"Can I Use A Blog Address.........................?"

Let's say you have a blog url that you think is perfect and you want to use it for your own blog address. You try to register the name with Blogger.com only to find out that it is already being in use. Just for curiosity sake you visit the url and come to find out that the blog hasn't been updated in quite some time - maybe even a few years.

If you think that this would be a perfect opportunity to be able to use that url as your own then please THINK AGAIN!

As far as I know, Blogger.com will not release a blog's url just because it hasn't been used in a while.

Unfortunately one of your only recourses (if you still want to use that particular url) is to get in touch with the owner of the blog address to see if you can get them to give you their url.

It may be highly unlikely but there have been some cases where people have received a LOT of money by selling their urls!

This may not be good news for those who have a perfect url in mind only to find out that its already been taken but there isn't too much that you can do about it. You'll probably have to come up with a creative solution to giving your blog the kind of url that you want.

Spam Comments?

Unfortunately spam is everywhere! And what makes matters worse is that when one solution is found, the "spammers" figure another way!

If you have enabled "comments on your blog with the moderation option then you may be quite familiar with the problem. Someone will leave a comment on your blog but also put a link to their "spam" related site! In the worst case scenario their comments aren't even related to your blog post but are just spam altogether!

Unfortunately and as far as I know, you can't just block one person from commenting on your blog - you have to enable the "moderation option so that you can moderate the comments - even if it is only for that one person!

Fortunately I happened upon a solution when I get a spam comment on one of my blogs. It does require a little extra work but it is a good example of turning lemons into lemonade! Actually I like when I get these so-called spam comments because my solution for dealing with them improves my computer skills and also helps with increasing my Adsense numbers too!

"Reactions"

I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out where this newest option was so that I could add "reactions" to my blog posts! I thought that the most likely place to find this newest option for Blogger.com blogs would be in the layout section under "add a gadget" - but it turns out that this isn't where it is - sort of..........

Once you go to the Layout portion of your blog, then you have to click on the link to open up your blog post option and that is where you will see the "reactions" options that you can add to your blog.



By the way, I can't add the "reactions" option to this blog because this blog uses the template and not the layout version of a blog template.

But I will add it to my Adsense Consultant Blog.



12/8/08 Update!

If you are having problems with this latest Blogger.com Add-On, you can post about it here on the Blogger.com Help Message Boards! This particular link will take you to a "sticky" thread where you can post if you are having problems using the new "Reactions" add-on for your blog!

Has Your Blog Been Tagged As A "Spam" Blog By Blogger.com?

This was a big problem a few weeks ago when a lot of people's blogs were being tagged as "spam" blogs. But when browsing through some of the Blogger.com message boards I found this thread where someone posted about their blog being tagged as a spam blog and one of the Blogger.com employees replied to their post and un-tagged their blog!

"I Accidently Deleted My Blog! How Can I Get It Back?"

If you have accidently deleted your blog then you may want to go to the Blogger.com help message boards and post that you accidently deleted your blog. Hopefully if one of the Blogger.com employees see your post they may be able to restore your blog - just like the person who posted that they deleted their blog by mistake and one of the Blogger.com employees was able to restore their blog!

"Another Blog Is Hosted At This Address"

If your blog has a custom domain(ed) URL for your blog and you get "Another Blog is Already Hosted At This Address", Blogger.com has a form that you can use to report the problem to them.

They say on their site that if you use this form that they will clear the problem for you shortly.

What If Someone Is Copying Content On My Blog? What Can I Do About It?

If another site is copying your content then you may want to file a DMCA request. You can find more information about this by clicking here.

You can also read blog post written by The Google Webmaster Central Blog.

Can I Get My Blog Back If Blogger.com Has Deleted It?

Blogger.com has said that if your blog has been deleted by them then the reason is more likely that your blog has violated their terms of service.

If you would still like to contact Blogger.com to see if you can get your blog back, just click here.

I Accidently Deleted My Blog! How Can I Get It Back?

Blogger.com has said that you can recreate your blog using the same account you originally created it with. BUT Blogger.com has to verify the blog’s ownership so you have to contact them by clicking this link.

Was Your Blogger.com Blog Tagged As A Spam Blog?

A few days ago people were having problems with some of their blogs being tagged as a spam blog. An email was sent to bloggers saying as much!

One of my clients got one of these emails - dated - I believe - July 31st - about a week ago.

Interesting note here because since the client hadn't posted to their blog in a while they were really not aware of the fact that their blog was even flagged as a spam blog.

By the time they actually got to their blog everything had been cleared up and their blog was ready to be posted to again!

So I guess what I am trying to say here is that even though it can be a nuisance when something goes wrong with your Blogger.com blog - just give it a little time and the problem may eventually solve itself!

"Please UnBlock My Blog!"

Why has my blog been locked?

My Blog Has Been Tagged as A Spam Blog!

"Please Unblock My Blog Now!"

While Blogger.com does have message boards where people can post about the problems that they are having, you should report the problems that you are having to Blogger.com and you can do that by clicking on Resources and that should take you to a link where you can report the problems that you are having with your blog.

It is my understanding that the Blogger.com help message boards are there so that people can post about the problems that they are having and hopefully someone who has had the same problem and managed to solve it will post with a reply on how they solved the problem.

BUT if you want Blogger.com to know about the problem(s) that you are having with your blog then you should report it to them - officially - by clicking on the link that I provided above.



August 2, 2008 Update! - Blogger.com has put up some information about the "spam" blog problems that have been happening lately.

You can find out more about it by clicking here

Word Verification?

It just goes to show you that you learn something new everyday!

There was the "word verification" that was a mandatory requirement of one of my client's blogs whenever they wanted to add a new post to their blog.

Although the word verification was a nuisance I just figured that it was there because of some option I put on when the blog was first started.

However now I find out that the reason why the captcha is there is because the blog is still considered to be a spam blog. (I figured as long as the new posts and changes to the blog were being shown that everything was alright). Blogger.com even posts a link just in case you want an answer to "Why do I have to use word verification?". So this particular time I decided to read and then that's when I found out that the blog was being considered as a spam blog!

So I submitted the information that the form asked for. Since I just submitted it today I think it will be a few days before I get a reply.

So for those who have been wondering about that word verification thing - hopefully this explains what it is all about and how you can get rid of it!

If you want to send a request to have your blog reviewed by a human set of eyes, you can fill out this form from Blogger.com!

I'm Being Criticized!

As I have posted before I participate in some of the Blogger.com help boards. I'm now being criticized for answering some of the older posts - say like 15 days old (and some older) that haven't had any replies to them.

I just don't understand this kind of reasoning. I mean if someone makes a post and no one replies to it doesn't that make it look like no one has taken the time to even look at it? If I can answer the post then I do - especially if I have something relevent to add. There have been times when I have answered an older post and someone has either emailed me or posted a comment to this blog either thanking me for answering their post or asking me for more information.

All of this started around the time that I started talking about their being a bypass for the bx error code problem and I came to find out that Blogger.com was not aware of there being such a procedure - so I didn't mention it again UNTIL someone brought it up on the boards!

So I'll just have to see how this kind of thing "pans" out!

Are You Having Problems With FTP And Your Blog On Blogger.com?

Here is a link to a current status report about the ftp problem.

According to Blogger.com, on June 11, 2008 they have posted that the problem has been solved.

Unfortunately since the posting of that message, other people have been posting on the Blogger.com help groups that they are still having problems with ftp-ing and their blogs.

I really can not say whether or not the bx error code bypass procedure will work on the problems people are having with ftp-ing and their blogs simply because I have not used the ftp option with my own blogs so I have never needed to use that option

However I may some time in the future test this out just to see if the bypass procedure will work as far as ftp is concerned.

Is There A Better Blogging Site Than Blogger.com?

Now it seems that people are looking for other blogging sites to put their blogs on because they are getting frustrated and fed up with blogger.com.

First of I have to say that personally I'm not having too many problems with Blogger.com and my blogs that I have on Blogger.com so I haven't even thought of moving my blog elsewhere. Whenever I get one of those bx error code screens I just bypass right out of it and I go back to working on my blog.

About the only real problem that I am having with my Blogger.com blog is with my
test blog and that is only because of a video that I uploaded to this test blog just to see if I encountered any error problems when I uploaded the video.

Other than that I haven't had too many problems with my Blogger.com blogs.

Does The BX Error Code Bypass Procedure Work With The Problem Of Uploading Videos?

I honestly have to say that I don't know. When I read that other people were having problems uploading their videos, I decided to try and upload a video of my own. It took the video a long time to upload and after about 2 hours I gave up and cancelled the upload. Later when I went to look at my blog I saw that the video had uploaded. Now looking at my blog just a few minutes ago the video doesn't show at all.

In order for me to try the bx error code bypass I first have to get one of those bx error code screens and so far I haven't gotten one when I tried uploading a video. I have gotten the bx error code and was able to bypass it when I was trying to upload photos so I know that the bypass procedure works for that. I also know that it works for problems such as posting to one's blog.

Please make sure that you ask Blogger.com for it just in case you would like to know what it is!

I Give Up!

After seeing so many people posting about the problems that they were having with trying to upload their videos I decided to try and upload a video of my own to my Test Blog.

After 2 hours of waiting for a 650k video to load - I Give Up!

So Far So Good!

It really is dis-heartening to see that a lot of people are still getting bx error code messages when they are trying to work on their blog(s). The latest crop of problems seem to be with people having trouble uploading videos or photos to their blog(s). I have even see some people post that they are thinking about moving their blog to Wordpress. A lot of people are posting their frustration at not being able to get any "help" from Blogger.com but I can tell you that I have seen some of the Blogger.com employees posting and replying to other peoples' questions about the problems that they are having with their blogs.

I hate to say it but so far I haven't had any problems publishing photos to my blogs. As a matter of fact I did a test posting just to upload a photo to my blog just to see if it worked and it did. Everytime I get one of those bx error code messages I just bypass right out of it and go back to working on my blog. I really try not to add videos to my blogs because I know that not everyone has a high-speed internet connection but I may try it at a later date just to see if it will work.

Been Offline For A Couple Of Weeks!

I recently had a power outtage problem and was not able to get online with my computer for a couple of weeks.

I'm currently viewing and answering some posts on the Blogger Help message boards right now and it disheartening to see that there are still a lot of people posting about the bx error codes that they are still getting.

Recently a new crop of problems seems to be people having trouble with uploading / viewing videos on their blogs.

With so many different error codes being reported by people it seems that the number of different error codes are increasing.

Since I have been back online I haven't had any problems posting to my blogs as of yet.

I'm Having Problems Accessing My Blog Tonight!

Very strange indeed!

Actually I'm typing this post now which means that at least I have access to adding entries on my blog. It's just that I am not able to view my blog!

I was going to see the error message again so that I could post about it here but as soon as I tried to get the error screen again - guess what? I was able to get to my blog again!

So now it's time to see if I'm able to view my blog again.