Make Lightbox optional, Blogger!!

Frustrated with the Lightbox effect on Blogger blogs?  If you have a Blogger blog, Brett, a real live Google Employee, shock and awe, wants to hear from you in the Help Forums.  Here is what he said:

Brett from blogger Google Employee The Blogger Team 9/16/11

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I'll take this discussion back to the team and see what we can do to make the feature more flexible. 

If you haven't already, providing a detailed explanation of this lightbox is not ideal for your blog will help us understand all the use cases here. Our ears are open!

Cheers,

-brett

So, give him a SHOUT.  Go to the following link and let Brett know if and why you don't like the Lightbox effect.  I suggest you all consider telling him to make it optional.  Here is the thread:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=73493b0be3a4116d&hl=en

Bloggers want to hear from you!

Hug a Blogger...Leave a Comment

We recently heard from a blogger who left Google/Blogger because of the technical problems he was experiencing, but he was also afraid his blog was going to be deleted like so many of the other blogs we have been reporting.


This blogger brought up a great point which we have heard from others, and sometimes experience ourselves:  a lack of comments from viewers.


I know there are many reasons viewers do not leave comments, however, if a blog allows for comments, the blogger wants to hear from you!  If you visit a blog regularly, it is not necessary to leave a comment every time you drop in, but think of saying "HI" once in a while.  We bloggers appreciate hearing from you.  A blogger buddy of mine calls himself a "comment whore".  He just loves comments.  Actually most of us are comment whores, but he is the only one to admit it!


So, dear blog viewers, when the mood is right, give bloggers a hug every once in a while, leave a comment.  It's sure to bring a big smile to all our faces.


Jeff & Brent

Google Top Contributor Thomas P

Check out this blog.  It's called SHOUT AT BLOGGER  

Here is an example of what you'll find:
This guy, Larry999, makes a non provocative post in the Google Help Forum, Web Search, Google Doodles.  Read down and see what a Top Contributor, sanctioned by Google with special powers, says. He ends up calling Larry999 names.  I agree, Thomas P, Top Contributor for Google, is an exactly what Larry999 called him.
Go to the thread in the Google Help Forum, which I have listed at the end of this post,  and make a comment.  

Next June, why not make Gay Pride Flag doodle show on all searches?

Report abuse

Larry999 Level 1 6/25/11

This year, 2011, the doodle for Gay Pride month, only showed up for a very narrow selection of searches, like "gay", "Homosesual", "Lesbian", etc.  I think the google doodle of the Gay Pride Flag should show up for EVERYsearch throughout the world for the entire month of June.

Can you do that?  Of course you can.  The question is:  Will you do that?

Replies 1 - 12 of 12

Thomas P. Top Contributor 6/25/11

The pride flag, for being seen by everyone, for an entire month ?!? ... stop being so self-centred.

Did you find this answer helpful? 

Post a comment and let Thomas P know what you think of the way he treated Larry999.  Here is the thread:  http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Web+Search/thread?fid=1b3b7416aa8080150004a68853c6b971&hl=en

Jeff

Google hides Gay flag

Happy Pride month, all.

Seems Google is afraid

of us!

Google hides Gay

Pride rainbow

By John D. Sutter, CNN June 24, 2011 6:10 a.m. EDT | Filed under: Web

If you Google terms like "gay" or "homosexuality" this month, a rainbow pops up by the search bar.
   
 (CNN) -- Google creates "doodles” for

all kinds of random occasions.

The search engine changed -- or doodled --

the logo on its home page in celebration of

the painter Paul Cezanne's 172nd birthday;

Robert Louis Stevenson's 160th birthday;

the first day of school in Poland; and

Pac-Man's 30th anniversary. All of these,

with the exception of Poland, which

appeared only in that country, were

automatically visible to everyone who

visited Google.com.
   

But for Gay Pride Month -- which, in case

you didn't notice the parade in the city

center, is happening now -- the company

took a much less visible approach.

It's one that's stirred up criticism from

the gay community.

There's never been an actual Google

Doodle in honor of Gay Pride. Instead,

during June, a little rainbow pops up

next to Google's search bar only when

users search for certain "pride-related"

terms, including, "gay," "lesbian,"

"homosexuality," "LGBT,"

"marriage equality," "bisexual" and

"transgender."

"During the month of June, Google is

celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgender (LGBT) Pride," the company

said in an e-mail. "For some Pride-related

search queries, we are showing a rainbow

at the end of the search bar."
   

So why hide this feature beneath specific

searches?

A company spokeswoman did not provide

specifics. (End of CNN story)
   

Shout out at Google, folks.

Stop being second class citizens!

JEFF PATCHER - Gay and Proud!

Google sucks!

I am really starting to hate Google. Last Wednesday my g-mail account was closed due to "suspicious activity" (otherwise known as spam). With my g-mail account closed, I could not access my Blogger blogs or my images on picasa. I am really starting to hate Google.


Jeff

Wayne's Nude Musicians has been shuttered!

Five Years on Blogger and Wayne's blog is removed!  Here is part of his story:

hey jeff!
i have decided i am not gonna pursue getting my blog back or even my old e-mail address. i talked to someone else about this and have found out that the process of getting your blog back can sometimes take weeks. even though i put ten years into this project and really had nothing backed up.
please change the status of my site to "removed" which is what it officially is. my mirror site is pretty much a ghost site as i of course lost my Picasa account, too and that's where the pics were mirrored from. (wish i had downloaded more of the albums from there. but what's done is done.)
i don't have the time or energy left for this anymore.
i am looking at it this way: Wayne's Nude Musicians had a ten year run - 5 years on MSN groups before they dumped all their adult sites and then 5 years on blogger. and a ten year run on the internet is sort of like "the mary tyler moore show" of blogs. i just wish i had figured a way to take a snapshot of the whole blog on a little disc i could've kept as a souvenir to remember the time i was a blogger.

i hope my decision does not make you think me "ball-less"... for me the last straw was in nightcruzzr's messsages. when he kept referencing "pornography". if adult content and pornography are not synonymous... obviously blogger and i cannot be on the same page.
again, thanks for your help!
w


Wayne continues the nude musicians in his blog, blue guitar, on Tumblr.  Visit his site at:

http://blueguitar.tumblr.com/

Keep on bloggin'
Jeff

The Bitchboy Blog and Jim's story

Jim is the owner of The Bitchboy Blog, a blog what was closed due to possible violation of Terms Of Service (TOS).  Incidentally, this was not the first time his blog was closed by Blogger.  He received the following automated response after requesting a review:  
We received your unlock request on February 28, 2011. On behalf of the robots, we apologize for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam.


On March 28th, March 28th!!, his blog was re-opened.  In this instance, it took one month for Blogger's current review process to work.


The volunteer Top Contributers (TCs) in the Blogger Help Forums insist that this is the best that can be done, and if not the best, well, all you bloggers just have to "deal with it".  (An exact quote).  


Jim has decided NOT to deal with it.  Here is his March 28th response on his blog:


hello guys, nice to see you back Seems that the blog has been re-opened by Blogger I received a mail saying "we apologize your blog was removed BY ERROR" (they say hum...) but on the blogger help forum a lady called Mary from Dublin said to me "no your blog won't be re-opened cause you VIOLATED the TOS" 
hu! I didn't violated no one It's Google blogger who fucked me three times As it will surely happen again cause Google blogger is so messy
(they deleted all my pics from the november 2010 till march 2011)
I moved on Nibblebit So you can go there

http://bitchboyblog.nibblebit.com/

Keep on bloggin'

Jeff

HOTT JIZZ KID

Hott Jizz Kid's blog, Hott Jizz Kid, was closed due to potential violation of Terms Of Service (TOS).  He filed a request for help on March 8, 2011.  On March 25, 2011 Nitecruzr, a volunteer Top Contributer (TC) in the Help Forums,  advised Hot Jizz Kid that his Blogger blog "was recently confirmed as spam".  

In this case it took 17 days to get a reply.  Blogger allows absolutely no appeals of a decision.

This begs at least four questions (and responses):

1.  Is it worth requesting a review?  YES!! If you want your original blog address back, requesting a review is the only way you MIGHT get it back.

2.  Is it worth waiting 17 days to get a reply?  Wellllll, that's up to you.  These blogs are free, and my father always says, "you get what you pay for".  

3.  Can I open another blog at Blogger while waiting for a reply?  Sure you can.  If your original blog is re-opened, you end up with two blogs.  If your original blog is never re-opened, you have a blog to work with.

4.  Should I leave Blogger?  Well, again, that's up to you.


Happy Bloggin'
Jeff

Can a Link Get Your Blog Closed?

TO LINK OR NOT TO LINK?

THAT IS ONE QUESTION

Top Contributers (TC's) in the Blogger Help Forums imply that linking to a spammer, or linking to another blog which is three times removed from a spammer makes you and your blog guilty of violating the Terms of Service.  As a result your blog may be closed down and found guilty (in that order!).

Please click on this link and request an answer to this question:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?fid=4627178180eb632c00049fb6f7c3716a&hl=en

fgap1 and TomWondering have posted on the above link.  What about the rest of you??  Let your voice be heard!


Posting to the forums will not affect your blog or any other account you may have with Google/Blogger.