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Level 8

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

I pretty much did create a thread about at least one business add I made.  I was told to leave Google feedback through Maps.  In fact, I think that was your suggestion at the time.  Nothing ever changed and the business which appears fine in another mapping application is still a ghost marker on Maps and cannot be edited nor added.  Essentially it exists but doesn't.

 

It seems to me like you are describing using this forum as essentially what MapMaker was.  I did post some issues on MapMaker when it was working.  As for my comment, what I was referring to is I know of no such means to search the entire GMB directory to see if a business exists there or not, what correct or incorrect information was added, etc. 

 

However, I am uncomfortable with the "regain their trust" comment.  Is this it imply that somehow my (and other's) trust score/level/call it what you will - which I don't believe we can granularly see - has been negatively impacted?  If so, by what?  The only thing akin to a trust level I have access to is the number of accepted edits, adds, etc on Maps which is represented by our respective LG levels.  Are several hundred completely accurate adds and edits the negative? That would make no sense. And why are some edits accepted (e.g. business hours, phone number) but other information 'cannot be verified' and is rejected (e.g. marker)?  It seems if there is some trust score it is applied inconsistently.  This underscores what @Ostr is talking about.  From the user perspective, we see a lot of inconsistency and there is confusion.  I would think everyone would want to clear that up with the least amount of time and effort possible of course without forsaking map accuracy.   Otherwise I am pretty much guaranteed to be posting on this forum very regularly since one or more of my edits will very likely be rejected based on recent history and posting new threads seems to be the only way LGs are told to address the issue...at least that is the main suggestion I've really seen possibly addressing the issue thus far.  

Level 10

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

Since the beginning of October 10 2017, I have been faced with a severely hampered ability to make edits. Of course I made an entire database about it but did anyone even bother to look? Absolutely not. Should I just post thread by thread every single time I get an unfairly 'not applied' response and seek your help when I should be self-sufficient in what I do? Like how @Flash moved that stupid patisserie in Strathfield and made edits of all the 'easy location descriptors' that I myself attempted to edit but were all unfairly not applied? Then taunting me with leaving the rest to me that I can't even do even if my life depended on it? That's not your fault by the way, no offense.

 

I have made inferences based on all my own personal observations as well as what others have said and based on all aggregated data including the increasing amount of conflicting information and contradictions that moderators and top contributors alike can summarise the following. First of all:

Caption: Publishing totals for the first twenty days of October. The 10th is the fateful day when the algorithms had shifted.Caption: Publishing totals for the first twenty days of October. The 10th is the fateful day when the algorithms had shifted.

Here is a stacked graph of the ten days before the supposed algorithm shift changed on October 10, and ten days trying to edit with the new algorithm in place. Through my database closely tracking all the "Not applied" edits, and all the emails that I receive that either shows "Published: Your edit to..." or "Thanks for the edit to..." while taking into consideration the suggestion date, this is a clear indication of the damage that the algorithm has caused to many users. I stay true to my own confidence that I am extremely vested in my ability to make great edits all in accordance with the guidelines of the map, in no way I am making spam or undesirable edits.

 

 

Inferences

  • I constantly hear the myth about regaining our trust level and I think that's its pretty much a tired out concept. I have stated time again that you cannot regain your trust level if it has been set to zero, and by making the simplest and easy common sense edits to help increase it in little ways, still they are not applied?
  • When I started using my mom's account, the majority of my edits that I initially suggested with my main account actually went through without a hitch. This plays a major part in the current trust algorithms. While I have amassed about 750+ not applied edits with 5.7k published edits over the past 11 months, maybe a completely clean account would be able to jump through the hoops. It did, frivolously. Unfortunately the algorithm decided to catch up around 300 contributions and so my mom's account also fell under the 'immediately not applied' hammer, with many suggestions being rejected instantly. Out of that initial 300, only 7 of them didn't go through.
  • So now the consensus if we want help with our edits is to post a new separate thread on Local Guides Connect, or send feedback to Google via the app. And then I've seen moderators just merge them all together. What and how do you want us to report such information anyway? Should every single individual case be isolated into it's own thread and clog up the forums or should we collectively put them together? Please answer so I can make the desired method to start reporting (since no one looked at my database).

 

There is a lot of in-fighting between different top contributors and/or moderators, and a lot of shaming all around. I've been bullied in the product forums because I should just leave giving advice to other top contributors to try and help people whose edits were not applied instead of just telling people not to give up, report via the feedback channels or encourage the listing to be claimed and managed through GMB and advising that it may 'possibly' be due to the algorithm shift.

 

So I desperately encourage all of us to take a uniform approach in finding and constructing a solution together. Enough bickering, let's get this done.

Level 8

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

To make matters a bit worse, for the new places I tried to add in Seoul (in September!) which never were 'approved', I found Maps put some of my photos on the nearest existing entry.  So now the Paris Baguette photo is assigned to an apartment building and the CU convenience store is assigned to some random school.  Neither legitimate location I attempted to add is on Maps and both photos are essentially mis-assigned.  It may not matter to anyone else but I feel like it makes me look incompetent when a photo I have uploaded is mis-assigned like this.

Level 8

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

@Jonesnco

Or far worse...it may hurt your account (trust-score or even flagged as a Local Guide who does not abide by the rules).

You are not the first one to report this issue, but I have yet to see a solution or even a way to receive an alert. Photography is not my main thing, but I have contributed plenty of photos and get very uncomfortable reading this.

 

I suggest we collect posts that touch on the same issue and ask a moderator friend to all merge them, so we can get a better grip on the matter AND raise awareness from the best Googlers. Rodrigues is all about mapping and fighting SPAM, perhaps he is the person to reach out to, once we have our combined threads together.

 

@LucioV you probably know most of these post, can you help to create a list of all the people here on Connect that reported this problem/ concern? Is there a solution that we do not know about?

Cheers!

Jeroen

Level 10

Re: Map markers no longer movable?


@JeroenM wrote:

@Jonesnco

Or far worse...it may hurt your account (trust-score or even flagged as a Local Guide who does not abide by the rules).

You are not the first one to report this issue, but I have yet to see a solution or even a way to receive an alert. Photography is not my main thing, but I have contributed plenty of photos and get very uncomfortable reading this.

 

I suggest we collect posts that touch on the same issue and ask a moderator friend to all merge them, so we can get a better grip on the matter AND raise awareness from the best Googlers. Rodrigues is all about mapping and fighting SPAM, perhaps he is the person to reach out to, once we have our combined threads together.

 

@LucioV you probably know most of these post, can you help to create a list of all the people here on Connect that reported this problem/ concern? Is there a solution that we do not know about?

Cheers!

Jeroen


Hi @JeroenM yes, I know many of these (including me) but i won't post anymore on this topic, because this could make my account at risk.

@Briggs made a great work analysing the issue.

I will not post again about the not-applied-issue in Mapping Your World board, and I will not try to find solutions anymore, i don't want to loose all my contributes , sorry.

Ciao!

Level 8

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

@LucioV

 

I am not sure what you are saying here, but I trust you have good reasons.
If I am guessing, the Team would not like behavior where people "join forces" to fight a problem, particularly if it is emotionally loaded and full of accusations. But this seems a serious bug in the system. I haven´t found a post that confirms that Google is aware of the issue, so I will take it upon myself to post in the Feedback forum, me not a group.

Level 8

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

Okay done, I have expressed my concerns on the Feedback forum, here.

Level 10

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

@OStr wrote:

...What exactly is the harm in GMaps replacing its usual "could not be validated" message with a more appropriate, "Your edit could not be processed due to another edit currently being reviewed."?  Or maybe, "This item is already under review. Please try your edit again in a few weeks."?

Having clearer messages and better system feedback would go a long way to reduce the kind of frustrations we're seeing here, without helping spammers circumvent the system.


Very true. And this canned message was also used in MapMaker which drove everyone nuts. But at least we could see symultaneous and competing edits there. (Sorry posting from mobile and proper formatting as well as even starting a new paragraph is impossible.)

Level 8

Re: Map markers no longer movable?

Yes it is true . it is based on the programming because here in our country kenya i have edited so many phone numbers and it did't take time to approve because i had only edited kenya ISD code in all the phone number which was not provided.

Jayesh Vekariya