As you probably know by now, AOL Journals is scheduled to be permanently shut down on Oct. 31. It’s never an easy decision to shut down a product, especially one like AOL Journals that some of our members have used and loved for many years. But with a decline in Journals usage, we have to look carefully at all of AOL’s features and products to ensure we’re using our limited development and operational resources in ways that provide the greatest value to the largest number of members as possible.
Though we know this is an inconvenience, the good news is that we've partnered with the good people at Blogger.com to provide a smooth transition for your journal. Blogger is a free service from Google that makes it easy to share your thoughts with friends and the world. Blogger supports most of the features you've come to expect from AOL Journals, and it's easy to get started. If you wish to transfer your journal to Blogger, they will move your posts, comments and photos to your new blog on their service. When you're ready, go to this link to get started.
Though we know this is an inconvenience, the good news is that we've partnered with the good people at Blogger.com to provide a smooth transition for your journal. Blogger is a free service from Google that makes it easy to share your thoughts with friends and the world. Blogger supports most of the features you've come to expect from AOL Journals, and it's easy to get started. If you wish to transfer your journal to Blogger, they will move your posts, comments and photos to your new blog on their service. When you're ready, go to this link to get started.
We've conducted a fair amount of internal testing against the Blogger.com import process over the past few weeks, and have identified a few issues that you may run into:
- Some users may get "Transfer process failed" error when trying to import their AOL Journals. They may need to clear their cookies and try again.
- Badly formatted HTML may cause Embed or Object tags not to be imported.
- Some users may see the import fail during the final "Publish imported posts now" step. Refreshing the page usually solves this problem. Also, some users will be able to go to www.blogger.com to view, edit, and publish their imported blog, even after the failure message.
- AOL Pictures Albums embedded in your Journal will not automatically migrate over during the standard process. Individual images will migrate just fine, but any albums you wish to re-associate with your Blogger blog will have to be done manually, post-migration.
- If your Journal is currently marked Private, you'll have to flip it to public status prior to the migration, otherwise the import tool will not be able to find it. Once you've moved the Journal to Blogger, you'll be able to set it to private again at your leisure.
You can always find the latest list of general Blogger Known Issues here: http://knownissues.blogspot.com and Blogger's AOL Journals Help here: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=112742.
If you are planning to move your Journal to Blogger, we recommend that you help your readers find your new blog by posting a redirect link in your AOL Journal, which will stay live and fully functional until Oct.31.
If you are planning to move your Journal to Blogger, we recommend that you help your readers find your new blog by posting a redirect link in your AOL Journal, which will stay live and fully functional until Oct.31.
39 comments:
Done.
That was really very easy, and the only glitch I found was that when publishing, I got an error. However, that was easily fixed by a simple slap of the Refresh button.
Oh, and it's nice that you included a step in there where we can chose some different layout. Very handy.
Other than that, however, none of my sidebar information transferred over, but I didn't really expect it to. All-in-all, it went great, and now I have a big, fat archive for the early days of my blogging.
Thanks for doing this.
-Dan
http://thewisdomofadistractedmind.blogspot.com/
Thanks for keeping us updated and for the helpful information and links. I gave it a shot and got my new blog up and running on Blogger. I hope everyone has as easy a transition as I did.
Lori
http://lori-pictureperfectinhouston.blogspot.com/
OOPS this should have went here sorry....
Once again:
Hey I wonder what AOL's Kick back was for referring us all to Blogger. Considering it's not an AOL based system, I'd say you wouldn't advertise for free.
*M*
Queenie? Do you make it your point in life to be an obnoxious, knuckle-dragging troll?
There is no kickback, you putz. In fact, you should be thanking Vish and the others who put in this massive effort to save our journals in spite of the wishes to the contrary of the powers that be. If you can't wrap your mind around that, then I just don't know what to say.
Now, I'm done tossing out the troll chow.
-Dan
http://thewisdomofadistractedmind.blogspot.com/
well... I thought I'd give a try... got less then 1/3 thru and froze.. I've been sitting here not moving for a good 10 minutes.. low and behold the link for helping in importing the AOL blog is dead.. the page 'has been moved or deleted'
::sigh::
the email sent to us mentions that the transfer will include the photo's posted on posts in our journal.. will they then disappear over at blogspot when you delete file manager and aol photos??
As the guy who worked closely with Blogger on this deal, I can confirm that Blogger did all the heavy lifting in getting this really neat migration working. As for kickbacks? None. The Journals team wanted to do you all right as possible by this and Blogger happened to share our interest in offering a great experience given the circumstances. I feel they more than succeeded.
Could you please verify ... 'cause I keep hearing/reading different things. I have a private journal ... it I make it public (tor transfer it), will I be losing all my comments?
LORI
I have been migrated but am still concerned about the individual pics in my journal. When you click on a pic it takes you to AOL pictures. If AOL pictures is shutting down as well will these pictures disappear after Oct 31???
Hi Vish, all -- Thanks for organizing an easy migration. It really seemed like a snap, no problems on my end at all. I can now be found at: http://marty-heardatstarbucks.blogspot.com/ . Also, Blogger is a good service ... may take a little while to get up to speed but there's obviously a lot we can do with it.
Best,
Marty
Yes, and unfortunately, when you take your Journal public, all comments added while it was private will be deleted. Comments posted to a private Journal are written with the expectation of privacy. All your entries, however, will be visible.
Thanks to all who helped with this process. My 4 1/2 years of journaling is now saved on Blogspot.
you can save your comments and blogg by copying them to a email and emailing them to your blog , go to email blogs on blogger.com help section and it will show you how to do it .
hugs
Sherry
thanks for the journal transfer I have already done one and it worked great .
NOTHING EASY ABOUT THIS!!!!!!
This is my thrid failed attempt at this!!!!!!!!!!
This is anything BUT easy! 4 times now and I keep getting this....
then I click where they tell me and I get that even that is an error and I can't find blogger support!
What's going on?
This is the error I keep getting....
We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:
Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
Provide the following error code and additional information.
bX-zcvzjv
Additional information
blogID: 2592351780531333076
host: www.blogger.com
uri: /bulk-post-edit.g
This information will help us to track down your specific problem and fix it! We apologize for the inconvenience.
Find help
See if anyone else is having the same problem: Search the Blogger Help Group for bX-zcvzjv
If you don't get any results for that search, you can start a new topic. Please make sure to mention bX-zcvzjv in your message.
My journal transfer over to blogger was a success...I only had a couple little problems...but it went smoothly....
Thank you!
Terri
buggieboo1
I'm asking Blogger support to check into your import failures.
Frank
@bugaboo1: Your Blogger blog may say "no posts match your query" if you have not yet published any posts. What is the URL?
If the transfer process failed, a portion of your posts may still have been imported. Login to www.blogger.com. You should be able to see your blog and click on the "Post" button. From there, there is an "Edit Posts" subtab you can click to view the "Imported but not yet published posts". You can use "Check All" to check all the posts on the page and publish them. If you have hundreds of posts, you may first want to view up to 300 at one time (there's a drop down on the upper right) before trying to check all and publish.
Buggie, just hit refresh when you get that error. The same thing happened to me, and hitting refresh should help.
Also, I wouldn't recommend using the AOL client browser for this. For whatever reason, it does not communicate with certain websites and webpages very well.
-Dan
http://thewisdomofadistractedmind.blogspot.com/
blogger could not find my journal, and i did put in the correct URL, I gave 10 minutes to see if anything happened but it did'nt, blogger support is not available.
Yasmin
Cayasm@aol.com
ekgillen and all,
regarding individual pictures... when the import is being processed, the Blogger tool sees the stored location of the picture and if it's an AOL Pictures stored photo, it gets copied into Google's Picasa and then presented correctly in your new blog. If the tool sees a flickr pic, it carries it over and presents it as it is in the Journal Blog.
Frank
This is to Dpoem:
I was a member of J-land for over 2 years. I had a LOT of readers up until about 3 months ago when I had to go private and cut off a lot of journals due to not having enough time to spend in J-land as I once did. The fact that you called me a troll in Magic Smoke makes me laugh. It's funny because YOU are the first bad experience I ever had in J-land. So thank you for doing that on my final month. Don't make assumptions about people. I have every right to be angry with AOL. I have not only had numerous issues with their software but also with their customer service and now this. So I highly recomend that you think before you insult. I have had many many many good times and met many many many nice people and have made friends on here. We were a community that was very close (I don't know about you with that attitude) but I know we were. I deserve to be angry and should be allowed to have those feelings.
Your Troll :P
(Just in case you didn't see my comment)
my attempts have been for not... It goes smoothly then freezes and stops... refresh does nothing. It didn't ask me where it wanted to go when importing so I have no way of knowing if part went across to someplace... nothing is on my current blog at blogger either... GRRRRRRRR Will try outside AOL but that doesn't appear to be the issue for most.
Queenie, you have every right to be angry, but when you accuse those who are busting their backs ON THEIR OWN TIME to provide a way of saving your journal of kickbacks or any other such nonsense, you cross a line and simply demonstrate what a foolish, petty, bitter little troll you truly are.
I don't care what troubles you've had with AOL, and I don't care how how much you feel you are justified in barking out your little gripes, and I sincerely don't care if I've made your entire month an unpleasant one by chastising you for acting like a child. The fact is, there are very nice people trying to help in any way they can, and how does this incessant, inconsiderate, petty gibberish of yours make things easier for anyone?
Or, are you simply too selfish to understand that?
AOL doesn't owe you anything. The fact that you are getting something should show you just how committed those behind this are to saving this community. You should be happy with that.
So, grow up. Seriously.
-Dan
Frankkeeney-- Thank you and your team so much, and thanks for the comment you left letting us know that the AOL Journals team really has been working hard and trying to do its best to save our journals. I felt they were, but it's good to read confirmation. I have migrated three journals so far with no problems.
Lori
http://lori-dustypages.blogspot.com
Dpoem:
You are just a bored man with no life lol.
AOL SUCKS AND I WILL SAY IT OVER AND OVER! I WILL NO LONGER DEAL WITH THEM THEM OR GIVE THEM MY BUSINESS.
*M*
Dpoem (Dan) I'm afraid I must totally disagree with you when you stated 'AOL doesn't owe you anything'
AOL DO owe us , when we are the ones who are paying them good money for a service. I have been with AOL for 12 years, and I have to agree with Queen that in this last few months I have received such a terrible download speed, awful awful customer service, being passed from pillar to post, being told that the previous customer representative was wrong in changing the MTU settings, I must change back, etc etc etc, I have been pulling my hair out.
AOL is now a heavy, chunky, slow service, and the little extras such as hometown and journals are the small extras that keep people lining AOL's pockets. Take these away and there's nothing left to stay for as it becomes the same as any other provider, but a damn site more pricey.
I would love to know how many people have left aol because of this, at least 50% of my long term aol buddies have already gone, about 10 users, and I am looking in to it.
You have to look at the bigger picture over these journals, there are lots of terminally ill people who don't keep these journals for a laugh, they are a source of comfort, friendship and sometimes even a life support. Yes you can go to Blogger, but you are out of your comfort zone, and it is much more compilcated for the less computer literate people. Even having to type a number in when leaving a comment is a pain in the backside, and puts people off. There are no 'alerts' it's just not the same.
I'm afraid Dpoem no matter how much you insult people you are in the minority here I think in thinking that AOL are doing a blinding good job.
lynn
Dear Magic Smoke:
Ok, my files were imported, but I had already set up my blogger account. I'm getting the error message saying that the account name is already in use. How do I get around this problem without changing the name. One of your previous posts states that there's a way around it. Please share?
Hearts333
Can you please tell us if it would be at all possible for blogger to come up with an alerts system similar to aol???? Each morning I would have a host of email alerts but could usually get through them in just over an hour. Yesterday I went to google reader to see who had posted and began visiting their journals. In all it took me three and a half hours!! Waiting for the comment form to come up, having to type in those damned code letters, then waiting to see if your comment has gone through. The verification code plays havoc with my eyes and probably the eyes of many others. When I went back to reader in the afternoon, there was about another two hours + commenting time. I just did not bother. I was too tired.
We are trying to keep our J-Land community going on here in the best way that we can but commenting is just too time consuming. You must remember there are lots of older bloggers, lots with health problems, lots who have a job, lots who have children. They just cannot spend that long a time on comments and I think that is why everyone of us has noticed a sharp decline in comments. Even people who used to be regular readers are not commenting.
There must be a way for blogger to come up with an alerts system that make things much easier for all of us. If not, I fear I will have to stop commenting, it is just so much work and so much time sitting at the computer. Please can you look into this for us. Something must be possible.
Can someone please tell me (in terms even a simpleton can understand) how to transfer my photo albums to my new Blogger journal. The imbedded images transferred just fine, but on most of my journal entries, I've used a photo album. I've got about 70 albums each containing 8 to 10 pictures to move as well. I tried and tried to move some of them yesterday but for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out.
I'm on a really slow dial-up connection so everything I do takes forever. The images aren't saved on my computer, only on my albums.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Frank~
I have looked at my Google Picasa album and yes many pictures are out there but not all of them. My entries from 2005 & some from 2006 show as AOL pics when you click on them and they are not in Google Picasa albums.
So~will these pics go away when AOL pics go away? Should I be saving them?? Here is my a Blogger entry where you can see that my pics are still on AOL and not in Blogger
http://gillie-gillietime.blogspot.com/2006/11/october.html
My 2008/2007 entries if you click on picture properties it shows that they are on Blogger.
i totally agree with jeannette, below.
please see if there's anyway we can get alerts like we did on aol, or something similar.
yes, there is dashboard & the google reader...but it's taking up sooo much time.
it's driving us crazy!!!!!!!!
ty,
sugar
PLease give us an alert system that's as easy as this was and not so time consuming. Thank you.
Ada
http://onewaytrip18.blogspot.com/
ekgillen
I'm checking into the photo import structure of those pics that didn't import. Bear with me. But rest assured the AOLP pictures will not go away on 31 Oct. They are not residing on Journals.
As for other questions on how to move AOL Pictures *albums* to Blogger, the answer is not going to please you, it will be easy...
You'll need download them from AOLP and import to flickr or Picasa, unless you have them on your computer and can just send them on up to flickr or Picasa. Then re-post in your Blogspot.
Frank
I have tried several times unsuccessfully to transfer my Journal, and I keep getting the same message "Journal cannot be found" my journal is public always has been, when I click on the link, it say cannot find "Isn't She Great", but Cayasm has the following journals, so it is there, so why is it not transfering, and yes I am putting in the correct URL. Please help
Thanks
Yasmin
How do I transfer my journals? I seem to have missed the instructions.
Julie
http://journals.aol.com/midwestvintage/JulieLosesitMyWeightLossJourney/
http://journals.aol.com/midwestvintage/vacation-2008/
http://journals.aol.com/midwestvintage/MyPhotoJourney/
http://journals.aol.com/midwestvintage/MyFlowerGarden/
midwestvintage
Aside from the email that shuld have gone to the AOL email address associated with your Journals, the blog posting above has the link. Go here: http://www.blogger.com/AolToBlogger
Frank
I do really know how to spell should... really.
Frank~
I emailed you directly on this.
Thanks!
Erin
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