Community forums Guidelines

Welcome to the Google Developer Program forums!

The mission of the community forums is to provide a platform for peer to peer and customer to Googler interactions so that you can find answers & learn, build connections, and stay informed. We encourage you to share thought leadership and best practices. Before posting, please familiarize yourself with the guidelines and terms below. Failure to follow our community forums guidelines may result in posts being removed or edited, and losing access to the site.

Community forums Guidelines

1. Be respectful

• Do not engage in harassing, bullying, or threatening behavior, and do not incite others to engage in these activities. Treat others with respect.
• When in doubt whether a remark may be offensive to someone, don’t post it. Keep in mind that the Google Developer Program forums spans the whole globe, and what is acceptable to you may be offensive to someone else. Always err on the side of caution. As a general guideline, keep all your posts respectful and professional.
• Acting in an abusive way may result in an immediate ban with or without warning.
• Remember, you are talking to another human, so be kind.
• Our members have varying levels of technical knowledge and they may not be writing in their first language. If you need more clarification, just ask.

2. The Best Ways to Get Your Questions Answered

• Search before you post. Someone else may have already asked your question.
• There are dedicated spaces for various types of topics and content, please help us keep the right things in the right places. Keeping things organized will also benefit you when looking for a solution.
• Select the right type of post when the option is available (e.g. posting ideas in the designated area of the community).
• Include a compelling title - summarize your question as best as you can.
• Include product-specific labels. You can select from a predetermined list of labels for easy filtering and subscribing to certain topics.
• Respond and provide feedback to those who post on your question or discussion, even if it is as simple as hitting the Like button. They will appreciate it!

3. If you see a problem, flag it

• When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. Just flag it and a moderator will review and may take action.
• In order to maintain our community forums, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Google moderators do not preview new posts; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.

4. Links to External Content

• Links to news, thoughts, opinions, ideas, and commentary must be in text form.
• Make sure that your links are relevant to the discussion.
• Submit a text post linking out to your resource along with an explanation as to how the content relates to Google Cloud or Workspace.
• Standalone links with little to no explanation on the relevance may be removed.

5. No misleading or clickbait titles

• Do not use titles that are meant to mislead users into thinking something is true or not. Additionally, titles used to bait users to click it is a low-effort way to get someone to view the post.
• Titles that are used to mislead or cause clicks will be removed at moderator discretion.
• The title of your post must convey accurate information and represent the content of your post.
• Do not impersonate other people or companies or other behavior that is misleading, deceptive, or fraudulent.

6. Sharing Quality Content

• Topics and posts must be clear, concise, and related to Google Cloud, Workspace, AppSheet and Looker. We do not condone low-quality or low-effort content.
• Avoid posting content that has already been submitted by another user, i.e. re-posts.
• Don’t create post titles that include a URL or share posts that only contain a URL with little other information.
• Don’t create opinion-based posts. Try to keep your content objective and solution-focused.
• Refrain from posting questions that promote simple responses, such as “yes” or “no” answers.
• Attempts to manipulate community forum gamification or contests will lead to a ban. This includes creating multiple accounts to Like or accept solutions.

7. No spam or soliciting

• Do not create spam posts, including content, surveys or URLs that are promotional or commercial in nature, repetitive, unrelated, or excessive.
• Any such posts may be removed.

8. Use of Generative AI tools

• It is NOT OK to over-rely on genAI because it may lead to generic responses, irrelevant recommendations, and miscommunication. If members plan to use genAI responses in their posts, you should:
• Use genAI to supplement your posts, and do not use it as a sole author or primary source.
• Do not use genAI to answer questions or weigh in on topics that are outside of your expertise or experience.
• Using genAI to generate and post irrelevant, harmful, dangerous or offensive content.

A violation of these can result in removal of posts without notice.

9. Keep it safe-for-work and family-safe

• We don’t allow sexually explicit material, or content that directs traffic to sites that contain them.
• Don’t post links to content with graphic violence or other shock-value material.
• Posts that violate the above rules may be removed without a detailed explanation.
• We are a safe-for-work and family-safe community, and posts of the above nature will never be allowed.

10. Restricted areas

• Some areas of the community forums are restricted to customers under NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) and contain confidential content. Be careful not to share confidential information in a public group or thread or outside of the community forums.
• Posts containing confidential information such as confidential roadmap information may be removed from the public area.

11. These are your community forums

• This site is moderated by Google, but it is built for you to learn and share.
• If you have feedback on the community forums itself, please visit the Site Feedback section. We are constantly looking for ways to improve the experience for all of the community members.
• If there is a critical issue or an issue that cannot be resolved, then please contact us via gdp-forums-support@google.com.

Choosing a Community forums Username

When signing up for a community forums account, you will be asked to choose your username that will be visible to the public. Your Username is the name that you’ll be known by in the community forums. Please review the How to Create a Google Developer Program forums Account article for more information.

Terms of Service

1. What you can expect from us

• Provide a useful service: The community forums are intended to be useful to you and to help you find solutions to your product-related issues, as well as to provide you with the opportunity to connect with other community forum members.

• Service-related communications: You may occasionally receive communications related to your account and the community forum. Please read the support article for information on how to edit your communications preferences.

2. What we expect from you

• Respect others: Please read our Community forums Guidelines above for our community forums rules, which are based on mutual respect.
• Permission to use your content: Google reserves the right to use content posted by you in the community forums. Google’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy also apply to your use of this site.

3. Removing your content

• Removing your content: Your content may be removed by Google or community forums staff working with Google, if it violates the Community forums Guidelines outlined above. In addition, content can be removed, if it violates intellectual property laws or other regulations.

4. In case of problems or disagreements

• Please email gdp-forums-support@google.com, if you encounter any issues or disagree with a moderation decision.

Privacy Policy

• We offer the community forums to you as a platform to communicate with others and Google with you. Your personal data and content you create on the community forums is processed according to Google’s Privacy Policy.
• Data is used to maintain and improve the community forums and Google Cloud and Workspace services offered to you.
• Information can be used to develop new services or provide personalized content.
• Your activity in the community forums may be measured to analyze and optimize community forums site performance.

Ways for you to export, delete, and remove your information. You can find instructions on deleting your community forums account here.