OpenID, the Oxymoron of Google commenting?

blogbeacon.jpg Although the OpenID system seems to be a contradiction, the new Google protocol for commenting and other web access may be a blessing in disguise.

The key benefit of OpenID is one username and password is needed at all websites and blogs using OpenID. If this technology works than the days of registering at each site with a different username and different password will be history!

According to Blogger in Draft, Goggle is testing OpenID based commenting which means any OpenID-enabled service like LiveJournal and WordPress can Sign-in and comment on Blogger Blogs using their OpenID accounts.

Google removing the URL field in the comment tab without a press release to the blogging world is still a mystery. Google changed the commenting structure on Nov 30, 2007 according to http://openid.net/ which was the first time the problem surfaced.

Many solutions to this problem have been investigated by the Comment Crusaders and are listed as follows:

1. create a Google/Blogger Account to Sign-in and post a comment,

2. create a OpenID Account to Sign-in, or

3. use the Nickname or Anonymous field and add a Link to your Blog in the comment field using this format:<a href=”http://www.BlogAddress.com”>Blog Name Text</a>

changing the two fields in the link command to your Blog address and Name.

For some Bloggers, Google has rocked the boat one too many times and they are ready to jump off the Blogger Boat without a life preserver into the unknown waters of WordPress. And, Captain Debbie has considered jumping ship but I am waiting for Lobo to publish his prestigious print of WordPress for Dummies!

On a serious note, WordPress takes time to setup, transfer posts, etc. The immediate goal of this post is to help Bloggers set up a OpenID account to allow WordPress Blogs to use their link in the Blogger comments using the following procedure:

1. Enable OpenID support by logging into Blogger in draft

a. go to Settings
b. go to Comments
c. select Anyone under Who Can Comment?
d. click Save Settings
e. Sign out of Blogger in draft

OpenID is now enabled and live on your Blog.

Optional steps to redirect a Bloggers’ comment link from their Bio page to their Blog page:

2. Create a OpenID Account at MyOpenID.

a. recommended to use the username of your blogspot.com addressFor example, nelighthouse is the username of nelighthouse.blogspot.com/
b. complete the form and activate your OpenID account after receiving their eMail.

3. Open the HTML template at Blogger and add the following code right after the <head> tag:

<link href=’http://www.myopenid.com/server’ rel=’openid.server’/>

<link href=’http://username.myopenid.com’ rel=’openid.delegate’/>

<meta content=’http://username.myopenid.com/xrds’ http-equiv=’X-XRDS-Location’/>

Be sure to change the username to your OpenID Username.

4. Before using your OpenID at Blogger comments, Sign In at your http://username.myopenid.com/ account first.

a. Select “WordPress” from the drop-down menu.
b. Enter the full URL address of your Blog (including the http://)
c. For the first time using Blogger OpenID, you will be redirected to the “Trust this site with your identity?” page. Complete the profile once, entering your name in the “Your Nickname” field. Check-mark the “Send this information to the site” field.

Note: This procedure was verified to work for both WordPress Bloggers and Google Bloggers at 10 pm on Dec 06, 2007. Google Bloggers should select “WordPress” and follow the same procedure outline in (4.)

5. If you have problems than please be sure you are Logged into your OpenID Account and Logged out of your Blogger Account.

Another Bug (first noted by phydeaux3): The Sign-in Radio Button becomes unchecked when you preview your comment.

Once this is done, OpenID defaults back to your Bio page not the Blog page address you entered.Solution: Make sure the Sign-in Radio Button is checked and your Blog Address is present before you publish your comment!

_________ end of procedure __________

Based on a recent comment survey at phydeaux3, his OpenID worked on WordPress and Blogger until yesterday.Currently, Google Blogs are receiving OpenID errors…so please don’t expect overnight miracles as we wait for Google to fix their Blogger Bug!

Blogger OpenID is back online as of 10 pm Dec 06, 2007.

Special thanks to Kim, the Poetic Painter of Laketrees, and phydeaux3 who were very helpful as Comment Crusaders! For more information about OpenID, please click on their links.

In order to verify OpenID does work from a WordPress Blog, a free WordPress account can be set up at WordPress.com which I may do in 2008 for general testing purposes.

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22 Comments on “OpenID, the Oxymoron of Google commenting?”

  1. Kim Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    hi
    Debbie
    I still need to create an openid account….
    so thanks for the instructions
    a question?
    how do you get the code to show up as code here
    3. use the Nickname or Anonymous field and add a Link to your Blog in the comment field using this format:
    Blog Name Text

    mine always turns into the link

    I’ve been trying to show code for a badge
    here

  2. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Your welcome, Kim!

    I hope this will answer your question?

    HTML code needs to be tricked into believing a Link code is not a Link code.
    To do this, substitute the “< " with "& l t ;" and ">” with “& g t ;” for every Link in the post. The quotes and spaces were needed to ensure the replacement codes display in the comment. Please use the the characters between the quotes without the spaces!

    The best way to see a complete Link example is to select “View Source” of this post and search for http://www.myopenid.com .

  3. Kim Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    ok Debbie
    I’m testing my google openid here
    fingers x ed :)

  4. laketrees Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    ok …now I’m going to try out the code thing….
    thanks for this Debbie :)

  5. phydeaux3 Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    It seems they fixed the problem using the Any OpenID provider option as they seem to be working now.

  6. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Checking MyOpenID delegated using my blogspot url.

  7. Blog Bloke Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Good post Debbie. This is a test comment using my OpenID. Let’s see what happens.

  8. Kim Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    yay!!!
    you have you’re ID working…
    mine is still not redirecting to my blog…
    I’ll keep trying…. :)

  9. laketrees Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    checking again with claim id

  10. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Hi Bloke,

    1. Did you select WordPress in the Drop-down menu?

    2 Did you enter your Blog Address in the Blog Name Field?

    BLOG NAME: http://www.instabloke.com/

    3. The Sign-in Radio Button becomes unchecked when you preview your comment.
    Once this is done, OpenID defaults back to your Bio page not the Blog page address you entered.

    Solution: Make sure the Sign-in Radio Button is checked and your Blog Address is present before you publish your comment!

    4. Make sure you are Logged into your OpenID Account and Logged out of your Blogger Account.

    Hope this helps?

  11. laketrees Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    trying it again Debbie

  12. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Hi Kim,

    Mission Google OpenID accomplished!

    “laketrees” now links to your Blog address: http://laketrees.blogspot.com/ !!!!

  13. laketrees Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    hehehe Debbie
    I was going to throw the computer out the window if it didn’t work :)
    have you noticed we have lost our avatars when you sign in through openid?
    hmmmmm

  14. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Kim, hmmm… we need more Lost in Space humor!

    Losing our Avatar is one small step for OpenID and one giant leap for all Bloggers!

    Because OpenID redirects our comment Link from our Bio page to our Blog page!

  15. Debo Hobo Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    What’s that saying? “If you can’t beat them join them!”

    Just so I can stay in touch with my favorite bloger blogs I opened a new blog. So there Google.

    Debbie that you for all the hrdwork and effort you put into figure the Google issue out. Now that i dedication to your readers.

    It’s me Debo Hobo :)

  16. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Your Welcome, Debo!

    This Google comment mystery may be a blessing in disguise by wisely having one Blog on Blogger and one Blog on WordPress.

    Hopefully, one Blog will be still floating on the digital waters when the other Blog dives deep into the digital waters.

    I may even do a Blog ménage à trois! A Lighthouse Blog on Google Blogger, WordPress.com, and WordPress.net.

    It will be interesting to see what happens to Page Rank when we triplicate our Blogs!

  17. zamejias Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Thanks a lot for walking is through the “immediate linking to site” process. This post has greatly helped me today.

  18. zamejias Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    And I forgot… my comments are made using the OpenID support. :D

  19. blogbloke Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    As we can see my little experiment here defaulted to my Blogger profile instead of my URL. My results so far have been inconsistent demonstrating the fact that Blogger still some bugs to iron out. Nevertheless, I will try here again and see what happens.

  20. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Your welcome, Zenaida! (Zamejias)

    You have OpenID Lift off!

    And, good advice to leave a direct link in the comment if OpenID fails again.

    Great travel tips in the UK!

  21. Debbie Dolphin Says: MyAvatars 0.2

    Looks like you OpenID Lift off, Bloke!

    I am not sure why you are having inconsistent results.

    I had problems with the 5 lines of code recommend at OpenID, too!
    Wonder if changing it to the 3 lines of code will solve the problem for you?

  22. New England Lighthouse Treasures » Blog Archive » OpenID Phishing Pirates Burn Joan of the Blog Says: MyAvatars 0.2

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