Hi Nick

If you read what they said carefully it is not clear that they are standing by the current process. Their comment was much more ambiguous than that…so while they are standing by the concept of “open community” as it relates to Maps they may or may not really care about this problem. I could conceive of a number of solutions that would continue to embrace an open community while shutting this hole down.

Here is an excerpt of their comments:

The wiki nature of Google Maps expands upon Google’s steadfast commitment to open community. That said, we also work very hard internally to identify behavior that doesn’t benefit the community and to take the appropriate actions. …..While some of the changes we’ve made so far have been less visible, we’re confident that we’re on the right path to effectively reducing mapspam.

Time will tell whether they shut this gaping hole or not.

Mike

Hey Mike,
Ben Allen’s name is new to me (though I nice Colonial sounding name, really). I wonder where he got that crazy McDonald’s photo. He looks like an interesting fellow to keep an eye on, and he clearly has good taste in his favorite new bloggers.

It looks like you are playing chess with Google’s business marker. I particularly appreciate the category “I can’t believe this is editable.”

It’s somehow poignant that Google has failed to claim their own listing.

I have a question for you. Can you imagine Google taking punitive action against community editors who maliciously (or merely irreverently) alter LBC data? I’ve been trying to think that over, thinking about my own little Google account I write business reviews with. I’ve made several MyMaps as well.

Let’s say you have a Google account, and you own a Chinese restaurant. It’s got nice reviews, a high Maps rank, good UGC, citations and has been enriched with MyMaps, photos, videos, etc.

Say you then hijack the listing belonging to the Chinese restaurant down the street.

Then Google (somehow) discovers what you’ve done, and that the account that hijacked the listing is the same one that belongs to you and your Chinese restaurant.

Can you imagine Google implementing some kind of penalty against you. If so, what could the penalty be? Could they take you out of the index? Drop your rank? Delete your MyMap, video? Take away your reviews, as in the case of the Canoe guy?

What do you think about this?
Miriam

Hmm…I wonder what it would be like at Maps with an actual Wikipedia hierarchy. That’s something to think about. I think it could help, to a certain point, but continue to feel that business information is a completely different animal from educational trivia. A wrong answer, on even one day of one week, can mean lost business, lost drivers and lost credibility for Google. By contrast, nothing terribly bad is likely to happen if someone learns that Abraham Lincoln was 3 inches taller than he actually was. Only credibility is at stake.

“Now what were you saying before about Monsanto and genetically modified foods?”

You know, Mike, it’s a tough thing about nice people. With Monsanto’s listing sitting unclaimed, someone who doesn’t like their plan to put a patent on the world’s food supply while turning it into terrifying garbage could do some very pointed things to their LBC listing. But, I’ve noticed that people with the strongest social concerns are frequently the most unwilling to do even their enemies a dirty turn. Too much conscience.

On the other hand, should one of the small farmers whom Monsanto has tried to sue and ruin decide they’d like to alter the corporation’s LBC listing to something more colorful, I would not say them nay.

Miriam

@Miriam
I didn’t think you would take over Monsanto’s listing but I thought I would tempt you anyways…

Re the Wiki model, it is conceivable if the community were wide and deep enough then bad editors could be “punished” by other users if not by Google. But that level of use and engagement seems unlikely in any near term and I am not sure that it would be an improvement.

Mike