September Struggles: Increasing Website Security | Jo Linsdell

September Struggles: Increasing Website Security


September Struggles: Increasing Website Security


September Struggles


September has been a busy month. I know I haven't posted as often during September but that was because I've just been too busy. It was my birthday, school started (with my eldest starting a new adventure at secondary school), and then sports training started again too. Throw in a few other general "life" things and Tada! busy Jo.

Now I have tried to get back into the flow of things towards the end of the month but life decided to put me on hold again. It all started with Facebook blocking my website URL...

Facebook blocked my website


I'm still not sure why they decided to block my URL as they have possibly the worst user/customer service on the web. I tried messaging them, reported the mistake, and did their debug thing too... nothing. 

I even tried to reach out to them via Twitter as I didn't have any luck getting an answer on their own platform. I know right?! Well I didn't get a response there either. 

I reread the Facebook Community Standards pages about a thousand times over but can't see any way my website violates their terms. On this site I post mainly about books and blogging. 

I'm also definitely not a spammer. In fact, I'd been sharing my links on Facebook much less in recent months than usual due to the summer break. 

It would be a shame to have to close my Facebook page but to be honest it's not what bothered me most about them blocking my URL. What I'd really miss is Facebook groups. I've been a member of some awesome groups on there for a while now and would miss the other members. Those groups were also getting good results in terms of traffic to my website and comments on my content. 

Facebook finally unblocked my website yesterday. YAY! In true Facebook style they didn't send any communication about it, but at least it works again now. I also still don't know why it was blocked in the first place. Ah the mysteries of Facebook...


September Struggles: Increasing Website Security


Increasing website security


So what now? Well, for starters I decided to make sure my website is more secure. I've updated my Who Is Guard and activated a new SSL Certificate. I also activated Comodo Secure (you'll notice the new certificate down at the bottom in the footer). 

I'm not sure if it was updating these things that made Facebook unblock my website and let me share my links again or not. It was something I needed to do anyway, and so in a way I'm happy my website got blocked as it gave me the kick I needed to do it. 

Website security is important and now I'm all up to date. This also means you have peace of mind when visiting my website as you know the systems in place to protect you. 


September Struggles: Increasing Website Security

Have you ever had your website blocked on Facebook? What steps have you taken on your own website/blog to make sure it is secure?

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26 comments

  1. so far (knock on wood) my blog hasn't been blocked from FB. I do have a SSL cert so not sure if that has helped or not.

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    1. I know a lot of people that have had issues with Facebook recently, and not just with their links. Some friends have had photo's and posts disappear from their personal profiles too. Seems like there is some kind of glitch on the system.

      I'm relieved Facebook unblocked my site but would love to hear from them to explain why they blocked my site in the first place. Considering the nature of Facebook it's strange that they are so bad at communication.

      I'm glad to hear you've not had to go through it with them yet. I'm not sure how much they consider SSL certificates in their valuation of websites but it doesn't hurt to have them anyway.

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  2. Not had an issue with Facebook (fingers crossed not to in the future either). Just wanted to check about your SSL certificate your site is still coming up 'Not Secure' on Google Chrome and still has the http instead of https for secure at the front of your address. It could be that it's just not been fully activated yet. Just wanted to let you know.

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    1. Thanks for pointing that out. It should be fully active by now. Going to check on the system again and see why it's not showing up.

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    2. I activated the SSL certificate but Blogger doesn't support third party certificates and so it didn't update on the system. I've now activated another SSL certificate directly through blogger and so it should update soon.

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  3. I got hacked shortly after my blog started. I had to start a security package with Site Lock and that started a host of problems with my comments and plugins. That has since been fixed, but I know how this can been a problem. Thankfully, I have not had a problem with FB.

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    1. It's a nightmare when things like this happen. Sorry to hear you got hacked.

      Facebook is updating their Pages, Groups and Events Policies to include new terms that may apply to the processing of data for Page Insights within the scope of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the Page Insights Controller Addendum). The Pages, Groups and Events Policies in its updated version will become effective on 28 September and will apply to your ongoing use of Facebook Pages. See https://www.facebook.com/policies/pages_groups_events/. I'm not sure if this was part of the glitch but it's worth knowing about. Hopefully there won't be any more problems.

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  4. Facebook customer services for their service users are truly abysmal. I am glad that you are unblocked now. It is so stressful when things like that happen. Good to have you back Jo.

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    1. Thanks. Happy to be back :) It's been a stressful week trying to get this all sorted out but I think my website will be better for it in the long run. At least now I'm 100% sure about my website security systems.

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  5. Glad that it is working on FB again.

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    1. Thanks Shelleen. It was a nightmare, and Facebook have zero customer service for problems like this. They basically only want to hear from you to take your money for ads. I still haven't had a response from them about any of this. I'm not sure I ever will either.

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  6. I am glad it is working on FB again.

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  7. So sorry this happened to you - but I think you aren't a full blown blogger until you have had to tackle such nonsense ;)

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    1. Yeah I guess it's kind of like a test to see if you really have what it takes to be a blogger.

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  8. Thankfully this hasn't happened to me. Im glad you're unblocked!

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    1. Thanks. It was a nightmare. Glad it's all over now. I wouldn't wish these technical problems on anyone. It's stuff like this that makes a lot of bloggers give up.

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  9. Ugh....Facebook is causing so much trouble for everyone with this new update they have in place. I still have not yet fully grasped it. I'm glad to hear you were able to get it all worked out though.

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    1. Whenever Facebook does any kind of update it causes glitches on the system. Sometimes they're small, sometimes they're bigger. Their latest updates seem to be causing more trouble than past changes. It effecting both business pages and personal profiles. It would be easier to deal with if Facebook improved their customer service and became more user friendly. They offer next to zero assistance when problems occur.

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  10. great post Jo, my blog got suspended for a day, something to do with the spam automation, they had blocked me in error. I was back up the following day.

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    1. Thanks Tracey. Sorry to hear you've have problems with Facebook suspending you. Luckily I only had my link blocked and could at least use Facebook in the meantime. Glad you managed to get unblocked quickly. Did you manage to ever speak with someone about the problem or did they not response to your messages either and just unblock you? I'm curious to find out if anyone has ever managed to get a response from Facebook.

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  11. Oh no that sounds awful! Glad it worked out though.

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    1. Thanks Amanda. It wasn't fun. All part of the life of a blogger though I guess. There's always a non-ending learning curve of problems to resolve when you have a blog. Facebook and other social media sites are just one of them. I did learn some things about website security and SSL ceritifcates whilst trying to resolve this issue though so something positive came out of it at least.

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  12. I haven't faced issues like this hope it will not happen with anyone. Finally your back to this lovely community 💖

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