Thursday, September 3, 2009

Blogger fails to identify users

Some people are unable to provide comments with their own identities using their Google accounts, because blogger always mistakenly tags them with someone else. Clearing cookies and cache for the browser won't make a difference. I am one of them. Thus, I won't comment friends' blogs with my Google Account identity because it will never be me. Luckily most of them allow visitors to sign with Name/URL.

I just did a little bit experience using a public computer where I have never been before by posting a comment back to my own blog. When I posted a comment, I logged in with my Google account, hoping my name will show up correctly. No, never! Instead, I became someone else. The worst is that I don't even know who that person is. Obviously, it is not the issue of you possessing many Google accounts as blogger claims. Unfortunately, blogger has never admitted the fault and has no plan to fix it. In looking back the complaints posted to the blogger user communities/forums, this problem has existed for a few years already. To be safe, if you have already experienced this problem, it would better not use Google account when you post a comment to blogger, use OpenID if you have another identity with some other sites, or use Name/URL if the blog allows anonymous posting.

Blogger cannot correctly handle their own Google account for comment posting. Why not put Google account under OpenID category and handle it the same way as other OpenIDs? This problem discourages people using (or signing up) Google accounts and also degrades user experience.

2 comments:

  1. I've experienced this problem but I figure out a way to avoid it. I guess you must have commented someone's blog at the same time while you are logging in with your Google account using the first option. This Google Account option has never worked for me, especially the email address doesn't have a blogger account or have no blog. My method only works for someone who has a blog at blogger. Since you have a blog in blogger, you may try the following:
    - log in onto the blogger first and then
    - go back to the blogger page you want to comment, then
    - you will see your Google account identity preselected.

    It is the only way for me to comment someone else blog at blogger with my google account. Otherwise, I can't do it either.

    This Google Account authentication is kind of buggy.

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  2. Thanks for the tips. Your method works perfectly well for blogger account. Thus it seems to me that the option for Google Account is somehow implying blogger account.

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