Blogger comment notification

Blogger comment notification

I don't complain when Blogger gets all messed up because that would be churlish in the extreme - for ten years I have had a free, relatively easy to use platform which supports my words, photos and general messing around.  But as all bloggers know, comments matter and I think it is nice to reply to each one;  I guess I am old enough that it is the digital equivalent of writing 'thank you letters' for all your presents at Christmas and birthday time!

The last couple of months have been irritating in that the much valued emails advising me someone was thoughtful enough to spend a few minutes of their time leaving a comment had completely vanished.  I had to keep revisiting published posts and having a look to see if there was anything new, not the end of the world but a waste of time when there weren't any!  This morning I decided to Google the problem (not for the first time) and managed to find a solution, which - so far - is working.   In it's simplest terms, Blogger have now changed the system so that you have to sign up to confirm you want to receive comment notification - yes, even when you're the blog author, owner and general Supreme Head of Everything.

I suspect this is another GDPR spin-off . . .

It is remarkably easy to fix;  this forum post has info, but is a bit more long-winded that a couple of friends might like (you know who you are, xx).  So here is my version:

You need to be at the Blogger Dashboard page.  Quickest way there is to click the orange Blogger logo top-left of your blog.



Click on Settings, Email.
See the second option on the right, Comment Notification email?



Even if your email address is already there (which mine was) still do this:
Click on "Choose from Contacts",  find your own email address - if it is not there, leave that page for a moment, go to your Contacts Manager whether that's Google or Apple, and add yourself to your Address Book.  Once you have saved your new entry, go back to "Choose from Contacts" (you might have to 'cancel' and then go back to it again to refresh the listing).

Add yourself, and then very important, click on the big orange "Save settings" box top right.  Switch over to your email, and as soon as you get an email from Blogger inviting you to receive Comment Notifications, click on the "Subscribe" link in it.



And for me - that was it, comment notification emails started up again immediately.  Phew.

A final note of caution though.   If you are in the habit of replying to blog comments by email, with the new system you will likely fail - and get no notification that you've failed.   From info on various forums and what I've received in the last day,  it looks as if every notification message will come from the dreaded "no-reply" email, and the person you think you are writing to will never receive it unless you change the address.  So if you don't know their personal email address, the only (and frankly simplest) way to respond is on your blog in the comments section.

at 8:49 am