Look, I love me some Google. I use Gmail. I think G+ is superior to Facebook. Google Maps has saved my bacon more times than I can count given that the roads in DFW seem to exist in a state best described as “a non-Euclidian construction nightmare that would terrify Clive Barker.”

But Google? Darlin’? Sweetie-cakes? You suck at transparency.  

I’m not talking about anti-trust issues in Europe. I’m not even talking about the fact that online marketers struggled with authorship tags for three long years before you pulled the rug out from under us. Nope. I’m talking about grid view.

Why must you turn our love into a house of lies?

Google, it was cool. It was shiny. It was awesome. Marketers dug it. Consumers were going to dig it. Y’all had a win-win-win-win-win on your hands.

So why did it vanish without an announcement? And why now? Because your timing made me look like a dumbass, Google. And I don’t need your help with that.

Wait. That came out wrong.

Anyway, the point is, I had a setback recently. I wrote a shiny new blog post for my shiny new gig with the shiny DFWSEM folks. There were links! And pictures! And pithy insights! There was an incredibly sly reference to Spongebob Squarepants that no one was going to get but me!

And the day after it was published and promoted all over social media, the Internet got confirmation that Google had taken off and nuked it from orbit. Only way to be sure.

I’m not a paragon, y’all. I’m not perfect. But in a case like this, everyone knows you have to do the right thing. So I went right to my boss when I heard the rumors, tracked down the confirmation, and we got an update out pronto. (Frankly, the update asks some good questions about the way Google does this sort of thing, but that’s another topic.)

That’s what you do, though, isn’t it? You take a deep breath, you pour another cup of coffee, and you get on with it. And you don’t whine until later on your own blog once things are fixed.

What about you? Was there a setback you want to hash out in the comments? A time you got caught with your digital pants down? You can go ahead and blame it on Google. I won’t tell.