I've been having trouble with the comments moderation function. Perhaps you've noticed some of what I've been struggling with. And something else just happened: there's no more Open ID for commenting. You have to be signed into a Google account to comment.

Today, I'm noticing something in the Blogger help forum that went up on May 15, announcing "some exciting updates coming soon to Blogger" along with  "simplifying the platform." Updates includ some things I understand and some things that mean nothing tome:

- Changes to features: G+ widget integrations, OpenID, and Localization & Blogspot ccTLDS.
- Retiring features: Third Party Gadgets, Next Blog, Polls Widget, and Textcube.
- Introducing new features: HTTPS for Custom Domains, Multilogin, Spanner, Google Takeout, and Video Management....

Q: Why are you making all of these changes now?
A: Blogger has been working hard to incorporate some exciting updates to the platform, so we thought it made sense to retire features that had very low usage and update some of our current features to coincide with these upcoming changes....

I hope that the problems I'm having are temporary, a consequence of Blogger's being in the middle of tweaking things. But I do have to worry that they are not maintaining a platform for a blog as big as mine (50,000+ posts). For years, the backup function hasn't worked for me, and Google tried to help me and admitted that it simply took so long that the software "thought" the process had simply gotten hung up and responded by ending it, as if I could try again later. But, of course, I never could.