On August 3, a bug in Google's automated security system disabled hundreds, and probably thousands, of Blogger blogs.
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Robot run amok! Google fixed the bug two days later, and many are reporting that their blogs have been restored.
However, as of today Google has still not explained to English-language bloggers that they must request a review to get their blogs back. Or even that the bug is fixed.
Indeed, Google's only explanation or announcement seems to have been in the Spanish-language help community for Blogger, through that community's manager.
Did you get stung by this bug?
- request a manual review of your blog using the link that Google provided to you.
- be patient, as not every suspension is unwarranted and Google is reviewing them all case-by-case.
Don't panic
You might consider this as a warning to back up your blog and to make sure you have up-to-date recovery information in your Google account.
The baffling part
The story is usually there was this bug and then it got fixed. Not much I can add to that! Bugs come and go all the time.
But the way this unfolded was so extraordinary that I wanted to (1) note it and (2) provide the information from the Spanish-language help community, since it had not been shared generally.
Indeed, the communications failures around this are the most notable features of this story.
Those, not the bug, comprise the "unprecedented lapse."
Notes
"unprecedented": Google has been quiet about a lot of stuff for which I'd wish for more clarity, especially lately. However, I've been using Blogger since 2008 and cannot think of a zero-information lapse like this.
"request a review": Google's automated system normally makes some errors, and the remedy is to use the link provided by Google to request a manual review by a human.
Owners of blogs without an up-to-date contact email that they check regularly can miss the notification from Google and consequently lose their blogs by not taking this step.
Joseph Ducreux's self portrait, called The Surprise, is in the public domain.
Scary stuff. I wasn’t affected, I follow 18-20 other Blogger blogs, none of those were affected either (and one posts some racy stuff without an adults only warning). I wonder how many were actually affected?
ReplyDeleteNone of my blogs were affected either.
DeleteSome of the affected bloggers developed theories about what might have triggered the bot based on activities they had been doing. Those may have been correct, I don't know. But the point is it is safe to blog now. At least as safe as it ever was.
It's disappointing that Blogger has been silent, both about the issue and that it's fixed. By now all the Google teams should know that even a "we're investigating" is helpful.
ReplyDeleteWow. I didn't even know about this. When translated, the Spanish post says some kind of spam filter had caused the issue but reactivation would be only by a manual case by case basis. Well at least they're taking some action on resolving it. There are unfortunately many spam blogs on Blogger.
ReplyDeleteEspecially with AI bots to generate content these days it may have become more in number I guess. Not a surprise them implementing some kind of spam filters. However it becomes a problem when genuine bloggers get affected.
AI slop or AI generated spam seems to be everywhere nowadays. YouTube is full of it.
While actual creators or bloggers may use some AI tools for texts and pictures, there are scammers and spammers who use fake content entirely made of AI generated slop to fill websites or videos in case of youtube, to create mass content with minimal effort.
I don't know if this filter was supposed to combat AI spam in particular but AI slop or spam has become a menace nowadays.
There are also many scrapers and bots that keep scanning websites and blogs. If you have google analytics set up then you may see tremendous bot traffic seeming to coming from across the world. Don't know if Blogger filters them out or adds to statistics.
Automated looking for spam blogs (and malware, and other violations of Blogger content policy) is not new. This was a bug in that system never intended by Google.
DeleteGoogle does not prohibit low-quality blogs filled with slop, though those are not likely to be served in Search. But I suppose those can be pretty close to a spam blog, and cross the line sometimes.
Thanks for this piece of information
ReplyDeleteI currently do not have a blog of any kind. I feel like it is a complete waste of time to put all the time and effort in establishing a blog. Only to have it wiped out with no explanation as to why it happened. Maybe I will change my mind I do not know. I feel bad for all of the bloggers who may have been affected. I absolutely hate AI, it has no business in the blogging world. It is hard to tell what is genuine and authentic and what is fake. Much like the real world that we live in. Thanks for letting me vent my frustrations. Happy blogging and thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete