Didja ever come in to work one morning and turn on the computer, only to be confronted with the screen that says, “Update completed. You may now log on.” You know what that means, right? It means disaster. It means that nothing is going to work properly. Fresh update = "We haven’t had time to get all the bugs out and of course we put all this new stuff in without checking for compatibility, so you can basically forget about accomplishing anything today.”
In similar fashion, I signed into my blog this P.M. and noticed a precipitous drop in my followers – OK, for my small numbers that means a handful, but still, it was noticeable. I was pretty sure I hadn’t stupidly hit the wrong button to block anyone and moderately sure I hadn’t said anything to offend any group and besides, some of the “missing in action” were faithful followers. So I went to Blogger Help, selected “Known Issues for Blogger,” and put “followers” in the search box, which brought up the following message, dated today:
“You may have noticed that the count of your public Followers has decreased over the last few hours. [Darn tootin’, I did.] We are in the process of integrating with Google Friend Connect. [Oh, joy.]
There are a few users that already use both Blogger Following and Google Friend Connect. To avoid linking the profiles of Blogger and Friend Connect users without their permission, we have set these users to "anonymous". They are still following privately and will able to make themselves public again.
After the official launch of the Friend Connect integration, we will communicate with the affected users and instruct them how to reset their relationship to public. To reiterate: the number of Followers has not changed, and we believe that the launch will improve the visibility of your blog and community. We will post more details on Blogger Buzz as the launch approaches.”
I think that this “integration” does not affect me as a follower, since I am not on Google Friend Connect, so if your blog is on Blogger and you have the follower function you should still see R.B. Koehl trying to catch that balloon.
Well, I don't see my name under Followers, even if I click View All. I tried clicking Follow to make sure I was following your blog and it said I was already a follower. I think I should be able to see my own name and picture under Followers. I do on most blogs. I am not a member of Google Friend Connect. Maybe they will get it fixed in a few days.
ReplyDeleteAt one point I signed into dashboard and it told me that I was not following any blogs. Hah! I'm glad I always add everything onto the "Blogs I Follow" item on the blog page, so I can always follow from there (and often do). From what you say, it appears that they messed things up more than they are claiming. No surprise there (you can see my experience with computers makes me very cynical).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information. When you only have a few you notice even one missing. Glad I didn't say the wrong thing to someone.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info! I noticed that I have the same issue as Debbie. I am following your blog, but I am not listed under your followers. When I click to follow you, it says I already am! I also am not a member of Google Friend Connect. I noticed earlier this evening that I couldn't comment on another site. Maybe Blogger is just glitchy tonight???
ReplyDeleteThanks for the investigative sleuthing. I updated my whiny blog post to give you the credit you desrve for solving the mystery.
ReplyDeleteMy thanks to you, Greta, for solving the mystery. I, too, had the same problems, and now I understand what has happened.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Blogger's explanation solves some people's problem but not others. Guess we'll have to wait to see whether this will get sorted out in the next day or two. I also got an e-mail saying that a comment I had posted on another blog yesterday had bounced, though I'm not sure it actually did. So all sorts of crazy things are still happening. And Amy, I didn't think your post was whiny - some of the weird things that happen can make you really paranoid!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great to see you're still loved, Greta? I had all the same problems and figured something was wrong with Blogger, but you did the investigative work for us! Thank you. I've had trouble getting "word verification" to load on some blogs too---so my comments don't get loaded. Maybe there's a connection there too. I'm patient--I'll wait and have confidence it'll get worked out. Blogger has so many wonderful features that make it so easy to blog! This shows how we depend on our "Followers" and how much attention we pay to them and how important they are to us!
ReplyDeleteGreta,
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even noticed until I just read your post and then checked
my dashboard. I have 8 followers
gone missing.
Ah well, hopefully it will straighten out soon!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThis is particularly @Debbie and @Andrea Christman - you were both in the set of 30k users who's following relationships were changed to private.
One thing you can do:
On your dashboard under the reading list there should be a button that says "Manage" that will lead you to the "manage blogs you follow" page. Click that. Do the blogs all say "anonymous"? You can change each relationship back to "public" and your face will re-appear in the gadget, but be aware that when we enable the Blogger/Friend Connect integration (ideally in a few days) the fact that you follow this blog will suddenly be broadcast everywhere that you use Friend Connect.
In this particular case we have a record of both of you having used Friend Connect before. I'd rather not post which site(s) on this blog (it's nothing embarrassing, but we take privacy seriously) but if you want the info just leave a post in our help center http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help and I'll try to mail you the info
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ReplyDeleteWhew! Thought I had gone crazy. I have 6 gone from Genealogy Traces. Last night I was talking to my cousin at Camp Across Texas w/Skip and Kay and she was panicky too. Her blog is new and she said "I only have 2 followers. The others have deserted me!" Now I'll share your post with her. I know it's made me feel better. Thanks, Greta.
ReplyDeleteHm, it appears as though the process of integration will take a while. I have one follower back, but it seems that each person has to do the fix individually.
ReplyDeleteWell, I did as Henry recommended and went to "Manage Blogs" from my Dashboard and sure enough, I was marked as anonymous in following most of my blogs. I had to change EACH one back to "Public" and now my photo shows up in the "Followers" window in the blogs that I follow. I don't remember signing up for Friend Connect and am a little unsure of what that is all about, so that is kind of a mystery to me! I sign up for a lot of web 2.0 stuff and then forget about so it is possible that I got an account in the past....but I don't even know what it is! Oh well...I'll figure it out eventually :-) I also had to disable the word verification on my own blog because I noticed that I wasn't getting any comments. Henry mentioned that they were having issues with that feature on some blogs. I guess I will leave it that way until or if I start getting spam and then I will change it back to word verification again!
ReplyDeleteYes, this looks like a slow and laborious process. Sigh...
ReplyDelete