@Briggs I got the equivalent of "blacklisted" too, about six months ago. I edit a lot of 7-Elevens. Bangkok has more 7-Elevens than any city in the world, and I love fixing/adding their listings. That's my guess why it happened, but ultimately I don't know. I also type and edit really fast on my phone, so I could have done things at what Google considered an inhuman speed. But again, I really don't know why it happened.
Someone here on Connect reviewed my account and fixed my account. It was a very frustrating week for me. I think I was Level 9 (or the equivalent) at the time, too. Maybe it's an initiation/hazing thing that Google does to you before you can reach level 10. 🙂
I'm glad that in your last bout of hazing/initiation that it managed to straighten themselves up and you managed to hit level 10. This blacklisting thing will probably go away soon, but if it was someone who actually reviewed your account and fixed things up, maybe I might be able to have the same treatment. Especially since I'm only about 12k away from Level 10, I just gotta get through the initiation first. It's like a test of faith! 🙂
What @JosephDewey describes is having your account mis-flagged as a spammer. It happens the most to actual spam fighters as it becomes hard to distinguish the intent of edits during a spam attack; I've had it happen a couple of times to my account while spam fighting. If warranted it can be removed after a review of the edits.
You have described what you are experiencing as an issue affecting multiple people, not an individual ban; thus a review of the account would not be warranted nor of help.
Flash - LG Connect Moderator, Maps Platinum Product Expert, Map Maker Platinum Product Expert, RER and Regional Lead
Due to the volume I receive, I do not respond to unsolicited private messages
I can't think of anything that might flag my account as being a spammer, since I do plenty of location edits wherever I go. I also type razor fast and submit pretty fast, so they might mean something. I guess that isn't a solution, so it must be an algorithm change or something.
Although the actions that I have done previously of some note may include:
Mass reporting of the fake websites as inappropriate during the 'Check the facts' option.
Checking way too many facts or making many edits at once?
Uploading upwards of 60+ on a busy day type of thing.
I wouldn't be so sure. Nonetheless, I still have my methods of levelling up and racking up points without actually doing any exploring or walking around, so I've succumbed to a temporary diversion for the meantime while this blows over.
For many of these, there should be any sort of manual review where the team would be able to look and verify the details. But not even giving the suggestion even the tiniest look or consideration harms the local guide's expectations and spirit.
I'm now over this. But as more and more guides start to report, surely there is work being done right now to flesh things out! I know the Google Maps app just updated on my android device yesterday and it looks like there's a small issue with my contributions section, so I hypothesise that there might be some instability especially with the roll out of the new badges, those of which I would like to see sometime!
Flash yesterday also managed to correct many of the edits that I suggested last Tuesday, so he gets credit for those while I get straight up 'not applied'. There's no point leaving them for me to edit when they'll get instantly rejected, or they'll go pending and then months later still end up being not applied.
That astronomical trust level, how would I get that?
It's day 10 tomorrow. I don't need to write that down.
The majority of my edits still don't go through. If I had the same trust level and clearance as Flash the Top Contributor of Google Maps has, I would be set for life. No one has told me how I can work towards such a trusted position, so I will have to do a lot of exploring and research and prove I'm to be trusted.
I don't think I need to compile any more threads because I'm very sure the moderators are very active in noting down what they see. Although now I'm mainly just complaining about the 3% interest rate loan lenders clogging up the boards as well as photo spam, whether intentional or because simpler Google Maps users did not know any better. Let's keep on reporting, if it works.
After reviewing a number of accounts affected, I can confirm that the edits features are working as intended. I know this must be frustrating as your edits or edits in the community may often come through as "not-applied" or "pending." There are many contributing factors behind the scenes that cause an edit to be held up by the system or for manual review and while I can't get into the specifics of these, the main thing to remember is that it isn't something personal to your account. The trust level item you have mentioned is also something behind the scenes and something we don't have control over as moderators. I hope this won't put you off of editing as it does appear to be something you really enjoy! I can only hope you'll remain patient in regards to what the system deems accurate/inaccurate or in need of review.
You have mentioned a few times that you wished you knew the secret to getting a trust level such as my own.
There is no real secret, it is just dedicated edits for years. Your current edit count is a good start, but unfortunately I've seen spam accounts with just as many valid edits, with the spammer's idea that they will do thousands of edits to build up trust and then be able to spam unfettered. For this reason some trust can be placed by the algorithms in your past editing, but not unlimited trust.
This is purely speculation, but I know that the past year the trust level has been set very low; such a low level I've only seen a few times. Google only does such things when they are getting good results from it. I knew that such a low level could not continue forever, and I feel that what has likely happened is that the percentage and severity of bad data has finally reached a threshold where the trust levels required needed adjustment.
All I can recommend is to keep at it. Everyone with a high trust level got there by continuing to make edits even when getting denials and by asking questions about their denials to learn how to better map within the guidelines and the way the database works. When you are feeling frustrated by denials remember that it is the bad contributors causing you that grief; sometimes a good spam cleanse helps you to direct your frustrations. Earning an even higher trust level is a multi-year task, of that you should be aware. Your contributions are appreciated and will contributed even more as time goes on.
Flash - LG Connect Moderator, Maps Platinum Product Expert, Map Maker Platinum Product Expert, RER and Regional Lead
Due to the volume I receive, I do not respond to unsolicited private messages
Thank you for your answer @Flash - As you are well versed with the former MapMaker and have been doing these edits for years, it is nice to have feedback from members of the community that are well versed in the intricacies and delicate nature of edit approvals.
2022
