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Edition number 1,911 since moving to Blogspot, and in our 13th year here...
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When insanity reigns, it pours. It seems to infest things across the spectrum of reality, from the momentous to the incidental, the existential to the trivial.
• Wall Street just posted its strongest one-month performance since the 1980s. And that's for the fraught and desperate month of August, 2020.
• That, even as more than 40 million Americans have become unemployed since March.
• Even as somewhere between 12 million and 18 million Americans face imminent eviction and homelessness as a result of being unemployed. It's being seen as "a coming tsunami of evictions."
• Even as US cases of COVID-19 surpassed six million, and Americans dead from the virus went over 180,000 -- the highest numbers for any of the world's nations. And the US, with only 5% of the world's population, now accounts for 22% of the world's deaths from the virus.
• America's live music venues, necessarily closed by the pandemic, are among the 40,000+ small businesses that are most likely never to reopen again, because their operators are at the end of their financial rope.
• Violence against peaceful protesters is now justifiable in some quarters because it feeds an exploitable fear narrative that might turn white-flight suburbia against cities "packed and teeming" with people inclusive of some who don't look like them.
• Wearing a mask -- the most basic and essential way to stop the pandemic -- is somehow a political statement that certain intransigent Branch Covidians refuse to make because their zealotry for a particular kind of insanity seems to entitle them to be superspreaders.
• Mainstream news media in the US is corporate media that is so overmerged that certain topics and many perspectives seem off-limits to inquiry because embarrassing questions might hurt the bottom line of one of the parent corporation's other divisions. And with Big Pharma buying all the tv cable news advertising, guess who is a sacred cow that cannot be investigated.
There is, of course, much, much more that can easily, tragically, embarrassingly for our society, be added to the list of "insanity reigns."
So when we turn to cyber matters, we should (once again, as we have multiple times before) be taking a lead in investigating and exposing Facebook for (a) ripping you off by stealing all your personal data, and (b) allowing monied interests to sheepdip all of us in somebody's propaganda, whether of the skillful or the ham-handed kind.
When we do less than cover these things as they relate to artists and the arts, we disappoint ourselves and feel we do not fully utilize our voice for the public good. Even though that is but PART of the "news of interest to artists," in addition to our central mission of giving a voice to acoustic and roots and Folk-Americana music.
We usually put in far more time than we intend or expect, with a "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" approach. But try as all of us do to keep a world view, a planetary citizen's view, a commitment to promoting awareness of the need to adopt sustainable economic systems, and to reverse climate change -- and in general, celebrate the arts as the best way to aspire to being good humans? It shouldn't be a surprise when all hell breaks loose and we must recall John Lennon's astute observation, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
So... when we took a short hiatus this summer and returned to find the rug was being yanked out from under what we share here with you...
We reported in early August that Google bought this publishing platform and they have ruined it.
If they hold to their current schedule, sometime later today they will remove our ability, as publishers with a site on the platform, to access the tools that make it possible to do what we do here.
We told you we would be moving to a new platform, leaving this one in our thirteenth year here. We won't move casually. We will test-drive a new platform before we relocate. That will require time we don't have right now. So be patient and please don't forget us. Make a note to check back at this url to see where we went. We promise to leave more than the word "Croatoan," if you know your history of mysteries.
We are buoyed by you, our international readership, and your continuous and consistent, and dare we say loyal readership. Hence we shall persist.
Still, it's not going to be easy. We don't want to orphan our extensive archive, separating all that searchable content from some new platform where we will begin again. But there is likely no way around that. Point being, if Google's ever-expanding empire of spyware succeeds in implanting all their newest ways to spy on you when you come here? When you come to read the content that WE create with NO involvement from them? Then it immediately becomes idiotic to stay and navigate the impossibly tangled web they have decided to weave for those who want to publish here. It just makes it far too complicated for us to continue to publish on a platform they are resolved to wreck.
We would love to publish a final edition on this site as a swan song -- with great content, lots of new music, some salutes to iconic artists, the music of stalwart old friends, and some of the news that's piling up around our ears -- while we search for new digs.
But we expect Google will eliminate our publishing tools and replace them with their unworkable new crap before we can get a new edition ready to go out to you.
So, we decided to share some of the comments from OTHERS who publish on their own sites on this platform, so you can see that it's not just us who think Google has rectal-cranial inversion.
You can see, from other publishers' own comments, that some of them began trying to work with the new paradigm early on. As far back as May, it was available to all of us who use the platform. Back then, it looked like an optional shiny new toy. You'll also see that its many unworkable problems were there from the beginning and have never been fixed. AND that it is, nevertheless, being forced on all who publish on the platform -- with no option to retain our tried-and-true, PROVEN tools. There isn't even one single comment by anyone who thinks the forced change is a good idea -- and we waded through all the comments on the user help forum trying to find even one who liked it. Our pair of comments is included, too, allowing you to see that it isn't "just us" who are malcontents or Luddites resisting advances. Because this new thing is idiotic and unworkable.
Hence, we'll let you know, right back here on this site with a necessarily simple post, where to find us in our new cyber home.
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Meantime, here ya go with the evidence proving the truth of all we said about the need to leave this platform.
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Original Poster - James Macko
5/29/20
New version of blogger 2 Recommended Answers
The new version of blogger is a nightmare. I am using the Dynamic View pages. There are so many bugs I can't list them all. I have a set template that I use that makes posting a lot easier. The 'new' blog template has so much new html in it, I can't figure out how to use it. The preview page doesn't show the preview it only takes you to the full blog, with a preview logo on it, not showing the individual post. The ,edit html is so bad and missing codes. The only way to add a picture is by going to the 'compose view'. and doing this only adds extra html not needed, plus when you switch to the 'html view' the picture html gets lost in the extra html so you can't find it. There is so much more I don't have time to explain. GOOGLE please do not remove the old version.
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Frank J. monfranz
6/4/20
I agree with this post, the User Interface sucks big time.
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Aaron Pound
6/8/20
I also agree with this post. The new interface is garbage, from top to bottom. Every change made the interface worse.
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Shreyash Pathak
6/12/20
I also agree with this post. New version of Blogger is worse.
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Ptnik
7/27/20
They are now saying they'll remove the legacy interface by the end of August. I sincerely hope not, as it would be a major setback. The new interface is a lot worse than the old one: density of posts shown per page; complete nightmare to manage scheduled posts, label limit (with no way to manage old labels easily), and so much more. :(
Being a daily blogger user for over 12y without failing a single day, I'm sincerely worried about all the extra time the new interface will make me waste per day, and promote lots of errors and headaches...
I've been sending feedback - as they suggest - for months, with not a single answer so far.
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Diamond Product Expert
Adam 🍎
7/27/20
@Ptnik.
Good for you for leaving feedback.
You will not get an answer from that--by design Feedback is a one-way channel.
You should however get a screen message acknowledging your feedback. Is that happening?
We have seen many indications that the feedback is affecting the design and the design process.
I do not expect to love the result, but feedback will make it better.
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Original Poster - James Macko
7/23/20
I have sent feedback many times, and nothing gets fixed. I am still having the same issues, and the Legacy version is going away in Aug. I am also having a problem just using the feedback box. You can only type in one character at a time. And the screen capture doesn't work. I'm beginning to think 5-year-olds are working for google. I open this ticket in May and it's now the middle of July. And still not one issue fixed. I know that when this all goes live and the legacy version goes away, google will not make any more changes again until the next update. I also know this blogger help is not where you leave feedback OR even just get help even though it's called 'blogger help". I find it funny... maybe a name change for this blog is due.
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MemorHits Seric
7/23/20
It's so well done that the feedback feature does not work...
With the old inteface you know almost the final result. No big surprise.
With the new it's the contrary. With preview not working with Dynamic View it's like being blind...
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Bev Field
6/21/20
I am horrified that after getting ready to blog again, I can not find a "create Post" button on new version.
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Ferndale Genies
6/20/20
I can't figure out how to post a new blogpost. I guess I will just use the legacy version until they pull the plug.
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User 15328241135990570676
6/20/20
New version is horrendous and not intuitive. PLEASE let users have a choice to use the old one.
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George G 5211
8/6/20
Seems the new version is an answer to problem of canceling old culture for the new narrative. PRAY & VOTE!
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Danny Chia
7/31/20
I'm surprised someone would give the OK to release the new version in its current form. You'd think a web developer at Google would be smart enough to realize that it's very hard to use.
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Alessio Mannucci
7/31/20
what the f*ck are you doing idiots ruined all my old posts how do I restore them?
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Roger Wink
7/30/20
I, too, am very concerned with the new interface. I have used Blogger now for fourteen years and have been able to format everything on my posts the way I want them. The new interface, especially for graphics, is a major problem.
There is now no way that I have found to move graphics to where you want them on the page. The old interface was drag and drop. This one, when you try to move it, it snaps right back to the left side of the page. In addition, the controls on the graphic which supposedly let you left, center and right justify, do nothing.
I sincerely hope that they don't do away with the old interface until they can provide a proper solution to graphics handling.
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Amir A.
7/30/20
Same problem here: Preview just shows the main page, both on desktop and on mobile. The old interface still works just fine. Is it time for #Blexit? Why are complete amateurs being allowed to mess everything up? Or is this Google's way of encouraging us to use their advertisers instead of Blogger?
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Ben Willi
7/28/20
Hello,
In New Blogger Interface, when I search for Labels in a new post and after I mark that specific Label and search for another Label to mark a new one then all my previously marked Label selection removed itself and all Labels selection removed when I stop searching. This is a serious bug because I am NOT able to create new posts with multiple Labels like 5 to 10 by Searching it Adding it. Please fix this issue ASAP before you remove the legacy interface.
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Diamond Product Expert
Adam 🍎
7/28/20
@Ben,
You have described the problem pretty well.
Nobody here is in a position to fix or maintain or delete anything.
Please read some of the information upthread and leave feedback for the developers, who can do all that stuff.
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Bev Field
7/27/20
No, I've not received a reply with info that I need. Answer why a button is/was not available to compose a new post. At age 76, I need simple direct access to compose a new post.
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Gold Product Expert
DarkUFO
7/27/20
Bev, the new post button is the Round Orange Icon with a + symbol in it.
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User 12591312675782961167
8/7/20
LEAVING IN OUR 13th YEAR BECAUSE OF THE IDIOTIC NEW FORMAT.
Our blog, the Acoustic Americana Music Guide, moved to Blogspot in 2008 (coming here from MySpace). And we are leaving. The new "mandatory user interface" is maddening, probably wholly unworkable, and at best so ponderous that no one here is willing to put up with it. Therefore, in our 13th year with Blogspot, we will leave as soon as we find a useable platform that gives us what is no longer accessible here.
Someone among your developers or your new Google masters needs their ass kicked up around their shoulderblades. It wasn't broken. It did not need fixing. It is hopelessly broken now.
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Gold Product Expert
DarkUFO
8/31/20
You need to switch from html mode to compose mode
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User 12591312675782961167
9/1/20
I appreciate your attempt to play problem solver. I am familiar with the two modes offered in what is now the obsolete "legacy" system. It would not toggle between those modes when I attempted to compose in the imposed new format.
It would not do much of anything to make itself user friendly.
I remain disgusted with Google's conquering egotistical technonerds who reinvented something that worked just fine until they ruined it.
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Kelley MacDonald 9756
8/31/20
Please fix this. WHO thought it was a good idea to put this out there with so many bugs? I have a 10 year old blog and a 13 year old blog, and now I have to see if I can learn freaking Wordpress? I use mainly images in my blogs and all I see when I upload them is a massive amount of HTML. I can't work like this.
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Neal A.
8/12/20
I'm having a similar issue to the user who started this thread. I have a blog with almost 3000 entries. When I click on the "pencil" icon, I am not taken to the edit window for that particular post, rather I'm taken to a page depicting ALL of my posts in reverse chronological order. For example, editing a post I published a week ago is easy to access, but I can't see posts older than two months without loading dozens, if not hundreds of pages depending how far back the original entry was posted. This is an absolutely massive defect with the new blogger format. If anyone can offer some advice please do. Thanks.
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bzfgt bzfgt
8/9/20
I can't figure out how to start a topic in this Help Center, I need a Help Center for the Help Center.
I cannot get a post to appear on top. On the internet it says change the date to the future; however, I cannot change the "created" date on my posts.
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Back to you 'n me -- communicating with our readers.
The foregoing has omitted a number of maddeningly repetitive posts by several "Diamond Product Expert" spokespersons. The reason why is made clear by this quote (from a post we include above) from one of them:
"You have described the problem pretty well.
"Nobody here is in a position to fix or maintain or delete anything."
WHAT?! NOBODY THERE IS IN A POSITION TO FIX ANYTHING?!
In other words, they are there to comfort, like a caregiver in a hospice. The system is going to die and all they can do is offer comfort as the lights go out.
Sadly, it is representative of what happens when Google takes over -- an overmerged hegemonistic cyber empire that has made decision after decision based on anticipated revenues derived from obfuscated exploitation of anyone and everyone who comes to any of their owned sites. Because that's what It's about for them. It's NOT based on continuing to serve the global audience of authors and artists, songwriters and reporters, publishers and readers, listeners and viewers, who had made a home here -- inclusive in all those creative and investigative arenas of enlightment sought and enjoyed by THE GUIDE's global readership.
Or perhaps they know, and they are simply invoking a new paradigm to eliminate malcontents so that only corporate voices -- smiling bobble heads -- with access to their expensive and sophisticated software can operate on the platforms they buy and corrupt to do their bidding.
Our shared disgust -- in common with other publishers whose comments appear above -- may soon have no platform anywhere that will accommodate expressing and discussing such things. That is the path of corporate hegemony. But if it comes to a requirement that we parrot how absolutely wonderful the barons of ubiquity are, as they screw everyone over? When they complicate long-established platforms beyond the ability of experienced and RESPONSIBLE writers and reporters and publishers to continue to communicate on them? We'll buy a ditto machine, some carrier pigeons, and publish in the basement.
Arrivaderci and sayonara you, Google. Vaya con los diablos.
And dear reader? We'll see you in the trenches at the revolution that finally ends corporate exploitation and control of EVERYTHING.
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There you have it.
We will return with the address of the new site.
'Til then, Happy Trails!
We are filing no copyright on this edition, because we want it to be easy to share in the techno community. Perhaps that will lessen the chances that some other bunch of ego-driven overpaid cyber empire lackeys will mess with something that isn't broken, and wreck it the way Google wrecked what used to be a wonderful platform.
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THOUGHT FOR TODAY
"To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god."
~ Jorge Luis Borges, writer (born August 24, 1899, died 1986)
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