Let me tell you about my current predicament(s) and see if anyone has an answer for sorting this mess out. Yes, I am talking about my Blogger predicaments.
1) I have hesitated to follow any blog that doesn't have a Google Friend Connect button that adds the blog to my Reading List (aka Dashboard). If you don't have that button then I am stuck with your blog in my dashboard FOREVER. In some cases, that is a good thing, but in others... not so much. People quit blogging or I stop reading (for a variety of reasons) but they are there FOREVER. Which leads to my second predicament...
2) Since I now follow over 300 blogs I cannot add any more blogs unless you have the GFC feature because I have exceeded the Reading List maximum. Let me back up...
3) If you don't have the GFC button the only way to add you to my Reading List is to copy/paste your URL into the Add A Blog feature on my Reading List. Okay. I have done this, but now I am stuck with you FOREVER (see #1) because you don't have a GFC button so that I can remove non-working blogs.
4) I have done some investigating and there is a thing that looks like a Nut across from the Reading List. If I click on this I should be able to Manage My Blogs. In other words, I should be able to delete some out of my Reading List to get back under 300 and add some that I would like to add (but can't). Every time I click on this "Tool" I get the message that it cannot access my blogs and I should come back soon. Well, I have been coming back soon for about a month and I still get the same message EVERY SINGLE TIME.
5) Yesterday, blogger decided it would be fun to only show me ONE blog on my Reading List (instead of the usual 20 or so) and then when I am through those, I can click on the "More" button and it loads another 20 or so. Now, I have ONE and the MORE button doesn't work. Sorry if I haven't visited. I am having issues. If you have found this post, you clearly know something that I don't... after all, you are here and I am stuck.
6) So, friends, how do I delete blogs out of my Reading List that don't have a GFC button? Should I be using some other system (other than the Reading List/Dashboard)? I have heard some of you talk about Feedly and probably others, but it is like reading Greek. Makes No Sense to me. I have no idea how to begin to compile my blogs into another List. Is there another tool that I have yet to find that will help me to "manage" the Reading List?
7) And, last thing, if you update your blog and change your comments so that I have to comment via Google's Circles (Briane P. I am looking at you!) I cannot comment. They want too much information for me to leave a comment and I am just not comfortable with that. They should just ask for fingernail clippings to be sent to a predetermined address and be done with it. So, if you can change it back... please do!
Okay, Wizards of Blog Land, bring on the advice and help (lots and lots of help), because I NEED IT.
Managing your reading list through the Dashboard is a feature that appears sporadically. Mine stopped completely once I hit a thousand blogs.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I use Feedly Reader (there's also Bloglovin') because I can still click the GFC (which I like to do) and then add the feed to Feedly. Then I can go back and both unfollow and remove from Feedly if I need to. (And I can add those to Feedly who don't have GFC,)
Feedly did have its first glitch two weeks ago, and I had to resort to my sidebar to check on blogs, but that's been the only time I had problems. I follow almost two thousand blogs now and couldn't begin to handle that through my Dashboard.
Hope that helps.
And yes, those linked only to Google+ can be difficult. I think it's the least favorite comment form.
DeleteI may send you an email regarding Feedly because I still don't have any idea what it is, where to find it, or how to use it. I will do some Googling and see if I get any smarter. If not, expect an email.
DeleteI've had problems with that old reading list, too, Robin and mine is showing only one post at a time. It's only showing what is just published, and I assumed it was Blogger messing around with us again. . .or Google. I'm about as tech savvy as you when it comes to figuring out the internals of Google. I didn't know about the 300 mark, but I'm not quite there yet. I was going to investigate and I did send feedback to Google/Blogger about the inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I don't like commenting where I need to substantiate my existence. . .
I think Stephen is probably right (you can read his comment below) about this newest One Post business being the result of some IT person "fixing" something only to break something else (namely the Reading List).
DeleteHi, Robin...
ReplyDeleteTry this... When you add blogs in the cut and paste way through blogger, THERE you can also delete out blogs you don't wish to follow any longer.... I hope that helps.
SO sorry for you blogger troubles.
I will try that!
DeleteI'm about as tech savvy as you. I so miss the old 'Reader'. I wish I could help you. LOL. I will always find you.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful that I have so many blog in my sidebar. This is crazy. You are there, so I will find you too!
DeleteI don't even use that feature that lists the blogs. As weird as it seems, I just hop around randomly. I have the same fears as you do with the Google comment system. Even worse is linking my profile to Google plus. Half the people I try to visit who have linked their profile aren't properly linked anyway and the links take me to their profile and not their blogs. Hope you get this sorted out soon.
ReplyDeleteYes yes yes! I hate those darn Google circles. When I click on a person who has commented here and it links me to their dratted circles I have a 50/50 shot of locating their blog. And now with the commenting system... if that is through Circles... forget about it.
DeletePart 1 Of 2:
ReplyDeleteROBIN ~
I am a very low-tech blogger with barely enough computer skills to post blog bits, post comments, open, read, and send Emails. That's about where my computer ability ends. Therefore, a good deal of what you wrote above sounded like Greek to me; you were using some terms that don't mean a thing to me.
However, you wrote one paragraph that I understood COMPLETELY. You wrote the following:
>>... 5) Yesterday, blogger decided it would be fun to only show me ONE blog on my Reading List (instead of the usual 20 or so) and then when I am through those, I can click on the "More" button and it loads another 20 or so. Now, I have ONE and the MORE button doesn't work. Sorry if I haven't visited. I am having issues. If you have found this post, you clearly know something that I don't... after all, you are here and I am stuck.
That problem began for me the day before yesterday. Whereas on my Dashboard I would normally be shown the title and first paragraph of perhaps 8 to 10 of the most recently posted installments of those blogs I 'Follow', suddenly I was seeing only the title and first paragraph of ONE of the blogs I Follow - that being the single most recently posted installment of those I Follow.
In other words, yesterday, the ONLY blog installment showing on my Dashboard (of the approx. 40 blogs I Follow) was the one posted yesterday by 'A Beer For The Shower'. It was showing because they were the LAST (or more recent blogger) to publish a blog installment.
Continued Belwo...
Part 2 Of 2:
DeleteThis morning, the only title and first paragraph showing is THIS ONE of yours titled 'HELP! I CAN'T FOLLOW YOU, DELETE YOU...' because apparently this is the newest blog bit posted of those blogs I Follow.
Like you, I have found that if I click on the words “View More”, the “Loading” pop-up message will instantly appear but the system does NOT load and show me more recently posted titles.
I have found that if I click on the title of one of the blogs I Follow, all listed alphabetically in the left hand column of my Dashboard, it WILL change the Dashboard view and show me just the ONE most recently posted installment of the blog I clicked (i.e., if I click the name ‘Back In The USSR’, the title and first paragraph of THIS installment by you disappears and now I see only the last installment posted by ‘BITUSSR’ titled ‘Read Between The Lines’).
Over the last two days I have done EVERYTHING I could think of to get my Dashboard display to operate like it did before but nuttin’ has worked. I even tried deleting a blog I used to Follow (but rarely read) thinking maybe the act of deleting would re-set the system to its previous operation, but that didn’t work.
So, the ONLY way I can see what the latest postings of the blogs I Follow are is to individually, manually go down the left column list and click every single blog title so its single most recent installment title will appear on my Dashboard. What an investment of time, especially if a person Follows lots and lots of blogs.
My guess is that this has occurred because one of the genius I.T. folks at Blogger made some adjustment to the Blogger system – they either added something or changed something or removed something, and in the process they created this new bug that now displays in our Dashboard only ONE blog installment title – the ONE title of the most recent installment posted of those blogs we Follow.
I have been complaining about this sort of thing FOR YEARS!!! In order to justify their employment, the Blogger IT people feel the need to be CONSTANTLY tweaking, changing, adjusting, or adding some new element to the Blogger program. But they simply are NOT very good at what they do, and so nearly EVERY TIME they make some (unnecessary) alteration, they inadvertently create a previously nonexistent problem somewhere else in the system.
My guess is that this NEW inconvenience will probably persist until one of the genius Blogger IT people becomes aware of it and figures out some way to correct the flaw (computer bug) that they created when they attempted to “make Blogger better” (aka “justify their employment”).
Some Blogspot blogger will undoubtedly show up here soon and say, “Well, yeah, but it’s free, so I guess we can’t complain too much.” Every time I’ve made this same observation and voiced this same complaint, someone has shown up to excuse the unnecessary frustration by pointing out that we are not paying for this service. They think that negates our complaints. (It may be free to us, but Blogger is making money through adds, etc.)
It’s that “It could be worse, and we should be satisfied with what we’ve got” mentality that has America in the sorry shape She currently is.
~ D-FensDogg
‘Loyal American Underground’
Same with me here. I'm thinking about trimming deadwood so I don't have to search so long to find everybody. In fact, I gave the story first headline on Martin World News yesterday. If there is a solution that doesn't involve a high ranking Blogger employee and a shotgun, I don't know what it is.
DeleteStMc ~ I think you are undoubtedly right about the IT person screwing up the Reading List. And I am NOT satisfied. I haven't been satisfied for a while, but I really thought it was mostly my own inability to navigate the system. Now I think the majority of the fault lies with Blogger. They really shouldn't make it so darn hard. And you are right - even though we don't pay - someone does. And I am sure those folks want the system to be user friendly.
DeleteCW ~ Yes, I know that I need to trim blogs I am not reading it (or people who no longer post) BUT I couldn't figure out how. I am going to try Michael's suggestion (given above).
I'm seeing the same thing on my dashboard...I find it frustrating, but have been frustrated with a lot of the Blogger glitches I've had, and especially the inability to find help getting music to play on the blog.
ReplyDeleteSomeday I'll spend some time checking out Wordpress to see if that's less frustrating....although my initial take was it was worse.
FYI-I'm about fifty pages into the newest Plum book...good escape reading.
If you ever get a chance to go to a signing, I'd recommend it-I went to one where Evanovich spoke for about a half hour and she was a riot! Sadly, she doesn't seem to venture this far west anymore on her book tours.
I cannot stand Word Press. I hate their commenting system. No one uses the GFC button. It is actually a bigger pain in the butt (as an outsider looking in) than Blogger.
DeleteMy mom just said that she heard the newest Plum novel was out. Woohoo!
I learn by trial and error (with emphasis on 'error'), so I can't help much. LOL
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I think there's a major glitch going on over at Blogger because it's come to my attention that tons of bloggers are having a problem, and are only able to see "one post at a time" because it refuses to load older posts in the reading list.
Hang in there. Maybe if enough people complain...
DeleteUGH!! I'm so un-savvy too when it comes to computers. Hope this gets straightened out soon.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know just what you mean.
DeleteOkay, I'm in the same pickle with you! I am relieved it is not only me! I spent slow time at work today researching online and couldn't find anything that helped explain the glitch. Here is my worry. I am using an old template. My ability to update my page setup went away a long time ago and I figured it was because I'm using an old format. I'm afraid this may be a Google attempt to get us to update templates or join GFC or something. There is some good news for me anyway. Because I had to go blog by blog to read the folks I follow, I figured out how many people I follow aren't posting anymore...and will do some culling from there. Lets hope, hope, hope all this is a big Google glitch.
ReplyDeleteOh Liza. If this is an attempt to force us into using Google Circles I am not sure I can continue on. Crossing fingers and hoping...
DeleteThis is my first visit to your blog. I saw you on Becky Povich's sidebar, and since I am having the same problem, I immediately was drawn to the title of your post.
ReplyDeleteI've gone ahead and added several blogs to my sidebar, and I can see when they are updated; however, if I added every blog I follow to my sidebar, that would make it long and cumbersome. I really like having the updates come through my Blogger dashboard, but like everyone else, I am only receiving 1 update at a time.
Good news! I now have all of my blogs back on my Reading List and I suspect you do too!
DeleteWhen I was on Blogger, I used the blog roll widget to read blogs. GFC never automatically added blogs to the list for me. I *always* had to manually add them (Clicking that button that was supposed to add them never worked.) But I could also delete them manually.
ReplyDeleteSince I was dragged over to WordPress, there is no such thing as GFC. There is no add button. There is no Follower widget. (No, I'm not sure why I agreed to switch. I just bought the whole "It is more professional-looking" line and then had to live with it.)
However, I was always able to add WordPress blogs to my blog roll. I had to stick them in manually, but I had to do that for everybody.
Since I've switched, I no longer have a live blog roll feed. (Yet another thing that WordPress doesn't do ...)
So I'm using Feedly. Badly, I'm sure. Awkwardly and inefficiently. But my blogs are there, and that's how I read them. (Sadly, I had to add them all manually. It took a whole weekend.)
You have just stated in vivid detail why I won't switch to WordPress and why I think long and hard before adding WordPress blog to my blogroll. Although, if I can delete them I will probably be more inclined in the future. Unless they have Disqus or Google Circles as their commenting format.
DeleteIf you come back to read this, I thought your "old" blog was professional looking and don't see why you couldn't have used the same template you are using on WordPress right here. But the change is made...
I just created a spreadsheet and use that to keep track of blogs, when I have time to breathe, like I apparently do for a moment right now.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds as complicated as Feedly. But...Maybe not.
DeleteSteven lost me at spread sheet. LOL
DeleteYou and I appear to have brains that are wired the same way. I used to have the reading list but it's gone away. I have no idea how many blogs I follow, but I know it's way more than are on my sidebar blog rolls.
ReplyDeleteI don't what the blogs in my sidebar to go on forever, but I am beginning to think that if I read it regularly it should be there for times like these when Blogger glitches. I may delete a bunch of other stuff out of my sidebar. Sounds like I could be spending some quality time trying to improve my page.
DeleteI'm not sure if this should make me laugh or feel better. This happened at my site awhile back. I have tried everything I know (which BTW is not much) to fix it to no avail. I figured it was something I had done, now I find that maybe I'm just 'so special' that blogger singled me out to test this little beauty on. I started thinking for a minute maybe I'm not so cyber-dyslexic after all, THEN, I remember that this dumb blonde put her smart phone through a wash, rinse, and spin cycle today. Talk about being dead in the water.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you did anything. I think Blogger is gltichy. Apparently glitchy is not a word because it is showing up as misspelled. Ah well. You know what I mean. My mom did the same thing to her phone a while ago. She was really mad. It was an old style phone (not an IPhone or SmartPhone)... let's just call it a Dumb Phone... but she loved it. She tried to get one as close to it as possible but its speaker (or her ears) aren't working so well and she has trouble understanding anyone calls her on it. I hope your replacement works better than hers. If this happens with regularity I could consider investing in the Insurance Plan.
DeleteI should proofread before I blithely hit Send.
Delete...anyone WHO calls her on it.
...with regularity I Would consider investing...
Robin, it's not just you and your lack of computer savvy. It's also me and mine. PLUS Google has made things increasingly difficult. Blogland was much more user friendly before they starting steering everyone away from the Google Friend Connect. Now if folks don't have this, and we can't sign in/comment as a guest, I can't figure out how to comment either. Honestly, I don't know if it's possible. Google was/is that intent on making us all do the circles thing - to pay for ads and increase their bazillions. It's maddening.
ReplyDeleteI also get the "You have no blogs" message when I click on the manage blogs nut thingy. But I wait it out and it eventually lists my blogs. Don't know if I'm luckier than you. I'm sure not more patient. In short, I commiserate.
After reading these responses I think we can safely lay most of these problems at Google's doorstep. The problem with the Reading List goes to the IT people at Blogger.
DeleteI will try to manage my blogs again today and see if they actually come up....
mwaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha!!!!! You can never delete me...my plan has been finalized! I have one follower forever ever ever ever. Helpful. No....fun. yes.
ReplyDeleteOnly you would read this and get that as the Takeaway here. I can't delete you.
Deletehahahaha.
I also have an old template, and have had problems with my blog, and my emails freezing up on me. I agree with you about Google plus, though I dislike Disqus even more. Hope you get your technical difficulties settled soon. It's hard to believe that you're also tech impaired with all of your wonderful Here's To You posts!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Julie, Disqus and Google Cirlces live on the same level in Dante's Hell. I refuse to go there. Period. Too far down and way too hot.
DeleteI can navigate YouTube just fine and so so long as they make it easy by having the Share feature easily visible with HTML code that is copy/paste I am good to go. They make it tougher than that and it could get ugly.
This might sound awful, but I don't follow my reading list. I'm sure I'm following more blogs than are following me, too. I just keep tabs on those who frequent my blog, and the ones who frequent regularly I set them up on the blog roll so I can be sure to visit them. Can't see why GFC had to change. Why ruin a good thing?
ReplyDeleteI don't read everyone on my Reading List, David. I follow a lot of blogs and it becomes overwhelming. I try to read everyone occasionally, but if someone writes about material for long enough that isn't up my alley... I quit. I don't have time for that. I do try to visit everyone who comments here, though I can't follow back right now if they don't have a GFC button because I can't add any more blogs. Just like our economy, I do believe I have hit The Tipping Point.
DeleteAs Stephen McCarthy pointed out.... these IT people have to constantly "tweak" things or their jobs become irrelevant. And that is exactly how they ruin a good thing. Now you know why... bah.
This morning when I opened my Blogger Dashboard the other posts are there again in the old reading list. Don't know how long it will last, but just thought I'd tell you.
ReplyDeleteNoticed it first thing!
DeleteToday it seems to be working.
ReplyDeleteMaybe those Blogger IT people aren't all bad after all...
You think maybe the thousands of complaints that rolled in over the last few days spurred them into action????
DeleteOMG I having the same problem! The only email I got back said that they are working on the problem and hope to have it resolved soon. :/
ReplyDeleteI am in the same boat Robin. I follow over 300 blogs so I can only follow new ones if they have a GFC follow button. So whenever I find a new blog I want to read, I ask them if they can put on a GFC follow button. I hate to ask but it's the only way I can follow new blogs :)
ReplyDeleteI am so tech stupid, you impressed me with your knowledge. I must go study what Alex and the smart people said ;)
ReplyDeleteLately, I have been DISMAL at even visiting one blog -- my own! I can't imagine trying to maintain a blog roll of 300+ blogs. That's way too many for me to feel guilty over not visiting.
ReplyDeleteI'll stick to my much-more reasonalbe level of slacker-blogging self-loathing, thank you...
But HEY! I did visit yours! Woot! Hope you're doing wonderfully, kiddo!
For 2 days blogger would only let me see one blog...period...the view more feature wasn't working. I know I have unfollowed people through blogger and it was not as intuitive as one would think...maybe that is working again now too though.
ReplyDeleteCan't help you, I'm afraid. When the 300 blog limit came up for me (years ago), I hopped over to google reader. When that closed, I went to bloglovin.
ReplyDeleteAt least with a reader like bloglovin, I could manage my blogs if I wanted to.
I had to switch to Google Reader and then Feedly because of how many blogs I follow. Haven't looked at my dashboard in years.
ReplyDeleteGoogle+ is annoying. You can't tell if people are following you as easy and the comment box is a pain.
All of that stuff is over my head. I have a news letter that's supposed to go out to my subscribers daily...and it did, for awhile. Now it's just quit and I have no idea how to fix it. I hope someone has a fix for ya!
ReplyDeleteI heard from a couple other bloggers that their blog list disappeared, too, although mine didn't. I HAVE had other problems though with Blogger that made me want to tear my hair out!! I've kept my blog pretty much the same way since I began in 2008, other than templates and headers, etc. I'm the type of person that doesn't like change when it comes to certain things..especially when it's an "upgrade" of some kind of techy stuff. Acckkkkk!! See me running like a crazy person?! And every time I'd complain on my blog about anything pertaining to Blogger, there'd always be at least one person to remind me that Bloggis IS free....Hmmm, that's supposed to make ya feel better??!! LOL. One more point. I REALLY dislike trying to leave comments on Wordpress blogs!!!!! They have that weird Gavatar thing, or whatever it's called, and sometimes it makes me Log-in TWICE. I've lost many a comment that way.....Have a great weekend, Robin!
ReplyDeleteNumber 7 speaks to me.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry it's aggravating for you. During the A-Z I found blogs that had the GFC and still wouldn't let me add them -- but only a few, thank goodness. You're actually one up on me because I don't know what my reading list/dashboard thingie is or how to get there. I put the 150+ blogs I regularly follow on two blog rolls on my sidebar, and then when I have time, I look to see who's posted and gone to the top of the list. Good luck!
ReplyDelete