logged in, but is not using a Blogger account that's attached to an active email address, he / she can select the notification option, but will never receive a notification. This is a typical problem, with a Blogger account setup using a bogus email address, whether accidentally or intentionally.

So, if you don't see the notification option when you post a comment - or if you select the option but never get any email, don't immediately and unilaterally blame the Blogger commenting feature. Do some research, before reporting your problem.

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Getting Traffc To Your Blog Involves Getting The Blog Properly Indexed

This post has been renamed, as Getting Traffic To Your Blog Involves Getting The Blog Properly Indexed.

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Getting Traffic To Your Blog Involves Getting The Blog Properly Indexed

We continue to see evidence of frustration about getting a blog indexed, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

I can find the blog using the URL - but my visitor log shows nobody is reading the blog!

People who report this problem do not understand that getting traffic to the blog involves more than getting the blog indexed, using the URL of the blog.

Getting your blog indexed, so you get useful traffic from the search engines, requires effort.

1. You have to get the blog indexed.
2. You have to get the blog indexed, in searches where people actually read.
3. You have to get the blog indexed, with good position, in searches where people actually read.

Getting the blog indexed, so you can find the blog by searching for the URL, gets the blog indexed by the URL. Use Google Webmaster Tools, and look at the "Search queries" list on the dashboard. How many Impressions do you see, which reference the blog by Title or URL? How many Impressions are from people, other than you, checking to see if the blog is indexed?

If you want new viewers, you need to get the blog indexed, appearing in a search engine results page that people (besides you) are using - and appearing in a good position on that page. Examine the observations, referencing SERP Page One, from Click Distribution & Percentages by SERP Rank.

Position #1: 45.46% of all clicks
Position #2: 15.69% of all clicks
Position #3: 10.09% of all clicks
Position #4: 5.49% of all clicks
Position #5: 5.00% of all clicks
Position #6: 3.94% of all clicks
Position #7: 2.51% of all clicks
Position #8: 2.94% of all clicks
Position #9: 1.97% of all clicks
Position #10: 2.71% of all clicks
Total: 95.91% of all clicks occur on Page #1 of SERPs

Your blog, linked from SERP Page One Position One, stands an equal chance of getting a new viewer, than appearing in All Other Positions, combined. And only 1 in 20 viewers will even look beyond SERP Page One.

Remember that this is a double edged sword. No matter what the subject - or search terms - there can be only one blog linked from Page One Position One.

• The more popular the subject and search terms, the more readers you have a chance to get.
• The more popular the subject and search terms, the more other people will publish blogs to that subject.

Would you prefer being a small frog, in a large pond - or a large frog, in a small pond? A pond without other frogs can be a lonely place.

Finally, if you want new viewers who will return, and who will send you other new viewers, you'll need content, regularly added.

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Publishing Your Blogger Blog Post To FaceBook Fails

During the past weekend, we started seeing a number of reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who participate in FaceBook, and who can't publish their blog posts to their FaceBook Wall. The problem appears to be common to both publishing using the "Share to FaceBook" button in the blog post (within Blogger), as well as the Wall posting wizard (within FaceBook).
We have a problem rollup in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, where we are collecting details from the blog owners reporting.

1. What's the URL of your Blogger blog?
2. What's the URL of your FaceBook Wall?
3. Were you posting from your blog post (using the "Share to Facebook" button), or directly to your Wall (within FaceBook)?
4. Is the email address associated with your Blogger account GMail, or non GMail?
5. Is the email address associated with your FaceBook account GMail, or non GMail?
6. Is the email address associated with your Blogger account the same as the email address associated with your FaceBook account?
7. Were you logged in, as the blog owner, to Blogger?
8. Were you logged in, as the Wall owner, to FaceBook?
9. What post did you try posting, to FaceBook?
10. How recently were you able to, successfully, post to FaceBook?
11. Does your Blogger account use a Blogger profile, a Google profile, or a Google+ profile?
12. If you were posting to your Wall, did you solve the CAPTCHA successfully?
13. What browser (name, and version) are you using?

If you are observing this problem, with your Blogger / FaceBook accounts, providing as many details as possible may help Blogger / FaceBook Support staff to focus on your problem, by identifying a pattern.

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(Update 2012/01/94): It appears that most people are now able to post to FaceBook. Some people are now reporting a new annoyance

You are attempting to post a link that has been marked as abusive and/or spammy.

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(Update 2012/01/01): After having examined the many diagnostic reports provided in the rollup discussion, and having done some testing, I am suspecting that the problem does not have a simple cause, that's solely the responsibility of Blogger. Blogger Support appears to support this conclusion.

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Switching Back To The Classic Blogger GUI, And "400 Bad Request"

Those Blogger blog owners who continue to use an older browser, and who have decided to check out the New Blogger GUI (2011), may be familiar with the ominous advice

Your browser is no longer supported by Blogger. Some parts of Blogger will not work and you may experience problems.
If you are having problems, try Google Chrome.

Some of you have opted to check out the New GUI, even when faced with the warning - and have been faced with a cold reality.

I mistakenly clicked on the "Try the updated Blogger interface" link and now I just have a blank screen because my computer is outdated.

Having seen a steady flood of the latter complaint, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, Blogger recently released a non GUI Recovery process.

www.blogger.com/opt-in-new-ui.g?useNewUi=false

The latter URL, and its mirror image

www.blogger.com/opt-in-new-ui.g?useNewUi=true

can be used by anybody, as a non GUI procedure to move back and forth between the Classic and New Blogger GUIs. Unfortunately, not everybody can do this.

Now, some of the people who previously reported the latter problem.

I mistakenly clicked on the "Try the updated Blogger interface" link and now I just have a blank screen because my computer is outdated.

are reporting a new problem.

The webpage cannot be found HTTP 400 Bad Request

when they try to use the above non GUI solution.

The "400 Bad Request" error has been with us for a while - and it comes and goes. I, personally, saw this symptom - once - when I was using the non GUI Recovery URL. In my observation, it was transient - I simply hit F5 to Refresh, and my Blogger login display popped back up. And having then logged in again to Blogger, I found myself back on the Classic Blogger dashboard.

Not everybody is so fortunate, however. Some blog owners report seeing the "400 Bad Request" display repeatedly, when trying to recover from having opted for the New Blogger GUI. It's possible that the old nostrum

Clear cache, cookies, and sessions, then restart the browser.

may provide relief from the latter problem.

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Removing Blogs From Your Reading List

One of the strangest cases of confusion, exhibited in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, comes from people who only want to remove a blog from their Reading List, using the "Manage Blogs I'm Following" wizard.

I can't remove a blog from the Reading List - there is no trash can in the Manage wizard!

Here, I'll advise you, simply, to not look for a trash can icon.

To remove blogs from your Reading List, start with the blue Manage button (Classic GUI) or the gear icon (New GUI). The "Manage Blogs I'm Following" list contains an inventory of all Followed blogs, by blog title.

If you don't see the title of the blog that you are trying to remove, in the Manage list, don't look at "All blog updates" (Classic GUI) or "All blogs" (New GUI). Go to the Reading List and look at each individual blog in the list, one by one, until you find the problem content - then look at the title used by the problem blog. Always start with the correct title.

Once you know the correct title, go back to the Manage wizard, and find that title in the list. Click on "Settings", next to the title.

When you click on "Settings", you may have to login to Following / "Friend Connect". If you have to login, select "Google" - then use the correct Blogger account name and password.

In the popup window for the correct title, you'll find the Basics tab selected, with your profile displayed. Beneath the display of your profile, you'll find the title of the blog again - and to the right of that (possibly requiring that you stretch the width of the popup window), you'll find the link "Stop following this site". Click on the link, hit "Stop Following" to confirm, and you're done.

Just don't waste time looking for a trash can icon.

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Blog Owners Reporting Inability To Update Various Template Gadgets

The dynamic templates have been available for just over 3 months, and for all their usefulness, there are a number of identified deficiencies. We see, every week, naive questions about one well known deficiency.

How do I add a bloglist (Followers gadget, labels index, popular posts, what have you...) gadget to my blog, with it using a dynamic template?

Adding gadgets to a dynamic template display just won't be a simple project. Not to be facetious, but there is really no space on the screen, for an accessory bar (also known as a sidebar). The dynamic views dynamically fill all horizontal space.

Lack of popular gadgets, like Followers, are a major shortcoming for many blog owners, who are considering using a dynamic template for their blog. Many blog owners like the Followers gadget - and can't bear the idea of having their blog without its ability to build their reader community. Other gadgets, similarly unavailable, cause disappointment also.

It's possible that Blogger is hard at work redesigning the dynamic template display, and creating a space for an accessory bar. Until they do that, though, you may be able to have gadgets like Followers - if not on the first page of a dynamic template, possibly on a Pages link.

If you create a Pages gadget, using the New GUI Pages editor, you can add a link to any URL in the blog, in the Pages gadget. If you can do that, you can add a pair of links to the home page - one explicitly targeting the non dynamic URL, a second targeting a dynamic URL (your chosen default view). The first links your blog, using a dynamic view, to a page containing all of your missing gadgets; the second links back to the dynamic view.

The Layout menu entry is not available, when the blog is published to a dynamic template. If not already present, you'll have to add the Pages gadget, with the blog published to a non dynamic template.

As an alternate to the two links, you can force a new tab / window, for the non dynamic link. With the non dynamic view opening in a new tab / window, there's no need to link back - so you need only one link.

Here's a link to my test blog.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, non dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

Home (Non Dynamic)

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

Home (Dynamic)

Here's how the latter two links were constructed.

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, non dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/?v=0

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, dynamic, added to the Pages gadget.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/view/sidebar

Here's a link to the home page of my test blog, non dynamic, opening in a new tab / window, added to the Pages gadget.

http://nitecruzrtestnew.blogspot.com/?v=0 target="_blank"

Click on any of the links, and see what you get. It was simpler to do it, than to write about it.

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The New GUI Template Editor, And Removing The "Blog Posts" Gadget

Since the most important part of almost all Blogger blogs is the posts, the "Blog Posts" gadget is an essential element in the template. Sometimes we have to remove the gadget though - maybe the gadget is corrupt - or in odd cases, we may have a duplicate "Blog Posts" gadget.
In either case, the solution is known, and is quite simple.

Remove (the / one) "Blog Posts" gadget.

Unfortunately, not everybody, needing such advice, is able to do this. People using the Template Editor in the New Blogger GUI (2011) may find, to their frustration, that removal of a "Blog Posts" gadget isn't permitted.

Sometimes, when we advise someone to remove a "Blog Posts" gadget, we find the advice not well received.

It won't let me do that!

or

I get a bX code, when I try to save the change!

Apparently, somebody who designed the New GUI Template Editor decided that removing "Blog Posts" just isn't a necessary option.

Right now, if you're going to remove "Blog Posts", you have to switch back to the Classic GUI.

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Use A Dynamic Template, To Display The Blog In One Single Main Page Display

Ever since Blogger installed auto pagination. Blogger blog owners have been asking

How do I disable auto pagination?

and

Why can't I display my blog on the main page, without my readers having to use "Older Posts?

The response, up to this year, has been simple.

You cannot disable auto pagination. You have to allow sharing of network resources.

Though technically correct, the latter response has not always been met with appreciation.

The solution, for avoiding auto pagination, is now simple. Install a dynamic template, on your blog.

With a dynamic display, an entire blog is presented in main page view, with no archiving needed. You get one display page at a time - either the index, or blog content, depending upon which view you select. To see earlier content, you simply scroll downwards, and wait a few seconds while the display refreshes.

The display is still segmented - the segments are simply selected fluidly. When the display is scrolled to the bottom, the dynamic display code (running on the personal computer of the reader) simply requests another page of content, from the Blogger server.

Since the content is coming from the blog feed, your other readers, using a non dynamic view of the blog, are not affected. Your individual reader, who cannot see any more than one page of content at a time anyway (current monitor technology provides limited sized displays) never knows, or cares (subject to bandwidth and processor limitations) that the entire blog is not downloaded to the local computer, immediately.

If you want to let your readers use a dynamic view (non paginated), or a non dynamic view (paginated), depending upon personal preference, you can link the dynamic and non dynamic views.

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Account Recovery, Evaluated Using Return On Investment

Too many Blogger blog owners, seeking recovery of a long dormant account, overlook the realities of the Blogger business relationship.

I started the blog 10 years ago, I have forgotten the password, the email address is long gone - and I need the blog deleted now.

When told that deletion is not possible, if you cannot provide proof of ownership, they next ask for personal assistance.

But isn't there a person to whom I can explain my problem? Surely we can reach some understanding!

The reality is that Blogger wants to help their customers - when helping their customers provides them some business benefit.

Any business, that hopes to remain a business for any amount of time, has to understand the realities of Return On Investment, combined with Risk Management.

One basic calculation of ROI is (Sum of benefits) / (Sum of costs). Both benefits and costs can be tangible (income, expense, etc) and non tangible (inconvenience to customers, increased / decreased reputation, etc). Projects which provide more ROI can be considered with more urgency - and projects which provide less ROI with less urgency.

In problem management, problems which affect many people, when solved, produce some benefit. Problems which affect few people, when solved, produce little benefit.

A project which involves account recovery requires individual assistance, and benefits only the account / blog owner, thus very little benefit. It will require considerable research, to verify the identity of the person who setup an account or blog, and to verify the identity of the person asking for assistance, thus much cost. Additional cost would be the risk of encouraging more Blogger blog owners to overlook the necessities of blog ownership, and to not bother with remembering account name and password - thus ensuring more of the same, later. ROI for most account recovery projects is very low.

A project which requires blog deletion (when ownership cannot be proven by the
owner) provides even less benefit than simple account recovery, as the only result is the removal of one dormant Blogger account / blog. And it involves the same cost - both the same amount of research - to verify identities - and the same risk of encouraging more, similar thoughtlessness. ROI for blog deletions is even lower than for simple account recoveries.

Both account recovery and blog deletion, when accepted as activity in the Blogger Support action queues, will, out of necessity, not receive high priority. The memory of impatience, from previous blog owners, will motivate many Blogger experts and Blogger Support staff to simply quote the Google Help advice.

At Google, we take your privacy and security very seriously. Therefore, we're committed to returning accounts only when we're sure we're giving them back to the accounts' owners. Because Google doesn't ask for much personal information when you sign up for an account, we don't have many ways to verify that you own an account.

Some advice given will be somewhat perfunctory.

Please, read the FAQ, and objectively consider the bigger picture.

This attitude, too, is an expectation of low ROI - special service demanded by people who never did anything with their blogs - and now, plan to simply move their blogging activity to WordPress.

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Some Confusion Over Use Of The CC TLD Aliases, By Search Engines And Visitor Logs

Some blog owners, possibly unaware of the recently added Country Code Top Level Domain Aliases, are seeing the aliases in their visitor logs / meters, and various non Google search engines - and are afraid that their blog has been hacked.

My SiteMeter logs show that I've had incoming traffic from "mybloggerblog.blogspot.in". Clicking on one of the links in SiteMeter, I see my blog, "mybloggerblog.blogspot.com". Has somebody cloned my blog?

In reality, the scenario is not so ominous.

Those of us aware of the CC aliases, and how they are being used by Blogger, will understand that simply seeing a non canonical alias in our referer lists, in any search engine or visitor log / meter, is not an indication of malicious activity. People long used to seeing only "blogspot.com" and "google.com", and not yet experienced with the CC aliases, may become confused, however.

Blogger blogs owners with long established blogs that have audiences outside the USA are probably used to seeing all references to their blogs based on the canonical URL, such as "mybloggerblog.blogspot.com". Now that BlogSpot published blogs are being served using the CC aliases, in many countries outside the USA, the readers of BlogSpot published blogs are seeing each blog under non "blogspot.com" URLs in some search engines, and in many visitor logs and meters.

Most major search engines, which reference the "canonical" tag in the blog header, are aggregating all SERP entries to use the "blogspot.com" URLs. Our important search reputation is not being fragmented, such that readers in Australia provide reputation to "blogspot.com.au", readers in India provide reputation to "blogspot.in", readers in New Zealand provide reputation to "blogspot.co.nz", and so on. Every hit from every reader in every country still provides reputation to the canonical alias, "blogspot.com".

Some specialised search engines like Alexa, DMOZ, etc - and most visitor logs like SiteMeter, StatCounter, and Stats, may not be designed to reference the canonical tag. It's also possible that visitor logs, by their nature, should not aggregate CC aliases to the canonical URL - as the country code, relevant to the individual readers, may be important to some blog owners.

Until the use of the canonical tag, and the CC aliases to our readers, becomes mature, it's possible that we will see various oddities like a perceived problem with Alexa, SiteMeter, or StatCounter. It's likely that not all Internet services will ever reference the canonical tag consistently, and aggregate all statistics and visitor demographics, canonically.

Given the latter probability, this may be yet one more reason why Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken may never go out of business.

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Dynamic Templates Becoming More Usable

 Possibly encouraged by less than positive reviews, Blogger has recently enhanced their dynamic templates.

Dynamic Views are a set of templates that make it easy and fun to explore a blog. As you might expect, we’ve made the gadgets interactive too. Instead of appearing in a panel that consumes valuable real estate on your blog, gadgets now appear in a dock that slides in and out as you move your cursor over them.

Now, at least some of the gadgets in the sidebar will be visible to your readers, when they visit your blog, as viewed using a dynamic view.
The shiny new dynamic views are now more usable for us - with our readers able to see some of the sidebar gadgets which we may accessorise our blogs.
You may now read this blog, using a dynamic view.
If you're in non dynamic view, look above. See the link in the linkbar, "DYNAMIC"? Click on that, and you'll see the "home" page post, for this blog - today, you'll see this post. If you're already in dynamic view, you'll be here.

                                                      
Click on the picture, to see more detail. See the vertical bar, in the right margin, just left of the scroll tab?

Don't bother clicking more than once, though.














As you view a blog dynamically, you'll see the "docked sidebar" artifact, the vertical bar, there in the right margin of the display. Hover the mouse right over the vertical bar, and see what pops out at you.
Watch the CPU and memory displays on your computer, too. This shiny new feature is not for marginally overloaded computers - but for those who can use it, the dynamic views just became shinier.

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