Community Guidelines

Welcome to the Google Cloud Community! 

The mission of this community 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 guidelines may result in posts being removed or edited, and losing access to the site. 

 

Community 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 Cloud Community 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 Kudo 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, 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.

6. Sharing Quality Content

    • Topics and posts must be clear, concise, and related to Google Cloud and Workspace. We do not condone low-quality or low-effort content.
    • Avoid posting content that has already been submitted by another user, i.e. reposts.
    • 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-focussed.
    • Refrain from posting questions that promote simple responses, such as "yes" or "no" answers.
    • Attempts to manipulate community 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 this Community 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.
    • Posts containing confidential information such as confidential roadmap information may be removed from the public area.

11. This is your community

      • This site is moderated by Google, but it is built for you to learn and share.
      • If you have feedback on the Community itself, open a feature idea in the Community 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 by the Community Feedback discussion group, then please contact us via [email protected]

 

Choosing a Community Username

When signing up for a Community 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. Since this is a business community we recommend that you use your first name and last name initial, following this format: firstname_lastinitial (e.g. Andrew_B for Andrew Biernat).

 

Terms of Service

1. What you can expect from us

  • Provide a useful service: The Community is 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 members.

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

2. What we expect from you

  • Respect others: Please read our Community Guidelines above for our community 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. 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 Staff working with Google, if it violates the Community 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 [email protected], if you encounter any issues or disagree with a moderation decision.

 

Privacy Policy

  • We offer the Community to you as a platform to communicate with others and Google with you. Your personal data and content you create on the Community is processed according to Google’s Privacy Policy.  
  • Data is used to maintain and improve the Community 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 may be measured to analyze and optimize Community site performance.
  • Ways for you to export, delete, and remove your information. (You can find instructions on deleting your Community account here.)