5 ms·

The thing that is interesting about Google support is that, from what I can tell, it's primarily provided on a public forum instead of providing any mechanism t

The thing that is interesting about Google support is that, from what I can tell, it's primarily provided on a public forum instead of providing any mechanism to contact someone directly. Users of the forums can try to solve an issue, or, they can vote on issues they find important. If an issue gets enough votes, then, someone from Google will jump in and provide what is generaly described as pretty amazing help. It almost sounds like a reasonable system. Except of course that Hacker News is that public forum. And, it sounds like if you can't get enough votes here, you're unlikely to get your problem solved. It will be interesting to see if HN as a Google support forum works in this case.

zeusk 8y ago
Support is where customers can get answers or really at-least a response from the company. General populace is not Google's "customers" (in traditional senses - they're not the source of income stream) and it shows in how Google has setup their customer support structure.
prepend 8y ago
Comically, they do have their own public support forum that works similarly except someone from google jumps in and says something useless and closes the thread. I’m sure they’d love to close HN threads where they consider the issue resolved as “closed, won’t fix” and find any further discussion not useful.
- ravenstine 8y ago
  That's the chief reason why I've stopped following links to Google support forum issues. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a single one that was ever given sufficient attention or a reasonable answer, and the vast majority are simply ignored. It comes off as a big FU from Google to pretend to provide support. They clearly don't give a care, and would actually have a better image if they didn't pretend to support anything. And product owners wonder why their seasoned developers hesitate to have anything to do with Google. Hopefully one day Google's prestige with the tech-illiterate will dry up and the fact that they're simply THE GOOGLE stops working for them. But I wouldn't count on it.
  - Analemma_ 8y ago
    Not that this is an excuse, but one reason Google's support doesn't drive people away is that it's not like the competition is doing any better: Microsoft and Apple also both have infamously useless support forums. Seeing "technet.microsoft.com" in the search results for a Windows problem is practically a guarantee that "you won't find the answer here", and Apple's forums are just full of pages of people pleading for, and not getting, an official response.
    - annadane 8y ago
      But I'd still prefer no response than an official response which is bullshit. And the lip service they pay to feedback is nauseating. You're not really listening to feedback. So many people despise Youtube layout changes and they insist they're listening to us... which... they're not. At all. That's just one example.
      - derefr 8y ago
        > So many people despise Youtube layout changes IIRC about 20% of users profess their undying hatred for every layout change on every software product ever; and yet this fact does not impact churn at all. Thus, no matter how good the support is in general for a product, people complaining about layout changes will always be ignored. There are only disadvantages to listening to them (such as, if you keep the old layout around, requiring redundant front-end updates for new back-end features) and no advantages.
        annadane 8y ago
        OK, I suppose that's fair.
    - josteink 8y ago
      > it's not like the competition is doing any better: Microsoft and Apple also both have infamously useless support forums But Microsoft has actual support. People you can call. Product-teams you can reach if your issue is of a technical nature. They’re fantastic. Google has none of those things.
jlarocco 8y ago
That's not entirely true. You're forgetting that Twitter also plays a big role sometimes, for people with enough followers ;-)
OnlyRepliesToBS 8y ago
Disgusting.

zeusk 8y ago

Support is where customers can get answers or really at-least a response from the company. General populace is not Google's "customers" (in traditional senses - they're not the source of income stream) and it shows in how Google has setup their customer support structure.

prepend 8y ago

Comically, they do have their own public support forum that works similarly except someone from google jumps in and says something useless and closes the thread. I’m sure they’d love to close HN threads where they consider the issue resolved as “closed, won’t fix” and find any further discussion not useful.

ravenstine 8y ago
That's the chief reason why I've stopped following links to Google support forum issues. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a single one that was ever given sufficient attention or a reasonable answer, and the vast majority are simply ignored. It comes off as a big FU from Google to pretend to provide support. They clearly don't give a care, and would actually have a better image if they didn't pretend to support anything. And product owners wonder why their seasoned developers hesitate to have anything to do with Google. Hopefully one day Google's prestige with the tech-illiterate will dry up and the fact that they're simply THE GOOGLE stops working for them. But I wouldn't count on it.
- Analemma_ 8y ago
  Not that this is an excuse, but one reason Google's support doesn't drive people away is that it's not like the competition is doing any better: Microsoft and Apple also both have infamously useless support forums. Seeing "technet.microsoft.com" in the search results for a Windows problem is practically a guarantee that "you won't find the answer here", and Apple's forums are just full of pages of people pleading for, and not getting, an official response.
  - annadane 8y ago
    But I'd still prefer no response than an official response which is bullshit. And the lip service they pay to feedback is nauseating. You're not really listening to feedback. So many people despise Youtube layout changes and they insist they're listening to us... which... they're not. At all. That's just one example.
    - derefr 8y ago
      > So many people despise Youtube layout changes IIRC about 20% of users profess their undying hatred for every layout change on every software product ever; and yet this fact does not impact churn at all. Thus, no matter how good the support is in general for a product, people complaining about layout changes will always be ignored. There are only disadvantages to listening to them (such as, if you keep the old layout around, requiring redundant front-end updates for new back-end features) and no advantages.
      - annadane 8y ago
        OK, I suppose that's fair.
  - josteink 8y ago
    > it's not like the competition is doing any better: Microsoft and Apple also both have infamously useless support forums But Microsoft has actual support. People you can call. Product-teams you can reach if your issue is of a technical nature. They’re fantastic. Google has none of those things.

jlarocco 8y ago

That's not entirely true. You're forgetting that Twitter also plays a big role sometimes, for people with enough followers ;-)

OnlyRepliesToBS 8y ago

Disgusting.