On 25th May the General Data Protection Regulations came into force ... and simultaneously Blogger ceased to send emails to bloggers notifying them that a comment had been made on one of their blog entries.
Whilst waiting for Blogger to fix the problem, some of us discovered that if we left a comment on our own blogs with the 'Notify me' option ticked, we received email notifications of any comments that were made.
I used this method for a few days, hoping that I would not be required do so for more than a couple of days ... but over two weeks have passed and all that seems to have happened is a message on one of the forums to the effect that Blogger are 'working on it'.
The situation is becoming intolerable for some, and Blogger's lack of communication with its users is driving people away. At present I am going to stick with Blogger because I have ten years of entries and comments with them ... but even my patience has its limits. If (or when) I do move to another platform, I'll give my regular blog readers plenty of notice. In the meantime, I'll just have to keep on using the 'Notify me' option.
Whilst waiting for Blogger to fix the problem, some of us discovered that if we left a comment on our own blogs with the 'Notify me' option ticked, we received email notifications of any comments that were made.
I used this method for a few days, hoping that I would not be required do so for more than a couple of days ... but over two weeks have passed and all that seems to have happened is a message on one of the forums to the effect that Blogger are 'working on it'.
The situation is becoming intolerable for some, and Blogger's lack of communication with its users is driving people away. At present I am going to stick with Blogger because I have ten years of entries and comments with them ... but even my patience has its limits. If (or when) I do move to another platform, I'll give my regular blog readers plenty of notice. In the meantime, I'll just have to keep on using the 'Notify me' option.
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Using the 'Notify me' fix!
ReplyDeleteIt is working ... but I resent having to use this to fix Blogger's problems.
DeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteYes it is a rotten problem with Blogger at present with no e-mails from people writing on your Posts...it tends to defeat the whole purpose of the exercise. I like Blogger how it was and hope that the problems can be fixed. At present I'm progressing with my 1846 Fictional 'Gotha-Hollen' Project painting up the 'Stannisfeld' Infantry in 18mm...I'm certainly not as fast as I was with production and now I seem to be slow...old age must be catching up with me. Hope you are well. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteBlogger announced some time ago that they were going to 'tidy up' the way it worked ... but this seems to have resulted in the loss of functions that users found useful.
Your imagi-nation project sounds as if it is making reasonable progress, and I'd love to see your finished figures.
All the best,
Bob
It is an annoying problem and I do hope that Blogger/Google fix it soon, although the lack of updates from them (the "sticky" posted on the 25th(?) appears to have been edited on the 31st to remove the "within the next week" reference) is frustrating.
ReplyDeleteTamsinP,
DeleteI don't understand why they made the change in the first place, and why they cannot sort it out. It sounds as if they are using what is called 'forward fixing' (i.e. keeping the faulty program in use in the hope the fault can be fixed rather than reverting to the original program).
I thought that the message on the forum from Blogger had changed, but I wasn't sure. It is rather disingenuous of Blogger that they have done this.
All the best,
Bob
Personally, I don't ask Blogger to notify me of comments, and hope to catch them on my daily visits. But I can see their value in respect of new comments on old postings. Unfortunately my email traffic is more than I can handle already.
ReplyDeleteBut I did get some wordy stuff about notify someone of someting - the word 'cookies' appeared in the blurb. Didn't understand a word of it beyond sussing it was in the English language. More or less. Something to do with laws or something.
I had absolutely no idea whatever what they were talking about. How can one comply with something that makes no sense and is otherwise incomprehensible?
Archduke Piccolo,
DeleteI find the email notifications useful, and they stop me from missing comments. That said, I know some users who never read comments or reply to them.
The language used in IT-related documentation and notices can be at best confusing and at worst downright incomprehensible ... and it doesn't need to be. I think that they employ lawyers who want to make sure that their client's legal liabilities are minimised at the expense of their users understanding what they have been asked to agree to.
All the best,
Bob
I've just started making a daily visit to my blog guts to check the comments tab for new and awaiting moderation comments. I have moderation turned on for posts more than 3 days old so catch any old comments at the same time.
ReplyDeleteA minor inconvenience for me to be honest.
Ross Mac,
DeleteI've considered moving over to moderating all comments on my blog in the hope that I can keep track of what my regular blog readers have written.
All the best,
Bob
I just check the comments moderation page every mrning.
ReplyDeleteTrecbian,
DeleteI've been doing the same, but even so I've missed a few comments.
All the best,
Bob
Its is a bit annoying but given Blogger is free I don't think we can complain too much....
ReplyDeleteJmilesr,
DeleteWhilst Blogger might be free, it does not excuse that fact that other than a couple of 'we are working on it' messages on the Blogger Help Forum, they don't seen to have acknowledged there is a problem.
I don't want to move over to another blog platform, but this problem is a major irritation for someone who - like me - blogs on a regular basis and who likes to reply to all comments that are made.
All the best,
Bob
I don't post daily so the lack of notifications and the workaround of clicking "Notify me" as part of a comment is not a big deal to me. Moving all of my pictures to a new platform would be a bigger "deal".
ReplyDeleteThat said, it seems that EU GDPR thing threw a lot of companies/people for a loop - other websites and software for things like blogs and forums got out of whack and have yet to fully recover. It's almost like they didn't know it was coming and didn't prepare for it very well. (unlike back in the lead-up for Y2K)
I expect it will get sorted and settle down eventually.
Fitz-Badger,
DeleteIt is possible to migrate your entire Blogger blog to another platform by backing it up onto your computer and then importing it onto your new platform. It isn't too difficult, but it can be time consuming.
As far as the English-language version is concerned, the GDPR does not appear to have been a very well-drafted piece of legislation, hence the confusion that has arisen. I suspect that many organisations went for a 'belt and braces' approach, with the result that all sorts of problems arose that could have been avoidable. No doubt things will get sorted out eventually ... but Blogger do seem to be taking longer than one would have expected to get the former email notification system up and running like it used to.
All the best,
Bob
I have never used notification either and instead just pop into my dashboard / design feature and check for recent comments. I have less traffic than you, which may be one reason why that works for me.
ReplyDeleteI am firmly in the camp that Blogger is free and broadly does its job well,, so would not consider migrating. They also give be 15 GB of photo storage, which significantly helps blogging output.
I do have some paid for web space that I use as a sort of sister space to my blog and this works well for me, though administratively doesn’t have the advantages of a blog, but being paid for space, it does not run adverts.
For whatever reasons, our short internet age has grown up with a belief in the right to free content and I wonder how long this is sustainable, especially with the ongoing restrictions placed on the harvesting of private information.
I’m a little surprised that Google even bother with Blogger these days, so long may it continue ... I hope !
Norm,
DeleteOver the ten years that I've been blogging, I've averaged over 400 hits per day and I've tried to answer ever comment that has been made. That is why I find the email notification of comments very useful.
I'd be more than willing to pay Blogger to host my blogs ... as long as the fees were not too high and they dealt with problems promptly. What I find frustrating is Blogger's lack of meaningful and regular feedback to its users.
I really want to stay with Blogger, and I agree that for most of the ten years I have used their free service, I've been very satisfied ... which is why I find the current situation so difficult to understand.
I hope that the problem will be fixed as soon as possible.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob, It would be interesting to know roughly how many active blogger accounts exist and in todays age, of what advantage is any of that to Google.
DeleteMost modern platforms of whatever ilk are increasingly adapting to work well with mobile devices, yet Blogger has withdrawn its App for the iPad / iPhone and third party Apps are pretty rare. The old official App was not brilliant and if you use iPad to access blogger via www then it has all sorts of compatibility problems, not least you can only add half a screen of text per post and you cannot create a blogger account on a mobile platform, it all has to be initiated via desktop. It does leave one wondering whether Blogger is falling outside the Focus of current Google interests. I hope not.
I suppose I have got lazy with Blogger and not really looked to see what alternatives are out there and what they are doing that may be better and how easy or is it even possible to take your back catalogue of posts with you?
Norm,
DeleteI have no idea how many blogs there are out there ... but I suspect that those that are kept up to date form a relatively small percentage.
When I first began blogging, I had a website that I regularly updated. As time went on, I stopped bothering with the website and eventually I wound it up. I suspect that blogs will eventually disappear as the next generation of platforms are developed and software developers stop supporting existing ones.
I was unaware that there had ever been a Blogger app for smart phones and tablets, although I have used my tablet to write short blog entries and to answer comments ... which is what I am doing now. I prefer to use a proper keyboard, mouse, and screen when blogging, and only use my tablet when I have no alternative.
Using Blogger has enabled me to keep in contact with a huge number of people, and I hope that it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
All the best,
Bob
Google/Blogger have never been particularly fast when it comes to fixing problems.
ReplyDeleteLee Hadley,
DeleteVery true ... but it seems to be taking them an age to tell users what is going to happen. If they are going to remove the email notifications, so be it; I just wish that they would tell us that is what they are going to do.
All the best,
Bob