Why I can't use Blogger anymore, the trail of support queries. It has been since Tuesday that I heard from Blogger and they still haven't fixed the bug. I also have problems with my Movable Type installation on Netfirms but at least it posts!

========
Oohh... a response giving me hope from Blogger support!

- Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: Blogger Support [mailto:support@blogger.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 8:50 PM
To: Dan Housman
Cc: dan@danhousman.com
Subject: Re: FTP port problem with ISPs/remotely hosted blogs (port)

Hi Dan,

Thanks for writing in and for your continued patience. A bug is being
addressed by the development team to resolve the issue you're having.
Please be assured that the bug will be fixed soon. I apologize for any
inconvenience it may have caused.

Sincerely,
Christine
Blogger Support

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: "Dan Housman"
Subject: FTP port problem with ISPs/remotely hosted blogs (port)
Date: Sun, 29 May 2005 11:45:42 -0400

I unfortunately have to report a critical problem to Blogger.

I am having trouble with my blog from Blogger and can't fix it from the
ISP
side because Blogger apparently changed a setting with regards to FTP
ports
near May 17th. The problem is that any posting errors with the error
"Broken
Pipe". This error is entirely new as it hadn't occurred until after the
last
post I had made which was on May 17th in my blog
http://www.danhousman.com/blogger/ .

The report back from the ISP is as follows below. The standard support
forms
do not reply with any information even after a week of waiting and I don't
see that this is listed in the knowledge base for support anywhere. I like
using Blogger as a service but if the blog doesn't publish it will force
me
to switch to a service that I can post to and have the blog publish.
Netfirms is not a minor ISP but has 2 million web sites hosted. Please
advise me whether this is a problem that the blogger team can/will fix or
if
I should switch to another service.

Unfortunately as a service .... having the system work well and then
suddenly not work and not responding at all to requests for information
seems to break Google's motto of not being "evil" which is why I chose to
work with Google's services in the first place.

- Dan Housman
dan@danhousman.com
617.216.9921
Skype: dhousman

-----Original Message-----
From: Netfirms Support [mailto:support@netfirms.com]
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 11:47 AM
To: Dan Housman; dan@danhousman.com
Subject: RE:{Interaction#002-003-364} [us-en] FTP/Publishing -
www.danhousman.com

Hello,

Thank you for your e-mail.

Please be advised that the Netfirms FTP servers accepts FTP connections in
passive mode (standard) which covers a port range of roughly 49000-65000.
That is, these ports are kept open on the firewall to receive these
connections.

When blogger.com connects, it seems to ignore the suggested range and
tries
something that is blocked by the firewall (<49000). As a result, the data
connection is never made and the FTP server sends a broken pipe error via
the control channel.

Normally, a renegotiation takes place, but these too seem to be failing.
We
suggest that you contact blogger.com support to resolve this issue with
them
as it appears that their configurations may have changed recently.

Tutorials, demos, and answers to over 90% of your questions may also be
found immediately at our Self-Help Support Centre:
http://www.netfirms.com/support/

Regards,

Todd
Netfirms Inc.
www.netfirms.com