Wednesday 10 July 2019

Denied


Over the past couple of weeks I've started to notice a number of issues with blogger. Initially when I imported images to posts they would appear fine, but when I returned to the draft it would only show broken image links. Now, as soon as I place an image, I get the little broken pic icon. But this is only an issue for me as I'm certain it is down to the IT policy I have to contend with during my lunch break. Over the past few years it has got progressively stricter, I can't access Google Drive and I can't access my blog [or any blog that references 'games' - you can see the issue there]. I found some loopholes [that were subsequently plugged] and adopted Google comments so I could still respond to people, but that was ultimately doomed by google itself.

Which bring us to now - either the IT policy has changed, the slight shift by Google to how Photos and Drive interacts has precluded access or I have had my access curtailed [the usual dialog box is short on the usual explanations why I'm denied which feels suspicious].

Anyway, what does this all mean? Writing my blog was a lunch time exercise, something I used to de-stress and re-balance for the remainder of the day. When I write a blog post I import all the images and then go back through adding pertinent commentary above each image, using the image to inform the text. You can appreciate that is challenging if I can no longer see the image I'm trying to take inspiration from. Which means I'm left with a number of options:

Blog without commentary - not my style. The images are important, a record of my achievements and what you the reader is most interested in but the writing is what I have to get out of my head - I've said many times this is my 'hobby pensieve'. Without the text I'd feel stressed. 
Blog at home - this is the most likely answer, but not without its own challenges. I don't have a stable setup in the man-cave for internet access - the wi-fi is sketchy. But more importantly if I'm out in the shed I want to be doing the hobby. That was the joy of the current system, blogging when I couldn't paint. But if I'm to keep the blog going I'll have to set aside some time do it, how that manifests in regular posts I don't know. 
Use our 'standalone' laptop - feasible, except for the fact I just got a new work laptop [after 6 years] and it would be ridiculous to be getting that out regularly for blogging even if it is my lunch break...
Switch to a different platform - this isn't really an option but I did have a quick a look at Wordpress, just to see if it was more compatible. There seem to be a number of things to help migrate blogger but importing pics from Google Photos only appears to work one at a time, which is no good for me. There would be a lot of work migrating over and I'm pretty sure I'd have to start paying for the service to get some of the things blogger delivered for free.
Blogging at home seems to be the only feasible option, which is incredibly frustrating. I'm currently really struggling with the hobby, my mojo had fizzled out mainly because I couldn't face that darn Dark Shroud but I finally picked up Y'thari's Guardians and I've had a couple of hours of productive painting. It may not have achieved my vision of autumnal Silver Birch, but I could create that in half a dozen different variations anyway and it's still early days, so I should wait until it's complete to judge but the potential is evident.

In conclusion, the blog's been chopped off at the knees and I'll do what I can to keep it going but the motivation to do so is in direct competition for the limited motivation/time I have to do the actual hobby I want to write about - something has to give. It's not dead but after [nearly] 9 years it might have to start taking it easy for a while [I can't see the policy changing, if indeed that is the cause, but who knows...]. I know everyone will be fine with whatever I post, I'm just frustrated that this situation is out of my hands.

15 comments:

  1. Ironically I can now read my blog again [over our network]. The blog itself is no longer denied, but the pictures are!

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  2. Stick with it. It would be sad to loose one of the sites I go to.

    To that end, just do what you can. there are always hang ups doing this blogging thing.

    Is there another solution? Perhaps a thumb drive with your images and then importing directly into the articles?

    Hoping that things smooth out for you and the site.

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    1. Thanks for the support Natfka. I have one 'white listed' solid state drive I can plug in but even if I went through copying the images onto it blogger offers the option to 'upload'. That puts those images in the 40kaddict blog folder which has a 1000+ images on and takes forever to load. I've since adopted quarterly image albums to try to minimise the amount of pics I'm previewing and help keep track of things. But once it's been uploaded it's still referencing on blogger from the Google domain and so = broken.

      Alternatively I link the images from URLs, but you can only do that one at a time from the blogger interface. However I could use the HTML interface to copy/paste a batch of URLs it then I can't see the previews in advance and sometimes I need to reorder the pics to suit the article, not necessarily in the order they were taken.

      Its a proper conundrum and I'll do everything I can not to give up but it's definitely not going to help me (both creatively and mentally) in the way it has up to now.

      All good things...

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  3. I've just had an email about google changing how Drive and google photos will work. maybe it's something to do with this?

    Keep it up, I'm sure things will work out and you have plenty of readers eager to see your models.

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    1. That is definitely one of the options, the fact it coincides with the issue makes it a potential reason but unlikely to be fixable unless they change their policy.

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  4. Mate, sounds like it’s your Company policy firewalls, I cannot upload images via work, but can write and edit posts.

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    1. Yeah, it's just how it's suddenly changed and the dialog doesn't give too many clues. It is what it is, I'll just have to make time.

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  5. I can't even use Gmail at work now. Even though this is how I submit my invoices. Of course, the wifi is free and everyone just sits on the toilet and browses their phone. The world has gone mad.

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    1. Yeah, we've no access to Gmail either. We have a separate wi-fi access point but I'm not sure if the new laptop should be connected to it.
      Alternatively you can send posts by email but again that'll require me to pull in the URLs for images which will be a faff and I spotted the Denied image above didn't format correctly to be 'medium sized' so I can't guarantee the formatting via email.

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  6. That's a shame hopefully it won't stop you from blogging. One other thing that I don't know if it will make a difference but I always get a warning in the address bar for your blog, warning that the site isn't secur. I don't get this for any other blogs and don't know what it actually means but it might be something?

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    1. I had HTTPS Redirect turned off, so it might be you were being directed to the http site. I've switched it on so see if you still get the warning...

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  7. Does blogger have an app you could use? A lot of my updates are drafted in the Wordpress app and then I just do a couple of SEO tweaks on the laptop to publish.

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    1. Hi Rory, yes there is an official app, and I've also tried a third party one. They both suffer from not syncing the drafts between your mobile device and online (either wholly or effectively). On top of that typing the whole thing out on my phone would be such an onerous task. I occasionally write posts just using the rowser on my phone, it's a better option than an app but it's still hard going. I've even thought about getting a chromebook in the past so I can type away on the train to work, or home, using my phone for the data link, but I've never got on with a trackpad and haven't got £170 to spare for the minimum spec I'd be happy with. I'll figure something out.

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  8. That's really frustrating mate, sorry to hear you are having troubles. I have felt my own momentum grinding down the past couple of months; the heart is there I think, but time is becoming such a rare commodity. I have always blogged from home, so sacrifice some hobby time each week to it. My number of posts this year has been really down though.

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    1. I'd become quite comfortable with my Monday and Friday posts, which gave me the capacity for a 'micro-post' on a Wednesday or where appropriate. I'm not moved so much by post count but the erosion of my record. If the process becomes harder I will be less inclined to make the effort, which will mean I don't bother to record what I'm doing! Without those pictures and words I'll feel incomplete...

      I'll find a solution, it may well be the standalone...

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