LG communications more confusing than helpful

[Foodiefinders]

So far I would give my LG experience in the endless feeds 1 Star out of 5. 

Mom not usually one to complain but I’m frustrated and confused. 

There appears to be an enourmous gap between those on the inside and new folks breaking through. (Feeling like an outsider). 

I tried to start a local local meet up but was quickly corrected that what I was doing (just posted as request to meet at place x and time z) was wrong and had to be approved a week out.  Once I search to find what an official meet LG meet up is suppose to be it seems like I have to be an event planner when I’m just needing someone who is a LG mentor to get started.

The whole application process for the 2018 Live event was unclear concerning submission of an application. It seems like, if I did it cocrectly?, it would have been clearer to say 1. Start a post theat included the following... and not called it a form; I never found a form to make an application.  

When i have added @ to other LG in my post to get help or to submit my inbox blew up with threads that were not user friendly. 

Where is the three part video series they all new LG can view that explain he larger vision/big picture, the rules and guidelines, and what LG can expect to get out of all this effort. It’s fun to review local places but so far my LG in the forums is leaving me confused and frustrated.  Help please? John

[Badruddeen]

Hi John

Welcome to Local Guides Connect and I am pleased to meet you.

Connect is a place to get to know other Local Guides, plan activities, share your stories, give feedback, and more. 

• Please read the Local Guides program rules and Local Guides community policy.

• Go through the helpful articles in theHelp Desk. 

• Tips: Using Local Guides Connect

• The 5 core values of Connect

• Open the "Please read: Posting in" each board: General Discussion, Travel and Advice, Let's Meet-Up, Photos and Discoveries, Photography, Mapping Your World

• Interact and communicate freely with other Local Guides

• Share your discoveries and experiences

• Search the community before posting as others may have asked your question (and received an answer) already.

See you in the better situation

Best regards

[YK1001]

Hi @Foodiefinders,

When we talk about Meet-ups, actually, we can be talking about two identifical subject with minor differences.

As you might already aware, Local Guides has a dedicated meet-up site.  If we want our meet-up to be listed on that site, then we have to give enough time to have our event approved - thus two weeks is a nominal lead time required.

If listing your event on the meet-up site is not your concern, then you can announce a meet-up for LGs to join anytime, anywhere.  That is perfectly fine.  I personally have serveral meet-ups completely co-ordinated outside of Connect.  There is nothing want with that.

But as a Local Guide, if possible, I still want my meet-ups be listed on the meet-up site.

Using special characters to trigger special function is quite popular among community platforms.  Thus using '@' for tagging people is a reasonable choice.  Of course, different user will have different taste.  I do not see there are universally accepted way of doing it.

If you have any idea on how to make the Connect Live application process better, I am sure our Google Moderators will be more than happy to listen.  I encourage you to write and post your suggestions.

The Connect community is here for us to exchange our experience and knowledge.  Thus if you have any questions, you can always post and ask.  Sometimes, you will got quick answers.  Sometimes you will find out certain question is not relevant to Local Guides.  Sometimes you might got a response from our Google Moderators team.

I will suggest you to start by reading posts under Help Desk board.

If you have any immediate objective that you want to achieve, you can always posts your need and I am sure you will got helpful reply in no time.

Hope it helps!

[TedMall]

@Foodiefinders

John, I completely understand what you are going through. Although I have been reviewing and posting on Google maps for quite some time, I started with the Local Guides community in March 2018. I am still not good at navigating it but manage to find a gem or two once in a while. Moderators and others seem to give advice in "cut and paste" text blocks that may or may not answer your questions. Sometimes they may be more confusing than necessary. Basically, I have been laboring through the process and find whatever connections I can.

Regarding your mailbox flooded by communication that is not very relevant, you can go to your profile and limit what enters your "in" box.

You are right about confusing directions coming from different people about the 2018 meet in San Francisco. Just one look into that thread will show that you are not alone. Maybe the powers to be, the "insiders" and Google staffers will learn from it and work to make it better in future.

I don't claim expertise but maybe we can help one another which is in keeping with the spirit of this forum. Please feel free to send a private message or a post.

[ErmesT]

Thanks for your feedback, @Foodiefinders. It is important to know in detail which point of the application was most difficult for you, so for Google to improve it for next year 

Email: in the email that you received, there was a button with the indication "sign up now" (well, mine was in Italian, so maybe the text is a bit different), that was driving you on Connect Live 18 application site

Help page: @brittym wrote an help post, pinned on the General Discussion board, for requesting help and explanation

Two posts was on the main page of the community, with details and tips about video.

It would be nice if you can give us a detailed feedback of what was missing in there, so to be able to improve it for the future

Thank for your help

Ermes

[Masbi]

i think so, i agree with your topic . nice to meet u sir,i am from indonesia

[brittym]

@Foodiefinders Hi John, in addition to @ErmesT and @YK1001, I'm happy to weigh-in, especially relating to the Connect Live application. But first, for this community, I would suggest reading through our community's 5 core values and the Tips: Using Local Guides Connect, along with the Local Guides Help Center and the program rules. Each month, you'll see a new Introduction Thread (May 2018 intro thread). That's where people new to the community, such as yourself, can post an introduction following this format: 

1. Name: 
2. Location: 
3. What I love about being a Local Guide: 
4. My favorite [place / thing / cuisine / other] to explore: 
5. Fun Fact about me:

Regarding the Connect Live Application, you should have received an email directing you to the link to apply. Within the application, it said, "Share a link to a post on Connect that most defines you and/or your experience with Local Guides. The post must be written in English." We did not prompt people where to put their posts or what exactly to write about, because we wanted applicants to have creative freedom. We also included FAQs on the website and on the Connect Live announcement. One of them was: "Where do I put my Connect post? As with all posts on Connect, you should publish your post on the most relevant board. Boards include General Discussion, Travel and Advice, Let’s Meet-Up!, Share Your Photos and Discoveries, Photography, and Mapping Your World. The Connect post you include in your application should define you and/or your experience with Local Guides. The post must be written in English and can be something new or previously published on Connect."

As for email alerts, when you start a topic or reply to an existing topic, you will be subscribed to those topics by default - which can be changed in My Settings. Click your picture in the top right. Click "My Settings." Then select the "Email" tab. I personally recommend keeping emails for things you are tagged in to read - or you can go email-less and simply log in to localguidesconnect.com to see your alerts. 

Please let us know if you have any other questions or feedback. All Connect Moderators are here to help! 

[brittym]

@Foodiefinders Hi John! I'm writing to follow up with you to see if our responses were helpful. I also want you to know that I've escalated your feedback and opinions with the proper internal teams. It's important to us to make your Connect experience as seamless and user-friendly as possible.