Nov30
Blogger.com No Longer Allows Links to Non-Blogger Sites in Comments
At some point in the last 24 hours, Blogger changed their blog comment forms, and the the new layout does not allow links to blogs outside the Blogger/Google account system. Not sure what I mean? Check this out-
Previously, instead of a ‘nickname’ option, there was a place to click ‘other’, which then opened a field to put in your name and URL. When you click on the nickname option, the only thing you can put in is a name. While you could put in your mysite.com name as your nickname, it will not be a link as it was previously, and it cannot be used to go directly to your site.
So now the question remains, was this done as some sort of an anti-spam measure, or is this Google’s way of striking a blow against other blogging platforms like Wordpress and Typepad? I cannot find any announcements or even any mention of it anywhere at the moment. I would think if this were a huge step in fighting blog spam, Google would have at least thrown a line or two up on their blog about it. If this was strictly about that I’d say they were throwing the baby out with the bathwater. On the other hand, this move forces people to either not leave links at all, or register a blogger/google account, and put a link to their outside blog in that profile, the option I suspect most users will take. Better an indirect link than no link at all, right?
So why should we care? Blogging is a very give and take relationship. Without commenters, bloggers have no feedback. Those who comment get the exposure for their own site from the writer’s existing audience, and if the blogger is like me and is part of the DoFollow movement, commenters also get a little shared Google juice where pagerank is concerned. NoFollow is automatically inserted in Blogger’s code, but there are ways to turn that off. (Could that also be another motivating factor in their decision?) By disallowing comment URLs, the relationship between the two parties is interrupted, and I’d bet there will be considerably less commenting on Blogger blogs by those on other platforms, myself included.
What to do about it? Well, you could try moving to Wordpress, Wordpress.com, Typepad, or one of the many other blogging platforms out there. Wordpress is obviously my favorite, but I realize not everyone wants to migrate after spending a year plus building their site. Haloscan is an add-on that Blogger users can use to restore the Blogger comment form back to allowing outside links. It replaces the current comment form to one very similar to Wordpress or Typepad, with the usual name and URL fields along with a comment space. In addition it also gives Blogger users the ability to accept trackbacks, a feature not currently open to those users.
Whatever you decide to do, be sure to shoot Blogger an email and let them know what you think of this change. Maybe if they get enough complaints they will fix it.
*snort* Ok, a girl can dream.
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Chuck Adkins Nov 30th 2007 at 10:07 am 1
This is why I went to Wordpress. Blogger sucks anyhow…
Alli ~Mrs. Fussypants Nov 30th 2007 at 10:19 am 2
I decided Blogger Blows!
I moved to Typepad in September.
Love it, it does everything for me.
I wasn’t smart enough to figure out all the Wordpress stuff.
Devilish Southern Belle Nov 30th 2007 at 10:20 am 3
Thanks so much for pointing that out! I never knew. I was pissed at blogger for not having an email input in the form so that I could respond to comments via email like you can with everything else. Now they’ve gone and taken the external link feature out? Methinks it’s time to make use of my haloscan account….even though their email field is useless to a site owner as well.
Christina Nov 30th 2007 at 10:23 am 4
I did notice that this morning. At first I thought it was a bug or something, but I’ve seen it on all Blogger blogs now, so I guess it’s a new “feature”.
It’s good for preventing spam attacks, but I agree with you that it also prevents you from visiting the blogs of those who take the time to stop by and leave a comment.
I’ve got my own domain ready to go, I just need to jump in and learn Wordpress so I can make the switch. Maybe I’ll have time over the holidays to do that…
Mommy Daisy Nov 30th 2007 at 10:28 am 5
Hmm, I noticed something was different today, but I didn’t quite figure it out. Since I use Blogger for my blog page, I just sign into Blogger when I’m leaving comments too. I see your issues with it though.
I don’t know if I’m brave enough or big enough to switch to another platform. I don’t know if that really matters. For now I’ll stay put.
TX Poppet Nov 30th 2007 at 10:29 am 6
Been fretting over this all morning. Just made the switch to haloscan. Thank you Sara!
Diddums Nov 30th 2007 at 10:55 am 7
I noticed that too - then I found bloggerindraft blogspot. It’s got something to do with a new system using OpenID. I tried it but found there was no ‘other’ option with the OpenID (if I remember right) so I switched it back to ‘anyone can comment’!
becky Nov 30th 2007 at 11:06 am 8
Seems to me blogger did this right after i moved my blog from there to wordpress. I noticed this since I want my blogger freinds to know that I have moved just by clicking on the link. Without that I have been just using my blogger id. Now I think I will just have to create a new one just for my new place. pain in the behind if you ask me!
Happily going to send an email though cause its just not fair. i doubt all blogger users will make the move i did even though i found it quite easy!!
Gayla McCord Nov 30th 2007 at 11:16 am 9
It seems Google just doesn’t seem to ‘get’ who butters their bread.
I’m growing more and more disenchanted with them all the time.
Nice catch!
Julie Pippert Nov 30th 2007 at 11:20 am 10
I noticed that yesterday afternoon. I couldn’t figure out what was different—thanks.
Another option?
Circumvent and include your direct link in your signature. Blogger accepts HTML so use an a href command.
How to do it (I hope this shows, when I say close bracket I mean >…hopefulyl by eliminating some code it will display properly):
<a href = “insert URL” close bracket Put In Title </a close bracket
Julie
Using My Words
Lis Garrett - a writer's woolgatherings Nov 30th 2007 at 11:20 am 11
I noticed this change this morning and thought “what the hell?” I used to blog on Blogger but wanted a more streamlined feel and moved on to better platforms. I now have blogs on both WordPress and TypePad. My profile on Blogger is still active, and the first thing people see is a link directing them to my new site. But still . . . what a MAJOR pain!
sam Nov 30th 2007 at 11:38 am 12
Not sure what to make of all this yet… though, if I feel like commenting on someone’s site I don’t do it just for the link back, so that really won’t affect my commenting on people’s Blogger sites.
Natalie Nov 30th 2007 at 11:44 am 13
Since neither one of those fields was a *required* field before, I think the move was blatant. I noticed it this morning as well and thought maybe Swistle had changed her format somehow (because that’s the only blogger blog I’ve been to today). I’m really glad I’ve switched to Wordpress now, I noticed another feature was gone last night but I can’t remember what it was now! It’s sad, really, because I find other people’s blogs through comments and blogrolls and blogger is effectively trying to stop that from happening. It’s quite restricting and stupid.
Natalie Nov 30th 2007 at 11:46 am 14
Oh, and while I don’t comment for linkbacks (Like Sam said), I do appreciate knowing exactly which Sara, Sam, John, Paul is commenting on my blog, as I identify them through their blogs. I guess they other option is to leave the link in the comment, but I always feel wierd doing that.
~JJ! Nov 30th 2007 at 11:57 am 15
I noticed that. Gah.
Now I’m all bent outta shape.
amy Nov 30th 2007 at 12:01 pm 16
This blows. I don’t want to switch! What a royal pain.
BTW - if you install the Halo thingy it wipes out all your previous blogger comments. (They are somehow still there, but no one sees them on your posts. It looks as if there are zero comments.)
I installed it this morning and had to remove it because I’m doing a give-away and all the people who commented to win were wiped out by Halo. Can’t have that!
Linda Nov 30th 2007 at 12:11 pm 17
Thanks for posting this. Thought I was going bonkers because blogs I used to comment wouldn’t let me anymore. I’m going to reference it at my blog for my blogger.com friends. : )
» I was right - blogger.com no longer allows comments without Google id Nov 30th 2007 at 12:16 pm 18
[...] it USED TO be a user option. Not anymore. Read this post from Suburban Oblivion…. she shows a screen cap, too. So, if you’re on blogger.com and wonder why your comments dropped off… that’s [...]
Heidi Hyde Nov 30th 2007 at 12:36 pm 19
Why are they trying to be so exclusive? Are there people out there who only want to be in the “blogger clique”?
-HH
Jennifer Nov 30th 2007 at 01:15 pm 20
Ok. I guess I’m going to go self-hosted sooner than I thought. F*ck.
Average Jane Nov 30th 2007 at 01:27 pm 21
I have a “fake” blog on Blogger that has only one post on it linking to my real Typepad blog. I use it for commenting on restricted-comment Blogger blogs (there were some even before this). It’s kind of a lot of trouble, but I suppose it’s better than having to leave anonymous comments.
Gamer Nov 30th 2007 at 01:35 pm 22
This totally sucks.
Krista Nov 30th 2007 at 02:07 pm 23
well, I do get a little tired of typing in my name/email/website every time I visit a non-blogger blog, but then again I have been rather disenchanted myself with google in general lately. what’s up with no folders in gmail?
and there is absolutely no way to contact google about this issue. I went looking. I can find a phone number for any office, but there is no general email. they even say “leave us feedback”, but their contact page has no feedback form. I may actually just resort to calling them. yay, free cell phone minutes.
and I may look into a new blog host as well… people please recommend one!
Busy Mom Nov 30th 2007 at 02:19 pm 24
I am speechless.
windyridge Nov 30th 2007 at 03:38 pm 25
The problem with haloscan is you lose all your comments!!!! I just tried it and they all disappeared, on the whole blog, 2 years worth. I guess I will have to restore the original template
Heather Nov 30th 2007 at 05:06 pm 26
I think it’s ridiculous to not allow the links from other bloggers. Though I don’t know why it would be some exclusivity reason on Blogger’s part. I mean, why? What would be their point?
And as far as people not commenting because the comment won’t give a precious link back to their blog?? Um, yeah. If someone is only commenting at my site to whore out their own, then bye bye.
Sleeping Mommy Nov 30th 2007 at 05:58 pm 27
I saw that they had made this change this morning when I went to leave a comment on someone’s blog. It’s really irritating. They used to have it set up where you had to have an account to leave a comment a few years back–that’s how I got sucked into blogging and initially using Blogspot.
Rose Nov 30th 2007 at 06:13 pm 28
I have voiced my concern about this. Blogger has introduced open ID to Blogger in draft yet took away our other option. This blows!
Rose Nov 30th 2007 at 06:14 pm 29
Krista if you are looking for a blog host try http://visionthishosting.com
Sara Nov 30th 2007 at 06:49 pm 30
“And as far as people not commenting because the comment won’t give a precious link back to their blog?? Um, yeah. If someone is only commenting at my site to whore out their own, then bye bye.”
I don’t think too may people comment just to whore out their blogs, but to be honest, finding good bloggers is the #1 reason I read comments on other people’s blogs. I generally don’t care what so-and-so thinks of a post someone else makes, but reading a funny comment is the quickest way to get me to visit a blog I’ve never been to. I assume other people tend to feel the same way.
I also know it’s a proven fact blog readers are lazy. Stats say usually only 1-5 out of 100 readers on any given post will leave a comment. That sad amount drops dramatically when you force them to register to leave a comment. I admit I would be considerably less likely to comment on a blogspot blog now unless I really like the post, or they are a regular reader here.
Finally, I think readers *should* be rewarded for commenting. It all goes back to that two-way relationship thing. Anyone can read anything I put up, but I truly appreciate those who take the time and effort to stop and let me know what they think of my posts. I could just as easily adjust my settings to where nothing is required but a name, but I think commenters should be rewarded not only with the linkbacks(and google juice since I am dofollow), but the chance for new readers to discover them here.
Secret Agent Mama Nov 30th 2007 at 07:27 pm 31
Yeah, I thought that was pretty bunk. I’m a big advocate of WORDPRESS! It rules. Blogger drools..
Jerseygirl89 Nov 30th 2007 at 07:40 pm 32
This SO ticks me off. I had another issue with blogger that has yet to be resolved. I have been thinking about leaving for a while, but I am scared to lose all the people who read me, link to me, etc. I don’t want to start over. Yet I’d also like them to be able to comment - and to be able to find them through their comments. This sucks.
cagey Dec 1st 2007 at 12:21 am 33
I did not think this was something new - Blogger has been doing this for awhile now, the whole “requiring an account” commenting thing.
Also, I used Haloscan for years, but they do NOT keep your comments forever - after awhile, they disappear. Be aware of that. I switched back to Blogger’s comments and did not look back.
I know it is easy to dog on Blogger, but they are providing a fairly kick-ass blogging platform FOR FREE. I use Wordpress for another blog I write and frankly, would prefer to use Blogger.
Lifecruiser Dec 1st 2007 at 05:28 am 34
I think this is a way to try to keep bloggers at Blogger, but that’s just to bite themselves in the tail. It can have the opposite effect if they don’t are careful. This can be another reason for bloggers to leave Blogger.
This is totally UNFAIR. Think about if it were the opposite, if all WP or Typepad blogs would stop leaving links to Blogger blogs? What a mess it would be to comment and to follow comments. After all, we like to socialize and I love to follow other links in the comment area.
Bad, bad thinking of Blogger-Google!!!!
I agree with you when it comes to the complains. I don’t see why not ALL bloggers could send a complaint, not only the ones on Blogger. Even if it is wish-thinking
Lina Dec 1st 2007 at 05:40 am 35
This is not right - more and more, blogspot is taking control of the blog network from bloggers and given many of Google’s recent decisions, it is all the more reason to move on to Wordpress. Something that I have been meaning to do for a while, but as with many other commenters, migration is a big project which I am not looking forward to! Thanks for the info - as of now, you were the only blogger that came up on searches for this new feature I just found. Good luck everyone with finding a perfect solution! As for me, I am planning migration, perhaps over some time, but slowly, I will have nothing to do with Blogspot.
Annie Dec 1st 2007 at 06:53 am 36
I use blogger and I hadn’t even noticed this - but I don’t generally get into too much detail about the technical aspects of blogging.
It’s just interesting to me though that one of the most popular bloggers out there, whom most people reading your blog likely read, uses blogger. She gets the most comments of any other blogger I read so I guess if the content is good - people will read, regardless of the platform, you know?
Sara Dec 1st 2007 at 07:02 am 37
Sorry Cagey, but that is just not correct. Up until yesterday *the blog owner could choose* to only allow comments from those who had blogger accounts, but most people did not enable this feature, because it could possibly restrict their comments, and who wants that? I know this to be true because I do not use blogger, and until yesterday was able to leave my own name/URL link the same as always. I have a short list of blogs I read daily, the majority of whom are on blogger, and had no problems leaving comments until yesterday morning. I started checking every blogger blog on my reading list, and every one of them now has this, and according to them, have no way to turn it off.
Grumbling On | Aw Diddums Dec 1st 2007 at 08:02 am 38
[...] else I was going to say - now, what was it? Oh yes, there's a conversation going on over here at Suburban Oblivion about the Blogger/Google comments. I thought there was still something else. No, it's [...]
Stepford Mom Dec 1st 2007 at 09:35 am 39
There are far too many “accounts” on various platforms for me to keep up with as it is, I’m not going to add another one just so I can comment on someone’s site. I am probably rare in that I have one google account and it’s tied to my real name and personally if I wanted the world to know that I would use it rather than this alias.
jodi Dec 1st 2007 at 10:27 am 40
Hello, came via cre8buzz…I had noticed this…Yet I have haloscan, so it doesnt affect me or my readers. I do think its awful that they do this…and people on blogger who dont have another commenting system, should complain. Unsure if it will do any good, doesnt hurt to try!
zoom Dec 1st 2007 at 10:30 am 41
Thanks for posting this - I was all over Blogger’s site trying to find some explanation for this change, and it wasn’t even mentioned. So far you’re the first person I’ve found who is talking about it.
This change is already negatively impacting the linkages and communications among bloggers. Effectively turning Blogger into a closed community is bad for the entire blogging community, especially those who use Blogger.
I’d like to do as you suggest and fire off an email to Blogger about it, but I can’t find an email address for them anywhere on their site. If you know how to reach them, could you post that info? Thanks.
zoom
pickel Dec 1st 2007 at 10:33 am 42
I am so frustrated with this. Two weeks ago I lost my tags and not my comments? What next, the links?
Rose Dec 1st 2007 at 11:26 am 43
I think we should all contact Blogger.
http://help.blogger.com/?page=contact
Choose suggest a feature and request they put it back.
cagey Dec 1st 2007 at 12:38 pm 44
Sara,
I guess I misunderstood. In the past, I had allowed comments from “anyone”, but this past spring had to restrict that when I began receiving hateful comments from an anonymous commenter.
Do I wish Blogger made it easier? Of course, but I guess overall it does not matter to me - I read several non-Blogger sites that require registration and I do not mind. If the site is important enough for me to want to comment, it does not bother me to jump through a hoop and register. For example, I am also a food blogger on Wordpress and I did find that in order to comment on the Blogger-hosted food blogs, I had to create another profile to refer to my food blog and not my personal blog.
Hope that makes sense.
Patrick Says » Hey Blogger.com…BITE ME! Dec 1st 2007 at 12:59 pm 45
[...] Others have blogged about this bad move by Google as well. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Hey Blogger.com…BITE ME!”, url: [...]
Patrick D. Dec 1st 2007 at 01:01 pm 46
This is complete BS on Google’s part. Just more attempts by them to control the Almighty Link. I plan to write a wordier article on this later today. This is just pathetic on Google’s part.
Lifecruiser Dec 1st 2007 at 05:18 pm 47
Blogger sucks more than ever not allowing extern blog links…
Bad, bad Blogger! Have you noticed that Blogger.com have changed how comments from non-Blogger blogs links are handled in the comment area? They don’t link to us any longer!
Wanna get that extern linking feature back in the comments?
Click here…
windyridge Dec 1st 2007 at 06:18 pm 48
Wanted to mention that if you use haloscan you will lose all of your comments from before the installation.
Kelley Dec 1st 2007 at 06:58 pm 49
I lurve you. I truly do! I have been trying to find a way around this sneaky little scheme of Blogger and have just (in the last few minutes) found out how to find Haloscan…..
So if I can’t get my fav bloggers to switch to Wordpress (the ultimate, like Macs!) then perhaps they can use Haloscan. Thanks so much for the information (and the lovely Meg for pointing me here) Can I link to your blog when I do my mega whinge in a few hours?
ali Dec 1st 2007 at 10:49 pm 50
i’ve always thought blogger was a total beeyotch…that’s why i left her years ago.
i hate that she did this. hate hate hate.
mummifiedx5 Dec 2nd 2007 at 01:37 am 51
I think what frustrates me the most is the fact that Google is making all these changes and not even making some sort of explanation about what they are doing!
I’m slowly moving away from Blogspot. I can’t totally delete it as yet because I do paid posting and my “own domain” blog is still “too young”.
Google sucks!
Tiffany Dec 2nd 2007 at 02:27 am 52
This isn’t really an entirely new change–for some time now (a few weeks? I’m not sure, exactly), those URLs you entered when you chose “Other” haven’t been turning into links. That’s basically been a “Nickname” field for a while now, but no one told us.
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Alan Dec 2nd 2007 at 06:32 am 54
I don’t want to switch to WordPress and have all the aggravation of migrating a site I finally have set up and working the way I want. I don’t want to install Haloscan and lose all of my old comments. I just want my blog that worked great yesterday to keep working the way it has. Is that too much to ask for from Google?
clara Dec 2nd 2007 at 12:23 pm 55
Thanks Sara for posting about this. Just seconds ago, I had just finished typing my comments on a blogger’s site but could not find the usual field for the link. Glad I did a search and found your post!
Elaine Dec 2nd 2007 at 03:20 pm 56
I noticed this too a couple days ago when trying to comment at friend’s who use blogger. Personally I think this was a poor decision by google! I have many blogger friends that comment regularly at my blog and I welcome their link! It disturbs me that I can no longer leave mine at theirs
Kirk M Dec 2nd 2007 at 04:07 pm 57
If anyone wishes help on switching to WordPress (either the .com version or actually hosting your own) I’d be more than happy to help. But in case anyone is wondering, switching to a WordPress.com blog can be done at your own pace and it won’t affect your Blogger blog in any way. It’s as simple as obtaining a free account, setting up the basics for a new blog (easy) and then using the “Import” option to import all your posts and comments from Blogger into your new WP.com blog. In fact I just imported all my posts and comments from my test Blogger blog over to my test WordPress.com blog after reading this post and the comments thereof…no sweat.
So you can keep your Blogger type blog viable until you’re satisfied with your WP.com version and then post a “I’ve switched to WP.com” type post when you’re ready. My first iteration of my current blog was at the old Blogger and I went to WP.com because I didn’t like the way Blogger did business even back then. Currently I “host my own” on the latest WordPress platform.
Sophmom Dec 2nd 2007 at 04:10 pm 58
Thanks for posting about this! I’m furious about it and have been battling it all weekend. It would have been nice of them to tell us, rather than leave us to try to figure out what was wrong, wondering if our buddies blogging at Blogger have changed their commenting options.
First, once I established a gmail account they would no longer allow me to log into blogger or my Google toolbar with my Yahoo.com account. I established both my blogger blog and my Google toolbar with the yahoo account but now, even when I log into either of them with the yahoo mail address, it reverts automatically to the gmail address, sending follow up comments there.
Then they changed commenting to restrict the link back, limiting the choices to either the linkless nickname option or to the blogger blog only option. I have a blogger blog and a wordpress blog (mostly just to hold the place for my screen name and blog name to avoid confusion), but my primary blog, the one I’d like to provide a link for when I comment, is at blog-city. It has nothing to do with “whoring” my blog(s), but rather everything to do with providing a pathway that encourages community, even when it’s across blog hosts.
It’s very short-sighted and violates the spirit of the internet that Google from the beginning has claimed to embrace. Shame on Google. So much for their founding motto, “Don’t be evil.”
Blogger Blows it Big time | Just Thinkin' Dec 2nd 2007 at 07:28 pm 59
[...] Blogger.com No Longer Allows Links to Non-Blogger Sites in Comments (Suburban Oblivion) [...]
moosh in indy. Dec 2nd 2007 at 11:39 pm 60
Going self hosted may have cause some panic induced anxiety attacks only remedied by food.
But boy I’m glad I made blogger kiss my tucchus.
Tiffany Dec 2nd 2007 at 11:43 pm 61
Apparently, what we’re seeing currently isn’t the final version, either. I’ve installed the “draft” version of the comment feature, which will incorporate openID and let bloggers sign in with their WordPress IDs, on my blog at http://www.whatswrongaroundus.blogspot.com (not spamming…really…but if you want to see how the planned comment system will work, I’m using it on that blog only right now).
This is a bit better than what’s going on at present but does NOT solve the problem of being able to provide a link back to your blog, or of Blogspot bloggers being unable to see the true origins of traffic that’s forced to pass through their profiles (this, presumably, will apply to OpenID and WordPress log-ins as well, but I’m guessing)
Natalie Dec 2nd 2007 at 11:44 pm 62
I can’t remember how I submitted an issue via email before, but I looked through my old emails and VOILA! the support address is, you guessed it…support@blogger.com. If anybody is interested.
Natalie Dec 2nd 2007 at 11:55 pm 63
Oh and PS. If you use Julie Pippert’s idea, make sure you leave the quotes off and put in the http://. Otherwise it will take you straight back to a non-existent blogger address. Sara, if you see a gazillion links coming from my blog it’s because I was testing this out.
Sarcastic Mom Dec 3rd 2007 at 12:16 am 64
Makes me pretty sad. I feel the same way Alan does. I’ve worked pretty hard on my blog since it’s been up, and quite frankly, I’ve busted my ass to get inbound links. Like a lot of other people, I find myself pretty busy with life, too, and it takes a shitload of effort to start all over again.
Blogger sucks ass for doing this.
It would suck just as much ass for anyone to withold their comments from Blogger users because of it. As if this were something we asked for?
It’s valid to say it makes you angry because you won’t be able to find good bloggers through their links on comments anymore, but for anyone to say they’ll stop commenting others because of the move is like saying they only comment to leave their links in the first place. And that’s BS, sorry.
I hope my content is interesting/funny/whatever enough to my readers that they will comment me anyway.
Trying not to be combative here, just really think the whole thing blows.
(I obviously believe in linky love, after all, I removed “nofollow” from my own blog.)
I wonder how many readers I’d even have if I turned off comments… how many people come by JUST to read? Because they think it’s good? And have no need to draw attention to themselves?
*sigh*
andi Dec 3rd 2007 at 01:09 am 65
I’ve been doing what Julie suggested in her comment. It’s a good work around (for now, until Google gets their act together and realizes this was