Blogger Adds Reporting Flag to Blogspot Blogs

Posted on August 18, 2005

Blogger has added a "Flag as Objectionable" button to blogs on BlogSpot.com. The flag will appear on the navigation bar (Navbar) on Blogspot.com blogs once a new post has been made on the blog. Blogger provides a FAQ for the new flag that allows Blogger members to report objectionable blogs. It says the flag button enables the entire blogging community to identify objectionable content and refers tot he Wisdom of Crowds as the logic behind it.

When a person visiting a blog clicks the "Flag?" button in the Blogger Navbar, it means they believe the content of the blog may be potentially offensive or illegal. We track the number of times a blog has been flagged as objectionable and use this information to determine what action is needed. This feature allows the blogging community as a whole to identify content they deem objectionable. Have you read The Wisdom of Crowds? It's sort of like that.

Blogger has received criticism for having a large number of spam blogs. Mark Cuban recently threatened to exclude Blogspot bloggers from the IceRocket.com search engine because of the large volume of spam blogs located there.

Bloggers James Kew says there has been a lukewarm reaction to the flags and points out that some bloggers were confused by Google's "republished" term.

It sure seems like the word "update" would make more sense than "republish." Some of the reaction from BlogSpot members has also been unfavorable.