Create rules for robots, not for people.

Hi all. I’m fairly new to Local Guides.
For me, it’s all about volunteering. Many times in my life I’ve tried to help animals, people with disabilities, and other groups, but I’ve found myself doing just that. Helping people find the right information, not to be fooled by the wrong dot on the map so that people don’t lose precious time on their way to that establishment or worse yet not to get bad service. For me, it’s more than pictures and reviews. Charity expresses itself to me in this type of activity of mine.

So I travel a lot and I am often in different places, I work in IT and by my mind I like to optimize and make products better, I like photography very much and I do it almost professionally. I reached level 8 in a few months! I was in dozens of locations and establishments a day. Working very hard at it. For me, charity and volunteering is regular, systematic work! I got results, but ran into some weird bureaucracy, rules, and even blocking my reviews.

! Now to the point:
The man and his values come first. My freedoms and desire to make the world a better place comes first. I have different moods and different attitudes to the different sites I visit. I’m free to do whatever I want, you know? Google has a mission to fight robots, automation, spam, and so on. But what does that have to do with me? I got to level 8 for humanitarian reasons, to make the world a better place. Something that Google also enticed me to do and gave me an opportunity in the system. But I’m not your employee, much less have to prove that I’m not a robot or a machine.

Just think about it, I have to adhere to a dozen rules in today’s world that are TECHNICAL in nature because of the problems until the system can handle itself. Where is my freedom and will? Don’t limit us. You say how much to write in terms of reviews…what ? Seriously? I can write “awesome” and that’s it. I can write 1000 characters if I was enthusiastic and delighted. Man is not a robot and most importantly do not turn our activities into a framework.

Naturally the rule of general humane understanding is welcomed. Against violence, personal data, pornographic content and so on. I’m happy to abide by them. But not to be served by the rules for robots.

To summarize, I am an enthusiastic, FREE, but working very hard for the good of the people, who realizes his reviews are blocked, and is faced with a dozen links and recommendations from various pages on how and what to do. This is absurd. Again, these rules are for robots and it’s Google’s own problem how to deal with it, but to block everyone, and then I still have trouble finding the link with the form, I have to be a member of the community, have a rating here to what? To prove that I’m not a robot and to get for weeks to be allowed to post reviews that you want - Google Maps?!

We are human and our community has values, we help you and you should appreciate us. Develop security with our help, but not by our negative emotions over blockages. Otherwise our enthusiasm will crumble.

PS there are plenty of rules, but no training center. I may have made a mistake on some day, I even remember it. I went into stores , cafes and just talked to customers and owners , also hotels , I got feedback , took pictures and left a short review , there were many that day , about 30-50. Yes I spent 7-9 hours on it, walk 15-20 km every day buy my legs. But as a self-taught person. I wasn’t taught how to do it better and more correctly. Make a video playlist for beginners. These are not rules and punishments for real people’s mistakes. It’s teaching and helping each other first. Feel the difference?

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Hi @vladimir_butov

Thanks for sharing your very much justified criticism of how Google Maps is currently treating the volunteers.

You are free to not follow the guidelines. But if you let the wish to be helpful to other users guide you, you may want to reconsider sharing a review like this one. Being helpful is not to just repeat the category. You could chose to just share the photo without a review.

I’m from Denmark and I follow your line of thinking easily, but can I ask where you are from? You are posting from Thailand and Turkey, but your style of thinking and arguing seems different from what I would expect from Thai and Turks. I’m just wondering with no intention to discriminate.

I hope more will comment on your fine post.

Cheers

Morten

PS You may like to read my take on hidden reviews shared here.

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Hi @vladimir_butov hello, first of all, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us here. Improvements are constantly being made about spam, but sometimes it may not be enough. I wish everyone could be helpful and honest as you describe, even if you don’t have to deal with fake comments and people. There is a saying in Turkey, where the rules end, irregularities begin. Now yours As you said, if there are no certain rules, be sure that you will have to fight with people who do not know the rules. The rules are always there to prevent people who do not follow the rules. You continue to help as a helpful person. :pray:t2:

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Hi @vladimir_butov ,

Thanks for sharing.

I just wanted to say that your post has a Russian language label. Please note that I’m going to remove the label because you didn’t write in the Russian language.

Please take a look at the How do I find posts in my preferred language? article, where you can find how to use language labels and search for posts in your preferred language.

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Hello @MortenCopenhagen , the first link is not opening. I agree that I can only take photos, but whether to do reviews is my personal preference, and not the installation of Google, which deprives me of this right.

I was born in the USSR, I live in Thailand most often, in the fall I lived for 2 months in Turkey. It really doesn’t make any difference to the community of birthplace and nationality.

Yes, thanks for your article about hidden reviews, I studied it and then wrote this post.

Hi @MashaPS . yes thanks, i was wrong. forum functions do not allow you to correct messages and settings, perhaps you have a solution for this?

hello @Gezendunyali , my main idea was not that the rules are not needed, but that these rules should be made for robots and not for people. Google was created for the people and should not be regulated like governments do.
I started my google maps experience in Turkey, seeing your success and victory in 2022 motivates me.
I love freedom and do not tolerate restrictions. The search engine and the Google Maps service should do a better job of understanding who is human and who is robot. This is their big problem, let them work better with it. It shouldn’t concern me.

For people, I do not accept prohibitions and strict rules. There should be recommendations, training, explanations - this is for people.

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@vladimir_butov

Sorry I forgot to clean the first link. It is fixed not.

Cheers

Morten

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@vladimir_butov , I too agree with you and feel your pain. One could argue that these rules are there to stop map vandalism or misuse. But I also feel that some of the rules can be made relaxed so someone who did an honest mistake can learn and correct themselves and continue their good work.

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Thanks for your support @ravindus . I hope our messages will be accepted

No training centre you say? Here you go it is all here https://support.google.com/local-guides/answer/7358351 I hope you find it helpful.

Thanks for contributing to your community via Maps.

Paul

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Thank you, @PaulPavlinovich ! Yes, there is general information. There is information on the YouTube channel from 3 and 5 years ago, telling more about the functions of the application:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxzP3AVsi8HNGsCQJREx-NmcBOno_NNSe

A little later I will write an article about two solutions, in my opinion, that will help increase learning and ensure greater user engagement. since the material is there, and the procedure for conveying it to beginners is poorly organized.