It always amazes me how easy it is to start a blogpost and how Blogger invites every citizen of the world to have a blog without giving any previous information of the problems ahead.
Such demand makes spam-blogs proliferate, they steal content of blogs just to pretend they are bloggers and put the advertisements at the pages, and give false hopes of an easy way to make money through blogs.
Some people only start a blog thinking that it will easily become a source of extra-income and get frustrated not only because it doesn't happen but also because they realize that they have no skills to blog.
Others start because having a Google account grants a blog, but, lose the account means "goodbye blog!".
More blogs, more problems and those who are working for years receive the same help of a beginner that has four posts. The work of four years can be deleted the same way as the work of someone who created a blogspot last Monday.
In both cases no help will be provided when something serious happens what can be checked just by visiting any page of the Blogger's help forum: bloggers are treated with harsh words when in trouble and answers are not given to the vast majority of the requests for help.
"The discussion about Blogger account and blog access recovery, and authentication requirements, never ends. It is not at all a simple issue. Occasionally, we see the extreme cases, and the frustration."
I had both my blogs shut last April, "unusual activity detected" and it was a terrible experience.
I did recover both, it costed me numerous visits to the help forum and blogs of those who work helping bloggers, but I learned that it is very hard to receive any kind of help from Blogger.
Why they keep asking people to start a blog is a mystery for me and I believe that as the blogosphere is new and it will take time and work to make people understand that blog is a big universe and there are blogs of many kinds maybe more attention should be focused on educating people to respect bloggers, some people still don't see even journalistic bloggers as serious.
Creating a way that facilitates finding good content that are being created by many bloggers is necessary.
It would also be great if those who are blogging for a certain period of time could have their work protected of being easily deleted.
If you are considering starting a blog pay attention to all information you give, make backups weekly and welcome to the bloggerhood.
Many bloggers don't use the pop-up option for comments and I'm not sure if it is their choice or it's because they didn't notice that the default "full page" form can be changed.
When I click at comment and I'm linked to the full page comments I feel disappointed for some reasons.
The most important is that the "captcha" verification appears after clicking "Publish comment" and maybe people don't notice it and leave the comment but it is not saved.
Changing to the pop-up window requires four clicks at blogspot:
Click "Settings" & "Comments" & "check the "pop-up window" & "Save" - look at the picture and you'll see it very clear.
I truly believe this is the most friendly way to set the comments since the visitor can see the whole page and click at "Leave comment" again.
Many times I didn't go back to the main page of the blog and it must happen to many visitors.
Give pop-up window a chance.
Update 11/07/2011:
It's only possible to change this way using the old version of Bloggers as Ken Foster noticed. He switched back to the old version to make the change.
Sometimes taking the borders of the images creates a very interesting atmosphere and it is very easy to get rid of them.At the "edit html" add the code style="border:none;""display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"You must do it before writing or adding other images at the post otherwise you can lose the edition of the whole post. It took a while to figure out why I was not doing it correctly.You can find at this blog done by Peter Enviroment lots of answers for some Blogger problems. Have a great week!
It is back but if I don't make the backup I cannot keep going.I'm glad that I have my friends back. - if you don't know I have my account closed and lost all Google's services which Blogger is one of them. It took me a lot of effort to have it back. Learn from my mistake: Do backup. It's just one click.
Update:I did all the backups.I think you all have to do it too. Do it now. It's very simple. Just click at "Import" at Blogger's Settings tag. You will have an archive .xlm whose title will be the date you created it.If you want you can test it uploading it, exporting, to another blog.Now I'll save them at a pen-drive and I'll always be updating the backup.
I believe that most bloggers are not happy with the format of blogs with templates that only change places, number of columns, and colors.
The main reason is that after scrolling the page the "older posts" gives the impression that what was written before is no longer valid, old news, history and few people click at them. After choosing a new template we always accept that this is the best for the moment but not that happy with the choice no matter how beautiful it is.
If you use Blogger add "/view" to your address. Yes, like this:
add "view" to the address. See? I'm enjoying thesidebar option. Finally a better way to read and experience blogs and how quick the posts load! I believe and hope that till the end of this decade we'll see many changes.
I just don't know where are the blog list and widgets but many people don't have a blog list and widgets. I have already noticed that VIP blogs only have their posts and their profiles and sometimes a badge of a very important award. I'll never understand why they need followers for some even don't want comments which makes many people leave quickly even thou they would never leave any comment but without the just in case is too much.
I prefer having a huge blog list of people I admire and some widgets that make me remember that I'm not alone while blogging even if a certain criteria will exclude me just by taking a quick look at this features and the fact that I don't draw or write fiction and don't make any creative work surely puts me in a non-OK list. Funny how creativity is only seen by some when there is a product... this is for another post. Did you know that good blogs have only one column in the center and don't occupy the whole page like this template I'm using? This post would be huge!
To give a fancy atmosphere small pictures are ideal. I know the formula to have a fancy and top blog but this one here is the way it is. It follows another recipe.
It would be interesting publishing the same blog in different templates each aiming a certain niche but I don't have time for that.
The account from my other blog has been stolen and I don't have access to the blog and to Gmail.
If you are at my list of this e-mail you might receive an e-mail claiming that I'm at Scotland and need money.
It is not me. I'm trying to fix the problem.
It's very easy to hack a password as you can see at this video. I hope that Google finds a way to protect us and those who blog should have access to the account with if the account is stolen.
I hope it can be fixed as soon as possible.
This is the e-mail that is being sent with my account and my name:
Hello,
How are you doing? hope all is well with you, I know this might be a surprise to you but I am sorry I didn't inform you about my traveling to Scotland in United Kingdom for a Seminar. I was robbed on my way to the hotel and I lost wallet and other valuable things, I am accessing my email from the internet cafe now and I have limited access to the internet, I will like you to assist with the sum of £1,500 GBP to sort-out my hotel bills in which I promise to refund immediately I return home.
I've been to a bank and they said the only way I can get money using my passport is by Western Union, I will appreciate whatever you can afford and and i'll pay you back as soon as I return. Get back to me so I can email you the details you need to send the money
Thank you so much and sorry to bother you.
I've just received an e-mail from Google saying they cannot give this account back.
How am I going to access my blog?
This is quite a situation.
UPDATE
It seems that once you lost your password you lose access to your blog. I have trued all that Google propose and it is impossible. Now what?
This is the Google form you have to fill if someone hack your account. You have to remember five e-mail addresses, the date of your account creation, date of last successful login, five labels... (what are these?)...
If I knew it I would have copied all the informations necessary and save it in my computer.
I didn't know about the verification code. We have a verification code at Google somewhere.
I didn't lost only an account for e-mails. I lost the account for my blog.
I don't believe it!
The person who stole it can publish at my blog. I can't. Amazing!
UPDATE:
Bob Fiddaman at Seroxat Sufferers received the e-mail and said that he has already got it by the time one of his friends had his account compromised.
I don't understand how can it be that Google don't pay attention at these problems.
We have to do everything to assure security.
The problem is that even if one changes the password everyday these people would have done it anyway.
Those who have accounts with blogs should have a way to access their blogs in another way aside Google's account.
Don't they think about it?
UPDATE
I'm searching a way to get my account, and blog of course, and I found many people reporting the same at Blogger but have no help. This is one of them reporting the same problem I have:
HELP! Someone's hacked my account, changed my password--same gmail account name and password for my blog!
My gmail account was hacked this morning. Someone got in and changed the password and the secondary email address to some yahoo.uk email (I live in the states!) I've filled out the forms from google (twice!), and I've received two responses: "unable to verify I own my account." However, the questions they asked are the exact month and year I created my google account! I have no idea! It was years ago!! They aren't asking questions that allow you TO verify your own account!
Now, I can't access my blogs (yes, PLURAL). No where to turn! No one to call! Nothing. How do I get my blogs back????? Email is one thing, but all my blogs are now in control of someone else in the world? I feel sooooo robbed.
HELP!
It seems I will have to say justAna goodbye. I'm glad I created another account for this one. But I will change for a safer place.
I feel so robbed!
Great!
I have access to the Statcounter but cannot access the blog. Kafka would love it!
The account from my other blog has been stolen and I don't have access to the blog and to Gmail.
If you are at my list of this e-mail you might receive an e-mail claiming that I'm at Scotland and need money.
It is not me. I'm trying to fix the problem.
It's very easy to hack a password as you can see at this video. I hope that Google finds a way to protect us and those who blog should have access to the account with if the account is stolen.
I hope it can be fixed as soon as possible.
HELP! Someone's hacked my account, changed my password--same gmail account name and password for my blog!
Hella Heaven by Ana Luiza Lima is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at hellaheaven-ana.blogspot.com.
