What does it mean if a Guide Community Manager set my guide to private? Does it mean that my guide broke some guidelines?
Today I got a message
Admin approved the guide "How to unlock the bootloader of an Android Phone"
Then I saw that they privated the guide. This left me a bit confused as they didn't leave any comment or anything explaining why they did that and what it means.
Hi @sedorr , thank you for reaching out and my apologies for not reaching out to you in time. @amber is correct about why I set this guide to private. We evaluate software-based guides on a case-by-case basis. We were on the fence about this one, because it geared more towards an invasive modification of a device rather than repair.
For software manipulations such as unlocking a bootloader, we agreed that it is too complex for the average user and there wasn't a solid enough use-case for why someone would need to do this to repair a device.
You did put significant effort into it though, and that's why it was approved (so you could earn the reputation) and then it was set to private.
As mentioned, we do assess these case-by-case. If you have a rationale for why we should reconsider this action, please let me know.
3 Comments:
@krisrodriguez I posted the guide on iFixit because in my opinion being able to flash a custom rom goes kind of hand in hand with at least the sentiment of repair as it helps extend the useful lifespan of eol devices that don't receive software updates anymore. Installing a new operating system is different from rooting device and if you register the release key of your custom rom in your bootloader you can even relock it after you're done. Though I can understand if you don't want to open up that whole Pandora's box when there's already xda forums and wikis for custom ROMs for people who wish to do it.
by Sebastian
@sedorr, this is a solid rationale. Let me talk it over internally with our tech writing department and I will get back to you. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know your thinking behind this.
@sedorr, thank you for your patience. After reviewing your logic, we've agreed to let it be public. I sincerely appreciate you reaching out to address this with us. As I mentioned before, these kinds of guides are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and sometimes we just need another perspective when making a decision.
That said, we know that planned obsolescence is a real threat and we are working to create a more streamlined criteria for these kinds of guides. Your input helps us greatly in putting it together.
I hope this doesn't discourage you from participating in the future, and as always, if you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to me directly :)
This means it was approved for the ~+100 points (expect some variation if others have edited due to points sharing), and you lose the delete guide button. They temp private the guide, then make it what it was before.
2 Comments:
But it wasn't made public again. It was left private. Was it left on private by accident, then?
by Sebastian
Hi @sedorr, based on reading your contribution, my best guess is that it seems to toe the line of what we (staff) call an "out of scope" guide. Your guide is telling people how to mod their device and our focus is on repair. @krisrodriguez is the one who marked your guide as private and should be back on Monday to provide more specific feedback to you as to why she did so.
58 
15 
1