The Y-AXIS LIVE!

As an entity, Google keeps expanding its services and I am one of those who don’t bat an eyelid before trying them out. My friends think I am nuts about Google because I keep lecturing them about their cutting age innovation, how they induce trials and how they successfully build interdependencies on their products, and all so subtly.

Your confidence on all-that’s-free courtesy of Google starts to shake the moment you need their help. Last week, I requested for a migration of my Feedburner.com feeds to feedburner.google.com. It was executed overnight. Then I wanted to experiment ads in feeds and how they work and realized I need to move my blog feed to another account. There is a defined process for that, only that it failed to work, with the error message even suspecting if I really owned my own blog feed!

I tried an alternate one prescribed, that in effect said, release the feed link (URI) from one account and quickly recreate in the target account. I would never have done so myself, but this was Google saying so, to me it was God’s word.I tried, and it bombed. Now I am unable to claim my own feed back with the comment, this URI is take, please take another!

So, I searched for help, which took me to some discussion forums in which Google’s staff reportedly avatars itself to help panic stricken folks like me. After leaving multiple cries of help, I  am yet to see anyone avatar to help me out.  I am taking comfort in the fact that it has been only one working day since I made a help request, but what does not comfort me is the horror of other folks asking for help for about three or four weeks and hello, no avatars around to help.

It brings up a painful realization that there are no SLAs for free services. I have lost my RSS subscribers and praying some of them will again rediscover this blog. Is there anyone from Google reading this?

Update 1: Matt S from Google has responded, asking me to stand-by. There is hope.

Update 2: Matt S has restored the feed. Thanks Matt. The system works!