I meet many fellow Local Guides online that are in pain.
Most people that are active on Local Guides Connect are aware that the moment your Local Guides account is suspended, you are no longer able to post or comment on this platform. This means that those Local Guides that find their account suspended end up crying for help on social media.
As a moderator and admin of an unofficial Local Guides community on Facebook, I encounter a lot of suspended Local Guides. Many reach out to me in private. These individuals are often in a state of shock, despair, disbelief and emotional pain when I start talking to them. In many cases the suspended fellow Local Guide doesn’t understand what happened. They are convinced that they didn’t break any rules.
Time and time again I offer to look at their contributions and I am sorry to say that I have yet to see a single account where I could not point at obvious poor contributions. In many cases, when I present the facts to the suspended Local Guide, they are typically overwhelmed with feelings of regret, anger, sadness and again despair: “Can I be saved?” or “What to do? Please help!”
“I put so much time and hard work into Maps…”
It makes me very sad to see so many fellow Local Guides that volunteered their valuable time ending up in this situation.
Of course, I am not talking about the clear-cut spammers that show complete disrespect for Google Maps with their contributions. I am not sure what they are trying to get out of their abusive activities, but I don’t feel sorry for them. However, there are a lot of Local Guides that get caught - and rightfully so - who were simply ignorant of the rules and guidelines until someone told them AFTER they were suspended…
For example, many Local Guides don’t seem to understand what a good review comprises. I am Dutch and it is in my DNA to judge products and services, as Dutch people generally are very direct with their feedback, generally with the aim to improve the receiver of that feedback. But in our multicultural society, giving feedback, be it positive or negative, doesn’t come as natural to everyone.
Intellectual property is highly protected and respected in countries as Holland and the USA. But there are many countries around the world where these values are not the same. One way this manifests is that some Local Guides seriously think they are doing Google Maps a service to find photos of places by professional photographers. Sometimes these images are directly downloaded from the companies website of the POI.
Yes, I have read those guidelines and it states that being ignorant is no excuse. I agree. But how many Local Guides fully educate themselves before making their first contribution on Google Maps? The moment they have made their first contribution they get blinded by the encouraging emails as part of the gamification. More about that later…
The sad thing is that for many suspended Local Guides it takes a long time before they get caught and thus they waste unnecessarily more of their time. Why does the algorithm not target every Local Guide before they hit level four: the moment we earn our first public official Local Guides badge?
“Why does the algorithm not target every Local Guide before they hit level four?”
Perhaps instead of suspending Local Guides when the bot discovers their poor contributions when novices are still at level 3, they could get a red card with a time-out on the bench? The red card that they receive per email could include the links to all the rules. And please include the mapping rules that are available on the Google My Business forum as well. Local Guides should earn a badge for simply locating all the relevant rules and guidelines 
During the time-out that novices on the bench are unable to contribute they can study the rules and reach out to fellow Local Guides on social media. As good-spirited Local Guides, we are always happy to guide others. Let’s guide and be guided.
It would be so much more humane if people get corrected at the early stages of being a Local Guide. It makes little sense to boot someone out after a long time whilst they have been on the wrong path from almost Day One.
Most Local Guides - good or bad - are highly, emotionally invested in the Local Guides Program. The lack of courtesy in the suspension process feels like a knife in their heart. Google is also acting rather insensitively to the norms and values of different cultures when it comes to the procedures involved. Imagine being forced to expose yourself on Twitter or Facebook when you are from certain cultures!
Sometimes, when I look at a suspended account, I wonder whether the other person is from Mars. I mean, really: “You thought you were not breaking any rules?” But then I step back and realize that Google Maps is used by lots of people with different (cultural) backgrounds and levels of education and/or ability. After all, everyone above 18 qualifies to become a Local Guide. For some, this is clearly not enough, at least without help and guidance.
What might be obvious to me, may not be obvious to someone else (and vice versa). I am familiar with American culture and Western (corporate) norms and values: those standards that are applied by Google.
Since we don’t all have exactly the same norms and values, it is my opinion that it is Google’s responsibility to provide what the Spaniards so beautifully call: “formación” (training).
The lack of training and the rude awakening for any suspended Local Guide may mean a permanent “Game Over” without warning at level 8. How many hours on average does a Local Guide invest in Google Maps to make it to level 8?!
My point is, if the Google bots can recognize poor contributions at level 8, so should they at level 3.
It gets worse…
Imagine that you are employed by a large professional company and that you get frequent feedback from your manager. Time and time again you are cheered on and overloaded with praise. Getting fired “out of the blue” because of poor job performance would come as a shock, right?
It so happens that the gamification of the Local Guides Program is set up to send frequent emails that applaud Local Guides for their achievements. Have you ever seen the email: “Great Job: your photo is popular!”? It seems that this random email goes out to people for photos that actually do not abide by the rules and guidelines. My question is: if the Google bot can spot poor contributions, why not use the same filter before sending out these inappropriate encouragements?
“If the Google bot can spot poor contributions, why not use the same filter before sending out these inappropriate encouragements?”
I think I have made my point. I shared my main solution in the Idea Exchange here.
I specifically posted my personal local story here, because I should like to hear from other Local Guides what their take is on this painful issue.
Thank you.
