Wednesday 27 March 2013

"Blog Not Found"



I doubt if anybody noticed, but my entire blog went missing for the better part of last week. One moment I was checking my email on my mobile phone, the next I was locked out of my Google account, due to what they termed suspicious activity. I immediately tried to view my blog, only to be greeted by a heart-warming "Blog not found" message.

I've only been blogging for about a year and a half now, but needless to say, I wasn't exactly keen on watching all that time circle down the drain.

The first thing I did after getting the message (aside from panic of course) was to google around for a solution. At least I wasn't locked out of their search engine. And it didn't take very long before I realized my problem wasn't unique. The general concessus was that it would eventually sort itself out.

So I basically had to log in from a PC and do an account verification (the same kind you do over the phone when creating a new account) in order to regain access to my Google account. Then I had to play the waiting game. Each time I tried to view my blog and I received that dreaded message (about a hundred times in all) was like a slap in the face.

But just like magic, I tried viewing it sometime on Friday, and there it was, as though it never went missing in the first place. It has been back ever since.

The whole experience has got me thinking about putting something as important as my author platform in the hands of a third party. I mean, what would happen if they decided to close up shop one day?

Have any of you ever experienced anything like this before? If so, what can you do to prevent it from happening again?

21 comments:

  1. That's weird Michael. That hasn't happened to me before, but maybe your account got hacked?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephen Tremp just lost his blog this week for the same reason, but it never came back! He contacted everyone he could think of, but he couldn't get an answer other than the reason was spam.
    I back up my blog every week so that if it did vanish, I can start a new one with the contents intact.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure Stephen's blog would sort itself out. And I guess I better take a page from your book and back everything up.

      Delete
  3. Glad you weren't lost permanently!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Let's just hope it doesn't happen again.

      Delete
  4. When I heard about Stephen Tremp's blog yesterday I immediately backed up my blogs so I'd have the posts if the blog ever got lost. It had been several months since I'd last done this and need to remember to do it now and then.

    Yeah, I don't like the idea of having my platform and writing controlled by someone else either.

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We could always host our blogs with a paid web host. But then we'd still be relying on a third party, which sort of defeats the purpose.

      Delete
  5. That's so weird. Just further proof that computers are evil haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep. Evil, and with a mind of their own too. It's just a matter of time before they officially take over the world. lol.

      Delete
  6. I'm glad you were able to get it back. That happened to my daughter's blog and she got it fixed after a couple days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, and I'm glad your daughter's blog got sorted out too.

      Delete
  7. Wow... thats odd... sorry to hear that but i am glad you got it all back.. Guess i better hurry to backup mine now before its too late :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. And yep, you should back it up. Better safe than sorry.

      Delete



  8. Thanks for sharing this valuable information to our vision. You have posted a trust worthy blog keep sharing.

    edublackboards
    theeducationlife
    geteducationskills
    educationisaround

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for letting us know about it, these information are awesome. Have a look at fuentes para facebook and explore out more things about it.

    ReplyDelete