Tonight I noticed a flaw in MyBlogLog while tracking some of the comments I have made in blogs over the past two days.
MyBlogLog is a bloggers’ community where members can register their blog info, headshots, and other information so, on member blogs, readers and the blog owners can view the MyBlogLog members who visit and comment on blogs.
Essentially, it’s a one stop shop for setting avatars on blog comments, connecting with other blog readers, and tracking who reads your blogs.
I had never signed up for MyBlogLog, but tonight I had reason to. Seems that even though I am not a registered member of MyBlogLog, they are serving a photograph next to their partner blogs that I leave comments on, such as MarketingPilgrim or TechCrunch.
Only one problem with this, the photo MyBlogLog is serving is not mine.
Instead the photo served is of Carsten Cumbrowski, a good friend of mine in the search engine world and contributor to Search Engine Journal. It seems that when Carsten signed up with MyBlogLog, he listed Search Engine Journal as one of the blogs that he authors.
There is no harm in what Carsten has done here, since by contributing to Search Engine Journal he is indeed an author.
The problem with MyBlogLog is however, that I am the owner of SEJ and when I enter www.searchenginejournal.com as my URL in comments on blogs which use MyBlogLog, Carsten’s photo shows up.
So, in order to claim my piece of the MyBlogLog pie I go to register where I can upload my own photo and hopefully claim my own blog. As an idealist, I’m assuming that MyBlogLog should offer blog owners some kind of code for doing so, in the same tradition of Technorati. You know what though, they do not:
This is a pretty major problem with MyBlogLog, as the owner of a blog, I should be able to claim that blog as my own. But judging from the sign up process, there is not a blog verification system for doing so. For a company which is part of the Yahoo family (or soon going to be), such simple verification measures should be a given.
Carsten and I have fixed the problem, but for other blogs and bloggers, and the potential of false communities built around blogs, MyBlogLog may want to look into a more secure form of claiming blogs than raising one’s hand :)
Comments
13 responses so far ↓
Neil Patel on Dec 22, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Have to love MyBlogLog. :)
David Temple on Dec 23, 2006 at 2:09 am
I agree Loren, there is a way to set up more than one avatar per blog as you’ve found out but to be able to claim a blog regardless that’s troublesome. Keep on bloggin’
Loren Baker, Editor on Dec 23, 2006 at 9:16 am
Yes David, you can use MyBlogLog to create a community and claim any blog or site which is not already claimed.
cctech on Dec 23, 2006 at 11:57 am
I agree that that is a problem. I have found a few bugs with MyBlogLog and the response team has fixed them very quickly when I brought them to their attention (bugs [at] mybloglog.com). I am sure they will straighten it out.
Cecil S. on Dec 23, 2006 at 1:12 pm
It’s a shame that a website like MyBlogLog, which is definitely getting attention, doesn’t have a verification system like Technorati.
Loren, ask Carsten to add you as a co-author or something, since I have seen that button on my control panel.
Tamar Weinberg on Dec 23, 2006 at 9:59 pm
Funny you noted this — I posted it about it earlier in the day:
http://www.10e20.com/2006/12/22/mybloglogs-impact-on-the-blogging-scene-and-how-you-can-get-your-avatar-straightened-out/
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the bug is easy to fix as long as Carsten gives you ownership of the blog.
I agree that MyBlogLog needs to make a stricter way of claiming blogs. In the meantime, I’ve suggested that blog authors claim their blogs sooner than later.
CarstenCumbrowski on Dec 24, 2006 at 6:12 pm
We solved it by me removing the blog from my profile which left it abandoned, but all people that joined the SEJ “community” etc. remained.
It was then free to claim which worried Loren a bit, but that status remained only a few minutes and Loren claimed it and sent me the invitation as Co-Author.
What is troublesome is the fact that anybody could have claimed the blog that was already created in MyBlogLog and had a community without a problem.
I agree, they need a system like Technorati’s which works well IMO.
Tamar Weinberg on Dec 24, 2006 at 11:19 pm
Exactly my thoughts, Carsten. I recommended in my other post that blog owners claim their blogs, and for this reason, I’d emphasize that it’s best to do so sooner rather than later, because later may never come if someone claims your blog before you get to. It is not worth the hassle.
David Temple on Dec 24, 2006 at 11:33 pm
The latest blog hijacking comes via cheapseo who claims the following as his/her blogs, seomoz, shoemoney, webguerrilla and oilman’s. Something needs to be done about this for sure.
CarstenCumbrowski on Dec 25, 2006 at 9:50 am
I contacted them. Lets see what they do.
CarstenCumbrowski on Dec 25, 2006 at 9:55 am
I also left a “friendly” comment at the hijackers profile page. :)
David Temple on Dec 28, 2006 at 12:16 am
I saw that, he deleted my comments. It’s all taken care of, good job.
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