2022
I accessed my mom's existing clean Google Maps account and made several edits that I have done over the last few weeks.
Literally many of the things that I fought for over the last few weeks got approved just like that. The solution here is not to open up a new account and make your edits there. Local guide accounts don't have a limit for suggesting edits... unless they've been flagged. Here are my observations:
- Maybe the pressures wane when multiple people attempt to suggest the same edit, and where it might not apply for someone else, a second push by another individual can get it through.
- Someone wrote that it may have had something to do with what information was sent in the edits. If my intention was only to change the category but it also attempted to change something else in the process, that may have been a factor and we might need to analyse that information. I wrote in this post that I got a 'not applied' result for trying to update the business hours, but in fact I was only updating the name.
- Therefore this point is very important. It may have to do something with the device. My mom uses an iPhone and the iOS version of Google Maps, and all her edits went through. I use a Google Pixel, beta-enabled Android app. I could try to log on to it on the iPhone and see if anything changed.
- The edit didn't go through when my account reattempted to nudge the map marker on the iPhone. However on her account, it approved instantly. The device could have been affecting the edits as to what suggested edits are actually being sent to the server, and because of that now my trust level has plummeted to almost a point of no return.
So maybe I should be asking the following questions:
- Has my account really been blacklisted this time around? Or that it's trust level has declined so much past the point of redemption?
- What device were you using to suggest edits? iOS? The web version on a laptop? An Android device? Are you a beta tester?
- Maybe I should abandon this account and move on to my mom's magical approval account? Obviously that would be against the terms and conditions of Google Maps and using multiple accounts, but she does use it for lists, navigation and the odd review every now and then (Google Maps over Apple Maps any day).
I should stop speculating and just make all these edits, you have no idea how excessively satisfying it is having all these edits being approved immediately on my mom's account (and yet, equally disgusted too considering this account's trust level is essentially dead, also that account has not opted into the local guides program). I moved a chocolate cafe that I've been trying to prove that it's in its right location for months! I took out a location descriptor and it didn't revert immediately after being approved so quickly! I moved a map marker that was idiotically in the middle of a parking lot into its correct tenancy space in the corresponding shopping centre!
THIS IS WHAT I ADORE AND THRIVE IN.
But I'm not my mother. When a freshly-made account gets all their edits applied whereas a seasoned or barely experienced local guides gets the majority of their edits not applied, not even considered or even has to go into pending for months on end, I think that is an extreme concern, makes you wonder about those level 1's or 2's who commented on this thread saying that all their edits went through fine.
We have a new perspective to look into now.
The algorithms; and a massively askew rejection rate of those who have previously had 'not applied' edits.
What now?
Where is Google support for the local guides?
Recently, I notice most of my edits on Google Maps did not apply. Not sure what's going on with Google Maps. I have moved the marker, correct the address and correct the phone number, but Google simply just don't take it. Some business are not able to receive the postcard because the suite number is missing, zip code is wrong. And adding a phone number won't be accepted.
Something as simple as moving the marker to the right place doesn't get approved. The following example shows that Greulich's Automotive Repair at the same place as Taco Bell. As a Google Trusted Street View Photographer for years, I always proactively correcting the errors on Google maps. Feel very frustrated recently.
