GoKawiilBrady Snyder / Android Authority
It’s impossible to know everything about the tech that powers your life. I write about them for a living, yet I still seek out community forums, Reddit threads, and YouTube videos to learn more about my favorite gadgets. Smart home products can be particularly confusing. There’s a lot to keep track of, which is why I rely on sites like the Google Nest Community to make sure my Google Home setup stays up and running.
That is, at least for now. Years of crowdsourced knowledge will soon disappear as the old Nest Community forums are sunset in favor of the new Google Home and Nest Community. The replacement forum is better organized, but lacks the rich post history of the old forum that will be erased and shut down on June 30.
Although Google migrated some of its own posts to the new Home and Nest Community forums, user posts are being abandoned, and I don’t get why.
What is the most helpful Google Home and Nest resource? 9 votes Google forums 11 % Reddit 56 % YouTube 33 % Something else 0 %
Google’s new community forums come at a cost
Stephen Schenck / Android Authority
Google maintains a collection of community forums, each dedicated to one of its main product and service categories. They’re a valuable resource for anyone with a Google-related question. Anyone can sign up and post a question or suggestion, and they might get a reply from other users, community product experts, or Google employees. Chances are, if you have a question about a Google product or service, it has already been answered on one of the company’s forums.
While many forums are found under Google’s support domain, other legacy forums were not. Fitbit and Nest were prime examples, but Google is rectifying the problem by creating brand-new forums for each product line. That’s how we got here. The legacy Nest Community forums are about to be deleted as the Home and Nest Community forums become the new location for smart home help. The Home and Nest Community forums went live in mid-May, and the upgrades extend beyond a mere domain change or facelift.
The redesign is all about reducing spam and limiting off-topic conversations, according to Google. The company aims to do so with a new layout and organizational structure, including 10 specific product categories and greater emphasis on official Google blogs. Google is also teasing the possibility of Google Home app integration for forum content.
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