The General Data Protection Regulations came into force on 25th May and either by design or coincidence, Blogger's automatic email comment notification function stopped working. There have been numerous complaints raised about this on the appropriate Help Forum, but little appears to have been done to solve the problem as yet.
Currently I and many other bloggers who use the Blogger platform are working around the problem by using the 'Notify me' option in the 'Comments', either by making a comment on our own blog entries and selecting this option or by replying to the first comment made by a reader and selecting it then. Whilst this is not the most satisfactory way to deal with the situation, it has the benefit of working albeit rather clumsily and requiring a bit more effort to be made on our part.
This is not the first time I have experienced problems with Blogger, although it is true to say that any previous ones have were mostly minor and were solved quickly. I did, however, take the precaution of creating a back-up blog on Wordpress, and recently I have been regularly backing up my blog content to the alternative blog.
I like the way that Blogger works and I do not want to change platforms, but I have concerns that Google – who own Blogger – might be looking to replace it or to delete it entirely, and having a back-up plan in place seems both sensible and prudent.
Currently I and many other bloggers who use the Blogger platform are working around the problem by using the 'Notify me' option in the 'Comments', either by making a comment on our own blog entries and selecting this option or by replying to the first comment made by a reader and selecting it then. Whilst this is not the most satisfactory way to deal with the situation, it has the benefit of working albeit rather clumsily and requiring a bit more effort to be made on our part.
This is not the first time I have experienced problems with Blogger, although it is true to say that any previous ones have were mostly minor and were solved quickly. I did, however, take the precaution of creating a back-up blog on Wordpress, and recently I have been regularly backing up my blog content to the alternative blog.
I like the way that Blogger works and I do not want to change platforms, but I have concerns that Google – who own Blogger – might be looking to replace it or to delete it entirely, and having a back-up plan in place seems both sensible and prudent.
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Using the temporary fix ...
ReplyDelete... to work around the problem.
DeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteIf Google scrap Blogger -then this will be a true travesty. Blogger is user friendly, it works and it does fill a huge area for enthusiasts like us...it IS great! If I have to go to another 'Platform' which most likely won't be FREE - then I will be out of the game altogether. I will watch your Blog closely Bob- to see further news of Blogger - hoping that it will stay- forever. Best Wishes. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteI'm hoping that Blogger has a long and glorious future ahead of it ... but I've always been a believer in having a back-up plan.
If Blogger was no longer free, I would probably stay with them as long as their charges were reasonable. In the meantime, I'll keep my regular blog readers up to date with any developments.
All the best,
Bob
ReplyDeleteIt's of mild concern to me that Blogger is my back-up plan for Wordpress!
Regards, Chris
Chris Kemp (Chris),
DeleteKnowing you, this doesn't surprise me as much as it should!
All the best,
Bob
Move to wordpress permamently Bob- I've never had an issue with it for my blog.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Pete.
Peter.,
DeletePerhaps it's because I started my first blog on Blogger that I'd like to stick with them. However, if things don't improve or they get worse, the move to Wordpress is already half done.
All the best,
Bob
Yet, Pete.. :o)
DeleteSteve-the-Wargamer,
DeleteNow the problem has been solved, I'll be sticking with Blogger ... for the time being.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteJust curious- have had a look at 'Wordpress' -for their 'Personal' version plan- it is $5 per Month...not a lot. Might investigate further- cannot be any harm in trying it out for awhile to see what it offers. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteWhen I signed up for my Wordpress blog it was free, and it might be worth seeing if that option is still available.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteJust decided to sign onto Wordpress and see what it can do...however, they want $60 up front payment before starting. I did not proceed. I'll stick with Blogger. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson,
DeleteA $60 up front payment seems a bit steep. I think that sticking with Blogger makes sense ... even if it isn't working 100% at present.
All the best,
Bob
Bob, what is the basic process of backing up to Wordpress? Do you have to go into posts individually to back them up?
ReplyDeleteYour data base must be huge, are you able to take it all across?
Norm,
DeleteThis isn't a quick process but it isn't difficult.
Firstly set up an empty blog in Wordpress.
Secondly back up your current Blogger blog to your computer. (This can be done using the 'Settings' the 'Other' options.) The file will be saved in xml format.
The xml file can then be uploaded to your Wordpress blog. Not only should all the blog entries be transferred over; the comments should be transferred as well!
Its a tedious and somewhat slow way to do the transfer, but it is much quicker than doing each blog entry in turn.
All the best,
Bob
Thanks Bob, that seems pretty straight forward. I note that Wordpress can be set up and managed on a mobile device - something that Blogger can’t and in this day and age, that just seems an indicator that the committment to Blogger is questionable.
ReplyDeleteNorm,
DeleteGlad to have been of help.
I can write short blog entries on my iPad, but prefer to use my PC, so at present Blogger's idiosyncrasies don't present me with any major problems ... except when it comes to email notifications that comments have been made!
All the best,
Bob