Stephen Schenck / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is relaunching the Home and Nest Community and Fitbit Community forums next month with an improved experience.
- The company confirmed to Android Authority that past posts will be completely wiped in May once the shift happens.
- Thousands of support posts regarding complaints, tips, and feedback will be lost forever as part of the upgrade.
Google announced plans to upgrade and relaunch its support communities for Home, Nest, and Fitbit products last week. The company’s Home and Nest forums are getting an overhaul that Google describes as “a foundational shift.” Fitbit might be in store for an even greater upgrade, as its current support community predates the Google acquisition. Big changes are in store, and in a statement to Android Authority, Google confirms that everyone’s old posts, complaints, and tips will disappear forever after the switch.
A Google spokesperson told us that “no historical data will be available” after it switches over to the new community support platforms. “To join us, you’ll need to create a new account,” they said. “Once we launch, the current platform will be retired along with all existing profile data as we make way for this new chapter.”
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Google’s original blog post announcing the move noted that user post history wouldn’t be available anymore in the new community. Still, that left us wondering whether the thousands of old Home and Nest Community posts would be carried over for users to reference. Google cleared that up by telling Android Authority that “past posts will no longer be available.”
The same applies to the Fitbit Community, which is undergoing similar changes. This isn’t as surprising, because Google’s initial Fitbit Community blog post described the changes in more detail:
We can’t wait for you to see the updated community! To join us, you’ll need to create a fresh account. Please note that once we launch, the current platform will be retired along with all existing profile data as we make way for this new chapter.
In the same post, the company says it will be “sharing more details soon” about the changes heading to the Home and Nest Community and Fitbit Community in May.
As a recap, the upgrades are designed to make Google’s support communities “smoother, faster, and more intuitive.” There are new categories coming that will make navigating the forums easier, requiring fewer clicks to get where you need to go. There’s a reorganized content layout for discussions, and a dedicated discussion space for Gemini for Home.
That all sounds exciting, but it’s a bit of a bummer that years of customer complaints, tips, and feedback will disappear when Google makes the switch.
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