Will Google Pay Attention to this Group?

[Jim Crutchfield]

There weren't any posts on this forum until I posted this one, and this group has only two other members, both of whom joined in early 2007; so I presume nobody officially connected with Google Books has wasted any time following this group up to now.  But if people start using this group to discuss the Google Books web site, and particularly to ask questions, make suggestions, and report problems, will word get back to whoever operates Google Books, and can we expect official or quasi-official responses?

 

I recognize that Google's "Help" pages offer ways to ask questions, make suggestions, and report problems, but I'm finding that those pages are pretty dysfunctional.  For example, the page, "Report an Issue With a Book" on the Google Books Help site will only take reports of offensive material and claims of copyright violation.  I tried to use it to report that a public-domain book was listed with no preview, and, even though the form I used is on the Google Books Help site, I got a response from Google Play saying that they didn't deal with that kind of problem, and that I should contact Google Books--but not telling me how.

 

So I managed to find a page called "Book has missing pages, typos, or other kinds of error," which tells us,

 

Please use this form to report errors with the quality of books, including errors in the display of book pages and content, along with bibliographic details about the book. You can also use the form above to report books in the public domain and should be displayed in Full View, as well as illegal or offensive content.

Unfortunately, that link takes me to this page on Google Play Help, which offers only the following options:

 

Contact Google Play support

How can we help you?

• Devices purchased on Google Play (purchases, returns, shipping, or support)
• Purchasing digital content on Google Play
• Using Google Play to download and enjoy digital content
• Redeeming gift cards and promotional codes
• Information for content creators (publishers, artists, developers)

The people at Google Play have already told me they don't deal with problems like "errors with the quality of books, including errors in the display of book pages and content, along with bibliographic details about the book [and] books in the public domain [that] should be displayed in Full View;" so it looks like nobody at Google takes care of that kind of stuff. 

 

So I came to Google Groups, thinking there would be an active Google Books users' forum, where I could call Google's attention to these problems, and hopefully get some answers or some action.  Well, there are two groups called "Google Books":  this one, with three members and no posts at all, and another with 672 members--most of whom appear to be spambots--but almost no posts about Google Books, and only two posts about anything in the past six months.

 

Well, here's hoping.