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| My Oct 8 and the uploaded GIF I couldn't see |
This is to document a technical issue I experienced from blogger.com. Out of the blue my pictures appeared selectively to various readers. It would have been simpler if everything was down, as catastrophic as that may be.
I couldn’t see it on desktop, I couldn’t see it on my mobile while on WiFi, but it is there if I am on data connection. Some friends can see it and some don’t, with no discernible pattern – at least in the Philippines – on who gets to see the pictures.
As of this writing I am currently working on the remedy, editing the HTML in every post as suggested to me in the Blogger.com’s help forums. It is a tedious process but it works, yet I still don’t know is why this problem happened. For all I know I have to edit HTML all over again.
I hope a casual reader will pass by and manage to connect the dots. If not, then I hope the remedy worked, you see the pictures, and that my blog will be in good working order for a long time.
When I First Saw it
The difference between I can see every picture to what-the-hell-happened was one day.
I noticed the picture error as I was working on my October 8th post. It was a surprise to me because everything was fine on my October 7th and before that the September 27th post. No warning was issued; no explanation was given by the system.
Like anybody who publishes online, the last thing we all do is check the previews, see everything as a whole before the world sees it. Sept 27 and Oct 7 were good. You can see Sept 27, Oct 7, and Oct 8 right now with edited HTMLs. At least I hope you can see. I never did survey friends again since I can already see it.
After typing in the texts, the first file I uploaded on Oct 8 was a GIF, and it read as an error. I upload GIF directly to blogger.com and I also use giphy.com too. Thinking I should prioritize movement while the error remained a mystery, I embedded my giphy files and they worked.
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| This current blog as I was making it. Gone are the days of upload and publish. |
Is it the RAM?
My first guess was a RAM issue. But if so, how come giphy is playing and I can watch YouTube for hours, not to mention all those downloads played on VLC? The theory did lead me to check my blog on my mobile phone. Error – pictures weren’t loading.
My next theory was WiFi speed so I connected to data and there it was the GIF I first uploaded. Having seen that GIF, I continued editing my post all the while hoping it’ll all be ok once published.
My computer and internet experience this year was rough so I thought the problem was isolated to me. If I published I could immediately share and see where I am at.
I published my Oct 8, and sadly I didn’t see any pictures on my desktop – which used Windows for OS, Firefox browser, on top of occasional RAM issues. Next, I tried my mobile – Android, using Chrome as browser – connected on WiFi and I still can’t see pictures.
Finally I connected to data and there it was every single picture, GIF, and giphy.
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| The island province friend who could see on laptop |
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| That very same friend couldn't see on Mobile |
Informal Survey
I messaged a handful of friends, the few people I dared to bother with my simple hobby going haywire. Unfortunately I was never the type to nag so I ended up with a shallow survey.
All I asked was do they see the pictures in provided blog post or not. I should have also asked specifications whatever platform they used to go online: mobile or PC; what browser; what ISP.
2 friends from the Metro Manila could not see pictures; at least one of them stated using mobile and PC. 2 of 3 friends outside of Metro Manila said they could see the pictures.
Here it gets confusing. 2 of that 3 outside of Metro Manila belong to the same island province, both also said they used laptop and mobile, but only one of them can see pictures.
Had all my friends outside Metro Manila answered they can see pictures that would have been less confusing albeit a gigantic mystery on why my pictures can only be seen in the provinces.
The only consistency I noted accessing my blog was off-shore, when my friend in New York answered he can see the pictures on my blog. He would be the 2nd set of off-shore eyes that could see pictures. The first set of eyes was a stranger who answered me in blogger.com help forums.
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| The first off-shore eyeballs who saw everything working |
Getting a couple of yes-we-can-see outside of the country was relatively good news. Of course, having failed to know the specifications of what each friend use to read blogs online, 2 persons abroad may not mean shit.
Symptoms were System Wide
While waiting for my friends to answer back, I noticed that whatever was broken just became worse. Default pictures are missing on my Dashboard, more than my most recent 3 posts which I had initially obsessed on had picture errors. It was system wide and that raised questions.
If it was an account memory issue shouldn’t it be limited to my latest post – the last entry published in an already full can? If it was a copyright issue then why wasn’t I emailed information of my infraction?
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| My dashboard on Oct 8, it's everywhere |
I could still see from the Dashboard the book cover of Heretic on my October 7, but when I viewed the blogpost the second and uploaded picture was not working.
Embedded files work and uploads don’t, meant I have to check every post since I usually switched methods or used both on a whim.
Applications Can See my Pictures
Dlvr.it: I use dlvr.it to schedule my posts to my Facebook Page. Remember that Oct 8 was the first post that I noticed a problem. The site posted my Oct 8, as scheduled, using the GIF file I uploaded as lead.
At the time, I still hadn’t learned of any HTML remedy, but the site
picked up my GIF without a problem. Just look at the rightmost column of this blog and you can see a widget of my Facebook Page. That's what the site sees; my pictures are all there.
Blogger.com feedback form: I didn’t want the forums; I was looking for a way to get tech support so I tried the feedback button available in Dashboard. It asked me to screen capture in order to document the problem. Note that this is Feeback on Blogger.com Dashboard, Firefox Browser, Windows – the default pictures I couldn’t see on my dashboard is all there.
Blogger.com may have thought I was reporting a non-problem with that screencap since all pictures where visible. I’ve had no response so maybe that is the case.
It is frustrating to know the pictures are there, the files are there – picture or GIF – uploaded, it is sending signals except to me. Why??
Blogger.Com Help Forums
If you’ve ever had anything broken you don’t want research, at least not all the way; you want professional advice. Research, assumes at least, asking the right questions. I wanted customer service, tech support who can just give it one look.
Blogger.com, owned by Google, doesn’t have customer service or no longer has one just this pandemic. Maybe I missed it.
Or, the experts answering the Forums are the technicians and they decided an open approach rather a one on one. One user's technical problem may have a dozen more users with the same. In any case the Help Forums were a headache.
Everything starts with a word search but the question is, are all picture-issues the same? Results from the search appear and then what? The only nuance I can think of is time based.
I write and publish on my blog the same way for years. This problem happened only recently, affecting my entire blog, so I assumed that it was a system problem. Its blogger.com’s fault.
If I could only find complaints between Oct 7 and Oct 8, that would narrow things down to prove my theory. But I can’t without a filter to arranged results by date.
Wandering around I met the aforementioned 2nd set of eyeballs, a user named Adam, who said that he can see my pictures. He also suggested that I make a new thread because he doesn’t believe my problem was the same as the original post.
Making a new thread needed some digging too. I had to go back to the main page of the forum to do that instead of being offered the option on any page, any thread, that I am on.
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| The solution |
The Solution and How I Post Now
WebLove.PL saw my question and suggested a solution. Unfortunately he wasn’t so chatty.
That’s what you would hope in a customer service, after they’d give the solution to you they’d answer questions you might have, and based on their experience they can say what you did wrong.
He said ‘posts’ so I am editing each post. It has worked as far as I know. There are still many posts to correct and along the way, I saw dead links that were once working embedded code.
Editing the HTML is easy, but after an entire pass I would still have to back to those dead links because I forgot what was there.
As of the writing, publishing has not returned to what was normal, which is to say upload and publish. This blog, just like in Oct 8, the files are there uploaded. I can’t see a picture, just an outline. After every picture is uploaded, I still had to edit HTML on this post just to make it all work.
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| Could this apply to me? |
Working Theory
The best theory I saw about this problem belongs to Adam, but Adam himself waved me off the thread, saying that I’m a different case. He saw my pictures, which is why he doesn’t believe I am the same problem as the thread I was on.
If I think about it, my Theme is old and most likely 3rd Party though I forgot where I got it. I did consider testing out a new theme.
What scared me off was that I couldn’t see my pictures in the previews. Yes, the pictures could have appeared if I did get that theme but I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure if I can get my current theme back if I tried a new one. I’ve gotten used to it.
The question always goes back to why did pictures on my blog become selectively accessible. If I don’t answer that then the problem can chase me whatever Theme I use.
What if the symptom of the problem was in
reverse; only I can see my blog in full working order, and the
world outside can’t see the pictures or worse. How would I know? And that is why the root question is important.
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