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Software: Solving Blogger.com's Porn Problem

By Frank Jewett

Education & Training with tech4REpros

January 24, 2008 04:57 AM

A few weeks ago, I received feedback about the Next Blog button at the top of my Blogger.com blog.

One of my visitors had clicked on the Next Blog button to see how different bloggers used the Blogger.com platform to communicate with visitors and was surprised to discover pictures of scantily clad models in suggestive poses. I had clicked the Next Blog button a couple of times when I originally created my blog, but I hadn't seen anything like that.

I clicked the Next Blog button and saw pictures of a toddler. I clicked again and saw pictures of a family pet. I clicked again and saw pictures of scantily clad models in suggestive poses. Indeed, this wasn't the sort of image I wanted for my professional blog. I clicked again and saw outright pornography. Worse yet, the next button had disappeared and I was getting an ActiveX warning. No doubt this was completely unacceptable!

I did some research into Blogger.com's porn problem. Apparently the Next Blog button is an "innovation" designed to create traffic for new bloggers by forwarding viewers at random. The folks at Blogger.com see this as a great feature. I saw it as a deal breaker, given their refusal to police their platform against pornography. The most they will do is display the following warning if a blog has been flagged by viewers.

Fortunately I was able to discover a way to disable the navigation bar at the top of my blog. No navigation bar, no Next Blog button. Now when you visit my blog, you visit only my blog. No toddlers, no family pets, no travelogs, no modern art, and no porn.

To remove the navigation bar from your Blogger.com blog:

Click Dashboard in the upper right to go to your Blogger.com dashboard.
Click Layout next to the name of your blog to modify your template.

Click Edit HTML to directly edit the HTML for your template.
Click anywhere in the HTML window.
Click CTRL + F to search your HTML.
Enter /b:skin and click Find Next.

You will see three lines of HTML that look like this:

Insert the following HTML between the first and second lines of HTML shown above.

/** Kill NavBar Start*/
#navbar-iframe {height:0px;visibility:hidden;display:none}
/** Kill NavBar End*/

The end result should look like this:

Click SAVE TEMPLATE.
Click View Blog next to the Template tab to view your blog.

The Blogger.com nav bar and the Next Blog button should now be gone.

Thanks!

Frank Jewett

Comments(17)

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Bill Roberts

Brooks and Dunphy Real Estate - Oceanside, CA

"Baby Boomer" Retirement Planner

Frank, You are a verible fountain of good information. How do you know this stuff? It is not intuitive, so you had to learn it somewhere. I am really impressed.

If that was your objective, you've succeeded.

Bill Ronerts

BTW I've missed you on my blog. It seems I only run into you on OPB (other people's blogs).

Jan 24, 2008 05:09 AM

Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities

Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

Frank - I'm going to bookmark this and do it. Blogger is easy to use, but like you, I don't care for where that next blog button sends my readers.

Jan 24, 2008 05:29 AM

Frank Jewett

tech4REpros - San Jose, CA

Bill, most of my technical knowledge comes from hours of kicking the tires, reading books, and searching the web. Einstein said genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I think similar ratios apply to any level of knowledge, though the internet has made research a lot less expensive.

Steven, I understand completely. I'm glad my students won't have to worry about that happening to their readers.

Norma, if you have any questions, please let me know. I like the Blogger.com platform and I don't dislike most of the blogs there, but it's nice to be able to focus on business without the distractions and potential pitfalls of the Next Blog button.

Jan 24, 2008 08:17 AM

Jan Wood

None - Gallatin, TN

Frank: Thank you so much for pointing this out to me. I've printed out your code and will edit my blog first thing in the morning. Good grief! I like the blogger platform too and I have a few articles posted on Squidoo... I'll have to check that out as well. I get more google juice from Squidoo (or is it Squido, one or the other).

Speaking of printing, is there anyway to print a blog on AR without having to highlight, then print selection?

Jan 24, 2008 12:02 PM

Frank Jewett

tech4REpros - San Jose, CA

Jan, great question! I had never tried printing from AR before. The results in IE6 were pretty bad. The results from Firefox looked better, but I still wouldn't want to pass them out to clients and prospects. I think you've just hit on another important feature for AR's new outside blogging platform, if not all of AR.

Thanks for the heads up on Squidoo as well!

Frank Jewett

Jan 24, 2008 12:22 PM

Kathy McGraw

CELLing Realty - White Water, CA

Riverside County CA Real Estate

Frank-I was very pleased to see this post.....I made a Blogger Blog many months ago...but do not use it because when I clicked the next button the same thing happened.....and like you I did not want my clients going to a Porn site and thinking I had anything to do with it.

This Post of your could save many of us.......thank you!!!!!!

Jan 25, 2008 05:23 AM

Kathy McGraw

CELLing Realty - White Water, CA

Riverside County CA Real Estate

Frank-I was very pleased to see this post.....I made a Blogger Blog many months ago...but do not use it because when I clicked the next button the same thing happened.....and like you I did not want my clients going to a Porn site and thinking I had anything to do with it.

This Post of your could save many of us.......thank you!!!!!!

Jan 25, 2008 05:23 AM

Ted Baker

Carmody and Associates LLC - Winter Haven, FL

MidFloridaMediation.com

Frank - my personal blog is on the blogger system and I had never even noticed the "next blog" button.

Thanks for the heads up - corrective action to be in place by tonight.

Jan 25, 2008 08:25 AM

Gary Woltal

Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX

Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Frank, thanks for the steps. It seems porn just pops up everywhere these days. It is just the downside of the Internet.

Jan 25, 2008 09:10 AM

Jennifer Fivelsdal

JFIVE Home Realty LLC | 845-758-6842|162 Deer Run Rd Red Hook NY 12571 - Rhinebeck, NY

Mid Hudson Valley real estate connection

Frank- This was useful information to anyone on blogger. Whenever you start something new there are always added layers such as having to monitor your site for unwanted content.

Jan 27, 2008 05:34 PM

Carolyn Gjerde-Tu-Davis

Lyon Real Estate - Davis, CA

Ca Real Estate

I don't use blogger but will pass this on when I can. I would think most professional blogs would not want a lead to easily wander off to someone else's blog or site anyway.

Jan 27, 2008 05:53 PM

Frank Jewett

tech4REpros - San Jose, CA

I hope Blogger will make the Next Blog button optional in their next version.

Thanks to everyone who responded!

Frank Jewett

Jan 28, 2008 03:27 PM

Ted Baker

Carmody and Associates LLC - Winter Haven, FL

MidFloridaMediation.com

Frank - thanks again. Very useful.

I miss the sign in button that was on the navigation bar, but I can get there another way.

Jan 30, 2008 10:18 PM

Frank Jewett

tech4REpros - San Jose, CA

Ted, I miss the sign in button, too. You might want to add one somewhere on the page.

Jan 31, 2008 02:40 AM

Norma Brandsberg

Marks Realty Co. Inc., Lynchburg, VA, 540-586-9496 - Forest, VA

Interesting post. Is there anyway of transferring the posts here over to Blogger.com?

Mar 28, 2009 07:34 AM

Shelly Dawson

Serras - New York, NY

Do you have problems finding quality porn? Perhaps I was lucky with this, because I always manage to find something cool and high quality. For example, I'm sure that everyone is aware of such resources as Onlyfans, Fansly and Manyvids, but they are paid. And the cool thing is that you can click over here to access this content for free. I think that this will definitely be useful to many.

Sep 21, 2023 08:48 AM

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