How to become an unpaid technical support worker for Google

Post by rc4algorithm » Wed, Jun 24, 2015, 5:57 AM UTC

ddingus wrote: post #37

rc4algorithm wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this instance, people are angry about the fact that Google makes a ton of money from these services but feels no obligation to provide support for them. More generally, welcome to the new normal. The money-spewing circleparty is fizzling out, thankfully. People increasingly feel safe and confident in challenging the morality and societal value of these corporations. Blasé compliance is no longer expected in tech a…

Why would people expect more support without actually paying for it? Google actually does support the free offerings pretty well. They just don't do it on a case by case basis. Anybody who wants that has the option to pay Google to get it. Otherwise, Google does invest time into making sure it works well for everyone and isn't just letting it all sit out there slowly breaking...

Post by sergiotapia » Wed, Jun 24, 2015, 6:03 AM UTC

guyzero wrote: post #35

Microsoft has had their MVP program for over 20 years! https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/overview.aspx "Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, or MVPs are exceptional community leaders who actively share their high-quality, real-world deep technical expertise with the community and with Microsoft. They are committed to helping others get the most out of their experience with Microsoft products and technologies." These…

Post by ddingus » Wed, Jun 24, 2015, 6:19 AM UTC

rc4algorithm wrote: post #42

ddingus wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would people expect more support without actually paying for it? Google actually does support the free offerings pretty well. They just don't do it on a case by case basis. Anybody who wants that has the option to pay Google to get it. Otherwise, Google does invest time into making sure it works well for everyone and isn't just letting it all sit out there slowly breaking...

People pay with their privacy. Google's support is generally considered to be somewhere between dismal and nonexistent for most of its services. Clearly, they're making enough money to be doing better. No one expects intensive 24/7 support for free webmail, but Google's balance of profit and support is off. Free-tier users aren't cattle, especially not when you're tracking them.

Post by pjc50 » Wed, Jun 24, 2015, 6:43 AM UTC

ddingus wrote: post #36

bduerst wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or Stackoverflow? They are monetizing free support from thousands of developers, and it's arguably made the internet a better place.

Yes, it has. However, it's a bit more subtle than that. Yes, Stackoverflow is making some money, but everyone who contributes gets a few things out of it too: 1. They get the use value of the overall result. This is a non-trivial value. Linux operates under similar dynamics. A lot of "free" code was written, and it was written to improve on the use value in the body of code they found at the time. Anyone finding Stac…

Post by nabeelahmed13 » Wed, Jun 24, 2015, 6:49 AM UTC

shalmanese wrote: post #43

jakobegger wrote: post #16

This is what made me ditch Gmail. After using it for several years, I stumbled across a serious bug that removed all email from my inbox. I tried contacting support, but there was none; all I got were replies from top contributors pointing me to other people with the same issue. It becsme clear that there was no way to escalate the issue or get help from someone who could actually investigate the bug or help restorin…

Just do what everyone else does: 1. Write a blog post about it 2. Get the blog post to the top of Hacker News 3. Get a bunch of people to tweet @Google because of it. 4. Have Google begrudgingly contact you and fix the problem. I don't know why you insist on making it so complicated.