Checking for hidden contributions

[Shalz]

I had lot of hidden contributions on Google maps including reviews, photos & videos and I never knew about it. Hidden contributions are not public but you can view them privately and you keep getting points for these.

Now, whenever I post a review, after 3 days of posting, I check if it’s visible on the business’s page on google under review section. If it’s not visible, I check for any discrepancy like similar looking photos, language etc. generally, I have observed that if photos or videos are similar then review doesn’t get published. Modify your review accordingly. Also, check if the private view shows the count of views, then it’s understood that the review is posted publicly. Refer screenshot.

I also wrote to local guides support team as advised by @Latika_Malhotra and they had me fill a form to understand the issue. They have been quite helpful in bringing my non public reviews to life. Quite a bit of my reviews are reinstated. The team is still working on it. Thanks for your help & guidance @Latika_Malhotra and the support team.

[ErmesT]

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Community, @Shalz
I agree with you about duplicate and redundant media, as they can end in an unpublished content.
With this in mind I think you should also check again your media, and remove by yourself all the duplicates and redundant contents.
I just scrolled the last two months of photos, and there are several violations in there.
A good practice is to check our contributions frequently, to see if by mistake we have uploaded some unwanted content

[Shalz]

@ErmesT i will be honest . I am posting reviews since over 3 years now and until I joined Connect forum & Top 100 & revived this message of hidden contributions I never knew so many of my contributions were hidden. This was a shock to me

Then I started to inquire and understand. Nd then I started checking my reviews and media. I deleted redundant media for the reviews posted fir an year now. Then recheck if they are made public. If yes, I struck them off from the unpublished list. If not public, I went back and edited them mostly by removing media’s which were either similar or redundant or unclear.

Now am doing this as a practice. Also, while posting a review I ensure no redundant media is uploaded.

Plus, while checking I also found out that media was being uploaded in duplicate automatically. This could be a bug and I have report this with the support team too.

The support team has been quite a help. I’ll get back with the final restoration results.

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @Shalz

What you explained sounds like you are not a top notch Local Guide. Amazing.

Regarding your suspicion that duplicates get uploaded systematically I think there are two possible explanations:

Maybe you are not aware that review pics/vids get automatically shown under the photos tab for the places also. So please don’t upload a photo with a review and then also upload directly to the place. Once is enough.

Or you could be falling for the trap set by Google Maps, where Maps asks (prompts) you to upload photos to places even though they have already been uploaded. This is really bad app behaviour but despite several mentions it has not yet been fixed!

[Shalz]

Hi @MortenCopenhagen thnx for pitching in.

I am ‘not a top notch local guide’ ddnt quite get that ..I write reviews cos I love to. I m quite new to understand the hidden contributions & that’s well admitted. And I am learning along the way.

Am quite aware of the photos tab and keep checking. I haven’t uploaded duplicate photos maybe similar but not duplicate. Also, I don’t upload separately when prompted by Google maps unless I have exhausted the 50 pics quota.

[MortenCopenhagen]

I was referring to the fact that you are aware of the issues with redundant and duplicate photos and you are taking action by deleting such photos. Often we need to explain this - you are already doing it.

If you can document a a fresh example where a photo get duplicated by the system we can try escalating it. Links, steps and screenshots are needed for this.

[Shalz]

@MortenCopenhagen thnx

Your mention of ‘not a top notch local guide’ made me think maybe am missing something here or not doing something right thnx for clarifying

I learnt the hard way after posting some 1800 + reviews that only 900 + are visible publicly. Had I not logged into the Top 100 by @AdamGT i wouldn’t have know . Post that I started working on it. I have raised this bug with the local guides support team because I saw this happening in many of my reviews. Let me see if I get a fresh sample. I’ll take screenshots. The team has been able to restore almost 500 of my reviews I believe & I have restored 100 myself. I’ll share once I get the updated numbers. Quite a bit of media is restored too.

[MortenCopenhagen]

Ideally the steps to get a photo duplicated should be documented so well that the Googlers reliably can reproduce it. This is a very difficult task as the issue might not happen consistently.

[Shalz]

@MortenCopenhagen yes it’s happened with many of my reviews but not all.. m not sure but maybe a screen recording would help. But you never know if a photo gets duplicated in that specific review. It’s a random occurrence. Let me think and see. Also, if there any suggestions around it.

Am not sure but since I escalated this issue to the local guides support team, can check if they have observed it in my reviews.

[ErmesT]

Thanks for the feedback, @Shalz

@Shalz

If not public, I went back and edited them mostly by removing media’s which were either similar or redundant or unclear

Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. As @MortenCopenhagen mentioned, Maps can often mislead us, suggesting we upload media we’ve already uploaded, or suggesting we upload media to the wrong location.
It’s also important to understand what a user expects from a review.
I’ll use this one, about the US visa office, as an example.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4L3rqvuVPjKShqKL8

As a user, I’d like to know if the office was crowded, how far in advance I had to make an appointment, and if the service was fast.
Sure, knowing there are places to eat or get a massage nearby is helpful, but the photos I’d like to see are those of the passport office, not those of the surrounding businesses. Those should be uploaded to the relevant businesses, if they’re listed in Maps. Remember, if they’re not, we can also create a listing for them.
as an example
Starbucks

Cinnabon

In addition the two photos highlighted here below are redundant

and the one of Starbucks is blurred

Here below an example of videos poste 3 times

And here below a series of photos posted in two different businesses

Warning: as you can read on the Community policy :

• “Take photos that clearly and accurately represent a location …**”
• “Dark, blurry, and redundant photos will be removed. Users who duplicate photos across locations, … will also be removed.”
  I am just talking about contents published in July, and what I highlighted here are just a few examples of many duplicates.
  So I suggest you to go carefully through your contributions. Filling the form can help to release our hidden contents, but it can be risky if there are violations that were not fixed, and as you can see, for some of them the sanction is the ban.
  The team will not contact us to say “hey, you should fix this part”. If they find a violation, they will simply act according to the rules.
  This applies to you and me, even though I’m a Community moderator.

Your content is very interesting, and it would be a shame if you got into trouble due to probably unintentional errors.

[Shalz]

@ErmesT

nicely explained & thanks for the feedback and concern..after having worked hard for 3-4 years and posting so many reviews it’s well taken that ban is not an option. That’s the reason I started acting as soon as I got to know about all this.

but as I said my photos are being uploaded in duplicate many a times and this is a bug I have reported. The feedback you shared on a video uploaded twice or thrice is not my doing. That’s my issue. I add media from gallery and I have different videos for a location not same. I add one video and it uploads in duplicate.,

As a reviewer or local guide there’s no point uploading duplicate photos. It’s illogical. Now, there should be some poka yoke or mistake proofing that should not allow duplicate media to be uploaded by the system. I may have uploaded similar photos but not duplicates. In the example shown by you these photos are all removed for Om sweets. I have myself deleted so many duplicate photos,which I haven’t uploaded manually. It’s taking a lot of effort to delete duplicates so there’s no point uploading duplicates in the 1st place. Am also deleting any blurry photos. Plus you can add a max of 50 photos so I never upload photos under add photos unless the quota of 50 is exhausted or the local business is not showing specifically.

This cleaning exercise am already doing & is work in progress.

I have already raised this concern with the team.

As regards for VAC, photography is not allowed at the exact location for want of security. Hence, I uploaded photos of what’s available around the centre because at times people have to wait for long. Content is in the review.

For same photos in two businesses May have happened inadvertently so I’ll keep a check.

I’ll also share a few of my screenshots ..refer below.

I was trying to upload a single video no 35 but two were getting uploaded. So I immediately deleted one.

In this example the 8 seconds video is uploaded in duplicate automatically. I haven’t uploaded it. So I deleted it. Am checking my reviews manually and rectifying.

In the example you pulled out, only these 2 photos are showing under Om sweets. And that’s the issue, where are the duplicates coming from separately? Om sweets review can take upto 50 photos & I have added only two & deleted the rest. I haven’t fallen into the trap of just adding photos.

Also, when I have raised a concern it’s also on photos being added in duplicate. And this exercise began in August so let the clean up happen. M taking care for my new reviews.

I have gone through the community guidelines and am not doing it purposely. M trying to fix things. But I need this help to fix this bug.

Support needed

Mistake proofing .. system should warn if it’s a duplicate or blurry photo or not allow upload

Instant message that the review is not posted publicly

A report maybe once a month or once in 15 days or weekly of the content you publish and which all went public & which ddnt ..we could fetch this report from our own profile too ..

[ErmesT]

@Shalz

nicely explained & thanks for the feedback and concern

You are welcome, and thank you for the detailed reply.

@Shalz

my photos are being uploaded in duplicate many a times and this is a bug I have reported.

This is interesting, because we had no reports from any other Local Guide about that here in Connect. I am a Local Guide too, and it never happened to me to have a photo or video self uploaded twice. What about you, @MortenCopenhagen ?
But I try to keep my photos at a very small quantity, carefully selecting only a few medias (normally 1 to 5) to upload to a business, with some more media only for dishes.

@Shalz

In the example you pulled out, only these 2 photos are showing under Om sweets. And that’s the issue, where are the duplicates coming from separately?

If you scroll your contributions you will see that the photos were added in two different moments, so yes, you may have inadvertently fallen into the trap.

@Shalz

Mistake proofing .. system should warn if it’s a duplicate or blurry photo or not allow upload

Fully agree. I started to ask for this on 2017, and I will continue to ask

@Shalz

Instant message that the review is not posted publicly

Do you mean something like this?

This feature is already running in some country. Hopefully Google will extend it to everyone soon

[MortenCopenhagen]

@ErmesT

I am a Local Guide too, and it never happened to me to have a photo or video self uploaded twice. What about you, @MortenCopenhagen ?

I agree. I have not seen photos or videos self duplicate. Years back I remember how connectivity issues could result in unsuccessful uploads and then the automatic retries could make an image show up multiple times all due to upload fails. But this has not happened within the past 4-5 years.

So I still suspect unintended user error to be the most likely reason for duplicates. Sorry, @Shalz. But if you can create a screen recording showing an example I would really love to see it.

[Shalz]

@MortenCopenhagen I’lltry to see if I can get you something but this is not happening all the time. When I have one video in the gallery how can I upload it twice?

M now keeping limited photos and checking after 2-3 days of posting my review.

[Shalz]

@ErmesT

To reply to ur feedback on

If you scroll your contributions you will see that the photos were added in two different moments, so yes, you may have inadvertently fallen into the trap.

In this case the review of This business was not getting public so I deleted all photos myself and re uploaded 4-5 but still ddnt get public so I uploaded only 2 and it was published. So these two photos at 2 different times shouldn’t even be there. I haven’t uploaded these separately and am very sure of it.

[ErmesT]

Thanks for the additional feedback, @Shalz

Can you kindly provide some additional technical details?

• Type of device that you used for uploading the contents (mobile, desktop)?

If you are on a mobile phone

• Model of the device, (e.g. Pixel 9)
• Operating system and version (e.g. Android 16)
• Version of the App (e.g. 25.34.05.796159725 updated on Aug 25)

This may help to understand if the team found an issue in some version