This is meant as a temporary post and I'll probably remove it before long. Since the beginning of the month I (and, I think, many others) have had enormous difficulty following new blogs or pruning my list of blogs followed. There is obviously a great big new bug in Blogger's following software and it's had me gnashing my teeth in frustration, as blogs and new posts flicker randomly in and out of my list of blogs followed and Google Reader itself.
The only way round it as far as I can see is manually to add new blogs followed to my blogroll, thus totally bypassing Google Friend Connect and Google Reader until Blogger finds the problem and fixes it. I have a shrewd suspicion it is connected with the ongoing major revision of Blogger and its integration with Google+. However, that's Google's affair. Mine is to go on being able to follow the interesting new blogs I've recently discovered and to offer my newly discovered workround to those suffering similar frustration. At least this way I can reliably see when a blog is updated and avoid missing posts.
The only way round it as far as I can see is manually to add new blogs followed to my blogroll, thus totally bypassing Google Friend Connect and Google Reader until Blogger finds the problem and fixes it. I have a shrewd suspicion it is connected with the ongoing major revision of Blogger and its integration with Google+. However, that's Google's affair. Mine is to go on being able to follow the interesting new blogs I've recently discovered and to offer my newly discovered workround to those suffering similar frustration. At least this way I can reliably see when a blog is updated and avoid missing posts.
Hello Perpetua:
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly our problem too. It is, as you say, incredibly frustrating and erratic with the situation changing from moment to moment making it very problematic to keep up to date. We have stopped following any new blogs for the time being in order not to miss out on posts. Meanwhile Blogger seems to stay silent about it all!
I can hear the grinding of your teeth from here, Jane and Lance. :-) Hopefully it will get fixed soon, together with the ongoing commenting problem. I really don't want to have to move my blog to WordPress if I can help it.
ReplyDeleteIt is so frustrating, I agree.
ReplyDeleteMy dashboard keeps telling me I'm following no blogs which makes catching up decidedly difficult.
Having looked at Wordpress after the last little local difficulty with Blogger i think I'd give up blogging rather than use it...
This is happening to so many people, Fly, that you'd think Blogger would not only make it a top priority, but also say something about in their blessed Blogger Buzz.
ReplyDeleteI'd gathered earlier that you find WordPress scary, but having looked at it quite carefully over the past few days, I think I could make it work. But I really don't want to have to do so, when in the main Blogger does everything I could want and is more straightforward to use, at least with the present dashboard. Have you looked at the new one? Arggh!!!
I've noticed the problem with followers of my blog - they come and go randomly, but it's always either all or none.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've noticed that, too, and sometimes have none of my followed blogs in my Reader -- which is alarming. And Followers seem to drop on and off. (At first I thought a dropped Follower might be a reaction to the sort of posts I've been doing lately, but suspect it has mroe to do with the current glitch.) I really do wish Blogger would at least let us know they're working on this!
ReplyDeleteNancy, that is an annoyingly long-lasting glitch which I first noticed back in May, at the time of the big Blogger meltdown. It seemed to have been fixed for a while, but it's back, along with this new problem, which you won't have noticed unless you started to follow a new blog very recently. Sigh....
ReplyDeleteYes, Kathy, the empty Reader is more than a little disconcerting, isn't it? I'm sure the coming and going of your followers is all part of the same problem, rather than a reaction to your blog posts. As you say, it would be so helpful if Blogger would just say something - anything!
ReplyDeletePerpetua I symapathise.
ReplyDeleteI had a problem with, "comments" and was just about ready to chuck the blooming computer out of the window!
Hope it gets sorted soon,
SP
The new dashboard gave me an attack of the habdabs...it was Wordpressian...
ReplyDeleteThanks, SP. The comments situation was a nightmare, which I solved by downloading Google Chrome and using that when wanting to comment. so far, so good...
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, every time I've come onto my dashboard since I performed the manoeuvre outlined above and wrote this post, all the blogs have shown up both in my list of blogs I'm following and in Google Reader. Perhaps I've shamed Blogger into behaving..... :-)
I know, Fly, I know.... I first became aware of it some months ago, when we were invited to look at what was then called Blogger in Draft. I hated it at once, both because it loses the simplicity of the present Blogger and because of the dreadful pale grey type on white background which is SO hard to read. We were invited to give our feedback, a great deal of which was extremely critical, but Google/Blogger don't seem to have taken a blind bit of notice.
ReplyDeleteThe nightmare is that at some point in the not too distant future the old dashboard will be switched off and we'll HAVE to use the new one. Sob.
Dear Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this concern. I'd thought I was the only one having this problem. Followers appearing and disappearing. Lists of blogs I follow doing the same.
Let's hope that Blogger fixes the problem soon, so we can all stay connected.
I want to thank you, Perpetua, for commenting on my posting today about wearing the habit. Still, today, I'm conscious of how I handle objects. When I drop something or bang it against the counter, I'm aware that I've lost my mindfulness. And I try to place myself in Presence.
Peace.
Glad to be of help, Dee. It seems to be a very widespread problem and a real nuisance.
ReplyDeleteNo need to come to my blog to respond to any of my comments on yours. I always subscribe to comment threads, so will receive your reply from your own blog.
Hi Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteAll I can do is sympathise & say 'Oh dear'.
Reading about yours & other bloggers problems with Google Blogspot, just makes me so thankful that my blog is on my own domain & was set up from the beginning to operate using WordPress. I do acknowledge that I am wonderfully blessed by having an internet savvy wife who happily resolves all my blogging and computer problems, whenever they occur. But then I do all her washing & ironing - what is commonly known as role reversal :-)
Hi Ricky. If I'd known then what I know now, I might well have decided to set up my blog on WordPress from the start. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. :-) However, as I said in an earlier comment, having come so far with Blogger, I think I'll stay unless it becomes impossible to continue. Despite all its flaws and hitches, Blogger has an ease of use and flexibility which is very appealing. Take that away and WordPress looks very inviting.
ReplyDeleteI love your division of labour - ours is the traditional one, though Blogger is very much my province, not DH's.
This disappearing act on the Reader is infuriating. As is the problem with commenting. I'm afraid I'm rather like Fly regarding Wordpress. I've taken a glimpse but the thought of changing over terrifies me.
ReplyDeleteJoin the club, Ayak! We're all suffering and yet Blogger seems to be doing nothing obvious to sort out the problem.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about WordPress, but have you seen the new Blogger dashboard? It's an alternative at the moment, but at some point it will become the only one and I really don't like it! All those drop-down menus and that pale text on a white background.
If it came down to it I would make the move to WordPress, as it seems to me on closer inspection to be less scary than it first appears. I've managed to import my blog there without any difficulty, so I think of it as a back-up in case Blogger really goes pear-shaped. :-)
Just a quick update to say that Google Engineering have finally acknowledged there is a problem and are working on it. If you want to help them track it down, you can do so as follows:
ReplyDeleteKnown Issue
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