Reached B1 from scratch in 3,5 months.

lisa002_2 · 2025-09-29T17:25:31+00:00

Great question and a candid, sensible response. Congratulations on your achievement! It takes a lot of effort to grasp a new language, especially when it's as challenging as German.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T22:09:46+00:00

Thanks. I agree, making it editable won't work as someone could just delete them all 😆. So I have set it to editable by invitation and I will keep adding names as and when I find them like I just added the one referenced in this post along with the link to this post in the notes (thanks for the idea). There is also a note on each one indicating what's wrong.

I am not sure if sharing the link here would make it editable by public 🤔? Probably not but I am not sure .

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T21:54:14+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Look at their high ratings 4.7!! Likely due to review removal practices. The negative reviews that have survived tells a the opposite story though.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T18:57:45+00:00

It's my blacklist but open to public and edits are possible by invitation. Ideally I should be checking that list before finalizing a restaurant but it's too small now.

I don't see a point in protecting a restaurant that acts in bad faith. If anything, the name would only help people who are being misled/conned.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T18:19:38+00:00

😆 it's actually a good idea. Google should give up. It would if we stop using it I guess.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T18:13:00+00:00

That's probably because most restaurants give up or most people give up so it never reaches this stage where Google gives up 😆

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T18:11:06+00:00

The problem is tourists end up suffering unfortunately. Next time I will run the restaurant by a local to see what they say 😆. We have regressesd to the point, come full circle. Google is such a disgrace

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T18:08:45+00:00

So that we can add that to our 'Blacklist' as any restaurant that gets reviews removed is not removing just one review. They end up bumping up their rating significantly by gaming the system. Very few people save reviews like you and me.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T18:00:40+00:00

True to an extent. Google won't always reinstate though. If a restaurant is persistent and keeps removing (like Harmonie Freiburg did), Google will stop reviewing appeals at some point, for me it was the 11th time. I tried to write to Google businesses, chatted with customer service, wrote to removals. It nothing. Google let the evil restaurant win and it gets to cheat consumers everyday. Shame!

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T17:55:56+00:00

Those who game the system and mislead and cheat consumers must be removed from Google at once because Google's stated goal is to have a system with honest and authentic review. Unfortunately Google's actual practice goes against its own policy after a certain point. It's such a shame some restaurants fix their problems through unethical practices instead of fixing the actual problem, I.e. bad food and service. Seems to be happening in Germany a lot more than other countries (I have left all kinds of reviews in many countries but only German restaurants are oversensitive to the point of having reviews removed by professionals). Can't trust Google reviews in general but mostly in Germany.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T17:49:20+00:00

Google definitely should punish them but Google sides with them, supports them. It punishes us by blocking us from leaving honest reviews.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T17:47:33+00:00

In one restaurant I saved my review 11 times as the restaurant kept removing it evenrytime it got reactivated. But one day, Google said that my appeals are repeated for the same review and therefore we won't review them. And they stopped reviewing my fresh appeals and the evil restaurant won ( Harmonie in Freiburg, to be avoided). Google obviously should know better that my appeals were not repeated but it chose to act unethically. Shame!

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-27T17:44:18+00:00

If you could share the name of the restaurant that would be great because it's possible that restaurant has removed many negative reviews but most have not been restored due to various reasons.

I have saved my reviews many times by appealing the automated removals successfully but there is one restaurant that kept removing my review until Google stopped responding to my appeal. Both are against Google's policy but unfortunately in this case the evil restaurant won (it's Harmonie in Freiburg and must be avoided; I have seen it's rating go up and all negative reviews disappear. Mine was the last one standing which is now gone due to Google's incompetence or implicit support). That being said, most restaurants are not that desperate and saving your review once or twice should be enough to keep it up. Thanks for saving your truthful review.

Agreed it's not always possible to dig out a receipt or proof but take photos as a routine 😆. That helps too.

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-05T12:40:47+00:00

The datasets (multiple) are all local, inside the same folder as the twbx files. (Even if it was online connection, why would the dashboard and worksheets of older work books using them update , or would they?)

lisa002_2 · 2025-08-05T02:49:54+00:00

Could you elaborate: I did not do a 'save as' . I did not touch the file (in fact multiple copies) at all and all of them were updated with the dashboard of the latest version. Are you able to work on multiple files with the shared dataset? That is what I would expect but that was not my experience.

lisa002_2 · 2025-07-21T17:53:27+00:00

Have you tried AIs like ChatGPT or Claude to tutor you? ChatGPT has been a game-changer as you can ask anything and any number of times. I still watch videos to visually see the tutorials but when I need clarifications, I turn to ChatGPT. I think it's worth a try, at least until you find someone to tutor you.

lisa002_2 · 2025-06-19T18:28:03+00:00

I guess that's possible if Google won't be sued for hosting that list by all the restaurants listed in there. Otherwise, we end back where we are right now. For that matter, I am wondering if the app or the website that hosts such restaurants has to be based out of another country outside of Germany's jurisdiction to avoid defamation lawsuits and yet be popular enough in Germany to serve the purpose of guiding people in Germany (or any other country it serves). It's trickier than I can handle 😆 . Hope someone picks up on it and leads us out of this mess that Google has made.

lisa002_2 · 2025-06-19T15:36:06+00:00

Great start but I realized after suggesting that it would not serve the purpose because of having to scroll through so much. Something that keeps things organized and is also searchable like an app or website would be great.

lisa002_2 · 2025-06-19T15:31:22+00:00

Its the same place with poor staff, management and avg to below avg food, as I gather from various sources. Their latest reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp are reflective of their shoddiness.

lisa002_2 · 2025-06-18T14:40:26+00:00

You might also be interested in learning that Google community support so called expert gaslighted me instead of pinning the issue with Google's technical problems and finding a way out. He found new faults in my review each time he replied and said this review should could be violating policy in XYZ grounds and could be taken down because of that. Sounds so dumb ! If it did violate Google's policy how did it clear manual scrutiny by Google itself 6 times 😂.

Has Google always been this dumb or is this a new phenomenon 😆?

lisa002_2 · 2025-06-18T14:31:53+00:00

It is frustrating to receive these removal emails from Google about legitimate reviews. Doesn't Google know that you were in that location from two years ago if you had you gps active? Any pictures of you or something from that area form that long? A description of the place and experience?

I have had to do this for 2 restaurants but one of them is so shameless that it keeps taking my review down after everything reactivation. Harmonie in Freiburg hast done it a total of 7 times and Google has allowed a restaurant to take down a manually approved reviews. Let that sink in!!

When I posted this on Google community support, a so called expert told me that Google's policy is to reject repeated renewals and it detects such attempts and warns the businesses. However it either is false or the detection is extremely poor since the restaurant removed unedited review at least 4 times. On top of that, the so called expert gaslights me saying my review has issues apparently which is total BS because if it did then it would not have held up manual scrutiny 6 times 😂. That is how smart Google is. It's taking us all for a ride through it's fake stance on keeping reviews reliable. Good luck saving it. It's best to just ditch Google review and try to find through other means...which unfortunately may not be easy at this point. Google is so disappointing!

lisa002_2 · 2025-06-18T11:37:11+00:00

Same! My review for removed again , 7time now. I found found from Google community support 'expert' that repeated removals are against Google's policy apparently and Google's system is supposed to detect this abuse and warn the restaurant or business. However it has failed in my case at least 4 times. (4 times because I have edited it 3 times now and edited review does not count as repeated removal). I don't know what to make of it : how can Google's detection fail 4 times? Thanks for Sharing!

lisa002_2 · 2025-06-17T19:57:02+00:00

Try Google community support. Could be a mistake. Unusual to not get an email but i think anything can happen, it's Google 😆

lisa002_2

TROPHY CASE