So it seems you now need a Google-Account to follow the blog. Sigh...more changes - not necessarily for the good but apparently that is 'progress' or rather controlling.
Copied from the buzzBlogger message:
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.
Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer
Ahh, very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, at least I discovered I wasn't alone in this!
DeleteThat explains it! I'm glad you've uncovered the mystery. (The Scooby Gang helped, maybe?) I follow blogs through feedly and this enables me to keep track of a variety of blogs, sorted by my own categories, and I can save posts, keep some posts unread, and other interesting options. It's really not too difficult to learn and it's free. (I use the free version.) So that's an option for the folks who got booted off your watch list because they don't have gmail.
ReplyDeleteI think the Scooby Gang must be involved in a deep dark case at the moment as I haven't seen hide nor hair of them lately! ;-)
DeleteI will have to look into feedly. Never heard of it until you mentioned it.
All this is beyond me and my very limited IT skills but I can only presume that I must have a Google account as things have remained the same for me here at this end.
ReplyDelete(I basically don't like change for change's sake! Too much agro at my age for me to 're-learn!')
Pretty much beyond mine as well Kendal! I hate change as well, which is why I ended up sticking with blogger several years ago when I did attempt the other blogging platform.
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