I opened an account at Technorati in March 2004, claimed this blog, and embedded the code like they told me to. From Day 1 it has not been updating automatically even though I have the Blogger setting to ping automatically. Today, for example, it shows that Bark Bark Woof Woof was last updated 116 days ago, even though I write at least one if not more posts a day.
I thought it was just me and my all-thumbs approach to computer technical issues. But in January 2005 I set up the Bobby Cramer blog to the same settings, and since I don’t update it every day, I was surprised to see that it updates on the Technorati site every day, even though I don’t have the code embedded in the blog like I do with Bark Bark Woof Woof.
Recently it’s gotten weird. I went to “My Account” the other day on Technorati and it showed Bobby Cramer as claimed by me, but Bark Bark Woof Woof as “Unclaimed.” So I tried to claim it and got the error message “There was a problem claiming your blog. Please try again in a few minutes. You can also go to Technorati Help for help claiming your blog.” So I tried again. No such luck. I sent two reports to the “Tech Support” through the “Contact Us” page.
Then I decided, Well, let's see what happens if I "unclaim" Bark Bark Woof Woof, even though it already shows as "unclaimed" and start all over again. Nope, that didn't work; it wouldn't let me claim it. Then I tried it from my redirect URL: www.barkbarkwoofwoof.com. I was able to claim it, but since no one out there has linked to Bark Bark Woof Woof under that URL, there are no links to it. Fat lot of good that does me. Finally I went to my template, deleted the embedded Technorati code since I figured that might be causing the problem, and tried claiming it again. Nope: “There was a problem claiming your blog. Please try again in a few minutes. You can also go to Technorati Help for help claiming your blog.” Argh.
Apparently they've been having other issues as well. According to their own blog, they've been finding deeply embedded bugs. Either I've found another one, or I'm a techno-dunce.
Technorati has not returned any of my inquires or e-mails, nor do they offer support via telephone -- they go so far as to say that if you call them and leave a message requesting tech support, they won't bother to return your phone call. Their e-mail response says,
Thank you so much for taking the time to drop us a line. If you are reporting a problem you may be having you will be contacted by a support technician once we have had a chance to review your message.A week? Wow. I've heard of being "laid back," but that's carrying it a bit far.
If you don't hear back from anyone within a week, please accept our apologies for the delay as we may be experiencing a backlog in Support. [emphasis added].
So if there's anyone out there that knows how to fix this, let me know either via the comments or e-mail me at mustangbobby AT barkbarkwoofwoof DOT com (put the @ and the . in the right places).
Update: Tuesday, January 16 -- Well, whaddaya know... someone heard me. I was able to claim this blog when I tried again this morning.
