Deleting Your Blog? Do It Right!

As I've said before, if you want to get rid of your blog, make it into a stub first. Once the search engines update their databases with the stub, then delete the stub.

If you don't, you could end up like Sir Richard Francis Burton

I have deleted the blog... at the painel configurations I selected
to exclude the blog...

Then, later I tried to enter at the site only for making sure.. but it
is still there!

In an earlier thread, Blogger Employee tells us

... there's a small bug in the old version of Blogger, which sometimes causes a hiccup in fully deleting an old blog.

The solution, in another case, is monolithic, starting with the usual observance

... we can't do anything w/o your blog's URL :)

and after the URL is provided, continuing (concluding?) with

Don't worry though, the content no longer appears online.

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Monolithic Errors

Long ago, on a computer that exists only in the memory of its users, you might be running a program and everything would come to a screeching halt. And the system console would print a brief and fearsome message

MLTP EAC

And what that cryptic message told you was that you were done. You had done something so stupid, that the computer, with even its infinite (!!) wisdom, could not recover. There were only 2 actions possible now.

• Power the computer off, and back on, and restart. And pray.
• Call the IBM Service Engineer.

And neither action was guaranteed to be 100% effective. But for a MLTP EAC, those were the choices.

Later, when Microsoft Windows was just becoming the dominant operating system on personal computers, it was even more unstable than it is now. If you had just installed new code, or tweaked the system settings to unacceptable values, occasionally the system would likewise throw up its hands in anguish and refuse to go any farther.

That was called a Black Screen Of Death. Unlike its predecessor, the MLTP EAC, the BSOD provided a puzzling series of letters and numbers, that could be translated by your super geek in residence (were you so lucky to have one) to indicate that your hard drive had died, or that you had loaded a bad driver for the latest installed accessory card.

In the newer Windows, Windows NT, 2000, XP, and now Vista, the black screen of death was replaced by something just a bit more user friendly, the Blue Screen Of Death. Using the official colour Microsoft Blue, you're told, in a more friendly way

Your're Done.

With Blogger, we are recently seeing two monolithic errors too.

• 404 Page Not Found.
• We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.

This puts us in mind of the old

MLTP EAC

If there's anything in the Blogger experience that causes FUD, it's these two errors. When you see one, there's nothing you can do but fill out yet another problem report, and join the gang at Google Blogger Help - Troubleshooting.

Doing the former, you fill out a form, and wait for botmail in your Inbox. After you reply to the botmail, you wait some more. Maybe one day things will start working again, and maybe not. After a while, you move to the latter.

In Google Blogger Help - Troubleshooting, troubleshooting is slightly more interactive. There, you describe your problem, and one of the Google employees who occasionally enters the forum will ask a few questions to diagnose the problem. If you're lucky, an answer may be in the latter article.

If you are lucky, a Google employee will later reply in your thread

You're good to go.

Another monolithic response for sure.

You check your blog, and it's working.

Now, both the Black Screen Of Death, and the subsequent Blue Screen Of Death, offered just a small bit of detail. Detail that let you diagnose the problem, and at least decide whether you might have caused the problem by installing a bad driver, or a memory module just went belly up. At least save you the time spent downloading and installing a new driver, when you should be traveling to the nearby computer store for another memory module.

With the current "Page not found / unable to complete your request" messages, we're back to the MLTP EAC level. Nothing to do but call the engineer.

We need the ability to figure out what we are doing wrong. Without knowing whats going wrong, any of us may be subject to either problem, at any time. And that is the FUD.

Let me put this briefly.

We need to know what is going on, so we can avoid causing the problem.

Right now, all we know is

We are using Blogger as a web site.

And the only way to predictably avoid the problem is

Don't use Blogger as a web site.

As solutions go, this one sucks. Please give us just a bit more diagnostic detail, instead of

I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

Come on, Blogger, admit the errors, so we can avoid making the same ones over and over. Don't make Blogger like the Sword Of Damocles.

(Note 2/1): Please tell us that the below mentioned fix wasn't the one applied 1/31 late evening!!??

(Note 1/11): Blogger Buzzer states

Your blog is affected by a bug that hit others also and it is being worked on. Expect a fix in the next few days.

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Online Support By Blogger Not Available 12/22 - 12/26

Blogger is on Christmas holiday, 12/22 - 12/26. Jordan, in Happy Holidays!

Blogger Buzzer and I will be off enjoying the holidays for the next 5 days and won't be making any posts during that time.

This is not a time when I would, personally, recommend any exciting activities like migrating your important blogs. Roberto, in Roberto's Report: Blogger ! You are joking!, has a less objective viewpoint.

(Edit 12/30): Though no announcement to the effect was seen this time, it appears that New Years weekend is being treated the same way. I would expect no support 12/29/2006 - 1/2/2007.

When Should I NOT Migrate #2

My last thoughts, about when I would want to migrate MY blogs, was that I would give it a go mid week.

• The previous weekends activities should be wound down.
• The problems from the previous weekend should be resolved.
• Starting Tuesday or Wednesday of the week should allow a day for the migration to go (or not).
• If not were the operative word, 2 days for me to attract the attention of Jordan or Buzzie, and hopefully they could fix my problem as they have fixed others.

But, it is Christmas, and Blogger is on a Christmas break. Possibly following that, one would bet, comes New Years, and a similar break.

And right now, my migration is OFF. So my bet is some folks will try migrating in the next week or so, possibly following my previous advice. But it's the holidays, folks, so unless you need a New Blogger blog for the holidays, and you are willing to chance losing it for a few days, give it a rest. I will anyway.

When Should I Migrate (When Should I Not Migrate)

The handwriting on the wall suggests that Blogger is trying to get everybody (every account anyway) onto Blogger Beta before the end of the year. This doesn't give us much time, though.

The last week of the year, which starts one week from tomorrow (on Christmas Day, yet), will probably be a 4 day work week. Some companies may even observe 3 days of work, and maybe less work will actually get done. Your access to Blogger won't be subject simply to Bloggers stability.

I wouldn't try migrating then. Particularly if the bulk of the unmigrated accounts get migrated the last week, the load on the Blogger infrastructure could be interesting. I wouldn't want my migration job depending upon servers that are overworked right now (supposedly, one of the original reasons for migrating).

And another complication. If last years observations repeat, you'll see Internet stability drop during the last week of the year. Think of all those lucky folks who see their first computer under the Christmas tree, next Monday. Think of what happens as all of those computers get connected for the first time, and all of the new bots get added to the bot population.

If Jordan et al are expecting to get this project finished before the end of the year, they better have coffee, by the gallon, ready for the final week. They are going to be stuck in the office for some grueling long hours.

That leaves this week. Period. And unfortunately, that is subject to the invitation being available.

This is the 2006 Holiday Season. I am surely not the only webmaster who seriously wants his / her website up and running, 7 x 24, during this season. See Roberto's Report: Yo! Ho! What's the Go?, for more thoughts on this issue.

Jordan et al:

If you think some of the bitching in the forum this weekend was annoying, wait til next week, and the final week, if you keep hinting that we will be forced to migrate before 2007.

Please stop The FUD.

Please.

(Note 12/22): I would probably not migrate this weekend, period. And with this issue in mind, I would limit my migration window next week to 12/26 - 27, no more.

Migration To Blogger Beta - The Final Chapter?

In my previous series Migration To Blogger Beta - Evaluation, and previously, I've discussed the practical issues surrounding the migration.

Today, in Blogger Help Group: Publishing Trouble When will all Blogger accounts be switched to Blogger beta?, we see the third statement by Jordan, aka Blogger Employee

Yes, a few months, max.

One week ago, in Google Blogger Help: An Open Question to "Blogger Employee"

We're looking forward to migrating all users to beta in the next few months, so, as there's limited time left with regular Blogger,

I just hope that there's some window of opportunity provided to all blog owners, so nobody goes from

Sorry, we can't allow you to migrate.

to

You have to migrate this week.

in the same week.

Common courtesy would require that those with larger, and maybe more complex, blogs, be given an appropriate amount of time to decide when to migrate. I would hate to interfere with some blogger employees coffee break time, but maybe it would be right to think of the unpaid employees slightly, and cut the breaks just a bit shorter.

Please.

Error 405

The complete error message, from reading a number of threads in Google Blogger Help, appears to be

HTTP method POST is not supported by this URL Error 405

What is the meaning of this message? Is this a peer error to the old friend (not)

We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.

Here's a sampling of reports. Some threads suffer from subject drift, some involve Blogger Employee, some may have just died. Who knows? I don't see it listed in Beta Known Issues, but it seems to come and go.

• Convert to Layout Started 9/24
  
• Can not access Blog Beta from cousin Started 9/18
  
• "We're sorry, but we were unable..."... Started 8/27 Massive thread drift, AND a celebrity appearance by Blogger Employee.
  
• BLOGGER BETA Started 8/16
  
• Blogger Beta Invite-Only Redirection Failed Started 8/15
  

If I omitted to list your favourite thread, please accept my apologies, and please let me know.

Photo Uploading Problems In Beta Blogs

I recently upgraded the appearance of this blog - just slightly - by cleaning up the header. What you see above is a graphic. I did this a couple days ago, with no problems.

The following day, I decided to write about my work. So I wrote text, and composed it, and made Customising The Header #2. Then I added some pictures, showing the blog header appearance, as I progressed with the project. Or I should say tried to add pictures.

I could select a picture, and hit the Upload button. And the spinner would run for a few seconds, but nothing would upload. Even clearing cookies, which I tried twice, and verified that I was using a different Blogger server, brought no relief. Nor did uploading to a blank post, tried in both "Edit HTML" and "Compose" modes. Nor using Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Meanwhile, simultaneous improvements to PChuck's Network, which is a Classic blog, proceeded nicely. Pictures were a useful addition to my Network Connections wizards instructions.

So, I guess Beta blog picture uploading is broken. I'm not alone anyway.

• posting pics OPEN 9/7
• Why can't I upload a pix? OPEN 9/7
• Images - Blogger Team's Not Looking So Good OPEN 9/7.
• Pictures not Posting OPEN 9/6
  

(Edit 9/7 17:40): A very interesting forum thread involving Blogger Employee AND Jehovah himself, Pete Hopkins, Google Blogger Help - Publishing Trouble: Why can't I upload a pix? is a start. Watch this post (or the thread).

(Edit 9/8 17:00): A post in Blogger Beta Known Issues: Some users are unable to upload images suggests clearing cache. This seems to work, though not always on the first try.

(Edit 9/13): The procedure of clearing cache appears to be effective against cases where the upload appears to be successful, yet clicking on Done takes you back to a post editor where no code is inserted. Now we seem to have a new symptom - no Done button appears. Clearing cache appears to have a mixed effect here. This problem is still open in Blogger Beta Known Issues: Some users are unable to upload images, though some links there may be misleading.