@SeatonBoy The Local Guides and Google Maps team looks into these reports and takes actions when necessary by removing the content that does not adhere to our policies and Local Guides from the program. As we respect everyone’s privacy, we do not share the results or decisions from our investigations but encourage you to continue to submit those reports. We hope to improve the process for all.
Urgent ! Client’s Issue !!
Hi,
I am reaching you out in behalf of my client. A local guide added inaccurate photos into my client’s “my business” account. The place and the photos are completely mistaken. The local guide has also write down some political explanations and political comments under photos unrelated with the situation. The owner of company is really disturbed and uncomfortable because of this issue. None of them reflects the truth. My costumer stated that he complained but photos and comments has not been removed yet. This matter is negatively effecting my customer’s company. The links and posts below are totally inaccurate and untrue.
Kindly request from you to help and solve this problem.
@TraciC I feel really disappointed that after a month the reports that I have made haven’t been actioned. It may be that Google didn’t agree but I feel that one LG adding three photos to hundreds of businesses in one city is degrading the reason to be a LG. It degrades the quality of other LGs hard work and it reduces the quality of maps as an app. If every LG did the same there would be hundreds of irrelevant photos for every business. If I took a picture of a plate of food and added it to every restaurant in a town it is the same as adding the same generic photo. Google needs to be much more efficient at this or to expand the ability of some LGs to deal with this.
The one I reported over 6 weeks ago, via two different routes (emailing the address supplied, and also via PM with a googler here), is still ramping up photos, views and points. Several hundred photos and points in the last couple of weeks, and an additional 4 millions views… Disappointed isn’t a strong enough word to describe my response to this inaction…
How can I efficiently report a user who is continuously uploading the same picture at different places all over the world in order to earn local guides points? I have reported the pictures on Google Maps several times but nothing happened.
You can create a post here saying “I want to report a Spammer, please contact me.”, but please do not include any personal details in the public post.
It is better if you can tag/mention one of our Google Moderators in the post also.
Our Google Moderators then will contact you so that you can send the Spammer details via private communication channels.
Please be noted that Google seldom, if not never, communicate back to you the result of your report. And do not expect fast actions as reviewing Spammer activities is a serious process and it takes time.
Well it looks like action has been taken on the accounts I reported. Just putting this up so that people can see it’s worthwhile to raise reports as I felt quite frustrated that others were “cheating” for points and were massively reducing the quality of Maps as a resource. Many thanks.
Thanks for the update @SeatonBoy only 7 weeks lag on action then? Must be a bit of a backlog being worked through. Though disappointed the user I reported has only lost some points and their photos, I would have hoped such blatant violations would have resulted in a suspension. Though, with the 6000+ ratings they’d given, and 1000+ reviews, example of which “Efficient ATM”, have been left, along with the views count. Which may indicate they have only removed them from maps, but not deleted them, or the view count is lagging.
@Rupert I think it is kind of fine that some reviews are short. There are plenty of casual users who just rate places they visit or just add a random photo of their kids at a restaurant, which I don’t like but they are able to do. I think the difference as a LG is that your are adding the extra information and detail that the casual user doesn’t give, not just when something is wrong, and helping people find new places to explore and experience. I have a load of ratings that I haven’t added reviews until I have time to do them.
Thanks for the update @SeatonBoy only 7 weeks lag on action then? Must be a bit of a backlog being worked through. Though disappointed the user I reported has only lost some points and their photos, I would have hoped such blatant violations would have resulted in a suspension. Though, with the 6000+ ratings they’d given, and 1000+ reviews, example of which “Efficient ATM”, have been left, along with the views count. Which may indicate they have only removed them from maps, but not deleted them, or the view count is lagging.
Thanks @YK1001 but linking back to your own post saying to do exactly what I just did here is quite useless. Thanks anyway. I shall await a Googler to see the post and check the profile.
@YK1001 thank you for replying again but I still don’t see how what you’re suggesting is any different to what I’ve already done. I’ve done my bit, I’ve reported it (and escalated it) and the profile will either be dealt with or it will not.
@PaulPavlinovich There currently is no way for someone to report an entire profile, however, if you find a Local Guide where you believe they are violating the policies, a Googler will send you a private message with information on how to share that profile URL with the team privately, as we respect everyone’s information and ask that nothing be shared publicly. I was able to use the “clues” in your post to get the person’s information and we’ll look into it though we can’t share our decision. Thanks for sharing.
I Believe that any user spamming in order to cheat the system should be exposed. Some of us are completely honest and work extremely hard to keep with in the guide lines. To have some one cheat and no way of reporting their profile is just a slap in the face. I mean honestly who here treats this like their job. Because, I certainly do and I understand I’m just starting out but come on.
