Google's poo apparently doesn't smell

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Blogging, Productivity, Web services, Google

Google's poo apparently doesn't smell

by Jason Clarke Nov 23rd 2006

What do you do if you find a bug in an extremely popular web service run by arguably the most important online company on the planet? You try to report it, right? Well if the problem is with Google Reader, like mine is, good freakin' luck.

I currently have a feed stuck in my Google Reader account that refuses to unsubscribe when I try to do so. Here's the kicker - the feed is one that is generated by Google Reader's own "link blog" feature, whereby you can publish a shared feed of posts you find interesting. As a good little boy, I attempted to email the Google Reader team using the link they provide in Google Reader. Almost immediately I received a form letter reply from the Google Reader team that told me where to go and how to get there. Here's what the email said:

Thank you for your interest in Google Reader. We are currently focusing all of our energy on developing this feature and other Google Labs prototypes. Due to this fact, we are unable to provide personal responses to the email we receive. However, we are monitoring all of your feedback and suggestions and will keep them in mind as we work to improve Google Reader.

To further assist our users, we have created a discussion forum on Google Groups where you can exchange information with other Google Reader users. You can access the news group at:

http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Labs-Reader

We encourage you to post your email to this forum and join other Google Reader users in sharing your thoughts and expertise.

Thanks again for your feedback and for using Google Reader.

Regards,
The Google Team

Now, that's all fine and dandy, but a quick search of the Google Reader discussion forum revealed that I'm not the only one suffering this problem. It is, in fact, a bug. Worse, there has yet to be a response from the Reader team on this issue. And I'm not the only one to notice that Google's track record with dealing with bug reports stinks - check out this post by Garett Rogers over at ZDNet's Googling Google blog, entitled "Find a bug? Don't bother reporting it."

Update: Just before publishing this post, I did another search of the Google Reader Forum, and found a post in this thread claiming that a fix to this problem was pushed out today. Unfortunately, it does not appear to have worked for me, or for many other users. At least it's nice to see that they're paying attention. Let's hope it gets resolved soon...

Tags: Google bugs, Google problems, Google Reader bugs, Google Reader problems, GoogleBugs, GoogleProblems, GoogleReaderBugs, GoogleReaderProblems

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JohnMoo said 7:47PM on 11-23-2006

They read the Google Groups for the products they are working on. However, they often do/can not respond right away. Post your bug report and let them handle it :-). They're usually extremely fast at fixing things if they have the resources available to do so. If it doesn't seem to work, then badger the groups like crazy :-)

Andreas Bovens said 7:56PM on 11-23-2006

Oops, forgot the URL - that last sentence should have been:

Actually, Google even fixed stuff I didn't ask them to fix: http://akira.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/andreas/blog/archives/2006/04/circumvent-pdf-drm-with-gmail.html
;-)

Andreas Bovens said 8:12PM on 11-23-2006

No such experience here. I've reported a couple of bugs in the past, and almost always got a reply + in certain cases a fix. Actually, Google even fixed stuff I didn't ask them to fix ;-)

Em said 11:10PM on 11-23-2006

If it makes you feel any better, I've encountered a different problem with Google Reader. The "Loading..." graphic gets stuck and I can't view my feeds or my sidebars. On September 30, 2006, I read several comments made by Mihai Parparita (a Google Reader Engineer) saying this problem has been fixed. Unfortunately, I encountered this problem today, November 23. :( Hopefully, the people at Google can fix both our problems.

infinity said 11:10PM on 11-23-2006

Ok, Im thinking there is a bug in Downloadsquad's commenting.. we have the first comment at 7:30pm november 23 the second at 7:55pm november 23 and the third at 7:27pm november 23 and the 4th at 9:03 pm november 23

and it seems by the content of the 2nd and third comments thw second 1 should have been #3 and the third should've been #2

Dave M. said 2:21AM on 11-24-2006

I'll tell ya what, I would put my money on Google fixing there bugs before Bloglines ever fixes any of the bugs I have reported to them on their site.

I reported a bug on one of their features not working correctly about 2 years ago, and it has yet to be fixed. I am using Google Reader now because of that fact.

I haven't come across any problems other than that annoying little message at the top which basically tells us that there servers are so busy, that they can't process my commands.

It's not horrible, but it's annoying.

KShneider said 12:25PM on 11-24-2006

Truth to be told, the title of your post made me think of something so much darker and misterious than a bug =(
I think GoogleTeam makes a hell of a good job, creating, modifying, improving new tools for us all to use FOR FREE!
And, even if I haven't used GoogleReader, well, there is a reason why it still belongs to GoogleLabs (or GooglePlayground if you prefer), isn't it?
I don't wanna be rude, and I'm sorry if that's the impression with this post, but when someone (GoogleTeam)does something good and free for me to use, I rather constructive than hard critics on them.

Regards!
Krishka.

Jason Clarke said 4:34PM on 11-24-2006

Hi Krishka - I understand your point. When I wrote this post, I had become increasingly frustrated with what appeared to be zero attempt by Google to actually follow up on an issue that many users had reported as a bug. When I saw the blog post over on Googling Google noting that other Google properties also had inferior support, I felt justified in voicing my concerns. But I do get your point.

enzo said 4:34PM on 11-24-2006

Unfortunately if you had the same experience with a Microsoft product, this article would be extremely negative.

However I'm pretty sure Microsoft in this case would have had an actual person to talk to.

Mysterius said 4:34PM on 11-24-2006

@enzo: Yeah, after you navigate "Consumer Satisfaction Directory Assistance," verify that you are indeed running Genuine Microsoft software, and sign an agreement to not redistribute or publish the results of your experience, and then get to talk to some poor, underpaid tech guy in Bangladesh. ;)

Spoiala Cristian said 4:34PM on 11-24-2006

I have the same problem. I am subscribed to this feed
http://www.google.com/reader/public/atom/user/06885818428051431563/label/me

I tried now to unsubscribe and I still have the problem. I tried with both methods, from manage subscriptions and from main interface.

Shannon J Hager said 4:34PM on 11-24-2006

I had unsubscribe problems from day 1 of Google Reader, as did MANY other people. A search for my problem finds many repetitive posts to that group as far back as October 2005. It made Google Reader completely unusable for me, there were hundreds of posts a day in my reader and no feeds at all listed in my subscriptions because I had unsubscribed from them. This went on (I checked back every couple months) until the last big Reader update a couple months ago.

thee pyro wolf said 4:35PM on 11-24-2006

Well Microsoft, well being a human talking to you probably never would fix the problem. Krishka does have a point however, there are bugs to be expected in such large scale applications as the ones they produce, and since they do get such a large amount of emails i would be shocked if they got to the problem right away. The fact that they are so quick, and the applications are so useful, and free are a really good sign of Googles ability to make really good web applications for the general public.

Dave M. said 4:37PM on 11-26-2006

Don't forget that Microsoft will charge you $99 per incident to "talk" to them. I'll pass...

As to the unsubscribe thing in Google Reader. I haven't had any problems unsubscribing to feeds. I have unsubscribed to about 10 so far all without incident.

James said 3:01AM on 11-29-2006

I for one welcome our indifferent Google-coding masters...?

Jason Clarke said 3:01AM on 11-29-2006

James - that one had me laughing out loud - thanks!

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