Wake Up! Back Up! Don't Lose Your Blog Content

Boy did I get a huge wake up call last week! For about 24 hours I lost access to all my Blogger content: published and draft posts, comments, statistics, etc. 

I nearly had a heart attack when I got this email:

I thought it was a scam but at least I had the presence of mind to not click anything in the email itself. Instead, I went to the Blogger dashboard I already had open and clicked "View Blog." 

They really had taken it down!

I quickly read through what they considered "Malware and Similar Malicious Content," and was confident that there was no way I had violated the terms. My only recourse was to click the "Request Review" button. Reviews were said to take an average of 10 days but could be longer depending on the issue. I never received a confirmation email that I requested the review. Nothing! All I could do was wait.

I went to the GeneaBloggers Facebook page to ask if anyone else had experienced anything like this and how long it took to resolve. GeneaBloggers president Pat Richley-Erickson pointed out that I should immediately export my content as a backup, something I had not realized I could do from Blogger (...hangs head in shame...). Unfortunately, while earlier in the day I had access to my dashboard, once I went back in to export the content, I had lost that access as well. Throughout the day, I lost more and more features until I had virtually nothing to view on my dashboard.

Talk about a gut punch! While I know I am attached to my blog, I didn't realize just how much a part of me it is until I was confronted with losing it all.

Later in the day I found a post on the Blogger Help Community forum: 

I found a bit of comfort knowing that it apparently wasn't just me, it was scores of people who had lost their access for the same reason...all caught up in the same maelstrom.

There were two saving graces to my situation: 

1. I had archived every one of my 300+ posts earlier this year on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. If Blogger decided I truly did violate their terms after review, they could take the blog down permanently. At least my content would still exist on the Wayback Machine.

2. I have been cross-posting each week on Substack. While I have not yet created a publication, I have been posting under my personal profile. That has captured the past several months of work. In spite of the loss of Blogger, I was still able to publish my weekly post last Wednesday.

After a day and night of gut-twisting uncertainty, at 8:41 a.m. on August 5th I got another email:

A few quick clicks later, I saw that I did indeed have full access again. Whew!

You can bet I immediately found that export tool and ran it, saving the output to both my computer and an external drive. While you cannot open the export per se, you can import the content to other platforms, like Substack or WordPress. I am also adding a Blogger Export to my weekly workflow, which also includes archiving my latest post link URL to the Wayback Machine. 

As this situation was unfolding, a friend of mine sympathized with me on the loss of my "beloved blog," even temporarily. I had never thought of it in those terms, but she's right. My writing is an extension of myself. And I'll bet any of you who also have blogs feel the same way. What steps have you taken to safeguard your writing?

Here's a few recommendations:

• Learn how to backup and/or export your content from whatever platform you use. 
• Save that exported content in multiple places.
• Create a periodic workflow that includes archiving your content. 
• If you run into a problem, inquire with a help forum, such as the Blogger Help community. I did not see anything in the news about this issue, but the community was in the loop. 
• Join groups that can offer help, like GeneaBloggers. They have a Facebook and Substack presence and are helpful when you get into a jam.

So, don't be Nancy! Take steps today to back up your blog.

If you have other resources to share on this topic, please add them to the comments so we can learn together. 

BTW: I'll get back to Jane's story soon, but I felt this was a timely and necessary post. 

Until next time... 

  

 

RESOURCES

• Article: Google Blogger Locked Legitimate Websites After Mistaking Them for Malware
• Backup or Import Your Blog on Blogger