Big Lying local guides team. F# U

[ShafiulB]

@ErickP hi ,,

Thanks for your post on connect ..

u missing 1tb drive storage so u feeling disgust.. its normal ..

But i think its your problem,,, ,

This news was published all local guides social channel, they also send email notification to all . so i tell u search your email inbox  again ...    

Many expert also posted  this news on their blog news ,,,

For more query u may see this conversation 

Lowering 1TB to 100GB for Level 4 Users

 i think u may find your answer ,,

[StA]

We all contribute to the local guides for different reasons. if you promised 1TB, just give it. 

I think Google must first change the wrong message they are putting across to contributors. As at today December 27th, there is still the message that says getting to level 4 will get you 1TB storage. Just change it to 100GB.

Also, I think Google must vary the rewards for a contributor to choose from. For example, when someone gets to Level 5, they have the option of 50%  discount on Google app products or access to Summit.

Ivan Y, please take note.

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@IvanY wrote:

Just offering my opinion - If you're contributing to Local Guides just for the sake of getting the 1 TB Drive, you're probably not doing it for the right reason. The idea of Local Guide is to crowdsource information so we can help each other improving the data quality on Maps. In the end the real winner would be everyone that actually use and depend on Maps during their daily activities. The perks we get by doing so is just icing on the cake.

Google actually gave plenty of time (2 weeks) for those wanting to get the 1 TB Drive before the deadline. It's more than enough to get to level 4 even if you're starting from scratch.

Also, the news was all over the tech blogs and social media everywhere. It was also included in the Local Guides newsletter earlier this month (July 7th). Have you been getting the Local Guides newsletter? If you have, try searching for the email with the subject line 'New feature: sharing photos just got easier'. Scroll down a bit, the news is there.

As for the reasoning itself, you can check from one of the help page article below:

Free Drive storage offer for Local Guides

We are changing the Drive storage benefit for Level 4 from 1 TB to 100 GB, so that we can continue giving Drive storage to all Level 4 qualified Local Guides. Existing Local Guides who were signed up before July 7, 2016 (12am GMT) can still unlock the original 1 TB offer if they reach Level 4 by July 21, 2016 (12am GMT).

I say don't let this little decrease in perks discourage you for contributing as a Local Guide. There are other benefits that you can still get by participating in the program!

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@IvanY wrote:

Just offering my opinion - If you're contributing to Local Guides just for the sake of getting the 1 TB Drive, you're probably not doing it for the right reason. The idea of Local Guide is to crowdsource information so we can help each other improving the data quality on Maps. In the end the real winner would be everyone that actually use and depend on Maps during their daily activities. The perks we get by doing so is just icing on the cake.

Google actually gave plenty of time (2 weeks) for those wanting to get the 1 TB Drive before the deadline. It's more than enough to get to level 4 even if you're starting from scratch.

Also, the news was all over the tech blogs and social media everywhere. It was also included in the Local Guides newsletter earlier this month (July 7th). Have you been getting the Local Guides newsletter? If you have, try searching for the email with the subject line 'New feature: sharing photos just got easier'. Scroll down a bit, the news is there.

As for the reasoning itself, you can check from one of the help page article below:

Free Drive storage offer for Local Guides

We are changing the Drive storage benefit for Level 4 from 1 TB to 100 GB, so that we can continue giving Drive storage to all Level 4 qualified Local Guides. Existing Local Guides who were signed up before July 7, 2016 (12am GMT) can still unlock the original 1 TB offer if they reach Level 4 by July 21, 2016 (12am GMT).

I say don't let this little decrease in perks discourage you for contributing as a Local Guide. There are other benefits that you can still get by participating in the program!

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[BishowvijayaP]

@ErickP is right at this point. I had found a complain about a person who had made reviews in most places with 3 stars and no words. According to complaint the person even was not belong to his country and never had been there but had reviewed with bad comments. So having a high level does not mean a good reviewer.

[Pea]

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@BrettleyJnr wrote:

At the time the free 1TB was announced, there were no caveats or fine print about time limits. IMHO this was only added later and then only buried in the fine print (my day job is a lawyer thus its my job to read the fine print).  

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When you say 'at the time', when are you referring to? The earliest I can go back is to an email on 3 December 2015 saying: "As a reward for being a Local Guide Level 4+, we're upgrading your Google Drive storage from 15 GB to 1 TB for 2 years. So you can keep all the stories, photos, and videos from your travels in one safe place." This wasn't fine print, it was large text front and center.

It was no secret that the offer was time limited. In fact I went to a Google Block party in 2015 and discussed the two year limit with a couple of Google staffers. I suggested that 1TB for two years should be changed to 10GB for life. They said thanks for my input and they were always reviewing the perks - as it turned out the review was to downgrade it to 100GB for a year! This information was also widely publicised in July but even so, there are LGs still saying "Nobody told me"

[BrettleyJnr]

Hi Phillip. December 2015 was around the time the offer was made or the time limit was up. As at 8 January 2016 I had not received the benefit and logged a support inquiry. This was resolved between January 11 and April 2016 when the 1TB benefit was unlocked. Sample email "Brett, I just want to give you a heads up that once you've reach Level 4, It can take up to 5 weeks to receive the offer email regarding the 1TB promotional storage."

This is one screen shot I saved at the time. In any case its not just myself but others confirm at that time, there was no headline or ** or # the promotional offer was time limited. The assumption. like all the other previous promotional Drive offers the benefits were locked in.

The only provisos I could find at that time (January 2016)

"Limited or No Benefits. Some participants may be ineligible for some or all of the benefits, including persons who are:

• residents of US embargoed countries;
• ordinarily resident in US embargoed countries;
• otherwise prohibited by applicable export controls and sanctions programs; and
• government officials, including (1) government employees; (2) candidates for public office; and (3) employees of government-owned or government-controlled companies, public international organizations, and political parties."

I might have overlooked the fine print of the 2 year time limit - which I doubt - but as I said before, its seems Google is applying some retrospectivity to their decision to apply the 2 year time limit  - and herein they are applying their reserve power to change their terms and conditions as they see fit.

Phillip, when you say "It was no secret that the offer was time limited" and "This information was also widely publicised in July" - what proofs do you have? Maybe ask the Google Staffers you refer to to provide the screen shots from either Android or Google Maps at that time (2015). As I speak, the offer is very clear on Android "Level 4 200+ points *Receive free Google Drive storage for one year". Absolutely unequivocal there is a time limit

[Pea]

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@BrettleyJnr wrote:

Phillip, when you say "It was no secret that the offer was time limited" and "This information was also widely publicised in July" - what proofs do you have?

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Just to clarify these two sentences refer to two different events.

"It was no secret that the offer was time limited" refers to the 1TB offer and my proof that it was not a secret is the email I already described from 3 December 2015. I don't know if the information was widely disseminated I've no idea, but as I said, it certainly wasn't a secret, everyone who reached Level 4 knew and we weren't sworn to secrecy. I'd be surprised if it wasn't written about on blogs somewhere, but I never thought about it since, as far as I knew, it was common knowledge.

"This information was also widely publicised in July" refers to the 1TB offer being replaced by the 100GB offer and my proof is that it was announced in a LG newsletter and then widely republished on numerous sites eg http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/07/07/google-maps-local-guides-cuts-level-4-free-drive-storage-1tb...

Btw that Android Police article also mentions the original offer was limited to two years - it makes no comment that the two years had been somehow secret or unknown or withheld from LGs or hidden in small print. One might think that would be an interesting point to make in the article if it were so.

Edit: Here's an article from 13 November 2015 which says 1TB for 2 years  http://bgr.com/2015/11/13/google-drive-free-1tb-storage/. Like I said, it was no secret

[GusMoreira]

Hello @ErickP,

I'm sorry to hear about your discontentment about our benefits.

As mentioned to you on earlier conversations, we published and sent communications to all Local Guides prior to the change and also gave the opportunity to reach Level 4 before the benefit actually changed. As you have been in the program since 2015, you might have notice our program evolving along the road and the changes we have made in the program since then.

While I understand your frustration I'd like to ask you to keep a civil tone in our conversation, as failing this can result in a ban from our program.

You may also want to check out the Local Guides Terms and Conditions  and in case you have any doubts, feel free to post again and we will be happy to help you.

[ErickP]

Ban me. I dont give a **####**

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@GusM wrote:

Hello @ErickP,

I'm sorry to hear about your discontentment about our benefits.

As mentioned to you on earlier conversations, we published and sent communications to all Local Guides prior to the change and also gave the opportunity to reach Level 4 before the benefit actually changed. As you have been in the program since 2015, you might have notice our program evolving along the road and the changes we have made in the program since then.

While I understand your frustration I'd like to ask you to keep a civil tone in our conversation, as failing this can result in a ban from our program.

You may also want to check out the Local Guides Terms and Conditions  and in case you have any doubts, feel free to post again and we will be happy to help you.

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[Isaac_Of_Cambridge]

Hi Eric

I guess when you are trying to run something as big as Local Guides Connect, you are never going to be able to please everyone all the time and someone is bound to get upset every now and then. I don't work for Google  but I can say for sure that you are not the only person upset at the changes Google made in reducing the storage. I have a few observations though:

• While it is your right to be upset, the community guidelines you agreed to when signing up to this program don't give you license to be rude to the people who read, run and maintain this forum
• It is completely true that Google notified everyone about the changes to the storage offer and while you may not have read the notification and email or forum posts, it does not mean Google is at fault if you didn't read the notification
• Companies all over the world often reduce or increase benefits to their customers. If you have ever done an upgrade on a mobile phone you will know that you always need to agree to the terms and conditions which always get updated when an upgrade is done, sometimes adding more restrictions and sometimes not.

Having said the above, I hope you will consider staying on the program and continue contributing to a worldwide community that adds value to our daily lives. 

Regards

Antonio

[Alika]

I've been wondering about this as well.

So, after my year expires and I'm using, say, 750GB of my 1TB (I made it in before the reduction), I will be unable to add more stuff. But suppose I delete 200GB of items. Will that 200GB still remain available to me for use, of will I need to reduce my space used to my pre-1TB level?