There was a bit of Blogger Drama on Saturday, here at My Little Home and Garden. Brenda, from Cozy Little House, had written about some recent problems she and others were having with Blogger. I had been blissfully problem free! And then it happened.

On Friday evening, I was making some layout changes when I discovered that my three columns were now two. Given the way I had things placed on the page, that wasn't going to work so I switched it back. I thought I must have accidentally hit the wrong button somewhere, which was, in fact, quite possibly the case.

After sorting things out, I looked at my blog and discovered that threaded commenting had mysteriously arrived. I had heard about it and seen it, but hadn't had it on my blog until that point. So be it, except that I prefer the comments embedded and the font had shrunk. Google and I are on first name basis, so I did a search and found a way to enlarge it. Mission accomplished! I was feeling just a wee bit smug and pleased with myself at this point.



How the mighty are fallen! Sitting in the comfy chair on Saturday afternoon, I read a few favourite blogs, made a comment here and there, and then left MLHG for a few minutes. "Your blog has been deleted," read the message on the screen when I tried to get back to it. Arghhhh.

I found the Blogger help site and logged in, then went to the "Post a question" section and politely asked what had happened, ensuring that I checked the box saying any response would be emailed to me. Then I sent a message to Brenda (what a peach) just to say that one more person had lost her blog. She's very kind and offered any support she could.

Blogger, meanwhile, replied to my question with a copy of it (which let me know it had been received), then a letter suggesting possible reasons for the deletion (spamming and other evils). It mentioned something about unusual activity on the blog; maybe all of my finagling the night before? If I felt that the removal shouldn't have been made, Blogger would review the deletion. I asked them to do so, mentioned that I had a scheduled meme post for that evening at 7 pm and we were off!



To make a long story slightly shorter, the blog was online and offline a few times that afternoon. At one point, there was a message posted about it being under review (rather than deleted). At other times, parts of it were up with some bits missing. I kept Brenda informed of the ongoing saga, what a good sport! Her pal Claudia, at Mockingbird Hill, sent an email asking if she could help! Wow.

Time passed and when trying to sign into my blog again, a new message greeted me. I was asked to fill out a very short form, Blogger would then call my phone with a verification number for me to enter and all would be well. Let's just say it pays to check that the phone ringer is turned on! (That's another story.)


The end result, Blogger decided that my blog was fine and dandy and had it up and running before my scheduled post! I'm still not sure what initially caused the problem, but Blogger pulled through in a timely fashion. Perhaps my Dad was right and you do "catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar".