A Blogger's Privacy, Email, and Ads.txt File Issues

Producing a "free" blog comes with some monetary legal issues, but workarounds are available for some issues.

This week I tried to concentrate on developing privacy policies for all the websites and blogs and etc. under my umbrella of Hyperdivergent.com. I got caught up in MX and A and TXT, though, and if you've delved into domain transfers, you know exactly what I mean.

As a result, I'm doing a lazy thing. I managed to make the email for Hyperdivergent work for all the sites under that domain for a while. What a relief, as I’m no MX expert. Although that issue doesn’t cost a dime (unless I want to hire an expert), the complications were taking up a great deal of my time. That’s money on my books.

There's nothing free, really, in the “free” blog world. I did get a rough draft of a privacy policy, but one legal document for free is all most legal sites will allow. I would make one at one site and make one at another, but I think I'll hire my attorney friend to help me out instead. That will cost lunch at best, probably a few hours of her time at most.

In the process of finding privacy policies and Terms of Service (TOS), I discovered that you could upload your own documents for your site here at Substack. Although Substack carries their own privacy policy, they suggest the writers here also carry one for protection, since we’re also collecting names and email addresses. On that first linked page, Substack answers a few questions about why you might want to create a privacy policy and TOS and they offer instructions on how to develop those documents on your site.

Goin' Gardening is getting off the ground. I'm not sure I like the template layout, but I can always change it. Right now, content is key. I was frustrated about how to handle Google AdSense, because I kept receiving a warning message about ads.txt and the fact that I didn't have it on any site. Since videos are not my learning mode except for cooking, I took to the web to find instructions. I found instructions to fix the problem both for Blogger and for Cloudflare,which where I transferred my domains when I failed to find two CNAME properties at Tucows/OpenSRS (other folks may have them, I discovered, but I don't).

TechyLeaf carries a simple fix for Blogger especially when compared to Google's attempt to help (I won't share that link, because the instructions are obtuse). For Cloudflare I created a TXT file with the code. But, then there's this issue which I may or may not need to address in the future. Doesn’t seem problematic now. It takes time to learn when your work is correct for anything involving transfers and configurations. Thankfully, I have the patience of Jobette.

This week I also learned how an engine in a Chevy Cruze can overheat when a hose for the coolant leaks. I also learned that there are two hoses and it's best to replace both at once because the service guys need to remove the turbo to get to the coolant hoses. I'm babysitting my grandsons, but I’m also babysitting my coolant reservoir on the daily to make sure it doesn't run out before the shop can take my car and turn it around quickly (about the 12th).

Also, cucumbers are coming in. You can catch a glimpse of my eight-inchers along with two links dedicated to pickling recipes. Also, this month is National Make-A-Will Month. Important, because Americans are lazy or in denial when it comes to making that will. Get on it while you can.

Have a good week!

Photo by Markus Winkler at Pexels.