Lost points

I just realized (and I am still shocked) that more about 10,000 (yes, 10k) points have been removed from my Local Guides account. Google does not react to any attempt to get in touch with them.

Do you have any ideas?

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Do you have two gmail account in your mobile phone? Bcz i used to two gmail accounts in my phone and both are connected with google maps that’s why my points also deducted. So i were removed my another gmail account from my phone.

Thank you Sanu, but no. I only have one account that I use since more than 10 years. I have stored e-mails from last year where I can show the previous amount of points I had (> 26k).

Hi @mariobeyer ,

sorry for what happened, In addition to what hinted at by @Md_Asif_Husain , take a look on this previous post, especially the part highlighted as “Solution” : Lost Points

I took a quick look at your contributions on Maps and it seems to me that you have posted the same photos several times for the activity you reviewed: check your photos on “Klaserie River Safari Lodge” and “Klaserie River Safari Lodge” . Posting the same photos several times can also lead to a ban from the LocalGuides program.
This can happen involuntarily also due to a bad internet connection, so I always advise you, even after a few days, to check that there are no duplications in your photos!

Bye,

David

2 Likes

Hi @mariobeyer ,

Normally points can be lost due to two main reasons, first it can be depending of your setting for Google’s My Activity. Please have a look there to check your settings if you marked to keep your activity, otherwise activity is deleted and points are dropped as well. You can read more about that on this article: How do I delete my answers to questions on Google Maps?

If your activity is OK then another reason might be if some of your contributions are determined to be in a violation of the content policy, our filter running automatically in background marked them as private and you lost your points because of this.

If you feel that your contributions are all legitimate and you didn’t see anything removed from it then you can tag a Google moderator here to check if your account might be experiencing some issues.

Remember to search first the forum for an answer to your question as someone else might have been already questioning it: Lost points, Series points reduction.

Since this is your first post here on Connect take a look at the 14 helpful tips for using Connect to understand how to use Connect, and this article to understand What are Connect topics.

You could also introduce yourself to the community and the other Local Guides by writing something about you here: Introduce Yourself January 2020.

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Welcome and so sorry. :disappointed_relieved:

Thank you David for checking and answering my post. You are right, it happened by coincidence that some pictures only from my previous trip to Africa have been shared in parallel. That cannot be the reason to loose 10k points. I deleted the mentioned pictures. It must have something to do that I deleted my activities (in Google search) from the past. Nothing reminded me that this could might have an influence on my points balance. I am still think the reason must be something else. And I might come to the conclusion to stop contributing content for ever and deleting all my previous contributions in terms of pictures and reviews.

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Thank you very much Luigi for your help.

I think the reason was that I deleted some activites from the past as I was not aware that this could have an influence on my Google Local points. I just thought my search history was affected. But as I mentioned I am very sad and angry now about losing 10k that I collected with real efforts over the last years. Please understand that my motivation about contributing more content is ZERO now. :disappointed:

2 Likes

Hi @mariobeyer ,

more than welcome but I’m really sorry you would like to quit the program. Before you go I kindly ask you to review your decision (and your settings) as Local Guides is not a program just based on the points and / or perks, but on the passion in contributing and help each other … so just a setting problem shouldn’t lead you to leave the program also if the lost can be big.

I also remind you that most of the data are kept without being removal and you can control all of this, it maybe also possible that you might have set an expiration earlier in time because you didn’t want to track all your activities, all information are however available on Google support site.

If you really want to go and there is no space to review your decision then go to this link: https://maps.google.com/localguides/home and follow the Exit Program instructions by using the specific button.

I also want to let you know to please tag the person you are replying to with the @ sign followed by the Connect username, like I’m doing for you, so that the person will receive a notification and be aware about your message.

Thank you.

Dear @LuigiZ

thank you again for your helpful information.

I have already set back my settings in the activity chapter, but the points remain at the same level (reduced by at least 10k points).

If the previous contributions like answering questions or writing reviews could be restored it would help me in continuing my posts and pics.

Do you see any chance to do so?

I have attached a screenshot from last year that shows my number of pints back then.

It is from October 2019 and it shows 23693 points.

Changing my activity period (deleting history) was the only thing I changed recently.

So this is more likely the reason of this decrease in points on short notice.

Thank you very much again
Mario

1 Like

Hi @mariobeyer ,

more than welcome and that’s definitely the issue then.

But unfortunately points cannot be restored, the activities have been deleted and the points lost is just a consequence of it as they were given for that. I’m really sorry for that.

Hello @LuigiZ ,

I just wanted to let you know that I accepted your answer as a solution. The purpose of this feature is to help Local Guides find answers on specific questions or issues when searching on Connect. Keep up the good work! :slightly_smiling_face:

For anyone interested in the subject, more information can be found here: How do I mark comments as solutions?

1 Like

Hi,

I just updated Google Maps app and discovered that I have lost around 400 points. This is not the first time It is happening.

Do you think that I should really care? My willing to contribute more is shrinking every time this happens.

My lost points are almost equal to 65 photos. Look at these screen shots please:

It seems that Google doesn’t care so why should I? You know if they are taking away points this much often I expect a kind of motivation or feedback.

This is annoying.

all the best

Hi @I-am-Q ,

I suggest you check the tips mentioned in the solution comment to this post, those reasons might explain your lost of points.

Remember also that we, Local Guides, are volunteer for the core value of help others, so the points are just an extra while the contributions are not made to make points, this will make sure to favor the quality vs the quantity.

Hi,

Thanks for reply.

I have in my setting activated “keep your activity” and as far as I know, I do not violate any rules. I take all pictures my self, and try to corp so that pictures are sanitized so that no face or so is bold in the picture.

As you can see in the screenshots, I had 273 reviews, 1385 photos and 14026 points last week. But yesterday I had 275 reviews (2 review were added during the week), 1321 photos and 13713 points.

Today I have 275 reviews, 1353 photos and 13880 points.

So, I am confused more than ever.

Best regards

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Hi @LuigiZ

This is the status today. I have 275 reviews, 1400 photos and 14143 points.

I just try to understand why this is happening, that is all.

all the best

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Hi @I-am-Q ,

I suggest you simply wait and recheck, as you can see things are changing continuously and there might be automatic maintenance tasks in background acting on this since more people are reporting changing in points balance. Moreover some actions are also taken by GMB due to the COVID-19 outbreak which seems also to affect points and contributions.

1 Like

Have similar situation as the original poster, on May 23 got promoted to level 7, today I can see a drop of pretty much exactly 500 points. I can imagine that my account went through moderation with the level up. Wrote an appeal but got an automated message that there were no penalties.

The only thing I did recently is enabling of history deletion after 18 months. I can still see my old reviews, very old pictures are still uploaded. So what happened?

Anyhow, feels that the points should be more transactional, rather than dynamically calculated as they are now. If there are deductions they should be recorded and displayed. Something for the dev team to consider, as I agree with the author that lack of transparency here is demotivating, as you feel treated unfairly. And no, I don’t buy “points are not important” argument I’ve seen here, neither creators of Local Guides program do.

Even if that would be the case, isn’t that a problem that the program lost my valuable contributions without my clear intent to remove them? (still, I don’t know why I lost 500 points)

Hi Mario,

I had the same issue…lost 9k points. It was due to the recommended security email google sent out to all users roughly 2-3 months ago, suggesting updating your history settings to remove maps activity history beyond 18 months. This was a “recommended” google security setting and did not post any detail as to what would be lost. I had assumed points gained were no longer linked to historical events once earned. I accepted the recommended setting and 9k points were gone the next day. After investigation, I found all photos, reviews, Q&A, facts checked remained, no matter how old. The points were not lost. However, I found the “answers” section to have dropped roughly 9k responses. These are those basic questions after visiting a location. Ex: Does the location have a public restroom? or: Does the restaurant accept credit cards?

I reviewed a number of other local guides user discussions with the same issue and found this to be the loss of points. I routinely answer these questions and had stored up quite a bit. Why these are directly linked to history, I would have no idea, as you can answer these questions simply by opening a map location and not actually visiting. I reviewed a response by google pointing to this being the issue and the answers no longer being recoverable. I know it’s not the answer you or I would like, but it is what it is at this point. It seriously makes me question the recommended security adjustment emails I get from google from here on out.

Happy map hunting. Hope this helps.

Chip Owens

Houston, TX