Blogger Blog Content Needs To Be Unique, And Properly Targeted

I've been studying spam, in Blogger blogs, for over 5 years.

This year, we've seen improvement in the automated spam classification process, implied by a noticeable reduction in spam review requests overall - and in a considerable reduction in the proportions of false positive classifications. During the past few months, blogs requested for review are 2 or 3 times more likely to be confirmed as legitimate spam blogs (true positives), compared to this time last year.

Of the blogs confirmed to be spam hosts, when I am able to examine cached copies of the content, 3 out of 4 of those appear to contain material scraped or syndicated from other blogs or websites.

• Content scraped (stolen), or syndicated (copied, with permission), from other blogs / websites. Content scraped or syndicated to other blogs / websites.

Google describes the problem, in Blogger Help: Spam, phishing, or malware on Blogger, quite simply.

Spam blogs cause various problems, beyond simply wasting a few seconds of your time when you happen to come across one. They can clog up search engines, making it difficult to find real content on the subjects that interest you. They may scrape content from other sites on the web, using other people's writing to make it look as though they have useful information of their own. And if an automated system is creating spam posts at an extremely high rate, it can impact the speed and quality of the service for other, legitimate users.

Long ago, spam blogs were first encountered as startup components in large spam blog farms.

Later, we explored the involvement of various "get rich quick" schemes, and of affiliate marketing.

• Content or links which reference referral-based activities such as GPT ("Get Paid To"), MLM ("Multi-Level Marketing"), MMF ("Make Money Fast"), MMH ("Make Money from Home"), PTC ("Pay To Click"), or PTS ("Pay To Surf").
• Affiliate marketing (Please, don't confuse this with "affiliate networking"!).

Of these three broad descriptions of confirmed spam blog content - spam blog startups, get rich quick schemes, and affiliate marketing - the one common feature in most of the blogs, confirmed as spam hosts, seems to be the lack of unique content. One of the features of the Panda update to Google Search was described as "content quality" in search results.

The past year tuning to Blogger spam classification appears to be in keeping with Panda, in that it is targeting blogs which rely upon content intentionally replicated from blog to blog - whether "scraped" (stolen, without permission), or "syndicated" (copied, with permission).

The end result here is that Blogger blogs, to avoid spurious spam classification, need to contain as much unique material as possible. While some amounts of quotation of other blogs and websites is beneficial, the majority of blog content needs to be written by the blog owners and contributors, and properly targeted to the reader population.

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Market Your Blog, To Those Who Are Interested

We see many questions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about blog content, and (lack of) appreciation by the readers.

Occasionally, people become concerned about activity of the people reading their blogs - why they get so many new visitors (but nobody returns later, to read more), or why the main page is so well read (but nobody reads the archived posts).

In other cases, they wonder why the blog was deleted - even though it had the required warning protecting it. And sometimes, they may wonder why so many people read the blog, but nobody comments on the posts.

If your blog just uses Stats, to provide you reader activity statistics, you'll probably be only concerned with visitor activity, and pageview count.

If you use an actual visitor activity log, like SiteMeter or StatCounter, you may also look at new / return visitor ratio, or pages read / visitor count. In both cases, you're examining visitor interest.

Visitor interest starts with how you advertise the blog. You get good visitor interest when you advertise the blog where it will be welcomed, and in a style where your advertisements will be welcomed.

People who don't like your blog may read the first page, then go elsewhere. If they read more than the first page, they will probably be doing that so they can report the blog, for TOS Violation or similar. This is why some blogs are unrighteously clasified as abusive.

No matter how objectively you may write a blog discussing alternative lifestyles, if you advertise your blog where Bible Belt USA Conservatives may gather, the best result that you may see is "single pageview" visitors.

Occasionally, we'll see a problem report that starts out with a common complaint.

Why was my blog deleted? I don't spam.

When we're able to retrieve a cached copy of the blog, we'll agree with the owner.

Some blogs, deleted as abusive, will have a little known problem.

Commercially funded adult content.

Other times, the problem will be more subtle.

I set the "Adult Content?" flag to "Yes"! Why am I getting complaints? (Why was the blog deleted?).

The problem here starts with the nature of the "Adult Content" warning.

Not every blog owner realises that the warning is only advisory. Anybody, no matter their age or religious preference, may (by accident, or intentionally) click on "Agree". Having clicked, they may be subject to a faceful of content which is not in their best interest, or which they do not appreciate.

If a link to your blog appears in the wrong forum discussion, or on the wrong website - either a Bible Belt forum or School Children's website - don't be surprised if your blog continues to get content complaints. And in some cases, we'll see you in the forums.

Why was my blog deleted? I don't spam.

Be sensitive to both the stated, and unstated, policies where you post. If your blog contains controversial material, be very conservative about how and where you advertise. Publish properly targeted posts, with unique content, for the best future of your blog.

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Team Blog Ownership, And Abuse Classification

We see some people, posting in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, who have problems with blogs under team ownership, and abuse classification.

My blog was deleted as spam but I don't spam! BTW, one of the other administrators of my blog recently had his Google account blocked.

We've observed, a few times, that team blog relationships create interesting complications, with various Blogger issues - and this appears to represent yet one more complication.

In most cases, when a Blogger account or blog is deleted or locked, the owner of the account or blogs affected should see an online notification, and / or receive email informing of the action taken.

There are several reasons why notification - email or online - may not always be provided.

• Blogger accounts, based on bogus or inactive email addresses, will not provide email notification.
• A person who uses multiple Blogger accounts, accidentally or intentionally, will only see the dashboard for the account currently logged in.
• An owner of a Blogger account, recently unlocked after detected suspicious / unusual activity, will see only an empty dashboard, when logging in.

The team blog ownership relationship appears to provide one more reason for lack of notification.

• Administrators of blogs under team ownership may not see notification, when one of the team members has a Blogger account deleted or locked.

Both Blogger accounts deleted for non repentant abusive activity, and Blogger accounts locked when suspicious / unusual activity is detected, appear to present this complication, with blogs under team ownership.

When a Blogger account is deleted after the owner repeatedly produces TOS violations, all blogs owned by the account are apparently deleted. It's possible that, when a blog is deleted, team ownership issues are overlooked in the blog deletion process - and the blog simply disappears from the dashboards of the other team members. It's also possible that this is a predictable group action - comparable to affiliate network detection.

When a Blogger account is locked after suspicious / unusual activity is detected, all owned blogs simply disappear from the dashboard of the owner. Blogs owned by a locked account are under automatic security review, with no appeal by the owner being possible. Team administrators are unlikely to have any alternative appeal opportunity, for a blog under review when an owning account is locked.

The latter two scenarios represent two reasons why, if we see the complaint in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken

My blog has disappeared from my dashboard, and is not online!

One initial question should be

Was the blog under team ownership?

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Team Blogs, And Confusion About Blogs Locked After Detected Account Hacking

We've been discussing deleted blogs, resulting from Blogger accounts locked after suspicious account activity is detected, for some time.

Recently, we've seen a variant on the account lock / deleted blogs problem.

I made one of my friends an admin for my blog. When Blogger deleted His Blogger account and his blogs, they deleted my blog also.

Here, we see the possibility of detected hacking, affecting other members in a team blog ownership.

If someone sets up a blog, then invites his friends to be administrators, everybody on the team becomes equal owners. This can also happen when one person maintains two or more Blogger accounts - whether accidentally or intentionally.

That's the definition of a team blog - and it's one known problem with team blogs. This case shows us another problem with team blogs.

If somebody on the team has a Blogger account locked for detected hacking, all blogs owned by that account are taken offline, for security checking. Any blogs owned by that account are going to simply disappear from the dashboards of all owners - because all owners produce the same security risk, to any owned blogs.

When a Blogger account is locked, review of blogs owned by the account starts after the account is unlocked. If the team member with the locked Blogger account doesn't get the account unlocked, the blogs owned can't be reviewed.

Once again, we see why it's a good idea to only have active team members, as blog owners.

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Repeated TOS Violations Are Punished Gradually

Some blog owners don't understand the serious nature of repeated violation of TOS Policy, in Blogger blogs - and how offenses are handled, by Google.

We've seen several reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who appear to be unclear about the consequences of repeated TOS Violations.

I got email from Blogger, about my Blogger account.

We'd like to inform you that we've received another complaint regarding a blog that you administer. Upon review of your account, we've noted that you've repeatedly violated the Terms of Service: http://www.blogger.com/go/terms. Given that we've provided you with several warnings of these violations and advised you of our policy towards repeat infringers, we've been forced to disable your Blogger service.

How do I get my blog restored?

This example appears to represent the final step, in a multi step policy.

It appears that Google takes a multi step approach, towards repeated TOS violations - such as hosting of malware, porn, and / or spam - in Blogger blogs. This is similar to the DMCA Violations punishment process.

1. Unlike DMCA violations, individual posts are not deleted.
2. Deletion of offending blogs.
3. Deletion of offending Blogger account(s) (and blogs).

With a TOS initiated blog deletion, the blog owner is expected to have the blog reviewed. If the review determines the blog to be unrighteously deleted, the blog is restored - though there may be side effects.

If the blog owner does not wish to have the blog reviewed, he / she is allowed to start over, with a new blog - but will have to publish to a new URL. Content lost must be recovered by the owner - and the owner should be more careful with future blogs.

If the blog owner continue to publish blogs which violate TOS, any Blogger accounts involved, along with any other blogs owned by the deleted accounts, will be deleted.

We see that an appeal is possible.

Next steps for suspended accounts: If you believe your access to this product was suspended in error, contact us.

With any blogs published to a non BlogSpot domain, the domain URL(s) will remain in use, in the Google database - though the domain owner is free to use the domain outside Google address space. If the offender wishes to start over, both new BlogSpot and non BlogSpot URLs will be required.

As with other issues with email delivered warnings, there will be cases when the owner may not receive warnings in a timely fashion. Even so, the owner is responsible, when he / she offends, repeatedly.

Blogs under team ownership are apparently vulnerable to action taken against any team member. In some cases, blogs will simply disappear from the dashboards of the other team members, with no appeal or review request being possible.

It's possible that legal notice, provided by Google through email, will supercede ongoing forum advice - even if email sent is not received by the owner.

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The Mysterious URL Hashtag Suffixes

From time to time, we see evidence of anxiety, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Why do my posts have hashtag suffixes?

and from some, more anxiety

How do I know what hashtags to add, when referencing my posts?

These two blog owners don't understand the purposes of the suffixes.

Third party post linking services, like AddThis and LinkWithin, add the hashtags, to give them the ability to track access of the posts - in a blog which uses their service to link the posts.

Use of the hashtags is not required, simply to access the posts. In fact, including the hashtags, outside the context of the service providing the post links, could interfere with the service's ability to consistently track use of their product.

AddThis provides a reference Why is there an extra string after my url after putting your codes?.

They're there so that we can collect analytics when someone copies the URL out of the address bar instead of going through our sharing tool. It shouldn't affect people linking to your site and can provide insight into what content is the most popular on your site.

Essentially, the hashtags are not needed for accessing the posts in the blog. If you add the hashtags when referencing the posts outside AddThis, you may be creating false tracks of AddThis use. If you care about consistent reporting within AddThis, you probably should not add the hashtags to any of your own code.

Leave the hashtags to the internal portions of AddThis, LinkWithin, or whatever third party post linking service that you're using. AddThis even provides an option, to eliminate the hashtags completely.

If they're not wanted or are causing issues, you're free to disable address bark sharing tracking.

and

More information about address bar sharing analytics is available here: http://www.addthis.com/help/address-bar-sharing-analytics

Stop worrying about details which don't affect you - and get back to work on blog content.

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Repeated DMCA Violations Are Punished Gradually

Some blog owners don't understand the serious nature of DMCA Violations in Blogger blogs - and how offenses are handled, by Google.

We've seen several reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who appear to be unclear about the consequences of repeated DMCA Violations.

I got email from Blogger, about my Blogger account.

We'd like to inform you that we've received another complaint regarding a blog that you administer. Upon review of your account, we've noted that you've repeatedly violated the Terms of Service: http://www.blogger.com/go/terms. Given that we've provided you with several warnings of these violations and advised you of our policy towards repeat infringers, we've been forced to disable your Blogger service.

How do I get my blog restored?

This example appears to represent the final step, in a 3 step policy.

It appears that Google takes a 3 step approach, towards DMCA violations. This is similar to the TOS Violations punishment process.

1. Deletion of offending posts.
2. Deletion of offending blogs.
3. Deletion of offending Blogger account (and blogs).

We've noted the initial step - deletion of offending posts, before. Specific blog posts, which are identified as DMCA Violations, are saved as Draft content. This allows the blog owner to correct the offense, and re publish a corrected post, without losing the content.

If the owner chooses to ignore the initial DMCA Violation, and simply re publishes an offending post - or if the owner publishes multiple offending posts, the blog is deleted. The owner is free to publish another blog, at his convenience - but the offending blog is not recoverable.

If the owner publishes a new blog, containing the same offending material - or if the owner publishes multiple offending blogs, the Blogger account (and blogs) is deleted.

As with all email delivered warnings, there will be cases when the owner may not receive warnings in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, the owner is responsible, even so, when he offends, repeatedly.

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Blog Content, And Confusion About Blogs Locked After Detected Account Hacking

One Blogger mystery involves the varying periods of blog unavailability, after hacking activity is detected.

My blog just disappeared from my dashboard - and no, it's not listed under "Deleted blogs"!

When the owner mentions the notice about "suspicious" / "unusual" account activity, or having unlocked the account (by solving a CAPTCHA, receiving a phone message, changing the password) - and is advised to wait "24 to 48 hours" - many ask the obvious.

Is "24 to 48 hours" really accurate?

In reality, the legendary "24 to 48" hour time period is only a ball park figure - and both Blogger / Google, and the blog owner, contribute to the uncertainty.

The well known advice to "Wait 24 to 48 hours", after a Blogger account is locked for suspected hacking activity, is only an estimation of the waiting time, which the owner may have to endure. This is account / blog integrity verification.

There are several factors which can contribute to the accuracy of "24 to 48 hours" (which maybe should be stated as "one to two business days").

• Availability of essential Blogger / Google personnel.
• Current hacking activity level, and ongoing Blogger / Google workload.
• Blog content, which complicates hacking payload analysis.

We've referenced the first two factors (personnel, and hacking activity level) in the well known Blogger FAQ How long will it take?. The third involves detail which only the blog owner can provide. Many blog owners contribute to this uncertainty, in the development of their blogs.

There are several types of content, which hackers like to add, to blogs temporarily under their control.

1. Advertising - and similar shiny accessories.
2. Custom code - and various template tweaks.
3. Links to other blogs - and to websites outside Google address space.
4. Team memberships - and multiple blog owners.

All of these features, also added by the owner - and allowed (and encouraged) by Blogger - can require extra effort as a blog is validated, after detected hacking activity.

Blogger / Google security experts, in examining an account / blog, must look for features possibly added by the hacker. Security experts have no immediate knowledge what was added by the owner, long ago - as opposed to by a hacker, more recently.

Any advertising, custom code, external links, or team memberships, intentionally added by the owner, will contribute to time spent validating blog integrity.

• Leave a setting or tweak added by the hacker - and the blog remains a security risk, when returned to service.
• Remove a setting or tweak added by a blog owner - and the blog becomes broken, when returned to service.

Neither is desired, by the blog owners - nor by Blogger / Google.

More accessories and tweaks == more time spent by security experts == more time the blog remains offline, while the owner waits in uncertainty.

This uncertainty, added to delayed deletion caused by cache latency, leads to mystery.

All of this brings to mind the old adage.

KISS

Keep it simple, stupid.

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Blogger Blogs Cannot Be Used As Gateways

We see evidence of confusion, from time to time, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?.

How do I move an established blog to WordPress (or any other platform), while retaining the history, reader interest, search engine reputation?

Some blog owners think blog readers are cattle (to be herded from blog to blog) - or monkeys (to be attracted by shiny things).

We've known for some time, that Blogger blogs cannot be used as gateways, with traffic automatically redirected from one blog to another - or from a blog to a non Google website. Use of traffic redirection scripts is a known cause of blogs classified as malware hosts.

If you wish to relocate a Blogger blog in another hosting service, you can always publish your Blogger blog, and a non Google blog / website, as dual hosts, in a non BlogSpot domain.

With your Blogger blog and non Blogger website published to the same domain, you can then combine the two, dynamically. Just remember to add unique content to each, periodically, to retain search engine reputation.

1. Publish your Blogger blog to a host in your custom domain.
2. Publish your WordPress (or any other platform) blog to a host in your custom domain.
3. Combine the two blogs.
4. Let your readers access either blog, as their choice.
5. Update both blogs, to retain search engine reputation, regularly.
6. When the WordPress (or any other platform) blog receives enough reputation and traffic, make the Blogger blog into a stub blog.

Just don't build a maze of blogs and web sites - and don't waste time or money artificially developing traffic. Blogger blog readers are attracted by interesting and useful content - and are retained by new content, added periodically.

And don't try adding clever code, to shuffle your readers from one blog to another.

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Submitting A Court Order To Google

Periodically, we have discussions in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, about issues, that absolutely cannot be resolved in a forum problem discussion.

These issues will vary, by relationship to a given blog, as well as by nature of the offense perceived.

• Some blog owners have lost control of their Blogger account, and lack ability to recover control.
• Some people are offended by a Blogger blog, but an offense which may not constitute a Google TOS violation.
• Some people may believe that a Blogger blog name, in use by someone else, may reflect badly upon their hard earned business identity.
• Some people may be the survivor, in a relationship where the owner of a given blog is now deceased.

Some of these complaints may have been reported to Google, in an ongoing effort, for years.

We know that Google Legal has to take a conservative approach in evaluating the various complaints submitted to them, using the Google Content Removal process. Every complaint may involve a third party, who has equal rights that must be considered.

In cases where Google Legal must deny action, and generally will not respond to a submitted Content Removal form, the person making a complaint is advised to use the courts to verify his identity and / or legal relationship with the blog in question.

Anybody who does not receive appropriate response from Google Legal may hire a lawyer, start a lawsuit, and get a court order issued by a judge. A properly issued court order can be then submitted to Google using the Google Help: Submit a Court Order to Google form.

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Blogger Won't Censor Comments, Or Accept Abusive Comment Reports

We have seen this question, periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?

When will Blogger provide me with the option to block an abusive commenter, from my blog?

This is a request that simply cannot be fulfilled.

The issue of blocking individual commenters won't be solved by a new Blogger feature.

• It's technically impossible.
• It's contrary to Blogger policy.

Any abuser of Internet services (aka "hacker", "spammer", or "troll"), with any ability, knows how to create multiple Google accounts without effort. Blogger Engineering is unlikely to spend time developing a new feature ("Block this comment publisher") that will simply provide you with a false sense of security, have no effect in the long term, and require an unproductive use of their time.

If you realistically feel that a comment publisher represents a legal and physical threat to you, you should report the threat to your local police agency. Other than physical threats, Blogger regards comments as a "freedom of speech" issue. Comments published on your blog are jointly the property - and the responsibility - of the comment publisher, and you.

As the blog owner, you are allowed to choose which comments publish, or remain published, on your blog. You can moderate before, or after, comments are published.

If any comments offend you, moderate or delete them promptly. Concentrate on publishing your blog, and ignore the abuse. Eventually, the person abusing you will get bored, and move on.

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Reporting Illegal Activity In Blogger Blogs

Blogger / Google provides two forms, for us to use when reporting unacceptable content, in Blogger blogs.

• Blogger Help: Reporting abuse
• Google Help: Removing Content From Google

Each form has a different use - and both forms have their stated limits.

Neither form will produce an absolute, nor immediate, result. Google has to consider that either form may be intentionally misused, for various reasons, when evaluating any claim made.

We've known, for a while, of the various options to report Blogger blogs which violate Blogger or Google Terms Of Service. The option to report abusive blogs (aka spam hosts) has been an option since 2009. In 2010, Google added the complementary ability to report copyright violations. Recently, we see that the latter form, now titled Google Help: Removing Content From Google, has been expanded to include a dozen different Google services. The existing Blogger Help: Reporting abuse continues to be available.

The "illegal content" list for Blogger, in the Google Help page, has been expanded, since 2011 - though some selections, in the list, offer only a disclaimer. Removing Content From Google seems to cover clear cut legal issues - while problems reported using Reporting abuse appear to involve the complainants personal perception.

Regardless of which form is submitted, we must note here that all problem reports may not produce immediate - or appropriate - response. Also, strict attention to detail is required - your reputation may be on the line, with your abuse reports.

Claiming A Brand Name Based BlogSpot URL

Periodically, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see a hopeful query.

How do I claim the brand name URL for my clients blog?

Many merchandisers are unaware of the simple Blogger / Google policy

Blogger accounts and Blog*Spot addresses do not expire.

Another way of saying that would possibly be first come, first served.

If the clients brand name is a registered trademark, you may be able to report a DMCA Violation. This action will likely get you two things.

• The offending blog may be deleted - with the URL locked to the current owner, for eternity.
• You (your clients company) may get some bad PR.

You probably won't get a third thing.

• The immediate use of the trademark URL.

To avoid bad PR, you might make up for the inconvenience, and compensate the current owner to have the URL transferred to you - but you may have to provide compensation, imaginatively. Traditionally, Google forbids us from selling Blogger / Google resources - including URLs.

Blogger supports our right to publish our blogs, anonymously. If the current owner, of the blog in question, can't be contacted directly, you may have to do some research to find the owner, or - again - get a court order.

If you do manage to contact the owner, and arrive at an understanding where you are offered control of the blog, have the URL transferred to you, properly.

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Your Blogger Blog, And The Wave Of Spam Behind You

The sport of ocean surfing has been described as something like "constantly falling down an ever advancing wall of water", while trying to stay upright and ahead of the wall of water (aka the "wave"). Publishing a Blogger blog, and dealing with the spam, is similar to surfing.

I am frequently advising people, who complain about the constant waves of spurious spam classifications, blog clones (aka "content thieves"), and referer spam, to keep looking ahead - and keep publishing their blogs. Like ocean surfing, you want to keep looking ahead and remain standing - don't fall down, and let the wave behind wash over you. The latter leads to drowning.

Blogger blogging provides a great environment for spammers to operate.

• The Blogger address space provides great cover for the spam.
• We publish our blogs, with constantly updated content.
• We advertise our blogs, and provide our updated content in our blog feeds.
• We read our Stats logs, see the referer spam, and give the spammers free inclicks.

What more could any spammer ask for?

• Free address space.
• Content provided by other people.
• Advertising provided by other people.
• Activity provided by other people.

And that is the wall of spam, that we, as publishers of Blogger blogs, have to stay ahead of.

How do we stay ahead of the wall, constantly approaching? Keep publishing your blog, keep watching your reader audience, and ignore the spam. Look ahead, stay upright, and don't fall down.

And that's surfing, in the ocean of Blogger blogs.

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Blog Control And URL Availability Hacking - Four Sides Of The Same Story

Occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, we see various queries about our blogs, and how to gain or regain control.

• How do I get a blog, which is attacking me (impersonating me, insulting me, publishing my secrets), removed from Blogger?
• How do I claim a dormant URL?
• How do I recover control of my blog?
• My blog is now under somebody else's control! How do I get my blog back?

In some cases, all of these queries are simply one more attempt to gain control of a blog, or a URL. As we gain experience in reading between the lines in Blogger Help Forum, and as Blogger Support gains experience in researching blog histories, we can start to see patterns, and signs of multiple attempts to assume control of the blog - or the URL - in question.

Many blog or URL hacking attempts start quite innocently. Two of the more common ones are quite naive, and completely separate, tales.

• Some people want to recover control of their blog, after having forgotten the username / password.
• Other people want to start a blog - but find that the desired URL is not available.

Some people, denied recovery of the blog, because they can't prove ownership, will try another tactic.

I'll tell them that the blog was stolen from me. Surely if they think the blog was hacked, I can get it back, since I used to be the owner!

People trying to gain control of a dormant blog will likewise use their imagination.

If I get the blog deleted as spam, I can grab the URL. Surely a Dormant blog is just another type of Spam, in Blogger!

Unfortunately, these techniques have been used, already - and have resulted in still other tales of anguish.

It requires the wisdom of Solomon - and the patient persistence of Gil Grissom - to sort through the problems reports. Claims

I just graduated from college, and I can't use my email address to recover the password!

and

I just woke up from a 7 year coma, to find my family blog under control of a hacker!

and let us not overlook

My friend just died. Can I please have control of the blog, so I can put a notice to all of his friends, on the blog?

and

I never updated my Blogger only account to a Blogger / Google account - and I never got any email, warning me of the impending change!

All of these tales have enormous human interest - and seem to justify mercy for the plaintive requests.

Unfortunately, these stories - and others like them - are not always what they seem. What we sometimes see are the other side of the story.

• Attempts to steal control of an active blog.
• Attempts to gain control of the URL which would be perfect for their new blog, if only the URL was available.
• Attempts to probe and reveal the identity of a blog owner, who is guaranteed anonymous blog ownership, by Blogger policy.

So, if you beg and plead for attention

None of these tools help me, in the least. Can I please speak to a live human, so I can explain my special need?

Please, do not be surprised to be directed to read about why Blogger Help is the only contact, and why you absolutely must prove ownership of the blog, before being given control. And even the ultimate insult, you must provide a copy of the death certificate plus get a court order, as you grieve for the loss of your friend or loved one.

The bottom line here is that, if you intend to publish a Blogger blog, it is your responsibility - and only your responsibility - to maintain control of your blog. You are an adult (or are presumed to be one) - and you have responsibilities, as an adult.

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Confusion Over Reason For, And Effect Of, Country Code Aliases

Some blog owners are a bit confused about why Google developed the Country Code based "blogspot.com" aliases - and what effects the aliases have.

Similar to the earlier confusion about our email addresses displayed in the navbar, a few blog owners, publishing "mybloggerblog.blogspot.com" (for instance) see their blog displayed as "mybloggerblog.blogspot.co.uk" (when they live in the UK), and think that the whole world now knows that this blog, "mybloggerblog.blogspot.com", is published by someone in the UK.

Not everybody, living in the UK, and seeing the blog as "mybloggerblog.blogspot.co.uk", may realise that people in France see it as "mybloggerblog.blogspot.fr", people in Italy see it as "mybloggerblog.blogspot.it", and so on. This is a problem, because some blog owners prefer to keep their country of residence a secret, from their readers.

Of the people who know about the worldwide distribution of the Country Code aliases, not everybody understands their actual purpose. And, not everybody sees aliasing, even when they live in countries outside the USA.

Not too long ago, many Blogger blog owners - not just those publishing to "blogspot.com" - knew of the legendary Great Firewall Of China.

The Chinese government, fearful of their citizenry being able to read the various blogs and web sites all over the Internet, had decided that Blogger blogs were particularly "dangerous" to the Chinese way of life - and had forced all Chinese ISPs to block all Blogger blogs from being accessed, by any Chinese Internet customer.

In 2010, the Turkish TV Network DigiTurk, angry at one Blogger blog owner and his illegal distribution of DigiTurk owned content in his blogs, convinced the Turkish government to issue a court order blocking all Blogger blogs from being accessed in Turkey. From time to time, the Thai government, displeased by some Blogger blogs, has had Blogger blocked in Thailand. Other countries have had similar experiences.

Before the existence of Country Code aliases, Google has, effectively, had only 2 alternatives, when faced by a displeased government.

• Remove one or more offensive blogs, by deleting them. Any blog owner faced worldwide loss of his blog, if he offended any one government.
• Face having their service blocked, for all Blogger blogs, in a country with an offended government. All Blogger blog owners faced having their blogs unavailable, to their readers in any country with an offended government.

Given the possibility that virtually any Blogger blog has the potential to offend somebody, somewhere in the world, this occasionally left Google between a rock and another rock.

The various governments faced another dilemma - again, just 2 alternatives.

• Observe the demands of a small but economically vocal minority, such as DigiTurk, and ignore the wishes of their citizenry in general.
• Ignore major content providers, such as DigiTurk - and face possible retaliatory service interruptions by them.

By developing Country Code aliases, Google now has a third possibility. Any offended government can simply produce a properly issued court order, and require the removal of any specific blog - in their country only. Blogger can block one specific blog, in one specific offended country, by flagging the specific alias of that blog, in the BlogSpot database.

• The owner of an offending blog sees the blog blocked in one specific country only, and accessible everywhere else in the world. No more complete blog deletions, for cultural or political offenses.
• Blogger can block specific blogs, in specific countries. The Blogger service can remain accessible, in all countries.
• The various governments can have specific blogs blocked, in their countries. The Blogger service can remain accessible, in their country.

This is truly a Win - Win - Win (Blog owners - Blogger / Google - Governments of the world) scenario.

If the governments of the world are given this alternative, they will become used to getting court orders identifying specific offensive blogs, and to dealing with Blogger / Google on a single blog basis. This will be easier on the various politicians, who (right now) have to justify to their "customers" (the citizens) why they are blocking such a popular service. Yes, almost surely every politician, even the ones in "dictatorships", have to respond to angry citizens (maybe, their kids or wives?), occasionally.

Maybe even some politicians, growing weary of repeatedly getting yet one more court order ("Why am I doing this? The game starts this evening - I'm going home now!"), will start to feel like Sisyphus, and will realise how silly all of it is. Yes, we can dream.

Yet, there are challenges, with this strategy.

• Blogger blog owners need to know when to ignore the aliases - and how silly it is to add useless code to their blogs, in attempting to bypass the aliases.
• Search engines need to know how to observe the aliases.
• Services such as FaceBook need to know how to observe the aliases.

Google is not yet finished, in developing and publicising this feature. The Blogger Help FAQ Why Has The URL Of My Blog Changed? isn't going to become redundant, any time soon.

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