Saturday, 3 November 2012

Help

When I opened my blog this afternoon I discovered that a blog had been added to my reading list.  It is not a blog I am interested in (very graphic adult material) but I cannot find a way to remove it from my reading list.  And no, I didn't add it in the first place.

Do any of you have any ideas?  There are at the moment about twenty posts from this little ray of sunshine cluttering up my reading list.  There doesn't seem to be a follow me widget on the blog.

Bleah.

61 comments:

  1. It might be a spam insert. Who maintains your reading list? (Mine is Google Reader and they have a help forum)
    If the blog is on Blogger platform there is a facility to flag it as inappropriate content, or somesuch complaint.

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    1. dinahmow: I have flagged it as inappropriate (which is an understatement) but I want it out of my reading list as well

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  2. Oh, bleah, indeed - I wish I could help; however, I am fairly inept at most things technical - one reason I don't blog :) Hope someone can help you.

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    1. jenny_o: I would love it if you ever did take the plunge. Goodness knows I am not ept in things technical.

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  3. I have had problems with Google Friend Connect. It seems there are a handful of bloggers out there that can't delete people from their list. I am one of them.
    This link helped me but I am still not able to get rid of everyone that I want. It is a start thouhg. Hope it helps but it might not.

    http://www.villageidiotsavant.com/2012/11/managing-blogs-in-googles-discontinued.html

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    1. Birdie: Thank you so much for the link. At first it seemed to be the answer to my problem. Then I got caught in a spiral of connecting to Google and getting no further. Sigh. It seems I may not be able to delete blogs from my list either.

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  4. The only way I would know is to hide it from your reading list, I'm not sure how to delete, but I know I have hidden in the past. Hope that helps.

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    1. Kakka: I cannot manage the site well enough to hide it either - and believe me, I would love to.

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  5. I wish I could help, but I haven't yet worked out how to delete blogs I no longer read.
    Kakka suggests hiding, can you please explain how to do that?
    Now, of course, I'm going back and check what's in my reader.

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    1. River: The link that Birdie gave looked as if it would be perfect and, judging by the comments, it was for many people. I don't seem to be one of them and hope that it is not just a screw loose in the operator. Or maybe I do hope that, because then the problem would be resolvable.

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  6. I wish I could help. I was thinking you meant the reading list to the right there, but I guess you mean your reader? I never use the reader - I just link my favorite blogs and read them as I see they have updated.

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    1. Lynn: Yes I do mean my reader and drat it all it is still there in all its ugliness this morning.

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  7. Oh EC I wish I could help you but I am almost totally inept at anything do with computers and even wonder at times how I managed to start a blog!! I do hope you can find a remedy as you certainly don't want distasteful unwanted 'stuff'. I wish you well.

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  8. This happened to me once and I was able to delete it but can not remember how. Did you check to see if you are listed as a follower on the offending bloggers list? If you are there, you can unfollow him/her. Also try Google Help. I have not been on that lately and they do change things often but you used to be able to enter a question and tech support would help. However, it might take a day or so for them to get back to you.

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    1. Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe: I am not listed as a follower - it shows no followers. I have asked Google Help and am waiting for a response.

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  9. The only thing I can think of is to delete the entire widget and start over. I have deleted some blogs that I once followed on Reader, but now I just ignore them. If you do figure this out, EC, please post about it so others will be able to use the information. I wonder how in the world people can insert themselves into our blog material. Shudder!

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    1. Djan: Yes, it is worrying that someone can pollute our reading list. Very worrying.

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  10. On your dashboard, to the right there is a gear shaped icon that when you hover over it says "manage reading list." When you click on that, you see all the blogs you follow on your list. Each one has a "settings" option. Click on that. It will open a new window and you have the choice to UNfollow the blog.

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    1. Cindi Summerlin: That was one of the first things I tried. It seems to have been disabled. I can click on the gear icon. When I get to settings it asks me to sign in. I sign in. Settings is still there and the cycle continues.

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    2. After you sign in, are you clicking on "Settings" and then on the option to "Stop following this site" for the particular blog? How odd that it isn't working... perhaps Blogspot is revamping their site again (hate that!)

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    3. Cindi Summerlin: After I sign in, I click on settings and it asks me to sign in again, and again, and again. I don't ever see a 'stop following'. Sigh.

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  11. Aren't we all a bunch of help! I shall look into my own reader and see if I can come up with something but I fear i'm as inept as the rest! DJan had a good idea! Anyway, I'll come back if I come up with anything useful. Good luck!

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    1. Cathy Oliffe-Webster: I am not even certain that the reading list has a widget, but if it does I suppose that is the next step. A long and time consuming step.

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  12. OK, so I went to my dashboard and clicked on this: Manage blogs on your Reading List

    To manage blogs on your Reading List, click the gear icon on the right side of the list. (it looks like an arrow pointing up and to the right)

    Then, click Settings next to the blog you'd like to manage. You can stop following the blog, change whether you'd like to follow publicly or privately, and select to publish your activities to other sites you have joined (this setting will display this particular blog with your profile on the other sites you have joined).

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  13. I hope you fix your problem.

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  14. It's not hard to remove someone from your reading list.....
    1. go to dashboard
    2. opposite where your reading list starts, on the right hand side of your screen there is blue writing "view in google reader" and a gear icon
    3. click on the icon
    4. a list of your blogs that you follow will appear, each separated with a line...to the right on this page you will see the words public in black and settings in blue
    5. click on settings
    6. you will be offered a choice to sign in with..I use google..sign on (there is a possibility that your system may skip this step depending on if you are already signed on to google)
    7. you will be taken back to the screen with your listing
    8. choose settings again
    9. choose stop following this site
    10. you will be asked to confirm
    Hope this helps.
    that's all there is to it

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    1. mybabyjohn/Delores: It doesn't work, sadly. I also use Google sign in, and it just cycles around there. I cannot get anyfurther. Drat it.

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    2. After you sign in it should take you back to the listing with the lines between at which point you chose settings again....and then at this point it goes back to asking you to sign in again????? You need the help desk.

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  15. Dear EC, the listing by "mybabyjohn/Delores" sounds promising. I'm going to try that for myself as I've had some trouble also. I hope yours is cleared up soon. I know you must be concerned about postings/notifications you don't want to even know about. Peace.

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    1. Dee: Sadly mybabyjohn/Delores' tips didn't work for me.

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  16. Scary that someone can get in there and do that. I am technically Inept [please note the capital "I"...] But I sure have my fingers crossed for you that some of these helpful suggestions will work for you.

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    1. Molly: It is very scary, and I don't know quite how to fix it.

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  17. Yikes! I was going to give you the same advice as mybabyjohn...I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that someone has figured out a way to do this. Although it's icky.

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  18. Oh what a big red hemorrhoid! I went thru this once trying to unsubscribe from a blog, but I got it done thru repeatedly using the option everyone else has explained. It took about 5 or 6 days for it to work, and I too was thrown off with the "sign in" twerpy malfunction. How frustrating!!! Sorry, EC!

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    1. Austan: I cannot tell you how reassuring it is to find that someone else had this problem. I may just devote some time to removing this nastiness each and every time I log on.

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  19. Spammers should all have hot tar poured in their nostrils, you ask me!!

    I don't know if this will be of any use to you or it's yet another thing you've tried that doesn't work for you, but here you go...

    http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=126128

    I have bookmarked my "Blogs I'm Following" page where I can manage them (including deleting them) because it was such a Byzantine route to find the page I always had trouble.

    I agree that if none of this helps, try the help desk or a forum. Or perhaps by now you've found the issue and fixed it, which I hope you have!

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    1. Laloofah: I agree with your wishes re spammers. I believe that one should be asked if one wants to see genitalia. Or copulation. Believe me, it is a really, really nasty site. I have reported it to Blogger as well.
      In the meantime none of the suggestions you wonderful people have given me work. Hiss and spit.

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  20. Well dookie, that link doesn't take you to the page from whence it came! This is probably useless, but I copied what the page said, though the links probably won't work this way and you probably already know all this anyway...

    Blogs you're following
    There are a couple ways blogs show up on your "Manage Blogs I'm Following" page. Through Blogger you can follow a blog via the following gadget on the blog or you can add the blog directly to your Reading List. Blogs will also show up on your "Manage Blogs I'm Following" page if you've joined a site with Google Friend Connect.

    From the "Manage Blogs I'm Following" page, you can edit your settings for each blog you are following. To do so, click the "Settings" link next to the blog you want to edit. You will then be shown a pop-up page with your profile and the settings for that particular blog:

    You can then select to stop following the site, select to follow the blog anonymously or publicly, and select to publish your activities to other sites you have joined (this setting will display this particular blog with your profile on the other sites you have joined).

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    1. Laloofah: Each time I get to settings it asks me to sign in. I do so. The pop window disappears. I click on settings. It asks me to sign in.... Aaaaargh.

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  21. It's a little disconcerting to read all those helpful suggestions and find out they don't work for you.

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    1. River: It is disconcerting, infuriating and sad. I have reported the blog, as its content is very, very graphic. Ideally Blogger will shut it down. In the meantime, my problem remains.

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  22. This is rotten! And seems as though it might be a temporary google glitch. i'd keep pressing on with requests for help from blogspot and what not. And let them know that something's afoot - as a blog added itself to your reader! That's scary!

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    1. daisyfae: And such blog to have added. I have tried again today, and the problem remains. Hiss and spit.

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  23. I am appalled to read of your troubles with this. Alas, all the suggestions I was about to make have been suggested above, tried by you and found wanting. Contact Blogger? Suggestion born of desperation - a last throw of the die... Hope something/someone turns up trumps for you.

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    1. Dave King: I am bothered that someone could 'insert' themselves, and equally bothered that I cannot remove them. I will keep trying. Thank you.

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  24. Do you mean blogs in under your title of reading? Go to what is your dashboard, then layout and you should have your 'reader' listed to edit and remove anyone. But even easier, if you are logged into your blog, you should see a spanner and screwdriver symbol at the bottom of the list to edit things and just follow through the process.

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    1. Andrew: The blogs I follow are not (at the moment) listed on my blog. I may have to add the widget and see how that works.

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    2. Andrew: Sadly that didn't work either. I could remove it from the list of blogs I follow, but that didn't stop me following it. Even though the blog in question shows no followers. Or didn't last time I held my nose and diving into it in an attempt to delete myself.

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  25. I was having RRS problems...I read my feeds in Outlook Express (I know, I'm weird) and I couldn't delete anything either. My tool gear settings were not working either.

    So I went to Outlook Express and deleted my feeds there. (right-click, delete) and it was gone! No more problems.

    Google did notify me of a failed hacking attempt on my gmail (my password is complicated) so I changed it to another crazy one.

    Then someone hacked my phone...and upgraded my phone plan. My life is NOT that interesting, I swear.

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    1. Have Myelin? My life is dull, so I cannot see what this individual hoped to achieve.

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  26. Yech!!! That's horrifying to think someone could subscribe you like that. Blogger/Google's unresponsiveness and lack of care regarding my troll problem (something different, I know, but it was an offensive attack on my blog) was the reason I switched blogging platforms. They seriously didn't seem to care or offer viable options for dealing with scum. But I still use Reader... now I'm feeling paranoid and might go have a closer look at my feed... How creepy and disgusting.

    Something Myelin said above gave me an idea that might be grasping at straws, but you never know... Have you tried logging on using a different browser from the one you normally use? There is a major site that gives me nothing but grief with Firefox, but is fine with Safari or Camino. If you are using Explorer, it is notorious for causing all kinds of website mayhem. It may not help, but might be worth trying. Or else Google is just being &(#$% across every platform.

    The one Reader irritation I've had is that there are some blogs I have successfully unsubscribed from.... over and over again. I unsubscribe. It tells me I've unsubscribed. And the next time I log in the blog/s in question will be right back. But they were all things I originally added myself, not something as grotesque and offensive as that hacker spam. YECH.

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  27. Paper Chipmunk (aka Ellen): I may well have to resort to using a different browser in an attempt to get rid of this blog. They fortunately don't blog every day, but the day they landed in my reader I had to scroll part more than a doxen photos of genitalia. Bleah.

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  28. On the top of all blogs you will see the word- 'more' click on it- then click on 'report abuse'.
    I suggest you report this blog to Blogger as Offensive. Ask Blogger for help in removing it from your Reader list.

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    1. Pam:): I have done both of those things. I hope Blogger gets back to me soon.

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  29. EEEEEEESH!!!!! I hope it is disappeared muy RAPIDO!!!

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    1. Nicky HW: Sadly it is still there. The little petal hasn't posted for a while, so I am spared updates. Shudder.

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