Last week approximately 200 of my photo’s on Google Maps were deleted. These photo’s were brought over from Panoramio. They all had the tag “unknown location” i.e. they were not connected to a object or tag. Sadly my most popular photo with over 500,000 views was deleted. Needless to say I am not very happy.
Anyone else have this happen?
(PS just like the tags in GM are sometimes no good and you cannot make a new one because the tag categories are insufficient to classify your tag. The topics of this forum are insufficient as this post does not fit under any of them)
The topics of this forum are insufficient as this post does not fit under any of them.
I totally agree with you and if you spend some time exploring comments from some of the high-level long-standing Local Guides who contribute the most on this forum you will see that quite a number of them are expressing precisely the same opinion as regards the illogical restrictions and limitations that have been rolled out in the cosmetic revamp of what was once an inclusive and helpful Local Connect Forum and now appears to have been reduced to some kind of corporate lifestyle magazine which does not value the contributions of its own Local Guides and which seems to be alienating quite a number of us.
I wish you every luck in having your resources restored but don’t be surprised if you are told that the changes that have been imposed are designed to be good for " ALL Local Guides" - as if you were excluded already.
There needs to be a free and open public debate on the way that things are being handled now in order to clear the air and to restore some sense of equality and fairplay.
An overview of the comments on the changes reveals a significant pattern already.
The positive responses are simple soundbites and one-liners - and look as if they are based on superficial first impressions - while the critical remarks are definitely based on bitter, personal experience and - in direct contrast - go into considerable and significant detail.
As we keep being told that everybody ( apart from us ) is totally happy with the new system I will try to tag you on some of the comments made by other experienced Local Guides which should make it clear that such claims appear to be based on one-liner responses from people who don’t actually use the forum except on a fairly casual and social basis.
It seems that the Local Connect Forum can no longer provide the level of technical assistance and bug-fixing that was once possible before all the new illogical complications and restrictions were imposed.
The creation of a bizarre system of electoral triage in the form of the “Ideas Exchange” was a bad idea from the get-go and it is enabling the appointed officials to shut down issues before most peole have even had a chance to vote on them.
We need to continue to contribute to both Google Maps and to what remains of this forum rather than walk away or we will be letting down our colleagues and the entire Google Map community of Local Guides and users.
I would agree with you if I could see some kind of financial advantage to be gained in what is going on but the sad fact that it makes absolutely no business sense and is far more likely to lose Google Maps a lot of money in the long run since quantity rather than quality seems to be the order of the day and the tried-and-tested, simple wisdom of the 80/20 ratio appears to be totally ignored in favour of a simplistic (and superficial) majority response.
The Local Guides who are being alienated by being continually told that there is no substance to their concerns are those that contribute the most and who are on the brink of walking away rather than press their case.
I have seen this same pattern time and time again in my work in the voluntary sector and eventually it leads to a massive withdrawal of volunteer support once management control becomes heavy-handed and those who are making the decisions spend more time suppressing justifiably critical comments than exploring their intrinsic value.
The images would only have been deleted if they were not associated with a g+ account and shared to Maps. A lot of panoramio users seem to have missed this email that was sent out.
So Paul, the photos were deleted just two weeks ago. All of my Panoramio photos were ported to my Google+ account. They ALL showed up in Google maps for at least three months. The deleted ones were not associated with a location in Google maps. I had 500+ photos in GM now only 300. I’m using this name as the other one was blacklisted for complaining. Someone messed something up and it was not me.
I’m using this name as the other one was blacklisted for complaining.
What makes you certain that this was in fact the case ?
Did you receive any form of written confirmation that this had been done and/or earlier warning messages from no-reply email addresses that appeared to come from official sources ?
