> They don't just provide free labor, they also go to bat for Google's reputation, acting as marketing and PR liaisons to prevent backlash from users who've bee

> They don't just provide free labor, they also go to bat for Google's reputation, acting as marketing and PR liaisons to prevent backlash from users who've been failed by their official support processes. This is so true. When I try to find a fix for some broken behavior in a major Google app the most common place I end up is a support forum with zero solution, no comment from any Google employee, and a volunteer support person saying how the defect isn't actually a problem but that you should submit feedback within the app. These volunteers can't be helping at this point. Google's disdain for users is pretty widely recognized by now and seeing a whole bunch of frustrated users being blown off yet again doesn't help.