If you are having a problem with your site in Google News, it can be frustrating. No publisher wants to see traffic go away and we are all guilty of getting impatient at times. Here are some things you can do to make sure your problem gets addressed in a timely manner and you get the help you need.

1. Post only one thread about your problem.

Multiple posts on the same problem clogs up the forum and will actually cause a delay in getting the help you need. Every time you update a thread you start, it gets pushed back to the top of the forum. Staying on one thread also means that you are not causing the volunteers and Google employees to waste time looking through multiple threads on the same topic. This is time we could be spending actually trying to fix those problems.

2. Be specific and give details about your problem.

Many times we see people talking about an indexing issue and we will have to ask them for their url and the url for things like their sitemap or specific pages they are talking about. Always give as much detail as possible when describing your problem. If your sitemap is showing an error in webmaster tools then give the link for your sitemap and details about the errors. The more information we start with, the faster we can get your problem solved.
No matter what your problem is, the more details you give allows us to pinpoint the problem and fix it.

3. Help Others If You Can

While you will see Google Employees and Top Contributors here every day answering questions, This forum allows anyone to help a fellow publisher. If you see a post dealing with a problem that you have experience with, then please help. We should all feel privileged that we are part of Google News. If every publisher took a little time to give back to the community here, we could have a great forum. You have to remember, TC's are volunteers here and Google Employees have a job too. You will see more responses in this forum by the GNews team than in any other forum Google has, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to help out if you can.

The purpose of this forum is to interact with other publishers. If everyone who visited here and got help just helped one other person, this could be an even greater asset to all publishers.

A personal note: I have been helping out here for quite a while now. Some would question why I do it. Well, the biggest benefit is that I have now compiled a huge file with problems and fixes that I can use on my own site if something goes wrong. This allows me to fix my problems without having to wait. I have also met and become friends with a lot of fellow publishers. Interacting with fellow publishers is a great way to keep up to date on any changes dealing with news or the web in general. Trying to stay on top of everything yourself can get overwhelming. Also, the people who take the time to say thanks when we have fixed a problem makes it all worthwhile.