Bloglines, Blogger, & BBQ
Posted by Lynnster on February 6, 2007
Three quick things…
If you use Bloglines as a feed reader and aren’t getting feed updates of some of the NIT community that have moved from Blogger to WordPress (or other WP users), you’re not alone. I did some investigating last night and found that the issue had been reported to both Bloglines and WordPress, and the word from Bloglines is basically “they’re working on it”, but I noted some frustration among the Bloglines users in the forum because apparently this was reported a while ago and there’s been some heel-dragging in resolving it. It would appear to me (who does not use Bloglines as a reader) that the problem would be on Bloglines’ end, because both the regular WordPress RSS feeds and those that are also using Feedburner as an additional feed are showing up immediately in both the reader I am using now and the one I was using previously. I could be wrong, but that’s sure how it looks to me, especially since I know all the Feedburner feeds I have set up or have helped set up on WordPress are set to ping Bloglines automatically with updates.
Second, WordPress has just come out with an importer for New Blogger to WordPress and it works beautifully. I’m told getting a new importer going was a hot topic for WordPress recently; they certainly took notice of all the Blogger flight to WordPress going on. Talk about being quickly responsive to user needs and wants! That’s awesome.
And last – Hutchmo and I were planning to lunch at the Mothership this coming Saturday because I somehow managed to not have any BBQ last weekend, which is ridiculous since I, as a Memphian, should be trying the local BBQ everywhere I go for comparison, right? So I was determined to go back and have some BBQ this weekend, but I was planning to come back anyway and celebrate Sista’s birthday (she’ll be 29, you see). And we knew Newscoma was likely to still be in town.**
So basically, heck, if you’re in town this weekend and want some BBQ for lunch and would like to wish your Sista a Happy 27th Birthday, come on down. We’ll be there around noonish or so. I already shot Knuck an e-mail to let him know he might wanna expect a bigger lunch crowd on Saturday, so come on down and wish Sista a Happy 24th if you have a mind to, we’ll be there.***
I really need to post about what a great weekend last weekend was, but I think my brain has been frozen since I got back to town. But I have some neat stuff and observations to share, so surely before I go to Nashville AGAIN, I’ll get around to posting about my last trip there, sheesh.
** (Almost everything in this paragraph is true except for one thing.)
*** (There is one more lie in this paragraph than in the previous one.)
Aunt B. said
Should I be hopeful? Okay, I’ll try not to be hopeful.
But I am thrilled you explained about Bloglines. I thought there was something funky going on.
jag said
Remind us later in the week, will you? I’ll definitely want to come…we’ll see if my finances allow me. Because after the week I’m expecting, nothing will lift my spirits like some of Jim’s mac and cheese.
Lynnster said
B. – Well, the bad news is that Blogger STILL hasn’t forced your old account to switch to New Blogger yet. I don’t know why and it’s puzzling me what they’re intending to do about accounts like yours. And it puzzles me doubly that I know there’s bigger blogs that have been switched and moved.
But yes – the good news is you should remain hopeful. IF Blogger switches your account to New Blogger that is going to make this a whole lot easier, but even if they don’t, the plan I was telling you guys about last week – I think we may still be able to use that to retrieve your Blogger stuff even if Blogger still leaves you on Old Blogger.
Jag – that’d be great! And that’s the other reason I want to come up too – not only did I not eat any BBQ, but no “crack & cheese”!! I love mac & cheese so really, BBQ be damned, I gotta try that stuff!
grandefille said
Eeeee! Lynnster! Thank you for the update. I’d already set up the WordPress account but was waiting to see when they’d come up with the new Blooger (whoops) import after I got changed over. I tried to do it just now, though, and I keep getting this box:
“Restart
We have saved some information about your Blogger account in your WordPress database. Clearing this information will allow you to start over. Restarting will not affect any posts you have already imported. If you attempt to re-import a blog, duplicate posts and comments will be skipped.”
There’s no response when I hit the “import” button, even after I do the “restart” thing. I’ve searched their FAQ and forums there but no success. Could it be because I’m on a Mac? (That’s happened before; there are sites that won’t even open, much less let me read them, because of my OS.)
Most importantly, when I write you a check, should I put “blogger-wordpress consulting” on the “to” line, or will they demand a cut of it? Hee. Wouldn’t that be nice, though!
Thanks, and kiss those pets for me!
:0)
Lynnster said
LOL Grandefille, I’d never charge you a thing! :)
OK, here’s what I’m thinking… the only time I ever saw that “restart” is with the previous old Blogger importer to WordPress. If when you click on Import then Blogger, it’s not now taking you to a new Google page to sign in with your Blogger/Google/Gmail account (or automatically getting that info if you were already signed into Blogger or Gmail)… then you’re not getting the new importer yet and that’s probably a cache/cookie problem.
Try first hitting that “clear everything” button saving your Blogger info at the bottom.
Then exit your web browser and clear your cache and cookies… if you’re using IE, right click on the IE icon on your desktop, then Properties, then whatever says anything about clearing temporary Internet files and clearing cookies (it’ll depend on what version of IE you’re using), do that. When you go back and log in to WP and then go to the importer, you SHOULD either get the Google login or Google should automatically access your Google info (probably the former) and the next thing it should present you with is the name of your Blogger blog.
In Firefox, go to Tools then Clear Private Data, then clear Cache & Cookies, exit Firefox, restart Firefox, go back to WP and do the same.
If you’re using something else, should be a similar way to clear cache and cookies.
If you were getting the Google login to begin with and it was still restarting… then I’m not sure what’s going on. The Google screens you get now when you hit the Blogger import button now are VERY different from the way it was last week before they added the new importer (which was yesterday or last night, I think). It kind of sounds to me like your info for the old importer is still stuck in your browser cache tho.
Let me know if you continue to have this prob, I’ll try to help some more…
jonathan hickman said
Lynnster – I gather B’s old blogger blog isn’t shifting to new blogger? Has she signed into her account, but it’s not asking her to switch?
Lynnster said
Jon, nope, it’s not giving her the option to switch. Presumably because it’s so large (which was why it wouldn’t import with the earlier Blogger-to-WP importer). Hers is the one I’m probably going to try to import to your stash and re-export it if possible…
I keep checking on it every few days to see if it’s giving her the switch option but so far nope. Which makes me curious what Blogger’s intending to do with the larger blogs, are they just never going to move them to New Blogger, I wonder? Doesn’t make sense…
Aunt B. said
And really, as far as blogs go, I’ll accept that mine is “large” but it can’t be as large as some–like Bitch PhD and such–and so if they can’t even figure out what to do about mine, it makes you wonder what they’re going to do about hers.
But, on a side note, I love to hear y’all talking about the behind the scenes stuff. I don’t always get what you’re saying, but it makes me feel good knowing that you do. It’s like finding a good mechanic or something.
Lynnster said
I’m with you… I honestly don’t get what the problem is with them (Blogger). And I’m pretty sure SOME larger Blogger blogs have been moved.
I keep checking tho… it would make this a REALLY fast job if they would magically switch your account over to New. We’d have you the complete TCP up in no time.
Hehe, I don’t get what I’m saying half the time either, sometimes I just wing it. :D Or make a good educated guess anyway (educated being a relative term there)…. ;)
jonathan hickman said
That’s odd. I signed into my old account (that I’ve never bothered importing), and it immediately gave me the option. I thought maybe it wasn’t trying to get inactive accounts to switch, but obviously that’s not it.
I can’t imagine why it hasn’t switched yet; Katie’s blog must be huge, for example, but she switched ages ago. I wouldn’t hold my breath that blogger will do anything useful at this point.
newscoma said
Okay.
Lynnster, I’m going to try to import my old blogger over but I kept getting the same thing Grandfille got.
Crikey.
Lynnster said
Newscoma – sounds like you need to clear cache/cookies too. Are you getting the new Google page at all? You wouldn’t be able to miss it and would know it if you did…
Jon – B.’s is somewhere between 1100-1200 posts. I don’t understand either. I kind of have hope that MAYBE since they have forced so many so recently, they will hers too but guess we’ll see. I’m still going to be puttering with the alternate plan over the next couple of weeks too. Virtually every single other Blogger account I have worked with the last 2-3 weeks has either already been switched or has gotten the “this is your last time you can log in with your old Blogger account” message, and with the two that got that last deal, I managed to get their posts out with the old importer just in time.
Newscoma & Grandefille – if cache/cookie clearing doesn’t solve the problem, email me with your login info & passwords for both if you want. Since I don’t have either of you guys’ info stored on my computer there should be no reason why I can’t move you two’s stuff from here…
Lynnster said
Grandefille & Newscoma:
OK, I just saw what I think you’re talking about while moving Sista’s stuff. That same “restart/etc” box is indeed in the new version of the importer, just in a different place.
What you two SHOULD have seen, after you logged into your Blogger/Google/Gmail account (or if Google grabbed your info if you were already logged in), is a box on top that shows your blog/all your blogs on Blogger, and then that Restart box underneath.
Do either of you have a Google/Gmail account BESIDES the one that’s attached to your Blogger blog that you might have not logged out of? ‘Cos if you do, that may be the problem – your browser thinks you’re logged into Google as the other account (when I did Ivy’s last night, it automatically assumed my Blogger account and I had to go log out of Gmail and restart my browser).
Either way, I’d do a couple of things. Go to Gmail or Blogger one, whichever, and make sure you log totally out of your Google/Gmail account.
Close your browser, restart it.
Go back to WordPress to the Blogger importer, and when it asks you for your Google login, make sure you enter the email and password that’s attached to your Blogger blog.
The next thing you should see (after a wait) is a box on top with your blog(s) and a box underneath with the “Restart/clear” info.
If all that doesn’t work, again, you can send me your login info for both Blogger and WP to thelynnsterzone at gmail dot com and there shouldn’t be any reason why it won’t let me transfer it all since I don’t have your account info in my computer.
On another note – Newscoma – wanted to remind you your Haloscan comments won’t transfer, so I dunno if you wanna wait until I see if I can get B.’s stuff over with the workaround (that includes Haloscan importing if desired) successfully or not…
newscoma said
Thanks, Lynn.
Makes a ton of sense.
I’m going to take a deep breath later and see if I can make this happen.
Lynnster said
Well, you know how to find me if I can help (and hopefully not confuse things)… email or call if you need to…
Lynnster said
Hmm, come to think of it, Mme. Grandefille… perhaps you’d like some visitors? I know four almost-three-year-olds who would probably love to come spend a week with Aunt Grandefille… heh heh. :)
Ehhh, couldn’t do that to you… they all need baths something fierce! Stinky pooches… cute, but stinky. ;)
hutchmo said
Can I just say a big thank you to the blogger gods (that would be chiefly Lynnster) that I moved over in just the nick of time from O.B. to W.P. LIke the kids say, ‘i’m down with WP’, time to ditch the O and New B..
Thanks for urging me to move and volunteering your time. After reading the above, I feel damn lucky.
I was getting spam-a-rama on my old blogger since I moved to WP. When I signed in, it LOOKED like I had the option of New Blogger and Old Blogger, but when clicked on the Old Blogger icon, it forced me to ‘join’ New Blogger. I’m wondering if Aunt B has gone as far as clicking on the ‘Old Blogger’ option, because it makes you think that Old Blogger is still an option..
just wondering…
Lynnster said
I dunno if she herself has been in her Blogger account in ages, but I’ve been in it plenty trying to retrieve her stuff. Nope, you can only sign into her account via Old Blogger. It doesn’t offer any other option, signs in just like Blogger always has. Feh.
I am totally loving the spam catcher here at WP and it’s only made a couple of mistakes. It’s caught 200+ spam just in the last couple of weeks, and I noticed my old Blogger blog is getting spammed as well (just like you said – and all of a sudden for mine, it never has before), so I guess they’re all on a tear spreading the spam these days…
Ginger said
Hi! My import from New Blogger into WP worked beautifully…I have just a few layout issues, but nothing to work up a sweat about…
Also, MyBlogLog has a WP code…yay.
Now if only Flickr would do that cool Flash Badge thingy to where we could put it here…oh well…
Is there a way to show the categories below each post like some other layouts have?
You ROCK, girl…can’t wait to see you on Saturday!
Lynnster said
Each template has different ways it handles the category stuff, I think… most of them do it the way mine is but not all of them.
Word of warning – be sure that MyBlogLog code is for WordPress.com (non-Javascript) and not WordPress.org (which Javascript or anything else is allowable on). Last time I looked it was for WordPress.org only, but they may have changed something since last I looked.
The Flickr flash badge will be up to WordPress if it will ever be allowable – I know a lot of users have requested it.
Glad everything turned out OK with your import – I looked at your blog today and saw you’d done it, good deal!
Looking forward to Saturday!!
David said
I love the blog that you have. I was wondering if you would link my blog to yours and in return I would do the same for your blog. If you want to, my site name is American Legends and the URL is:
http://www.americanlegends.blogspot.com
If you want to do this just go to my blog and in one of the comments just write your blog name and the URL and I will add it to my site.
Thanks,
David