Greetings fellow guides, @MortenCopenhagen , and @DeniGu -
I received an email last week that my “review isn’t posted” because of “multiple violations of Google’s policies”. The review in question mentioned a bad smell in the store and said that an employee in the seafood department was dressed like a fisherman – all true and included without malice, but I guess it could be perceived as unhelpful or sarcastic. I actually thought the gentleman’s outfit was awesome!
Initially, I had failed to notice the comment in the email that “your existing reviews have been taken down” and not until today did I confirm that by looking for my reviews in an incognito browser. This was not obvious to me because at the same time I was reviewing places left and right and my local guide points were skyrocketing. I somehow thought everything was fine because I could
- post reviews,
- get points for posting reviews,
- see my own reviews (while logged in as me),
- get notified of people liking my reviews, and even
- get promoted to level 8 based on points from reviews!
But, alas, ALL of my ratings and reviews have been hidden. 
I have now deleted and resubmitted that review without those two specific details. I also deleted a review that I had left for a business that I later claimed (ooops! It’s a townhouse complex where I live - an honest mistake).
Some questions:
- How long should I have to wait to determine if my changes have resolved the issue?
- Should I be looking for other types of violations, or does the email I received mean that the violations are specific to reviews?
- Is the Google Maps team considering ways to provide more information and tools to local guides who have made errors that violate policies?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. 
Best,
Brandon
Hi @bfaloona
It is nice to see how well prepared you are. You really did your research to understand what is going on.
Yes, Google is not very up-front about letting Maps users see that some or all of their contributions are hidden. You need to do a lot of work to realize this. I guess this is part of the efforts not to help the spammers.
It is actually news that Google Maps started informing LGs when their reviews get hidden. For learning purposes I would like very much to see the message you got.
Waiting is not a solution.
You basically need to fix all violations. Not only in reviews. Please also check your photo contributions.
Then after having fixed everything you can use the appeals form.
Let me know if you need links related to review and photo violations.
Cheers
Morten
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Thank you for your helpful reply @MortenCopenhagen ! You’ll never guess how I prepared myself to begin tackling this topic! 
Here is a screenshot of the email you expressed interest in seeing:
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Well, after an exhaustive review of my photos I have deleted myself back down to a Level 7 guide. 
I also found and removed an additional review with a policy violation.
Thanks again for your help @MortenCopenhagen , I have submitted the appeals form and look forward to having this behind me.
Best,
Brandon
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Hello again @MortenCopenhagen
I’m hoping you can help me understand the status of my ongoing suspension and how long it might take for the lifting of that suspension to be public.
- Local Guide Google Maps suspension vs Local Guide Connect site suspension
-
I received this email today but I don’t know if it is referring to my Google Maps account reviews (which are currently still hidden), or my Local Guides Connect account (which has never been restricted to my knowledge).
-
The language in the email implies it is referring to penalties against my Local Guides Connect account. Or, are those two things one in the same?
- Status of my Local Guide Google Maps reviews and photos
-
In the last few days, I have
- submitted this form twice (after receiving 2 separate emails from google-maps-noreply@google.com saying “Your account has been suspended from posting reviews …”).
- I also contacted Google One Support last night (who were unable to help). So, I’m not sure which triggered the email above.
-
Adding to the confusion, https://support.google.com/local-guides shows that my google maps support case is In Progress (it has a different number than the Google One case I generated last night).
-
As it stands now, only one review shows up on my public contributor page, but I see 177 when logged in.
-
I also notice that only 1,189 of 1,512 my photos are public.
Please advise if I should wait a few days to see if the reviews and photos get unhidden, or if there are other steps I should take.
Best,
Brandon
@bfaloona
Your Google Maps account is the same as your Connect account. Or more precisely: your Connect account is an add on to your Google Maps account (which is just a normal Google account).
When someone gets suspended it only pertains to your Connect account. You can still use Google Maps and make contributions. But you will no longer have the title of being a Local Guide with a level when suspended. End suspended LG can not post on Connect - but they can read all posts in an incognito window…
The email you got today is a response to your LG appeal.
No penalties is very good news.
Currently only one review is public. Maybe the rest will go public in a few days. If not please read Known issue: Unpublished reviews and photos on Google Maps. And, make a reply to request your account also be investigated.
Google one support has never helped any suspended local guides as far as I know.
Fingers crossed your reviews will come back after the manual check mentioned above
Best of luck
Morten
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