Help needed with MHV Google account - maps and YouTube

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When we moved from Downer, we had problems changing our location on Google Maps. It was partly sorted out and we Google Maps now shows MakeHackVoid in Belconnen but as “permanently closed”.

We were told to claim the makehackvoid location as a business so that I could fix it to not be ‘permanently closed’. I’ve created a makehackvoid@gmail.com email account and have been trying to do that. But to validate they try to send a postcard and my few attempts at that haven’t got through (our location doesn’t have mail delivery). As part of that I had to setup a G+ page for MakeHackVoid. I’ve kept forgetting to follow the alternative phone authorisation which can only be done in the morning (they call the number on your ‘business page’.

For GovHack I made a YouTube Channel (although I think there was already at least one earlier video in the YouTube Channel) and published our videos.

Tonight I found that the YouTube Channel has been suspended so the GovHack videos are no longer available. The generic message about that is that it’s due to copyright infringement or abuse. But on further looking it’s because the YouTube Channel was linked in some way with our Google Places account.

On our G+ page it shows:

We have hidden your page and removed it from Google Maps due to changes in our system. Learn more

Learn more is a link to https://support.google.com/business/answer/6003589?p=page_hidden&hl=en&rd=1

Which finally mentions ‘social content’. I’ve read the instructions, but I’m not completely clear about how to follow them. Worried we’ll loose our YouTube videos if we get this wrong (the links - I think we have at least the best quality video, maybe not the lower quality ones).

Has anyone been through this process, or got some contacts at Google that might be able to help. I’ve wasted a lot of time on our location change and am wondering whether to just give up. But I’m upset that our YouTube videos have been blocked in a way that makes it seem like we’ve done something wrong.

If you follow the Video link from our GovHack page http://hackerspace.govhack.org/content/artifacts-act-public-art (which we can’t update) you get told the account has been terminated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIMAMeGSLQE&feature=youtu.be

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I tweeted something, which is almost as good as doing nothing, next step is I’ll find the appropriate google groups and complain there; after that we should perhaps raise it on hackernews or similar audiences where googlers hang out who could point us in the right direction.

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Actually, I’m confused. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIMAMeGSLQE says the account is suspended, but what account was that exactly? Because the MakeHackVoid youtube channel is still there, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCigtAVhRMTysVIYagN7GJEQ

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Thanks Paul , maybe we can sit down at MHV sometime and go through the instructions that were confusing me, don’t think we can make it any worse at this stage.

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There were two accounts, I used the one that had more videos in it for the GovHack stuff. It was associated with our new G+ page and the Maps location.

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We got a letter addressed to MHV’s street address from Google this week, and I’ve followed the instructions on it to create a page. This seems to be a step towards getting access as the ‘owner’ of the location. They have added a new category of “brand” to types of businesses which includes community groups like MHV.

Before I started on the new instructions, I went and looked at the videos and map page and both are working again. So it seems like someone at Google listened and sorted it out :smile:

Having created a page following their instructions, I’m now waiting the website authorisation step to propagate. I’m hoping that will then give the MHV google account access to ‘own’ the location.

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