I like many other bloggers in the hobby have noticed a number of followers drop off the blog this week and thought you might like to know what the heck is going on, particularly if you are one of the followers to the blog that would like to continue getting updates about my posts. This apparently is the official explanation.
AN UPDATE ON GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT
December 21, 2015
In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all
non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way
to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we've seen that
most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to
streamline, in the next few weeks we'll be making some changes that will
eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect
and follow blogs.
As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we'll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we'll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.
We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they'll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.
We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.
So that's ok then!
Seriously though, I love having followers, as you are the guys that have indicated you like what's going on here by taking the time to register your interest, and I hope if you have been affected you will be back soon.
Thank goodness that I saw this JJ as I also gave a mass exodus on my "Pyjamas" blogs and thought I had really, really irritated the wargaming global community!! I really am quite fragile you see 😂
ReplyDeleteKeep cool Carlo most of us have had a similar experience this week and I am sure things will get back to where they were when people realise what has happened and make other arrangements.
DeleteNo problems here, your blog never left the blog list on mine :) Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHi RM glad to hear it. I dont think JJ's has been as hard hit as others I have seen commenting on this change. I think I noticed five followers disappear in one day last week and by the end of the week we had lost eight all together. Cheers
DeleteJJ
I am becoming quite tired of the Google vs Microsoft vs whomever-else conflict.
ReplyDeleteI used to think at five or six years ago that if I had to decline another "Do you want to make Bing you're whatever" message in anything I wanted to do I'd have to go out and buy a Mac.
I always opted for Google because I believed them to be more laid back and less proscriptive, but it appears that they too are now feeling the pressure (I'd say the recent Twitter share price drop and executive replacement has them spooked).
Hi Lawrence, I rather think you might have a point. I too find this kind of nonsense behaviour rather tiresome as these companies seem to ride rough shod over the inconvenience they cause to the poor old end consumer. I take the view that none of them have mine or anyone else's situation as one of their principle concerns and forgetting any sense of a social responsibility just focus on the bottom line and sticking it to any competition.
DeleteNo wonder that many of us have a similar contempt for those that treat us in so cavalier a way
I always look forward to the nap posts they are always interesting and you put a lot of effort into them . It's a pity we are always at the mercy of these company's after all it's our blogs that that give them so much exposure.
ReplyDeleteSo blog on my friends despite Googles attempts to shoot itself in the foot !
Regards Gavin .
Hey thanks Gavin and bravo. I am not particularly phased by this kind of activity as I think all our blogs stand or fall by what we put out there and if you are interested enough and like a particular blog I don't think you are going to let this kind of messing about get in the way of you keeping up with what's going on. Our hobby, I think, leads the way in using this kind of social media and we Wargamers will press on regardless.
ReplyDeleteJJ
ka sera sera!
ReplyDeleteQuite right David, irritating, but not that important in the grand scheme of things.
DeleteAll of that just to get people linked into the Google world? Notice how they could not provide any genuine risk from the way things were, just someone decided everyone needed to use Google services. Not surprisingly, it probably wasn't well thought out to send all of those subscribers notices that they needed to convert and maybe give them a 30 day advance notice. Google seems to view people as just nameless, faceless usernames who can be toyed with on a whim.
ReplyDeleteYes, I tried to capture some of that slight irritation in my post. You never know, this kind of discussion might find its way onto the agenda of the next board room meeting but I am not holding my breath and I believe that if you go around creating bad karma one day it might come back to bite you when you least expect it. I hope my MIAs can and will find their way back.
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