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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Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "opromo . com"

This week, we're seeing a new stream of problem reports, from blog owners whose blogs are, once again, mysteriously redirecting their readers to unknown destinations.

When I open my blog, it automatically directs to another search engine display.

This appears to be yet one more gadget, willingly installed by many Blogger blog owners, which is now redirecting uninterested viewers. The target of the redirection, this week, is a parked domain website (ie, "search engine display") - for a product which was apparently installed, willingly, by the blog owners.

It appears that the "opromo . com" free visitor meter is the latest victim of expiring domain registrations.

Overview for opromo.com

Registrar Info
Name  PDR LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Whois Server  whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Referral URL  http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Status  clientTransferProhibited

Important Dates
Expires On  May 09, 2013
Registered On  May 09, 2006
Updated On  May 09, 2013

People who earlier installed the Opromo free visitor meter will need to uninstall it, as it's apparently no longer operational. Reliable replacements would be SiteMeter and StatCounter - as well as Google Analytics.

From what we've seen, identification and removal of the problem code seems to be straightforward - just access the dashboard "Layout" menu wizard, find the gadget identified, and remove it.

As always, you are advised to clear cache and restart the browser, after removal and before testing for success. If the gadget makes your dashboard redirect, before you can remove the redirecting code, use a well protected browser, like Firefox with NoScript, to block the redirection.

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Recovering And Protecting Your GMail Account

Blogger blog owners may have productive action, when their Blogger accounts are successfully hacked through an attack on their GMail accounts.

GMail account owners can get detailed instructions on recovering a successfully hacked account, and on preventing future hacking attacks from being successful. Some of the instructions are specific to GMail use - but overall, Blogger account owners will benefit from their use.

To benefit from the GMail instructions, one should consider the differences between Blogger, email, and Google accounts.

Gmail Account Recovery: Gmail Account Recovery and Security provides complete and detailed instructions for recovering a hacked and stolen GMail email account.

The Recovery instructions include specific mentions of Disabled / Suspended accounts, successfully Stolen accounts, and accounts locked or deleted because of Underage owners.

Accompanying the recovery advice is Gmail help and information: How NOT To Get Hacked. These are instructions for preventing a recurrence of a reported problem. This includes discussion of using a strong and secure password, identifying hacking techniques that involve the account owner, and preventing attacks which are conducted using the computer or network in use by the account owner.

The Prevention instructions, many which are common sense issues to any IT professional or security expert, are specifically written to apply to GMail account owners. There may be additional issues which apply in general, to Blogger accounts - and specifically, to Blogger accounts which are based on non GMail email accounts.

There are a few differences between Blogger blog ownership and GMail account ownership, which will cause issues that cannot be easily resolved by Blogger Support, or by GMail Support, to the satisfaction of the (former) blog owner.

GMail accounts are, by nature, single owner - and ownership of a GMail account is never transferred. In contrast, Blogger blogs can be under team ownership - and ownership can be transferred.

• Intentional team blog ownership. Team blog ownership can cause problems with loss of blog control, when all known blog administrators (accidentally or intentionally) remove themselves as administrators, leaving an unknown administrator.
• Intentional transfer of control. A blog owner may assign administrator status to another person, voluntarily - then later regret his decision.
• Un intentional transfer of control. A blog owner may assign administrator status to another person, voluntarily - and the other person may then remove the former owner administrator status.
• Ownership theft after account hacking. A hacker, having temporarily gained control of a Blogger account, may transfer ownership of a blog to another Blogger account.

All of these scenarios are regarded as simple transfer of blog ownership, by Blogger Support.

Though maybe not preferred by the (former) blog owner, the blog in question will now be under control of another person. It's possible that some of these scenarios are considered by Google Security, when reviewing Blogger / Google accounts after hacking activity is detected.

Blogger accounts, based on non GMail email addresses, will be subject to the typical uncertainty which accompanies any third party service in Blogger. Some details may be involve the email provider, while others will involve Blogger - and arbitrating between the two will be the responsibility of the Blogger account owner.

Owners of Blogger accounts which are based on non GMail email addresses will need to contact the providers of the actual email service, for resolution of some of these issues.

In general though, the GMail Account Loss Prevention and Recovery instructions provide good advice, for any Blogger account owner.

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Blogger Blogs Being Hijacked By The Sociable Gadget

We're seeing a steady stream of reports, from blog owners in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from Blogger blog owners, reporting the latest hijacking of their blogs.

My blog is being redirected to a search engine display.

or

My blog has a porn popup attached!

These are all blog owners who have installed the latest hack, willingly distributed by Blogger / Google.

This appears to be yet one more gadget, intentionally installed by many Blogger blog owners, which is now redirecting unwilling viewers. The redirection target is a website which provides commercial advertisements for various Internet services, which creates a variety of symptoms, as reported in the forums.

The Sociable gadget appears to be a Blogger accessory installed from the Blogger "Add a Gadget" wizard, when selected intentionally by many Blogger blog owners.

As with many reported hijacks, access to the Blogger Layout wizard appears to be affected. If you need to remove this code from your blog, you may find yourself unable to use the Layout wizard. In this case, you will need to use Firefox with Noscript - or a similarly well protected browser - to prevent the redirecting code from executing.

After removing the identified code from your blog, as always, clear cache and restart the browser. Finally, I'll remind you again, to please be particular - only install third party code from trustworthy providers.

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Consider, Carefully, The Decision To Use A Third Party Commenting System In Your Blog

Not all Blogger blog owners appreciate the features provided, in Blogger native commenting.

Some suggest that third party commenting systems, such as Disqus, provide a superior service. It's possible that, to some, third party commenting systems are more feature rich - but only Blogger native commenting provides one essential feature, in comment moderation.

Blogger commenting is one component, in the global Blogger / Google spam classification and mitigation strategy.

Blogger blog classification, Blogger commenting moderation, and various Google services, all contribute globally to spam detection, and to spam removal, in Google Internet space. Each service both provides input into - and accepts input from - other services.

Third party commenting products, while they may have some interesting design features that Blogger won't include, won't necessarily contribute to the Blogger blog spam classification effort, or to the community commenting moderation process. Nor will they accept input from Blogger blog spam classification, or from the community comment moderation process.

If you, as a blog owner, believe that Disqus - or other non Blogger commenting products - provides more useful service to your blog, you're entitled to use any service, that you can make work, in your blog. It is, after all, your blog - and this is one feature in our blogs which Blogger / Google leave to our discretion.

As with all third party accessories and services, however, you will get limited support, for any problems. If you break your blog, you'll have only yourself (or the provider of the third party service) to support your problems. You may even see the blog deleted or locked, because of suspected malware.

When you use a third party commenting system, there are two details to consider.

1. Integration of existing comments.
2. Post template modification.

When you install a third party commenting service, you'll have the service import existing comments into their database. And, you will have to install the necessary code into the post template - and deal with ongoing changes to the post template, in the future.

If, in the future, you want to return to use of Blogger commenting, you'll have both of the above details to consider, in reverse. Third party services, while they may provide importation of Blogger comments into their database, may not provide a reverse service. Nor are they likely to provide easy reversal of post template changes - particularly as the Blogger post template may have been changed after installation of the third party service.

If your blog uses Disqus, right now, you'll probably find it easiest to refresh the post template, to return to Blogger comments. If you have various custom tweaks in the post layout, you may not find this to be a pleasant solution.

If you are contemplating changing your blog, to use Disqus - or another alternate commenting system - you may do well to consider all of these issues, before changing.

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Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "scmplayer . net"

This week, we're seeing a new stream of problem reports, from blog owners whose blogs are, once again, mysteriously redirecting their readers to unknown destinations.

When I open my blog, it automatically directs to another website, which is SCM Music Player.

This appears to be yet one more gadget, willingly installed by many Blogger blog owners, which is now redirecting uninterested viewers. The target of the redirection, in this case, is a website which is simply a commercial advertisement - for the product which was apparently installed, willingly, by the blog owners.

The website in question, "scmplayer . net", unlike some previous episodes of this nature, does not appear to be expired.

Overview for scmplayer.net

Registrar Info
Name  GODADDY.COM, LLC
Whois Server  whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL  http://registrar.godaddy.com
Status  clientDeleteProhibited, clientRenewProhibited,
 clientTransferProhibited, clientUpdateProhibited

Important Dates
Expires On  March 25, 2014
Registered On  March 25, 2011
Updated On  December 13, 2011

If we use a text only browser, such as an HTTP trace utility, the problem code is easily identified. Here's a redacted example, taken from the latest forum problem report.

<div class='widget HTML' id='HTML1'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<!-- SCM Music Player http : // scmplayer . net -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http : // scmplayer . net/script . js"
data-config="{'skin':'skins/aquaOrange/skin.css','volume':50,'autoplay':true,'shuffle':true,'repeat':1,'placement':'top','showplaylist':false,'playlist':[{'title':'Waves','url':'http://youtu.be/IFS0Eo1eh6Y'},{'title':'Money Trees','url':'http://youtu.be/jSXiNdTbTA4'},{'title':'Keep it Moving','url':'http://youtu.be/XqRC_Fh--js'},{'title':'Find Away','url':'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS6zq6_iMCk'},{'title':'Do your Love','url':'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zVwbgXaMRo'},{'title':'Bitch Don%27t Kill My Vibe','url':'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcYvaLIgjTk'},{'title':'True Livin','url':'http://youtu.be/wMFHqqiR3Co'}]}" ></script>
<!-- SCM Music Player script end -->

From what we've seen so far, identification and removal of the problem code seems to be straightforward - just access the dashboard "Layout" menu wizard, find the gadget identified, and remove it.

As always, you are advised to clear cache and restart the browser, after removal and before testing. If the gadget makes your dashboard redirect before you can un install the misbehaving code, use a well protected browser, like Firefox with NoScript, to block the redirection.

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Be Aware When You Install Third Party Code On Your Blog

We've been seeing a few problem reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from blog owners who are not aware of the risks from installing third party code, on their blog.

Some blog owners are not even aware that the code being installed is not supplied by Blogger - and is not subject to the same coding standards as code supplied by Blogger.

Third party accessories and code - from simple JavaScript that installs in the blog template, to attractive XML gadgets installed using the "Add a Gadget" wizard - has always been a challenge, to Blogger blogs. Knowing when you are installing code provided by someone other than Blogger / Google, and taking appropriate precautions, is your responsibility.

Blogger provides a large library of XML coded accessories, installed using the Layout "Add a Gadget" wizard.

As we have learned in the past, however, the "Add a Gadget" accessory library is also used for distribution of non Blogger supplied gadgets. Gadgets supplied by Blogger are available using "Add a Gadget", and are labeled "By Blogger". Google does have other accessory libraries - the late "iGoogle" library is one well known one. That aside, most Blogger blogs - and all non Google websites, which are used for distribution of Blogger accessories and gadgets - are non Blogger products.

Be aware of what you are about to install, on your blog.

• A gadget provided using "Add a Gadget", and labeled "By Blogger" is a Blogger provided gadget.
• A gadget provided using "Add a Gadget", but not labeled "By Blogger", is not a Blogger provided gadget.
• A gadget provided using a Blogger blog, which is not published by Blogger, is not a Blogger provided gadget.
• A gadget provided using a non Google website is not a Blogger provided gadget.

These are examples of Blogger supplied gadgets. Anything different is not a Blogger supplied gadget.

If you install non Blogger code in the template, and later see

Your blog has been deleted because of MALICIOUS JAVASCRIPT

this is a risk which you take.

Do not install non Blogger code on your blog, without knowing the risks.

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Third Party Gadgets And Recent Malware Detected Blogs

Earlier this week, we noted an increased level of activity in reports about blogs locked as suspected spam hosts, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. Upon review of the increased volume of spam referrals, with the majority of the cases found to be spurious, Blogger Support provided advice, about a new reason for deleted blogs.

Yesterday, our malware detection system began receiving reports of malicious content on some blogs. While the blog content on many of these blog may be malware-free, 3rd party widgets on these blogs may contain malware.

When a blog is locked for hosting malicious third party gadgets, the blog will be present in the dashboard "Deleted blogs" list - and should be unlocked, on the spot, using the "Restore" option in the list.

The Known Issues advice continues, and describes a planned action.

We’re currently in the process of contacting all blog owners with instructions.

Until Blogger Engineering comes up with an automated contact procedure, owners of blogs which are deleted by Blogger may do well to check their dashboard "Deleted blogs" list, before asking for spam review in the forums.

Owners who find their blog listed, in "Deleted blogs" will be able to immediately restore the blog in question. Having restored the blog, it will be accessible in the "Locked blogs" list - where only the administrators can access it - and remove any possibly malicious third party gadgets, which may have been recently installed. So far, we've seen problems reported with

• Email address collection.
• Third party advertising.
• Traffic redirection
.

All of these are known to trigger malware classification, and cause locked blogs. While the blog is in "Locked blogs", it will remain offline, and inaccessible by readers and search engines.

Once all malicious / unsafe accessories and tweaks have been removed, the owner can submit the blog for unlock review, using the "Request Unlock Review" button in "Locked Blogs". Given a successful review, the blog will be returned to the main "My blogs" list, and restored to service.

Once malicious accessories and tweaks have been removed from the blog in question, it's a good idea to not reinstall them. Repeated detection will lead to Blogger account termination, similar to the penalty for repeated DMCA violations.

There are several reasons why all owners of such blogs may not see their blog listed, in a dashboard list. Owners of these blogs will still be obligated to report their problem in the forums - and to patiently wait while Blogger Support can restore their blogs.

The latter scenario will provide one more example while poorly planned anonymous blog ownership is not a good idea.

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Template Designer Upgrades Require Supporting Updates To The Individual Blog Templates

This week, we're seeing a small flood of problem reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken about problems with the Template Designer.

Every time I change something, I have to refresh the page in order for it to show up. It won't "Save" when I try to save the layout changes. It just says "Saving..." at the top of the page and fades away, but doesn't actually save any changes.

Many problems involve changes made to the template, using the Designer, which aren't being saved - or are broken when saved. Most of the people reporting these problems have made changes to the template, previously - some are so experienced at making changes, they can't believe that their latest changes could ever have problems.

Interestingly, this history of changes is not a coincidence - and it's likely that some of the changes helps to cause these problems.

Take a look at the template code in your blog, some time. You'll notice a lot of code which doesn't look like CSS, HTML, or XML. Some of it is code which supports the various blog features that are adjusted or configured using the Template Designer.

Many template features involve two sets of code.

1. The Template Designer wizard, part of the Blogger dashboard, is common code used by all blog owners.
2. The blog template, post template, and / or widget template, is part of the individual blogs. Some template code does nothing but support the Template Designer - and let you configure your blog layout,

Every time Blogger Engineering adds or updates template features, they have to make changes to both sets of code.

Blogger Engineering does not edit each individual blog, after they upgrade the Template Designer. They make changes to the master template code - and their changes replicate into the individual blog templates. These changes replicate much more consistently, when the individual templates have not been changed.

The more custom a template is, with changes applied by the blog owner or in a third party template, the less likely it is to properly update, to support each succeeding Template Designer update. Any time Blogger Engineering updates the Template Designer, to add a new feature, or maybe to support a new browser version, their updates may require changes which are not properly applied to all blogs - and the Template Designer stops working, in some blogs.

When the Template Designer stops working, the usual recommendation is to refresh the post or widget template - or maybe to upgrade the blog template - and things start rolling again. And the blog owner goes back to tweaking the template, until something breaks again.

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Add A Simple "Recent Comments" / "Recent Posts" Gadget To Your Blog

The recently observed problems with some third party gadgets, previously added by many blog owners to their blogs, leaves these (and other) owners lacking a useful feature in their blogs. For many blog owners, fortunately, this is not an impossible problem to resolve.

Blogger provides us with a native accessory, called a "Blog Feed" gadget, which will provide acceptable "Recent Comments" and "Recent Posts" functionality, for many blog owners.

Look at the sidebar of this blog, for "The Real Blogger Status - Comments", and "The Real Blogger Status - Posts". Those are "Recent Comments" and "Recent Posts" gadgets, based on the Blogger supplied "Feed" gadget - which is not a third party accessory, and is not subject to future third party peccadilloes.

To make your new gadget, start with the URL of the blog feed desired. Then, add a Blogger supplied Feed gadget, using the "Add a gadget" wizard, in the dashboard Layout display.

This is the URL of this blog.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net

This is the URL of the blog comments feed.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/comments/default

This is the URL of the blog posts feed.

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/feeds/posts/default

Setting up a "Blog Feed" gadget is simple enough.

1. Add a "Feed" gadget (Only select the "Feed" gadget, "By Blogger"!!!), using the "Add a gadget" wizard. Avoid any similarly named gadget not "By Blogger".
2. Plug in the Feed URL (see my examples above), and Continue.
3. Review / change the options offered, and Save.
4. Test your new blog accessory - provided by Blogger - with no future hacking activity anticipated.

And, you're done. Wasn't that simple?

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Blogger blogs redirecting to "scrapur . com"

This week, we've seen several reports in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from Blogger blog owners, reporting the latest hijacking of their blogs.

My blog is being redirected to a spam site - was it hijacked?

As is all too frequently the case, the redirection appears to come from third party code or gadgets, willingly installed by the blog owner. Examination of the website in question appears to indicate a long expired domain.

This domain name expired on Nov 7 2012 11:32:24:000AM

It's possible that, right now, this is not a maliciously planned hijack - though any expired domain can be re purchased for a devious or malicious purpose.

In several cases, the redirecting code appears as part of an installed XML gadget, a version of "Recent Comments". In other cases, we have observed naked JavaScript code, installed directly into the blog template. Here are identified examples - though you may see other variants.

<script style="text/javascript" src="http : // scrapur . com / index / wp-content / uploads / 2008 / 04 / rc . asp"> </script>

or possibly

<script src='http : // scrapur . com / index / wp-content / uploads / 2008 / 02 / smile . js' type='text/javascript'></script>

(Note the URLs have been modified, to prevent search engine indexing of a potentially malicious domain).

Use of a text proxy, such as Rex Swain's HTTP Viewer, when run from any browser, will allow you to safely examine the blog source, without interference by the redirecting code. In this case, simply load your blog using the URL, then use the browser test search, for "scrapur", in the proxy log. This will let you see if the code in question is part of an HTML gadget - or it is installed directly in the template.

As with many reported hijacks, access to the Blogger Layout and Template wizards appears to be affected. If you need to remove this code from your blog, you may find yourself unable to use either the Layout wizard (to remove an identified gadget) or the Template wizard (to remove directly installed code). In this case, you will need to use Firefox with Noscript - or a similarly well protected browser - to prevent the redirecting code from executing.

After removing the identified code from your blog, as always, clear cache and restart the browser. Finally, I'll remind you again, to please be particular - only install third party code from trustworthy providers.

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Blogger Blogs Being Hijacked By Instagram Gadgets

We're seeing a noticeable amount of noise today, from blog owners reporting that their blogs appear to be susceptible to antivirus detection - and others reporting that their readers are complaining of mysterious misdirection, when viewing their blogs.

My blog is struggling to fully load, and hangs saying "Waiting for platotv . com" and "Waiting for directagain . net"

and

I'm getting warnings from Avast when I try to view my blog!

Upon examination of the blogs affected, we see a large number which contain the "I'm An Instagram Addict!", or similar, gadget. Most blog owners who admit to having an Instagram gadget have reported relief, having removed the gadget in question. We're still looking, to see where these dodgy gadgets are coming from.

---

(Update 2012/10/08): We are now seeing suggestions from various people, representing themselves as employees of "BadgePLZ", suggesting that the problems with their code has been fixed.

---

If your blog is generating antivirus alerts - or if your readers report misdirection - you may wish to remove any Instagram accessories, recently installed. You may wish to clear cache and restart the browser, after removal. You may need direct access to various dashboard wizards, in some extreme cases.

Right now, the majority of the problems reported seem to involve an "IFrame", targeting "badgeplz . com".

<iframe src='http : // badgeplz . com / instagram / ?u=mun_mun90&t=c&bgclr=f2f2f2&brclr=cccccc&px=1&py=5&pb=5&brds=5&incls=n&svc=instagram&pbclr=ffffff&sze=75' allowtransparency='true' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' style='border:none; overflow:hidden; width:118px; height: 482px'></iframe>

We're currently unsure whether this is an intentional hijacking, or simply bad coding. Until the owners of "badgeplz . com" state their intentions, we'll simply advise you to remove this gadget, if you have added it to your blog.

As usual, I'll caution you against indiscriminate installation of third party gadgets, in general.

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Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "kunoichi . info"

In the latest round of blog hijacks, from misbehaving or miswritten accessory gadgets, we have reports this month in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken about blogs redirecting to "kunoichi . info".

My Blogger site, xxxxxxx . blogspot . com, with over 8 years of blog posts archived, has been redirected without my permission, to "kunoichi . info". I see my blog for a few seconds before it goes to the new site.

If we use a text only browser, such as an HTTP trace utility, the offending code is directly visible. Here's an example, taken from the latest forum problem report (and rigourously redacted).

<div class='widget HTML' id='HTML2'>
<h2 class='title'>Recent Comments</h2>
<div class='widget-content'>

<script style="text/javascript" src="http : // kunoichi . info / blogger _ buster / comments.js"></script><script style="text/javascript">var a_rc=5;var m_rc=true;var n_rc=true;var o_rc=100;</script><script src="http : // xxxxxxx . blogspot . com /feeds/comments/default?alt=json-in-script&callback=showrecentcomments"></script>

So far, identification and removal, of the problem code, seems to be straightforward - just access the "Page Elements" wizard (Classic Blogger GUI) or the "Layout" menu wizard (New Blogger GUI), find the offending gadget, and remove it. As always, you are advised to clear cache and restart the browser, after removal and before testing.

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Third Party Templates, And The New Blogger GUI

The New Blogger Interface has been available outside Draft Blogger for almost a year - and continues to provide traffic to Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, with new problems, every month. One subject of problems appears to involve the Template "Edit HTML" wizard, and various bX errors issued when attempting to save changes made to the HTML code.

The bX errors are very mysterious - and to those of us outside Blogger Engineering - almost monolithic. Recently, we've noted one possible affinity in the errors, involving blogs using templates developed outside Blogger / Google.

I got a custom template for my blog, from TheCutestBlogonTheBlock. I followed all the directions to add the template to my blog, and copied everything correctly - but I keep getting a message that says

Sorry, we are unable to complete your request

advising me that I need to contact Blogger Support.

The owner of any blog, showing this symptom, has several options, for further action.

• Use a standard Blogger template. Stop trying to use a third party template.
• Use a different third party template. It's possible that other third party templates - and maybe even different CBOTB templates - may be more compatible with the New GUI Template Editor.
• Use this template, corrected to avoid generating the bX error.
• Use the Classic GUI Template Editor, which appears to be less vulnerable to third party template problems.
• Contact the support channel for the CutestBlogOnTheBlock templates, and advise them of the problem. Wait until they are able to make their templates more compatible with the New GUI Template Editor.
• Wait until Blogger Engineering has a chance to fix the problems, which are generating the bX errors.

Use of a standard Blogger template is the most sure way to avoid this symptom - but probably the least likely to satisfy the blog owner, who apparently wants a blog using something other than the Blogger templates.

It's possible - but not likely - that a different third party template will be written to not cause a bX error - and that a different third party template will satisfy the desires of the blog owner. It's similarly possible - but not likely - that the blog owner could figure out what (if anything) he / she did when editing the template, and avoid the error. The typical blog owner, to whom the CTOTB templates appeal, will be satisfied by neither alternative.

The most immediate solution is probably to switch back to the Classic GUI, which is less prone to displaying bX codes when third party templates are involved. This is probably the best alternative, right now - but will cease being useful when The New Blogger GUI becomes the Blogger GUI.

The best long term solution will be for the blog owners to contact the support channel for the third party template, and advise them that their product needs to be made compatible with the New Blogger GUI, and the Template HTML Editor. This will be an ongoing need, as new third party templates are developed. The third party products must be made, and maintained, compatible with the Blogger product.

It's somewhat possible that Blogger Engineering, as part of their ongoing efforts to resolve problems identified by the various bX error codes, will fix the underlying problem with the New GUI Template Editor. Supposing however that the basic cause of the error codes probably involves the vagaries of third party code, I would not bet that this specific set of bX codes will be highest on their priority list of codes to diagnose and fix.

Which alternatives each blog owner elects to follow is a choice that he / she must make, based upon her / his own abilities and needs. Which ever choice each owner makes, it's likely that posting, into Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, a report

I keep getting a message that says

Sorry, we are unable to complete your request

advising me that I need to contact Blogger Support.

will be the start to the problem diagnosis - not an immediate solution.

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Norton Safe Web Is Claiming That All BlogSpot Blogs Are Fraudulent

We are seeing a steadily increasing flood of reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, from people who use Norton Safe Web, and who are now seeing some distressing advice.

When I try to view any BlogSpot blog, I see

This web page is a known fraudulent web page. It is recommended that you do NOT visit this page.

For your protection, this web page has been blocked. Visit Symantec to learn more about phishing and internet security.

What is Google doing about this false alert?

Since Norton (aka Symantec) is not a part of Google, there is not a lot that Blogger or Google can do about this problem.

You have just 2 choices, with this problem.

1. Get help from Norton.
2. Get rid of Norton.

Norton is a third party product. Like all third party products, neither Blogger nor Google supports Norton.

Blogger does not control what accessories you run, on your personal computer. That's your choice - and that's your responsibility, to support.

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(Update 20:30 PST): One blog owner claims to have had a Live Chat with an online Symantec representative, with a promising result.

This is an ongoing issue with the Symantec server and we are aware of this issue & working on it to get it fixed. I request to run the Live Update after 24 hours until all the updates are installed and check the status.

And subsequently,

I just ran live update... FOR me the problem is fixed.

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Identifying The Frog - And Other Image Oddities - On The Blog

An occasional sign of confusion, seen occasionally in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken, starts with a simple statement.

There's a frog on my blog!

Those of us who know about third party templates know what's up, here. Given the right browser, you can find the problem, in a couple minutes.

Some third party template providers use separate, third party image hosting services, for serving the graphics used by their templates. Some of the image hosting services, unfortunately, limit their bandwidth. When a given image, that they are serving, exceeds a given amount of bandwidth in a day, or maybe a month, they stop serving the image - maybe the background or another decoration - and they replace it with their logo.

One of these "replacement" logos is the well known PhotoBucket Frog.

If your blog uses one of the more popular templates, provided by the third party service, your readers will find out about it - and you may find out from them.

Why is your blog so plain - and why are there frogs all over the face?

And there is your blog - with no background, and with the frog images.

If you have Firefox, you can use the Media tab in the Tools - "Page Info" wizard. The Media tab displays a quick inventory of all images used, in any web page. Each image is represented by a URL, and a thumbnail. Just open the Media tab, with your blog (and the frogs) displayed, and scan down the list. When you see the frog, look at the URL - and there's the source of your problem.

Then pick another template - maybe a standard Blogger template - and make your blog pretty, again.

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