Google+ Comments on Blogger

It's time for another snippet of technical information for those of you who use Blogger, but this will also be of interest to users of WordPress as well as those of you who don't have a blog.

Google+ has been around for a while now. It's a way to keep your friends and relatives up to date on your activitites, and to share specific information, like photos, blog posts and messages, with specific groups of people who are in your "circles". You can share some things with the people in your work circle, for example, and other things with people in your spanko circle, and the two groups never need know about each other.

Last week Blogger implemented a new system of commenting available to Google+ users. Instead of the usual Blogger comments, you can choose to activate Google+ comments. Perhaps some of you have already done so. While the new comment system has some advantages, there are significant disadvantages as well.

• People without Google+ accounts won't be able to leave comments, or even read them, since comments are dependent on being in a circle. That will prevent a large number of readers from commenting on your blog.

• Previously made comments won't be visible on the blog, although the comments still exist.

• The comment count will show "0 comments" even with comments actually present, and after clicking on "0 comments".

• If you are blocking third party cookies in your browser, you won't be able to see the comments, even if you do have Google+. 

• You won't be notified of new comments by mail, only from inside Google+ if the comment is shared with you.

• You cannot moderate comments from your dashboard. Moderation is done under each post, one post at a time.

• There may be some comments that you may not be able to moderate - for example, if you have blocked a person - but will show up to others in the blocked person's circle.

• The Comments section in your dashboard will disappear, because none of these settings are relevant to Google+ Comments. "Comment Location" will be defaulted to "Embedded".

• If you change your blog address - either a blogspot address change or to a custom domain - existing Google+ comments may not remain visible.

Doesn't that sound like fun? Fortunately, there is a way to go back to the old style of comments. Just go to the dashboard Google+ menu selection, and uncheck the option "Use Google+ Comments on this blog".

And regular programming will resume.

My First CHoS

I always look forward to reading Erica's popular Friday Correspondence Hall of Shame and Bonnie's Keyword Chaos. Unlike Erica and Bonnie, I don't have a lot of nonsense from my readers that I can share with you. My keyword searches tend to be some combination of Hermione and spanking. I don't get a lot of weird comments, messages, invitations or questions. But I did get this comment that made me laugh then scratch my head. The edited version is:

Hey Dear, I just want to say that your blog is amazing and outstanding.... I have big boobs and soft and salt ass. I know that most of adult want more sex entertainment dating site for getting enjoyment.

Now what the heck is a salt ass?

Love Our Lurkers Day

We bloggers love our lurkers, and if you are someone who reads but never comments, today is just for you! It's Love our Lurkers Day, instigated once again by our good friend Bonnie.


Every day, hundreds of readers visit Hermione's Heart, yet only a small number of them leave a comment. I wish I could get to know every reader a little better. If you have never left a comment before, why not do it now? You don't need a logon ID or a Blogger account; you can choose the anonymous option.

Don't  know what to say? Hello is fine. Tell me what the weather is like today where you are, what country you live in, or what you had for breakfast. Anything that you want to share would be great. You don't have to talk about spanking, but if you do, so much the better.

I would really love to hear from you.

Comments Demystified

A while ago, PK wrote an excellent post about blogging, and in it she mentioned the importance of leaving comments on blogs.

Did you know that Blogger blogs (blogs that are named ___.blogspot.com) have a useful feature for comments? If you leave a comment, and you have a Google account, your comment and all subsequent ones will be e-mailed to you. You won't need to keep checking back to see how the conversation is going.

I am reasonably technically savvy and it took me several weeks of experimenting before I figured it all out. So I want to share what I learned with you. My apologies to all the bloggers I annoyed by leaving comments that said, "This is a test".

If you are already logged on to Google (the Google reader or Blogger, for example) then you visit a blog and type a comment, you'll see a box (circled below) near the bottom of the comments window. Click on the box to make the check mark appear. You'll get mail!

Now here comes the confusing part. Sometimes the box isn't there. That's because you are not logged on to Google. In that case, type in your Google username and password, but don't publish your comment yet. Instead, click PREVIEW.

That makes the Email checkbox appear so you can select it and have comments delivered to your inbox.

I hope you find this helpful.