blogger issuing diagnostic codes 3

Blogger Issuing Diagnostic Codes #3

One of the complaints about the mysterious problem codes is that we

have no glossary to explain what they mean. All that we really need,

though, is the ability to associate the individual problems with each

other, and distinguish the different problems from one another. We

don't care about the universe of all possible problems, just the

problem that we're looking at right now.

If we're looking at someone who's reporting a bX-wj8w1r, maybe we want

to see everybody else with the same problem. So we search on

bX-wj8w1r. We can see all of the cases found, examine the stated

symptoms en mass, and see what the actual problem is. Since we know

that nobody describes their symptoms the same way, seeing all of the

reports of the same problem, together, is much easier if we use the

code.

One of the problems with problem analysis is that dissimilar problems

get lumped together, but similar problems are never reported together.

It's impossible to analyse "login problems", because there are so many

different problems, yet so many ways that any specific login problem

can be described.

Look at my article Help! My Blog Is Gone! for an example of how many

symptoms might be reported for one problem, yet how many individual

problems might cause one symptom.

If we assign a "bx-" code to each specific problem, we can aggregate

the problems and find out, at any time, how many people are being

affected by a malfunctioning login script. Maybe we'll find that the

people reporting a new problem just updated their personal firewall,

which is now blocking a login script from running.

Another use for the codes is the ability to see what new problem is

being reported. If we simply search for "bx-", and look at the most

recent reports, we can see that.

The value of the "bx-" code is that it's a unique string. You'll

probably not find "bx-" part of anything but these problems. If I

searched for "rat" on the web, I'd find hits from "borat",

"congratulations", and "rationalization", among others. If I search

for "bx-", it's pretty likely that all hits will be people discussing

a Blogger problem.

That will make it possible to script a search, and compile a dynamic

glossary at any time. Just search for "bx-", sort by date descending,

and see what you get.

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