PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT, ‘COMMENT.g’ & friends

A look at blog-IDs, post-IDs, URLs of blogger.com (blogspot)… reproduced for the benefit of  SLAPP-oppressed bloggers!

© fumigent 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Notes

• This is excerpted from my submission to Court (see context). The Plaintiffs had argued that the presence of PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT occurring in browser caches on my hard disk, associated with certain Blog URLs (unrelated to me), is proof of my publication of articles to the blog. Here I refute that suggestion. A few other false assertions made by the Plaintiffs are also rebutted.
• I publish this with the hope that it will be useful to other SLAPP-oppressed bloggers and technically and forensically challenged Courts.
• Some identifiers that appear below have been redacted for the purposes of this article. They appear struck out, as in ‘abcdefg‘.

Introduction

This article seeks to explain in non-technical terms, in relation to blogs on ‘blogger.com’ (blogspot) including blog-IDs, post-IDs, and keywords such as PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT, navbar.g, COMMENT.g, etc.

A note on the non-implications of the presence of a web link

The mere presence of a certain web link (URL) on a user’s hard disk does not provide evidence of that user having visited the corresponding web page that the web link points to.

Characteristics of Blogs in blogspot.com

The web domain “blogspot.com” is operated by blogger.com (a Google company). It hosts millions of blogs. The blog ‘XXXXX‘, whose main web link is   http://??????.blogspot.com,
is one of them.

(Other popular blogging systems such as WordPress and Live Journal are not included in the rest of this discussion, as we narrow our focus specifically to blogspot.com blogs).

Blog ID’s

Each blog is assigned a unique numerical ID. For example,  the blog ID of ‘forXXX??????XXXX.blogspot.com’ is 1234…...

Articles,  “Posts”, and Post ID’s

Each blog consists of several blog articles (“articles”).  For example, the ‘XXXXX’ blog contains about 85 articles.

Articles are sometimes called “Posts” — but that terminology is unfortunate and is best avoided, as it often leads to confusion between the noun, “Post” (meaning article) and the verb,  to “post”, referring to the act of “posting” which involves either the writing of an Article or the writing of a Readers’ Comment.

Each article has a unique ID called the “post-ID” which uniquely identifies that article within the blog.  For example, Post ID 12345….. identifies the article titled “ASSET EXAMS” in the XXXXX blog.

Analyzing web links related to a specific blog and/or article

It can be seen from the above that web links specific to a blog can be identified (or filtered) by specific “BlogID=” keyword, e.g. “BlogID=123456789”.

Similarly, a web link specific to a certain article can be identified (or filtered) by specific  “postID=” keyword, e.g. “postID=8531284380621099.

The two keywords can also be used together to obtain precise matches with a well defined scope of search.

Web Links for reading, writing, editing (updating)

The most common use of a blog involves a reader reading existing content on the blog (“read access”, also known as “normal traffic”).

However, a blog can also be written to,  e.g. –

• when a blogger writes an article on a blog, or
• when “readers” of a blog record their comments on a blog article.

The web links that come into play during the writing of articles or comments on a blog, are distinct from web links that accompany “normal traffic”,  that is, reading of the blog.

Likewise, other actions such as  “updating” or “editing” of specific content is accompanied by distinct types of URLs that characterize the action being performed.

The following table shows  different types of web links associated with these different actions being performed on a blog.

Web-link type	Associated action	Example of such a web link, and remarks
(Main Page)	A user (reader) viewing (reading) the main page of a blog	Example: http://test.blogspot.com/
(Specific Article)	A user (reader) viewing (reading) a specific article of a blog	Example: http://test.blogspot.com/2005/04/testing.html
Navbar.g	A user (reader) viewing (reading) a blog page which contains a navigation bar.	Example: http://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID=12124915&blogName=testing&publishMode=PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT&navbarType=BLUE&layoutType=CLASSIC&searchRoot=http%3A%2F%2Ftest.blogspot.com%2Fsearch&blogLocale=en_US&homepageUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ftest.blogspot.com%2F “Navbar” is the navigation bar which usually appears at the top of most blogs on blogspot.com due to the manner in which a typical blog web page is constructed.
Publish-confirmation.g	A user (writer, author or editor)  submitting a blog article to blogger.com, for publication	Example: http://www.blogger.com/publish-confirmation.g? blogID=24069595&postID=7449672810113528192 &timestamp=1178898790159&javascriptEnabled=true
Post-edit.g	An author or editor editing a blog article	Example: http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g? blogID=24069595&postID=7449672810113528192
Comment.g	A reader clicking on the ‘Post a Comment’ link appearing below a certain blog article.	Example: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34478440&postID=8789971791566103495&isPopup=true Possible intent of the user is to enter a  a comment into the blog. User’s choices are: 1) preview the comment (any number of times) 2) finalize and post the comment or 3) abort the action
Comment.do	A reader previewing or posting a Reader’s Comment.	Example: https://www.blogger.com/comment.do The reader would be on a ‘Post A Comment’ form when this action happens.

Table:  Different types of web links and actions associated with them

Web links involving writing of Readers’ Comments

A web link of the type “COMMENT.g” includes the “blogID=” and “postID=” keywords that help to specify precisely the blog in question, and the article in question. This type of web link indicates that the user clicked on the “Post A Comment” link displayed under a specific article within a specific blog.

A web link of the type “Comment.do” indicates the previewing OR submission of a Reader’s Comment.

Keyword PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT does NOT indicate an act of writing on a blog

It is important to note that the keyword PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT does not indicate the user writing or publishing a blog (despite the presence of the word PUBLISH therein).

The Google Group web page:

http://groups.google.gg/group/blogger-help-loginissues/browse_thread/thread/69c28e85c645b3de?fwc=1

explains the meaning of this keyword occurring in a web link –  that, PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT indicates only normal web traffic that occurs when a blog is read by a visitor.  A screen shot of the explanation is attached here.

Specifically, the keyword PUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT does NOT indicate writing.

(Please point out errors or omissions, if any. Thank you).