Stop contributing?

[accessdi]

Hello All,

You perhaps heard about many contributors making money on YouTube. It happens because the content revenue model created by Google allows contributors with quality content to succeed everyone involved, not just Google.

Who am I? I am just a guy like you who contributed to Local Guides for few years. I travel a lot and contribute photos. I am on level 8 at the moment with approximately 9 mln views for my photos.

Today I received an email that my “promotion” for storage is over and I have to start paying again. Being pissed off at 5 am is very unusual to me. What pissed me off? Well, don’t you think we are mistreated by the organization? This never ending expectation of Local Guides to get everything for free from us is alarming, especially taking into consideration how successful other products like YouTube are, that actually support the contributors by sharing revenue.
If you want to contribute for free and waste your valuable time, please continue. I am not promoting any product, I just think the time came to take a stance. From now on I will be acting against Google Local Guides to acknowledge our contributions as valuable. Not just say that we are valuable, but actually to support these words with actions. I will develop a site the purpose of which is to get respect for people like you and me. Again, if you believe that contributions have to be for free, please continue. As for me, and perhaps many other people here, these occasional perks once in 2 years are seen as a slap in the face. Something jas to change, or a mass exodus to another platform should happen

I will develop a site, and you will be able to join the campaign. In this very democratic world anything can happen, including my post to be deleted.

Mike

[ErmesT]

Hi @accessdi

please forget for a minute my badge of moderator, as this is a volunteer activity too, and I am a volunteer Local Guide exactly like you. I want to share my point of view with you. There is no censorship in the community, if a post is respecting the other Local Guides and On Topic.

I want to start from your storage.I am a Level 9, with more than 15 million view, and I am not running out of my storage, even if I have more than 20000 photos stored (not all uploaded in Google Maps, as I use Google Photo to backup all my photos and videos). The trick is to set the storage in Google Photo to High Quality, to have an unlimited storage at 16Mpx. I wrote a post, long time ago, to explain how to configure your storage: How to use your space in Google drive

What I personally receive from Google, at no cost, is: 15 GB of storage, an email address, a navigation system always updated, a full set of programs in Google Docs. What I receive for free is the possibility to have a system for managing the emergencies.

Contributing in Google Maps in exchange as a Local Guide is a personal choice that I made, knowing the rules of the program (I usually read the rules before to join).

For me all this have a value, even if I don’t pay money for using it and, as I said, I am happy to contribute in exchange, as I benefit of every update that other Local Guides made in my area.

If you have received a promotion for free storage, you should know already that the promotion was for a limited period of time, as this is clearly explained in every promotion.

If you have a different opinion, feel free to share it here on Idea exchange

[accessdi]

Ermest,

Please continue to contribute for free, especially if you have this twisted idea in your head that you owe something to Google. This is a two way street of a company making money, acknowledging your valuable contributions, and sharing the revenue with you. It works with YouTube. Again, you can just contribute to help Google make money for free and disrespect you with some kind of once a year 3 bucks promotion. Your choice!

The spirit of volanteer is just promoted here to avoid paying you for your valuable contributions. I would ratyer make money, abd choose to donate them where I want. Thanks for your input tho.

Mike

[ErmesT]

Thank you for giving me the permission to waste my time @accessdi

Waste is an interesting word, because as a local guide I am contributing in this community of friends fighting against waste. We do this for free too, all around the world. In the meantime, we help disability. Of course wasting time is our choice, and I don’t want to waste your time too.

Good luck

[accessdi]

@ErmesT , Google is a publicly traded company. It does show promoted listings in searched including maps. The revenue sharing model will allow to acknowledge contributors, and after that some people can buy a car and some, like you can continue donating anywhere you want.

I sense you believe you are funny or witty with your comments. You are not, but whatever. I won’t brag about my contributions to this world, it’s irrelevant point in this discussion. The fact is that the revenue sharing model exist, and others paid for their contributions, but we are not.

And yes funny boy, aka Seinfield-moderator of this fascinating forum, I am giving you permission to continue wasting your time on anything you want.

[ADavilaZ]

It is unusual but I guess we all have that feeling when something goes wrong or not as we were planning.

I’d only say that perk program and things like that should be changed and maybe introduce something new. Lately there’s nothing offered for us the contributors. Even the famous summit in the US with a lot of requirements and specific criteria for being allowed to have a chance to get in, seems like a play when you know who were the winners.

Yes, I agree. It’s a bit frustrating when you realize that you’re not doing more than wasting your time and even more when you understand that you agreed on that.

Well, I still love to help people here or any other place were it could be useful but Google should do a better job for improving this program not only with money or things like that but with other kind of perks.

[ErmesT]

Well, honestly no, I don’t want to be funny with you, @accessdi

I know exactly what Google is, and I know what a business is.

And of course I have my payback, even if it is very different from what you can imagine.

Have you ever been on a red zone of an earthquake? I have been there several times, and this is the main reason why I started to contribute as a local guide. To relocate the position of the business, to help the rebuilding activities, to promote territories where no one wants to go again. I started to promote mapping for emergency on January 2017, and this month it is real.

I started to promote waste reporting on Google Maps this January.

I hope it will be real on 2020.

Mom is disabled, I am mapping and sharing accessible paths on Google Maps.

I am very serious in this, I am not having fun with you. I am simply sharing a different point of view.

So this is my payback, I am happy with it, and I will continue to contribute, because Local Guides is also this.

Having a different point of view is your own right, and as I already said you are free to express your opinion. You will not be censored, till you are respectful of the others and you are on topic, even if you are writing against the place where you are a guest.

I can only suggest you a tour in the community, just to know what the community is.

Good life to you

[FaridTDF]

Hola estimado @accessdi es una pena leer tus palabras, pero te comprendo y es comprensible que te sientas frustrado, pero puedes ganar plata siendo un fotógrafo de confianza, aquí puedes leer Que se necesita para ser un fotógrafo de confianza

Ahora con respecto a los beneficios, lamentablemente son limitados, es verdad, y a todos nos gustaría que duren en el tiempo pero como en la vida real, todo lo bueno tiene fecha de finalización. De todas maneras puedes hacer lo que tan amablemente te indica @ErmesT indica en google fotos que todas las fotos tengas un tamaño determinado, de esa manera podrás tener almacenamiento ilimitado.

Ten en cuenta que ser un Local Guides es voluntario no es necesario que colabores o que realices reseñas en Google Maps, puedes simplemente no hacerlo y no usarlo nunca mas, seria una pena ya que tus aportes pueden ser la diferencia entre optar por un restaurante o seguir una ruta, cuando alguien te consulte que opinas de :

Saludos Farid

For the case that has difficulty, in reading my answer, in the upper left part of the screen, in the drop-down menu of languages, you can select the language, in which you want to read the post.

[VijayaNagesh]

Hello @accessdi thank you for sharing the post with us…

As of now, according to Google more than 30 million Local Guides in more than 240 communities contributing voluntarily.

As per my knowledge, in Local Guides program there is no direct finance benefits, perks are also based on the countries and contribution levels Local Guides will get.

We can make money as a Street View Photographer as a part of Google Local Guide program.

Quitting a program is quite simple with just clicking on delete account button, but out of hundreds millions of people we Local Guides are voluntarily contributing to help others and no one is forcing to us to do this.

I request you to be cool,calm down for sometime and go ahead with the best solution.

I really appreciate @ErmesT and @FaridTDF for doing the good job. Kudos to you my dear friends.

Cheers

VijayaNagesh

[elsebas]

1. Tienes toda la razón, yo he dejado de contribuir desde el 1 de junio, deberíamos de hacer todos lo mismo hasta que nos den almacenamiento ilimitado a los guías locales