It Would Have Paid to Wait
computing, Stuff I hate December 21st, 2007At this moment, I’m trying not to scream. I have just read that Google rescinded the change that forced me to move my blog to WordPress. All that pain and suffering was almost for nothing.
From BloggerBuzz:
December 20, 2007
You Blog, We ListenTwo fixes just went live, before we sign off for a brief holiday break:
- Unregistered commenters can once again provide an auto-linked URL [Help Group Thread]
- Images in the Header page element will no longer be cropped vertically [Help Group thread]
We apologize for having broken these features for you. Your blogs and Help Group posts showed us the true extent to which you used and cared about these features, so please let us know if they’re still being problematic.
Thanks for your patience!
What this means for people leaving comments on Blogger blogs is that they can again leave links directly to their blogs without having to use or create a Google account. Simply click on the Nickname field and then a URL field is enabled, where you can enter your blog’s address. No more having to setup an OpenID account or login to Google.
Do I regret having moved to WordPress now? Not exactly. I still have way more control over my blog and more flexibility with features than I ever had with Blogger. There are some very cool and useful widgets and plug-ins that I’m using now with WordPress and that I’m planning to implement in the future. So all is not lost.
I just wish I hadn’t been forced to learn a new platform so quickly. That’s not how I operate. I prefer having enough time to research things and move ahead cautiously and carefully, instead of flying by the seat of my pants like I did with the migration to WordPress. At the time I moved, there was zero indication that Google would come to their senses and bring back the URL field for direct blog links.
I recognize that there are far greater problems in the world than my difficult migration to WordPress, I really do. But it did cost me a significant amount of time and effort. And hosting is not free, so there is a cost there as well. When Google states “We Blog, You Listen,” they should add “And We Fail to Think Ahead and Don’t Know How to Communicate.” The way they went about the change, with no concern for its implications in the blogging community and no warning, is deplorable for such a large corporation.
Bringing back the feature now is too little, too late for me and others who fled to WordPress or other blogging platforms. And, for that, they deserve a huge bag of coal for Christmas. And a punch in the face.
Stumble it!
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 pm
You’ll never regret a decision to move to a self hosted platform, Kathy.
You are at total liberty to control your experience on WordPress.
It’s entirely upto you whether you want to upgrade to a newer version or add/remove features rather than being forced into it with a hosted platform like Blogger.
Happy Blogging !
Jaffer’s last blog post..Snow !
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Me again, here’s something I found that will rid you of all doubts about your move from Blogger.
Blog blocked for Spam
Jaffer’s last blog post..Snow !
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Here here! Well ranted my friend.
For once my crippling fear of change and glacial pace of progress has paid off – or should I say NOT cost me, although I’m still envious of what you did and would be there right with you too… um, if you did it for me.
Jeff’s last blog post..Hey wait, I know this one…
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:31 pm
I would have NO idea how to make the switch if I wanted to. I’m doin’ good just to be on blogger…
Margaret’s last blog post..Am I the LAST person to see this?
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
@ Jaffer — I knew you’d make me feel better about WordPress! If I were more up to speed with it, I’d be less cranky about Google rescinding their change. I’m hoping to learn more about WP from you and Bloke in the future. With more experience under my belt, I know I’ll be happier with it. And I see what you mean about what can happen on Blogger. I’m glad the woman whose blog you linked to is back in business. Scary stuff.
@ Jeff — I laughed at your comment. I was thinking if I were just lazier, I wouldn’t have scurried to WP so soon and I could have been more prepared when/if I was truly ready for the move.
p.s. I said it once, twice, probably three times — your latest post about TV theme show songs ROCKED! Everybody, go check it out, but don’t read the comments if you want to play. The answers are given in the comments.
@ Margaret — I would stay where you are unless you have a compelling reason to leave. For me, that reason was the commenting thing, nothing else. The move was complicated for me, which is why I haven’t posted about the move. I realize I could barely explain the steps I took!
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Hey, howcome Jeff’s blog shows up on commentluv here, but not on my blog?
Oh, and I never regretted moving to wordpress.
Dan’s last blog post..Dec 22
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Dan — I don’t regret the move necessarily. Just how fast I did it and the scurrying I had to do. I’m also still in search of the perfect theme. Still not settled 🙁 Jeff tweaked something on his end yesterday. His latest posts weren’t showing up here either, but now they are. Should be fine for future comments.
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:25 pm
K2 is a good theme, very versatile.
I’ve often suspected Jeff of tweaking his end.
Dan’s last blog post..Dec 22
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Dan — I’m trying one on for size, called Ambient Glo Fluid. One of the great things about WordPress is I can test my themes out without changing the live one, with a click of a button. It only appears for me, with my content loaded, so I can get the most accurate view of what a theme will do for my site. I’m thinking I may have a new one by Monday. But I really have to be certain. Don’t want to keep changing my blog’s look every week. Yeah, that Jeff.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:54 pm
As a result of our insurrection they (finally) realized their mistake. Oh well, it was all for the best anyway. WordPress is better. It’s also a good example of the way they operate. Google acts independently like they own us and can do as they will, as opposed to WordPress which is made by users for users. I plan to write more about this.
It’s too late Google. Never look back.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:13 pm
It’s not a wate you probably learned a lot in the switch which is always a good thing and I am impressed with your wordpress blog so I might give it awhirl myself…
robert bourne’s last blog post..The Summer That Was
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Dan – Hey, what I do with my end is my business, so never you mind. But don’t knock tweaking until you’ve tried it.
Jeff’s last blog post..Hey wait, I know this one…
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Wonderful. I’d like to strange google. I am going to uninstall Halsocan then and get back all my old comments. The newer ones will of course be gone again
windyridge’s last blog post..Footprints in the Snow
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:30 pm
@ Blog Bloke — I feel better now. Was reeling this morning after I read the news, but you are right — it IS better and I refuse to look back. Onward and upward!
@ Robert — I did learn a lot during the switch, but thank God I had help. I wasn’t equipped to go it alone. I hope I can make my blog presentation a little better. It’s not quite where I want it. In due time, it will be.
@ Jeff — Everyone should try tweaking at least once 🙂
@ Windyridge — I’m sure you feel like you’re on a roller coaster. I know you went the Haloscan route, and I was going to do that myself until I realized I’d lose my past comments. Don’t worry. You have a very popular blog and so it’s not a huge loss without the comments you’ll give up moving back to the old way. Was this thing insane, or what?
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:04 am
Don’t know whether you’re new to blogging but there are incidents like this with all the platforms. Usually Blogger beta tests so I was surprised they pulled the comments switcharoo.
I like the fact you can test out new templates without losing your old one. Is there a subscribe to comments feed on your blog or did I miss it?
Suzy’s last blog post..Who Should Win The Contest?
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:05 am
Okay, just saw my last comment and it links my last blog post. THAT rocks. If only I weren’t too lazy to switch!
Suzy’s last blog post..Who Should Win The Contest?
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:33 am
Kathy,
I’m glad Googles fixed their phuque up but you sure are right about too little too late in my case. I Love my new WP blog, I have all of my old posts and comments from Blogger and once a couple of plugins were installed for me WP turned out to be about a zillion times easier to use than I imagined. I hope your WP blog pleases you as much as mine does me.
Alan’s last blog post..Librarian’s Night Before Christmas
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:47 am
@ Suzy — I know there can be issues with any platform, but Bloke’s right — Google’s shenanigans show me that they’re not at all interested in me. Although I wanted to stay with them for the easy-of-use factor, I feel better having more control over my blog with WP. I’m surprised they switched back, too. I was following their official blog and, even with hundreds of people complaining, they said nothing. That’s why I figured they would never bring it back.
I just added the Subscribe to Comments plug-in. Have at it 🙂 And yeah, isn’t CommentLuv the best?!?
@ Alan — WP is getting easier to use. I’m exploring the wealth of plug-ins and widgets, and I need to get my theme in order. I’m not in love with this one and I want to love it! Overall, I’m happy with WordPress. I’m glad you’re loving yours!
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:40 am
I just tried this on a blogger blog and my nickname was blacked out and there was no link. So I’m confused….
windyridge’s last blog post..Santa My Model
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:51 am
Windy — Hmmm. Did you logout of your Google account first? If you don’t, it might just take your Google profile and stick that up as the link. When you say “blacked out”, what do you mean? Can you tell me what blog it was? I’d like to go check it out.
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:09 am
The thing is, if you didn’t get grouchy and feel like you HAD to switch then and there, you might not have learned all the stuff you had to learn to get yourself back up. I know, other people have said this, but no one else has mentioned that a fruitcake always makes blogging more fun, no matter what platform you are on.
the frogster’s last blog post..Big Holiday Fruitcake Mania Ultra Mega Super Post!
December 23rd, 2007 at 10:15 am
@ Frogster — You’re probably right. When I look back on the experience, I wonder how long it would have taken me to move to WordPress had I not been shoved. I might have hit my first roadblock (there were many), and thought “I can’t do this.” But I did and it’s over and I did learn a lot.
Fruitcake is apparently fun only when you make it YOUR way. Merry Christmas!
December 23rd, 2007 at 10:19 pm
No I didn’t log out. Blacked out as in no hyperlink to my url. Gosh I don’t remember which blog. I will try logging out and see if that works as I search for another Blogspot blog and i’ll get back to ya!
windyridge’s last blog post..Santa My Model
December 24th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Windy — I guess the question is — Is this happening to you on ALL blogger blogs? I’m doing fine on the ones I’ve left comments on today. Just select the Nickname field and the URL field will enable itself. I’ve verified that you do not need to be logged out of your Google account for that to happen.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:31 am
Here’s an example of the problem Windy is talking about.
It’s most likely that the second commentator was not signed into Google and was unable to post a link to her blog.
Ok, commercials over, back to watching The Nutcracker (1989)
Jaffer’s last blog post..‘tis the season to look up for an answer
December 24th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Kathy, what time zone is your Blog in ?
It’s 8:35 PM here but the time shown is 12:35 AM ! I think it’s set to GMT/UTC by default !
Jaffer’s last blog post..‘tis the season to look up for an answer
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Jaffer — Oops, I was doing some toying around with my options. It seems that when I use Windows Live Writer, the time posted is wrong. I’ve read that it’s my BlueHost server time that’s messing things up, and at some point I changed the time in WordPress. The time should be correct now (EST). But I still have an issue with WLW that I get around by backposting by a day (which is annoying and stupid, but the best I can do right now). Thank you for pointing out the error.
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Jaffer — Not sure I follow. I went to that blog, signed off Google, clicked on Nickname and the URL field is enabled.
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
We all know that google is evil. Yet, like wallmart, we all hate going there but they’re so big and affordable we all can’t help it. Yuck, google*mart.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Kathy,
I don’t regret switching to WP in the least. I have a lot more control over how my pages look and what content goes into the finished product. Besides, if you hadn’t switched I couldn’t have been your rescuer! :0)
Also, with Live Writer, I don’t have any problems with the date stamp at all.
Lee’s last blog post..Dona Nobis Pacem – Christmas 2007
December 24th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Lee — The only outstanding issue is my theme. Some days I like it, some days I don’t. There’s one I found that I would take in a heartbeat, except that its sidebar is on the left. I want mine on the right.
I just resolved my time stamp problem. It was something in my WP options that I fixed last night. So now when I post directly from Live Writer, it’s published immediately, instead of 5 hours late. I don’t know why I had problems before b/c my WP time was set correctly. Whatever. It’s fixed now and I’m happy.
Happy Holidays!
December 24th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Very well said Kathy. I moved my Blogger blog to WordPress as soon as Google made that change to the comments section. I don’t regret the move at all, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of a really fabulous lady.
I’m also now frantically learning as fast as I can all the great stuff about using WordPress, and unfortunately I’m finding it rather frustrating to say the least. I’ve done numerous searches for one topic or another, and once I’ve read what appeared to be an excellent tutorial, I then find comments from people saying the instructions weren’t working. Argh. But I’m continuing on anyway, and sooner or later I’ll have it down like a pro.
Lin’s last blog post..Technology and Children – A Wake Up Call For Parents
December 24th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Lin — You have summed up my own frustration perfectly. I, too, keep hunting for plug-ins, theme changes and widgets to make my blog better. But every now and then, I get ready to implement something, only to find out people have had some kind of trouble. Because I’m not an expert, that alone makes me wary to make changes. I can’t recover very quickly if I screw something up. I found the perfect theme today, but can’t use it because the sidebar is on the left. I’m so bummed. Anyway, I’m right with you! WordPress is better. I just have to learn more. Good luck!
December 24th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I wanted to add that I found your post and blog from BZ. There’s a BZ plugin for WordPress that I’ve yet to activate because I’m nervous that I might break my blog by overloading it with too many plugins. I’ve also heard there’s a “hack” for BZ, but I’m clueless. Perhaps after the holidays I’ll have more time to really study up on using the plugin, or I may just do without it. Good luck to you as well.
Lin’s last blog post..Technology and Children – A Wake Up Call For Parents
December 24th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
That sucks that you had to put so much time and effort into new stuff only to find you could have ridden it out back at the old pad. I hope you enjoy the new things WordPress has to offer. I’m a WordPress gal, myself 🙂
Merry Christmas!
December 24th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Lin — Now you’ve got me curious about the BloggingZoom plug-in. Have to check that out! Thanks for the heads-up.
Cardiogirl! Good to see you. You know, WordPress is really growing on me. Ultimately, I’m glad I made the move. I keep poking around for new things to add. I think I’m still a blog in progress. But I got the hard stuff behind me.
Merry Christmas to you, too. Remember, spring is coming.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I am a big fan of owning your own data, and it is great that you are now in control. Google could have just as easily deleted you blog my mistake.
I was able to comment using my OpenID at Blogger right after they made the change, but for the last couple of days my Blogger ID has been used no matter what I choose even though I am logged out at Blogger. Don’t know what’s up with that.
December 24th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Anti — You’re absolutely correct. I used to always worry a little that since I never paid Google for anything, they didn’t owe me any security or care for my data. Now I don’t have to worry anymore. I’m not using OpenID at this point because I didn’t setup delegation for my WP blog. Will get around to that someday. Thanks for stopping by.
December 30th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
[…] Kathy Frederick writes: When Google states “We Blog, You Listen,” they should add “And We Fail to Think Ahead and Don’t Know How to Communicate.” The way they went about the change, with no concern for its implications in the blogging community and no warning, is deplorable for such a large corporation. […]
January 5th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Thanks for the heads up. I don’t think I would have noticed the change since the darn field doesn’t show up unless one checks off nickname. Still not a great solution, but a tad better. Meanwhile, I just learned that my comments were being rejected from one important Mac e-zine because they were blocking all Blogspot addresses from comments, whether in tags or not. Too much spam from them I was told.
Mark Stoneman’s last blog post..Mellel Review on ATPM
January 5th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Hey, Mark — The system is better, but not where it was before. Shame. Are you moving off Blogger?
p.s. I’ve subscribed to your “Language for You” blog. I really like it. Looking forward to new posts there. Hopefully soon!