Clear Or Reset The Post Template Wizard

Many problems with post features or layout can be resolved by refreshing or resetting the post template, using the Template Editor.

Not all post display problems are caused by unwise use of the Template Editor - some problems may be part of the individual posts. The dashboard Post Template wizard, in Settings - Posts and comments, lets you add a template to the posts - in addition to the "post template".

The "Post Template" added content then appears as part of each new post, in the post editor window.

The "Post Template" wizard, which is frequently used to add fancy signatures and other accents to the posts, contains HTML code, like any other blog component.

If used improperly, the "Post Template" entered code can cause problems with the posts - just as any use of the Post Editor or Template Editor.

If you just added a fancy post signature or other custom feature or graphic to your posts, and you're now seeing problems with the newer posts, your first instinct might be to reset the post template. Before doing that, why not check the Post Template wizard, at Settings - Posts and comments, and verify what you're adding to your new posts?

If you have code in the "Post Template" box, click "Remove" and remove it. You can always copy the contents, to an old post for instance, before you Remove the contents - should you later decide to try again.

After Removing the contents of the "Post Template" wizard, test your changes by publishing a new post - and see whether the new post is any better than any recent posts, where you observed a problem.

If your new post is successful, you will have to go back and edit each post, by hand, that you published since you last edited the "Post Template" template. Remember also, to clear browser cache, and restart the browser, before checking your old posts for successful correction.

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Google+ Comments Lack Controls For Moderation And Notification

As more people choose Google+ Comments for their blogs, we're seeing concern from confused blog owners, mentioning lack of control.

There is no option for comment moderation in my blog's settings. My Comments Settings only includes the option to change Location.

and

I don't get notified about any comments published against my blog. There is no Setting for Comment Notification Email, either.

These owners are discovering one of the design simplicities in Google+ Comments.

With Google+ Comments, anybody can post - and share - a reference to any content, on the Internet, that they can view. If your blog is public, any post from your blog can be shared in Google+.

If someone shares a post from your blog, and you are in a Circle where the post is shared, you may see the shared post in your Google+ stream. You have no control over content in your stream - even if the content references your blog - which you do not share.

You have no control over content about your blog, which you, yourself, do not share.

If somebody comments on a post shared from your blog, and you are in a Circle where the post is shared, you may see the comment in your stream. Again, you have no control over a comment made against a post in your stream - even if the comment references your blog.

In no case will you have the opportunity to moderate either a post, or a comment against a post, if someone else shares a reference to a post from your blog. Nor will you get a notification, if someone shares a reference to a post from your blog. Your blog is just one object of interest, from the millions of shares published by people in Google+.

If you, yourself, share content from your blog, you will own that share - you can control the content in the share - and you can control any comments placed against that share.

If someone reshares what you share, that reshare becomes the property of the person resharing. If you are in a Circle where your share is reshared, you may see the reshared post in your stream. Again, you will have no control over the reshare - or any comments placed against the reshare.

If you are not in a Circle where your share is reshared, you won't even see the reshare. Even if your blog is referenced in a reshare, your blog is just one object of interest, in the millions of shares published by people in Google+.

Notifications work the same way. If you share content from your blog, you will get Notification when someone comments against your share - or when someone reshares what you share. If someone else shares - or reshares - content from your blog, which you did not originate, you won't get a notification.

With Google+ Comments, a post in your blog is treated like any time anybody shares a post from your blog. You own a post in your blog, just as you own a post which you share from your blog. You can control comments, when made directly against a post from your blog, as with a post shared from your blog.

If your blog uses Google+ Comments, you can moderate the comments by viewing comments on a post by post basis, and deleting what you don't like. You will get no ability to moderate comments before they are published - even if the comments are against your blog. Nor will you get notified when someone publishes a comment against a post in your blog.

Your blog has no comment moderation wizard, no settings for comment moderation, and no settings for comment notification, because you have no ability to moderate comments - nor do you get notifications.

Google+ is pretty much like real life. You can hear what people say about you, when you're in a real life conversation. You can't control what people say about you, behind your back - and you're generally better off not even knowing what people are saying about you, behind your back.

Concentrate on listening to what people tell you, or reading what they share with you. Ignore what you can't control, or hear. Get on with your life. Or, revert the blog, back to Blogger native comments.

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Problems Being Observed, In Blogs Now Using Google+ Comments

A few blog owners, eagerly opting to use the latest Blogger enhancement, Google+ Comments, are seeing some changes which they did not anticipate.

Even after checking all of the settings, some blogs, with Google+ Comments enabled, may not show the comment form - or may show the form, but comments may not be visible. Besides the visibility of the form, there are other changes which some blog owners don't appreciate.

In many cases, Google+ Comments, like other new features, require an updated post template. This will be seen in blogs with customised post templates, most frequently - although newer, less customised blogs also may need a post template reset.

After getting Google+ Comments working in general, some blog owners find other unexpected changes.

• Almost the entire "Comments" section, in the dashboard Settings - "Posts and comments" wizard, will disappear - though "Comment Location" will remain - and will default to "Embedded". None of these settings are relevant in Google+ Comments. On some blogs, there may be no "Comments" dashboard menu entry at all.
• There are no controls for moderation, or for notification, of comments.
• There is no ability to moderate comments, from the dashboard. Moderation is done under each post, one post at a time.
• As a blog owner, you have no special ability to moderate comments, made against your blog.
• There may be some comments, which you may not be able to moderate - but will publish against your blog.
• If you Block somebody from Following you, that person may still be able to post a Comment on your blog. When you look at the comments, you will only see

  This post is hidden because you have blocked the author.

• People without Google+ accounts won't be able to make - or view - comments (since comments are Circle dependent).
• Visibility of the comment form, as with all embedded comments, is sensitive to cookie / script filters, on the client computers.
• Comments posted outside Google Comments may not be immediately visible, though the comments remain in existence. Resetting various sections of the template may resolve this, when observed.
• If you change the blog address - with either a simple BlogSpot address change, a non BlogSpot address republishing (aka "custom domain"), or export / import - existing Google+ Comments may not remain visible, with the blog. This may be a similar problem, with URLs subject to Country Code Aliasing.
• With a blog using Google+ Comments, the Comments newsfeed will not be published. Any "Recent Comments" gadgets will be useless.
• The "Export blog" wizard, which used to export both comments and posts, will only export posts.
• The comment count, as displayed in the blog main page display, may show "0 comments" - even with comments actually present, and visible when clicking on "0 comments".
• You may or may not get email notification of comments, when comments are not shared specifically with you - even if you own the blog. Other people, who do not own the blog, may get notifications when you do not.

Fortunately, in most cases any prematurely made decisions are reversible. Go to the dashboard Google+ menu entry, and unselect "Use Google+ Comments on this blog". The blog will simply return to native Blogger based Comments. Any comments made under Google+ will not be visible to you, from the blog - but everything else should return to normal.

I've now added a Problem Rollup discussion, in Blogger Help Forum: Feature Suggestions and Feedback, where your opinion is appreciated. Please be objective.

See my test blogs Google+ Comments, Dynamic Template Test and Google+ Comments, Simple Template Test if you wish.

Click here, for instructions to revert back to Blogger based comments. Note that you will lose ability to view all Google+ based comments - though the comments will still exist.

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If You Use CAPTCHA Screening On Your Blog, Try Publishing A Comment, As A Guest

Not all Blogger blog owners, using CAPTCHA screening to reduce abusive comments on their blogs, know first hand what the typical CAPTCHA puzzle can be like.

We're seeing a few concerned blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, asking why they're seeing fewer comments on their blogs.

I'm hearing from people that they can't post comments on my blog. I tested, and comments are working just fine. What is the problem, here?

Not all blog owners bother to test the CAPTCHA, on their blogs - or even know why they don't see one, when commenting.

Not all blog owners, enabling Word verification in their blog commenting settings, bother to read the tool tip behind the "?".

Show word verification
This will require people leaving comments on your blog to complete a word verification step, which will help reduce comment spam. Learn more.
Blog authors will not see word verification for comments.

The simple advice

Blog authors will not see word verification for comments.

does not sink in, to everybody.

This leaves many blog owners unaware of how frustrating it may be, for their guests to comment, on their blogs.

If you're a blog owner, musing whether to add word verification to your blog, in an effort to cut down on the spamming and trolling going on in many blog comment threads, maybe you should try posting on your blog, as a guest. With "Show word verification" set to "Yes", logout from Blogger - or clear cache, cookies, and sessions (yes, all 3!) - then restart the browser, and try leaving a comment on your blog.

What you discover may not please you. Then ask yourself how many of your readers will have the patience, to solve a CAPTCHA, every time they wish to publish a comment?

As a blog owner, you have 3 settings which are used, in proper combination, to provide a safe environment for your readers to leave comments.

1. Authentication.
2. CAPTCHA Screening.
3. Moderation.

Consider using one or both of the other two options, if possible.

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Control The Email Settings, Relevant To Your Blog, Wisely

Some blog owners don't always think about the various email settings, which are part of their Blogger blogs, and the possible effects to their email - or somebody else's email.

There are several settings, where a blog owner may enter an email address.

• Email posts to
• Comment Moderation.
• Comment Notification Email.

These settings don't require acceptance by the recipient, making for some interesting possibilities for causing problems in other people's email, as well as one's own email.

There are several Blogger dashboard settings - related to post publication and to various commenting activities - with differing effect to one's own, or somebody else's, email.

• Settings - "Mobile and email" - "Email posts to" generates a minimally formatted text copy of each post, when published, to up to 10 email addresses.
• Settings - "Posts and comments" - "Comment Moderation" generates a minimally formatted copy of each incoming comment, before the comment is published - and allows moderation of the comment, while reading the email message - when the recipient has the proper authority.
• Settings - "Mobile and email" - "Comment Notification Email" generates a minimally formatted copy of each incoming comment, before the comment is published or rejected.

Since none of these settings require acceptance by the recipient, there are various possibilities for causing interesting email delivery.

Unlike various subscription services which use email, such as a FeedBurner Email Subscription service, an email address added to any of these three settings requires no formal acceptance. If a blog administrator should add an email address, whether their own (primary or additional personal email address), a willing friend or relative, or an unknown victim's address, there is no initial email sent to the recipient

You (or somebody else) has added this email address as a recipient of "Email posts to" / "Comment Moderation" / "Comment Notification Email". Do you approve of this additional traffic source to your email service?

or a similarly worded notification / approval. Given a clueless or malicious blog owner, it's possible that one (or all) of these settings could be used to harass an unwitting third party.

The "Email posts to" feature, also known as "BlogSend", generates a minimally formatted text copy of each post, when published, to up to 10 email addresses. This setting has been used, in the past, to provide distribution of newly published posts for private blogs, as well as a simple distribution for posts from public blogs.

Since it's limited to 10 entries, BlogSend does not provide a suitable service for any blog with a reader population of any appreciable size. For a blog owner with any technical experience, FeedBurner Email Distribution is a much better solution for post distribution - when the blog in question is publicly accessible.

For distribution of a private blog to more than 10 readers, one may use Google+.

The "Comment Moderation" and "Comment Notification Email" settings, used together, can generate interesting duplication of email to one's own (or somebody else's) email service. If these settings are made without thinking, some interesting confusion can result. Email addresses can be added to each of these settings without consideration of the relationship or level of authority enjoyed by the owner of the email address, relative to the blog in question.

Comment Moderation Email is presumed to generally be a function performed by blog administrators - but email resulting from this setting will be sent to anybody addressed. A blog administrator / member - or other non administrator of the blog or an unwitting stranger - will receive email suggesting several options,

Publish
Delete
Mark as spam

Moderate comments for this blog.

If the recipient is not an actual blog administrator, the links in the email provide confusion, and no result.

Comment Notification Email might be generally addressed to blog members - but is not necessarily limited. Since notification of comments is sent separately from moderation, recipients of a notification can become confused when they fail to find the comment, mentioned in the notification, present on the blog. A blog administrator, using either an email moderation message - or using the blog Comments wizard, may or may not decide to Publish - or to designate a comment as Spam - regardless of a notification message having been delivered to each designated recipient.

Comment notification email may look similar to comment moderation email, less the comment processing options - possibly causing more confusion. A blog owner, adding his own email address to both comment moderation and comment notification, may see the combination as unknown duplication. And blog owners may confuse the proper use of comment moderation and comment notification email.

A blog owner, transferring ownership of a given blog, may overlook updating of the email settings. A new blog owner, receiving a blog being transferred, may likewise overlook these settings, and may lack the associated email, until the omission is corrected.

Either the previous owner, or the new owner, may be confused temporarily - and may wonder why they are still getting email / not getting email, until they examine and correct the setting in question. Alternately, if someone's email address was added maliciously, by a blog owner intending to harass somebody, one can see interesting possibility for conflict.

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Blogger Blogs And Commenting Permissions

Not all Blogger blog owners know that the ability to comment, like the ability to publish and read posts, is a privilege which they control - and a responsibility which they need to control, carefully.

Any blog owner who wishes to publish a blog, and not be subject to frequent deletion of the blog, as a suspected malware or spam host, needs to understand the responsibilities, and the risks.

There are levels of ability to post comments to a blog, which you select from the dashboard Settings - "Posts and comments" wizard. Protect yourself, if you allow comments.

• Anyone - includes Anonymous Users.
• Everybody with a Google, or an OpenID, account.
• Everybody with a Google account.
• Blog members only.
• Comments disabled.

Choose this setting with great care.

If you allow comments by "Anyone", prepare to deal with the spam. Note that anonymous users can post either anonymously, or using "Name / URL" tags, at their discretion, with "Anyone" selected. "Name / URL" does not provide authentication. "Anyone" means anyone, period.

Besides "Who can comment?", you may also control comment publishing using CAPTCHA (aka "word verification") screening, and using comment moderation. These settings, like "Who can comment?", are part of the Settings - "Posts and comments" wizard.

Every blog owner, hoping for any visibility in the Blogosphere, needs to choose these settings carefully - or risk being buried by spam.

• Who can comment?
• Comment Moderation.
• Comment Notification Email.
• Show word verification

Comment Moderation, and Comment Notification Email, together, provide 2 settings which can bury your email Inbox, depending upon activity of commenting on your blog. Choose these settings wisely.

If you allow spam comments without control, you may later find yourself asking for help, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken

Help me! My blog was deleted by Blogger!

Protect your blog, and your blog's future, by allowing comments, responsibly.

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