20.3.11

Blog "deleted"

As some of you have noticed, this blog disappeared – was announced as deleted - for some yet unexplained reason for about 24 hours, more or less March 19. The “event” was quite closely followed by many of you on Facebook. I thank you for all the sympathy expressed there and for your efforts to explain how to possibly get the blog back again.

However, the whole thing remains to me quite worrying and finally unexplained. My questions on the Google / Blogger forums remained so far without answer. I would very much appreciate if someone finally could explain and will try to find out. I regret what I consider as absence or impossibility to reach someone directly responsible, a real helpdesk; at least I haven’t found it.
With the millions of blogs Google is hosting, I think they must offer something more adequate.  
This gives me also a wish to learn how you in the best possible manner can make a backup, as I imagine that neither you nor I would like to see your blog and its contents getting lost, especially in a more definite way.   
Addendum March 20, 16:20:
On advice by some of you, I have now made a backup under Settings / Export. You get an - obviously complete? - xml version of your blog which you can store in your own files. The next step would be to import this file to a new blog and see what happens. This I have not yet tried. Someone has?

Addendum March 21, 00:40:

There is now another problem: I cannot comment on blogspot-blogs. It seems to work on my own blog and on non-blogspot-blogs. Can anyone explain, help?

47 comments:

Dina said...

What an awful day that must have been for you. I'm so glad your blog is back. Shalom from Jerusalem.

Brigetoun said...

zut !

Richard said...

Hi Peter - glad it's back, although worrying, as you say. You can copy a website to your local computer using a utility such as HTTrack.

http://www.httrack.com/

It should work on your computer - ie you can browse it as normal, but it won't allow you to use any Blogger functionality of course.

It should be possible to use the RSS feed to copy the website content to a re-usable format / database, but this would require quite a bit of development if something does not exist

The real solution is not to use a service like Blogger, but to host the blog yourself where you have full control. Typepad, Wordpress, and other blogging software can be used for this, though it needs varying amounts of programming / IT skills. It would also mean some financial outlay, but quite minimal

Cezar and Léia said...

Hello, dear Peter! Good to see your blog back on again! We can try to imagine your frustration and it's really strange that there's no way to send the inquiry to any kind of helpdesk. We did our back up once (that very first blog from Brazil, where you used to comment before our move to Lux), have a look in admin mode at SETTINGS > BASIC > EXPORT BLOG. Doing that you are still able to simply keep your current blog on. Maybe it's time for us to do it again...
Hope this helps, glad to be able to see Paris again through your wonderful images, rich in details!
God bless you!
Cezar & Léia

Thirtytwo degrees said...

I am so happy that your blog is back, and that some of my psychic senses are proving true again!

Yaëlle said...

une très bonne nouvelle.... :-)))
j'ai vu que Parisien d'un Jour avait fait une (trop) petite note sur ton blog sur leur dernière newsletter.
A bientôt

Capy89 said...

I didn't know what happened when I see the notice that this blog was deleted... I was quite surprised. Hope that Google will have an answer for this accident.
So happy that it seems ok now :)

Anonymous said...

Cyber ghosts

hpy said...

Je vois qu'il est revenu!
Il se peut que ton blog a trop de succès, qu'il y a trop de clics vers Peter's Paris, et qu'il a pu être assimilé à un spam. Après étude, il a été laissé en liberté. (C'est juste une idée farfelue parmi d'autres.)

Jane said...

I almost felt betrayed .."why didn't he tell me!!" ( I know it is totally absurd) , but I am really glad you are back.
Sure would be nice to know why this happened!

Claudia said...

Glad your blog is back. Do have a look on how to run regular backups, Peter.

margarida said...

I followed the strange event, but,Peter, the good thing about it is that it was just a scare and nothing was really lost.
It's a pity nobody answers your questions. Tech has no face?!
Probably not...
These are the days of our life...
Welcombe back!!!
:)))
(my boss in in Sweden for holidays, imagine!!)

jennyfreckles said...

Sounds scary - presumably could happen to anyone of us. I don't know how to back-up - sounds like I'd better learn! I did have some problems with accessing Google in general on the 19th though - email and blog. Just kept telling me I wasn't logged in - when I was - or gving me an error statement.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trotter said...

Great to see you «back»...

Harriet said...

Really glad that you are back. I was very concerned that all of your work was lost. So glad that everything is back in working order.

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Whew! I missed you and your blog twice yesterday as I needed "my researcher" -- I think that your episode with Blogger gives us all pause and just as I back up my work and photos on the computer, it appears I should do the same with my blog.

So glad you are back, my friend!

Bises,
G

sonia a. mascaro said...

Peter, I am very glad your blog is back. Hurray! Viva!

PS: I make a backup of all my posts, clicking on the title of the post, so I can record the comments too.

Have a pleasant Sunday!

Anonymous said...

we were shocked to read your blog had been deleted - but - we're VERY HAPPY that you've managed to retrieve your beautiful content....

greetings from chicago!

delphinium said...

ouf

Mystica said...

Thank God it is back! Must have been absolutely worrying.

All the best from Sri Lanka!

Virginia said...

When you learn how to backup the blog, let me know. It was scary for all of us. Glad you're back!
V

EMNM said...

ufff your blog is back again!
greetings!

Barbara L said...

That is a scary thing! So happy all is back. The annoying will be we will all, especially you, be worrying it will happen again.

Olivier said...

j'ai vu ça, c'est la galere, c'est deja arrive a d'autres bloggeurs et je veux pas te faire peur, mais aucuns n'ont reussis a recuperer leur blog. En effet,il faut penser a faire des sauvegardes, mais on y pense pas toujours. J'espere que tu vas pouvoir le recuperer. C'est vrai que c'est enervant de ne pas avoit quelqu'un a qui poser des questions chez bloggeur

Simony said...

I am glad to see you back!
It really made me think about this problem happening to me! Thanks for the advice.

Starman said...

This is exactly why I have two blogs (I used to have three) and they are mirror images (almost) of each other. At least, the content is the same.

Here is some info about the binary system: http://www.binaryresearchinstitute.org/

About the magnetic poles:http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/591.cfm

PeterParis said...

I have now another problem; my comments on other blogs are not registered! I make a comment on my own blog to test!

PeterParis said...

... and it works! Why not on other blogs? So, if you don't see my comments for a while, it doesn't mean that I haven't tried!

Owen said...

Wow... what a nightmare. I hope Blogger can offer some help. I agree they should be more easily available for helpdesk type issues. I have something going on with my blog that I don't like right now... when I open the blog page, even when not logged into blogger, if I click anywhere on the page after it has opened, a second window opens with an advertising website for some French mail order store... that really bothers me. I don't know how to get that malicious, annoying code back off my page...

Has anyone else noticed things like that happening ?

Studio at the Farm said...

Thi sis terrible, Peter! I, too, have had a comparatively minor but consistent glitch come up with my ability to comment on others' blogs, but so far it's fairly minor. Perhaps the "Blogger" system is becoming overloaded?

Studio at the Farm said...

Peter, that's terrible. This is the 2nd time I am commenting, as my 1st comment was deleted. I have had similar glitches with my account. Perhaps the "blogger" system is becoming overloaded?

Rakesh Vanamali said...

Whoops! That gives me the creeps now!

joanna said...

Peter:

It seems like Google/Blogger is having system problems and they have lost my post before in the past.
I was thinking about moving to wordpress, but never got around to it. Maybe it is time to do that now. It seems when a situation occurs it is difficult to fix.

I remember calling Google I am not sure if this is the number I used for blog problems.

Google
Phone:
866-246-6453

How to reach a live person:
Press 2# at first menu.

Good Luck Peter, have a good week,
joanny

Nathalie H.D. said...

Eh bien Peter, je vois que pendant que je vivais le festival des globe trotteurs tu es passé par des angoisses terribles ! Quel stress!
Merci à Cezar et Leia d'avoir donné une solution de sauvegarde, que je ne connaissais pas. QUant aux commentaires, c'est très bizarre. J'ai bien reçu un mail m'alertant de ton commentaire sur mon billet 'non au gaz de schiste' disant que ton blog avait disparu, mais ce commentaire n'apparait effectivement pas en live sur mon blog. Je reçois bien tes messages en privé mais ils ne passent pas sur le blog. C'est très bizarre.
J'espère que le contact donné par Joanny ci-dessus va t'aider?
Good luck, je suis de tout coeur avec toi.

Richard said...

Owen - I think you'll find it has something to do woth the geovisite.com widget. I get a window opening up the laredoute site, but it has been redirected from geovisite

alice said...

Aïe aïe aïe! J'espère que tout va très vite redevenir normal! Bizzz.

claude said...

Je ne t'aurais été d'aucun secours, malheurseument.
Ce que je ne m'explique pas non, c'est que je pouvais plus télécharger mes photos sur mon blog et qu'il a fallu que je change de compte. Curieusement, la semaine dernière, j'ai pu sans trop m'en rendre comtpe, télépcharger des photos dont celle ma bannière que je ne pouvais plus faire apparaître.
Le principale est que ton blog soit toujours là et merci pour le post sur le cénima dont je suis fan.
Bonne continuation.

claude said...

Coucou Alice !

Cergie said...

Peter tout n'est pas revenu à la normale puisque ton commentaire d'auj est encore parti en SPAM et n'est pas apparu sur ma page.
Maybe que tu pourrais alléger ds un 1er temps ta page : moins de liens, moins de vidéos, de pubs, et moins de messages en accueil. Et puis avoir un autre "Peter" lié à une autre adresse mail pourquoi pas ? Je dis cela mais je ne suis pas une "autorité" es internet.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Peter, how horrible what's happened to your blog.

I just found you and love your blog. Are you going to continue to post and can I follow? Please don't go away just as I've found you.....
Sam

rauf said...

oh what a relief dear Peter. Even i did not get any answer when i complained on the google forum. Four years of hard work, dedication and excellence just disappeared from the net is really baffling. This could happen to any one. i would not be surprised if my blog disappears as my blog is quite depressing and annoying. But Peter's Paris was very pleasant, educative, widely read and followed and highly respected by your readers. The experience must have been devastating. if my blog disappears i would heave a sigh of relief Peter and so would my readers. And also i am not as active, regular and prompt as you are.

There have been many instances when i was shocked ever since i started interacting on the internet. But this is the first time i felt real loss, loss of a friend though you very much existed in real life. This is very strange as i do not know you personally. This loss was devastating Peter. Honestly i avoid facebook, not my cup of tea, i feel its just a show off, where i see most of the people posting there are not very honest. i am there on the facebook as some friends dragged me into it. The interaction is not as good and sincere as you find on the blogs.
Reading the comments of your readers also educates me here.

i am glad you are back Peter or rather your invaluable blog is back. Though in reality you did not go anywhere.

rauf said...

oh i forgot to mention Peter. There is a plug-in or addon for Firefox called SCREEN GRAB. This saves the entire page as JPG image file. It works well if there are not many pictures posted.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

BRILLIANT NEWS ...that you managed to get your blog back .. but can imagine the stress it brought to you when it disappeared ..:-( so well done to you !! Take care and I hope you find the answers you are looking for.

delphinium said...

On va faire la révolution!!!!
Aux armes citoyens, marchons, marchons... poum poum. Courage

Starman said...

I've had the same problem with commenting. I have no idea what the problem could be and it's almost impossible to get an answer from Blogger. I just keep coming back until it finally works.

JPD said...

I can imagine your frustration... It must be a nightmare !
Courage !
Jean-Paul