What kind of Local Guide are you❓

[JacobLED]

Hello friends, guides, moderators and other fellows.

While being in the sea of information, new people, so many locals and non-locals guiding through oceans to a continental clash of worlds and even their tiny villages in any piece of soil in this still wonderful planet called earth, came up the question…

What kind of Local Guide are You

I was never questioning this as this question seemed to me more challenging then to be just a Local Guide at all and leave me a lot of space in what I am doing, freely, for no donation, sometimes for fun, for a humanitarian reason, because I care or simply I want the world to know.

I add pictures, sometimes none and sometimes there is a dozen from different angles and daytimes dacause the sun is staying always very beautiful at any hour of the day.

I love to write a sentence or sometimes I just give a thumbs-up because I am in hurry but still love the coffee with 5 s.

Even since 3 years of participation I still can’t say what kind of Local Guide I am. Or maybe should we limit ourselves? What is the deep meaning behind this philosophical, questioning question? Why should we narrow down our view, our perspective, our vision just because there are a few badges? Or wouldn’t we do it at all of there where no badges at all? Then why did you do it?

Well questioning is good, it brought the humankind to the now and here with inventions and technology. Maybe someone should ask me before I started to be a local guide, hey what kind of local do you want to be? I don’t know. I still don’t know, because I love the liberty of being a Local Guide without limits, despite the limits.

I love to tale pictures, sometimes by walking randomly around and sometimes looking for the new and unexplored. To be the first one of course. We all know the feeling how joyful it is.

My question to you friends.

Do You know what kind of Local Guide you are?

Maybe you are the foodie hunting for new places to eat, or the photographer, the short writer or long writer, the corrector and map fixer or a little bit of everything because you don’t want to set limits and have multiple skills.

…please drop your comments below…

…and please to to any answer a friend whose opinion is important for you…

I am @OliverKIWI @Ewaade_3A because I really appreciate their opinion

[C_T]

Hello @JacobLED

I believe one should be a trustworthy local guide & should perform following actions periodically.

Editing of private reviews to make that public again.

Deleting Duplicate or near-duplicate + hidden photos, and verifying whether those contain any personally identifiable information.

Not rushing for creation of a new POI unless making it doubly sure that the place does not exist even in a magnified view.

Rest what to add further depends upon everybody’s choice.

[JacobLED]

That’s also my simple formula @C_T to be present as a local guide.

This is more meaningful then social media for me. Even during a quick shopping or a long outride by car like one of my latest reviews in the mountains of the Aegean coast, always be there, proof by photos and write an opinion as a local, a guest or a customer.

Maybe you can give me an answer to my question. How can some places be faster reviewed? Some fixations, corrections really need to be improved. I wrote some of them last year and I am still waiting for some action. Even I posted them with a proof photo.

[Ewaade_3A]

awwww, My Friend!

@JacobLED thanks for the tag and a tag in your Post is such a big deal

In my country, we will say; “my head is swelling o” in colloquial form of English language or “you burst my brain” in Nigerian Pidgin English, which is a form of creole.

All of these simply translate to; I have a feeling of intense joy and excitement that you are proud enough of me, to show me off in your post

That’s a special badge for me, that ‘not even Google’ can give me, Thank you.

What kind of Local Guide are you?

Well, I don’t have a special formula because; everytime I am invited to a place/space, I try my best to;

1. Show Love- this is always my first priority. I believe Love has it’s own unspoken language, it can break barriers, divide walls and melt even the stoniest of hearts. After this wall is torn down, people are naturally receptive of me. Those who are skeptical, pay attention and those who ‘hate me’ because of a form of ‘misgiving’, generally mellow and those who are prejudiced have a better judgement. I have a new friend here, he is @Mohamedsalah25 . Mohamed, leave your contribution please
2. I try to check out the rules/guidelines that guide conversations on the forum and stick with them
3. I check the Vision and Mission statements and work hard to ensure I am helping my hosts (in this case; Google) in achieving their goals which is explicit in their Vision and Mission statements. For ‘connect’, we are charged to ; “Learn, Explore and Celebrate”. On the left panel, I will discover the panels I am expected to contribute towards, so by contributing to categories on the left panel, listening to others, sharing with others, celebrating with others, learning from others, I will be the Global guide that Google intends I become through my time and participation on Connect.

So, these few points determine the kind of Local Guide I am.

So, how are you today, Jacob?

Como Estas?

[JacobLED]

Thank you very much @Ewaade_3A

I am doing very fine.

And nice you bring us closer to some different phrases even dialects of English. It is my proficiency, and I love to hear and learn more about new languages.

You know one important experience I currently made is to be more cautious about previous reviews and trying to be as neutral and unique as possible. I was never really getting affected by the opinions of others regarding to film, theater, music or places to visit and food to eat or not but recently I ordered cat food on an online pet shop. Good pricing, everything seemed to be OK. You know it was something new I wanted to try and didn’t ordered 15 kilo right away, so I’ve chosen the open form of single kilo pouches. Somehow I felt like Googling the shop and Bingo I found then on maps and saw directly that their reviews are on 2stars. You know what I felt, I was immediately suspicious and started to read the reviews from different and several people was written that the shop is selling fake at food, and their animals got sick of it and so on. I was like damn. I payed a handful of money and waited until it arrived. I had to get in touch with the company and send them pictured of the arriving food via Messenger. They had a Facebook contact and was released when they approved the food as original.

Then back to maps, I realized that all bad reviews were given in the same month. So someone wanted to damage their business.

I left them of course a good review and realized how important it is to read and sometimes report malicious reviews when you think it is fake, has malicious content or there is a competition maybe behind.

So there is nothing bad in it to be a cautious and unaffected Local Guide.

Thank you very much for your comment and I wish you a nice Sunday

[Ewaade_3A]

Wow! I love this @JacobLED

But why will someone go through the hassle of giving another person a fake review that’s so unkind! I hope you ‘flagged’ the reviews so Google can take them down.

Yes! I love to write reviews and to take a lot of pictures. I will resume doing that after the lockdown.

I also go to read reviews before making purchases from a store especially if the seller has requested i ‘Pay before delivery’.

When People in my country ask too, I tell them to go read the reviews about my Store! I am on a complete 5 stars! even though Nigerians are not big on giving reviews and ratings, it’s still foreign to us, I pray we get better.

I am glad you double checked.

I don’t want anything to happen to our cat, right?

Different dialects of English language, right?

[JacobLED]

No, I want her safe and healthy. You know she is pregnant. Well I am so glad that she loved that dry food very much.

Things will change slowly. I follow the development of Africa sometimes on TV. There is a lot of process. You know the German TV channel DW? They show a lot of news about Africa. Make programs about start-up businesses and new coming business people.

[Mohamedsalah25]

hello @Ewaade_3A

Not understand what you mean

[Ewaade_3A]

@JacobLED don’t watch news about Africa! It’s a waste of time!

Africa is a very large continent, we are divided into regions

North

South

West

East Africa

We still have the sub continents and sub regions.

We are as diverse in regions as we are in people.

I don’t even know what basis you can use in categorizing us all, apart from the fact that we are on the same continent.

Some countries have more Western influence over the others, some are more developed than the others.

Some have cities that can compete with the best cities of the world.

So, select the particular country you want to learn about and not just Africa.

Like; I can’t just watch news about the “Americas” or about “Asia” or about “Europe”.

Where exactly do I begin from?

Is it the language? the people? their history?

Nah, I won’t do that

[JacobLED]

I think I see your point @Ewaade_3A

It is a program called Africa Report. But well they are showing crossover. I guess mostly about Nigeria, Kenia and Namibia.

But I still don’t agree with waste of time. I think to learn something is better then nothing at all.

Well, Africa is a continent and there is a lot to discover.

[Ewaade_3A]

@Mohamedsalah25

لقد وضع لي صديقي علامة على هذا المنشور ؛ “أي نوع من المرشدين المحليين أنت؟” لذا أريدك أن تخبره

“أي نوع من المرشدين المحليين أنت؟”

ألن تفعل ذلك من أجلي؟

[Ewaade_3A]

It is a ‘waste of time’ in the sense that; a program that wants to do an ‘African report’ for sale to a foreign audience, is most likely doing it for propaganda and viewership as opposed to stating the fact.

Many foreign investors have stakes here, so, if you know ‘what I mean’

@JacobLED

[JacobLED]

You are a wise person @Ewaade_3A

I wish you all a nice Sunday… see you tomorrow.

[Mohamedsalah25]

@Ewaade_3A

Thank you to write in Arabic for me

but to be honest , I’m not truly local guide

I’m photographer and love to travel very much

and only want share my photos and some experiences from my pervious trips to nice people who have same hobbies and interests

this is me as local guide

[Ewaade_3A]

أنت صديقي ، أليس كذلك؟ الأصدقاء يتقدمون خطوة إضافية لبعضهم البعض. لذا يمكنني الكتابة باللغة العربية إذا كان ذلك سيجعلك تفهمني بشكل أفضل.

كنقطة فضول ، تشارك اسمًا مع أحد لاعبي كرة القدم ، أليس كذلك؟ كيف تعاملت مع الأشخاص الذين يسألونك ذهابًا وإيابًا ؟

إن مشاركة صورك على “خرائط Google” تجعلك “مرشدًا محليًا” لأنها تجربة التصوير التي تشاركها ، والتي تساعد الآخرين على تحديد المكان الذي سيذهبون إليه.

الآن ، لدي معلم محترف آخر.

نعم !!!

@Mohamedsalah25

[Mohamedsalah25]

@Ewaade_3A

Yes , I have same name and many people laughing on this and make me happy

it is not about Arabic or English

im just not understand some questions here

for google , it is really change my world , not only about photos or maps , it is knowledge and assistance better than anything else

so , I’m always try to help others and transfer experience

thank you for considering me as friend

it is my pleasure really and proud to have young and nice friend like you

[Ewaade_3A]

Always @Mohamedsalah25

[JacobLED]

Thank you @Mohamedsalah25

It is enough sometimes to express your feelings, thoughts or opinions with a picture about something.

A picture says more then a thousand words.

[Mohamedsalah25]

@JacobLED

Well said my friend

I’m always use photos to tell everything I want

good luck and really great post

[JacobLED]

Thank you @Mohamedsalah25

I am glad you dropped a comment. And I’d be glad if you could tag someone to this post, someone you really would like to hear her or his opinion, please.

Thanks again.