Suggested Contact is deleting My Contacts data files

[mathieuj]

How can I stop the Suggested Contacts feature? I'm losing valuable
information in My Contacts! They are being zapped, completely
disappearing with valuable information in the More Info field, or
sometimes stripped down with only the email address and no ID.

How can I protect my valuable information?

I did an import in LinkedIn and Facebook several months ago, and this
has been happening since then.

Any information to STOP this carnage would be MOST WELCOMED! I'm not
getting ANY reply from the Googlers on this problem, which I've
reported a couple of times now.

[Nick Chirchirillo]

Are you moving contacts from the suggested spot to the permanent spot?

--
-Nick

[mathieuj]

No. My Contacts are being moved to Suggested Contacts, stripping all
data from the original file! I'm losing valuable information!

They are either being completely deleted from My Contacts, or stripped
down to the name and email address only. I have family, friends,
clients in My Contacts that are disappearing. I lost over 100 files
in My Contacts only yesterday, ending up deleted or in Suggested
Contacts with all data info removed except for the email address.

What is going on????? Can ANYONE help me?????

[Ryan Morehart]

It's probably related to
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-changes-to-gmail-contact-manager.html,
but that doesn't help you with the problem really.

Ryan

[mathieuj]

Thanks for the link, Ryan,
At least I can see what they are trying to do, but in truth, they are
NOT leaving my edited contacts in My Contacts. It's an arbitrary
pillaging of my valuable information on many of my family, friends and
CLIENTS!

Any other resources for finding out what Gmail is trying to do here is
most welcomed.
Jo Ann

On Oct 23, 11:22 am, "Ryan Morehart" <moreh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> It's probably related tohttp://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-changes-to-gmail-contact-m...,

> but that doesn't help you with the problem really.
>
> Ryan
>

[Nick Chirchirillo]

I would suggest the best thing you can do is to fill out a bug report.  You can find the link in the help pages, but here it is http://mail.google.com/support/bin/bin/request.py?direct=1&group=bugflow_contactsnewbug&trouble_type=contacts

Make sure you put in as much detail as possible, so the GMail team has the greatest chance of fixing it.

--
-Nick

[mathieuj]

HI Nick,
Thanks for your reply. I've already filled out 3 bug reports giving
FULL disclosure, and haven't heard a word back from their GMail team.
Even with the link you gave me doesn't get me to the form to enter
that info. I think they've blocked me from submitting anything
further!

I feel doomed here! And they keep deleting my contacts. I've lost
another 177+++ contacts in the past 3 days that I see moved over to
the Suggested Contacts list. HELP!

Jo Ann

On Oct 24, 9:54 am, "Nick Chirchirillo" <nickma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I would suggest the best thing you can do is to fill out a bug report.  You

> can find the link in the help pages, but here it ishttp://mail.google.com/support/bin/bin/request.py?direct=1&group=bugf...

[Sean Murphy]

    Have you tried exporting your remaining contacts to a csv file while waiting for a response to the bug report? That way, at least you have a back-up and don't lose any more info before Google figures out what the problem is...

-Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.
 - Edward Abbey

[mathieuj]

Yes, I've done that and saved them into an Outlook address book. I
don't use Outlook, but I do have the Address Book. I'm tempted to go
back to Outlook now, however. I just lost another 25 emails just
yesterday including mine and my biz partner's info! Google isn't
paying any attention to my requests... so I'm NOT happy about this
situation and don't seem to be getting any Google attention. I
submitted another bug report yesterday. It's now 4 times I've written
them about this.

Now, I seem to have problems in the quick launch/login... I have the
email notifier and quick launch installed, but when I click on it, I
come to the basic login page where I have to click again to login.
Ridiculous! Are they penalizing me for submitting these bug
reports? Four in 6 weeks is NOT a lot, especially when I'm being
ignored.

Can anyone HELP???!!!!
Jo Ann

On Oct 27, 9:21 am, "Sean Murphy" <smpara...@gmail.com> wrote:
>     Have you tried exporting your remaining contacts to a csv file while
> waiting for a response to the bug report? That way, at least you have a
> back-up and don't lose any more info before Google figures out what the
> problem is...
>
> -Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough
> to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.
>  - Edward Abbey
>

[Nick Chirchirillo]

How do you KNOW you're being ignored by Google?  Just because the problem hasn't been fixed doesn't mean they aren't working on it.  

Referring to what I assume is the GMail Notifier, are you sure you never clicked Sign Out, or deleted your browser's cookies?  If either of those happened, you will have to sign back in regardless of whether or not the notifier is signed in.

Though this isn't helpful at all, you really shouldn't be trusting any information you aren't willing to lose in a beta service.  No software is 100% bug-proof, even after the beta stage.  However, as long as the beta tag is still on the logo, you should be assuming that something WILL go wrong.  

Right now, the best thing you can do is to back-up your contacts (which you said you did already) and continue to submit bug reports any time this happens.  Trust me, they will not penalize you for helping them complete their software... Also, I would change your password too.  Who knows, something bad may have happened when you imported your contacts into LinkedIn and/or Facebook, and someone could just be messing with you...

--
-Nick

[Sean Murphy]

    I must be losing my paranoia in my old age, not to have thought of (and suggested) this myself!

-Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.
 - Edward Abbey

[mathieuj]

Thanks to you too, Sean. I've just lost some more names today.
Bummer.
Jo Ann

On Oct 28, 3:26 pm, "Sean Murphy" <smpara...@gmail.com> wrote:
>     I must be losing my paranoia in my old age, not to have thought of (and
> suggested) this myself!
>
> -Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough
> to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.
>  - Edward Abbey
>

[mathieuj]

Hi Nick,
Noooo.... I don't believe Google is ignoring me. I'm just frustrated
with not getting any answer to a problem I have been reporting since
August.

I think you have a good idea about changing my password. I've been
thinking about starting up a new Google account, but I don't want to
lose 18 months of email on Gmail.

I'll try the password trick... hopefully it works!

Thanks~
Jo Ann

[Nick Chirchirillo]

If you do decide to create a new GMail account, you won't have to lose your mail.  The easiest way to transfer your mail from one account to the next is to enable IMAP on both accounts, then use a mail program to access each of them.  Then, simply drag your messages from one account to the other :)

--
-Nick

[mathieuj]

Wow! That sounds simple enough, Nick!
I'm going to be traveling tomorrow for a week. Won't have time to do
it, but I'll look into it when I can slow down enough to do so. I
want to keep my current Gmail address as my primary, which I can still
do by setting my labels... but I'll have to see how the system works
as you describe to get the full picture.

Thanks a bunch!
Jo Ann