As a Local Guide in general and a Cambodia Local Guide in particular, I often read and see some potential problems, such as when any member asks a question like how Moderator or Googlers really work or posted a Mapping topic related to fake locations or unfounded locations and some are locations with content that attacks or defames a person or a country, what the questioner receives are only general answers related to how to tag or categorize a topic. While the answer that should go straight to the intended topic or a suitable solution, I clearly have not seen.
So I came here and raised this topic up as the content of the article with the intention that maybe the Google Moderators and Googlers in the community can help, either it’s me alone or maybe the collective of Local Guides members around the world in general and particularly Cambodia Local Guides, to answer this question and we can somehow digged deeper enough with the answer for the next questions related to using and improving Google’s applications all together.
Hello @JVanSd , on a forum like this, it is important that visitors can easily find/filter the content they are interested in. That is why using the most appropriate categories and tags is very important.
The fact that a Googler or moderator adds a comment about this, is not meant as an answer to the content of the post, but rather an attempt to explain what the best practices are. Another Googler or moderator (or even the same one) can add another reply later about the content.
Unfortunately it’s not possible which original post your are referring to, but I guess it was about the inappropriate renaming of businesses in Cambodia. Without going into any specifics, I can however assure you that the team is well aware of the problem (reported by multiple local guides) and it is under investigation. Please understand that the Googlers and Google moderators here are working on the forum, not on Google Maps as such - meaning that they also have to forward the information reported here.
Thank you so much @JanVanHaver for one of the straight to the point answer.
At least I now know that Google does taking care of what’s happening and seeing problems from Cambodia Local Guides community posts.
Hi @JVanSd , I am sorry but it’s not like that
Like @JanVanHaver , I can assure you that the team is well aware of the issue.
I believe that @Sophia_Cambodia , that is following the issue directly, can be more specific
@JVanSd thanks for raising the concerns. I have reported to Google for emerging issues we have in Cambodian Google maps. Google team has been informed and well aware of the issues. We are waiting for the final list from our Cambodian local guide team. I believe you are in there with us?
Thank you for raising this important topic. It’s incredibly helpful to have such an open discussion about the challenges faced by Local Guides, especially when it comes to fake locations, harmful content, and the moderation process. It’s strange that despite all the support available, these issues still persist. Hopefully, with the collective efforts of Local Guides worldwide, and particularly here in Cambodia, we can dig deeper into these questions and find more effective ways to improve and clean up Google’s platforms. Your input is invaluable, and I appreciate your commitment to this cause.
Well, it’s not so strange, @ViasnaPhon , especially if the harmful content requires a deep knowledge of the culture and history of your country.
In this the Local Guides are playing a fundamental role, because with our reports we can help the AI filter to learn and improve.
Also keep in mind that we only see one part of the story: what is able to raise the surface, appearing in Maps. But I am sure that most of the offensive and harmful edits are rejected immediately, and we don’t see that part.
Google has of course another option, but it is a very unpleasant one: freezing the area, removing all the possibility of contributing and reporting.
I hope we will never reach that point
“Thank you so much for your insightful response! I truly appreciate the valuable explanation and the role of Local Guides in helping to improve the AI filters. It’s reassuring to know that harmful edits are being promptly rejected, and I hope we never reach a point where we have to freeze the area. Your contribution to the discussion is invaluable!”
@ViasnaPhon if Google to freeze the areas we won’t be able to do anything anymore. No update, no edit, no movement. We don’t want that to happen meanwhile we want harmful contents to be removed. Hope we will have solution soon.
