Issue: Disappearing Google+ posts/Post Not Found
Status: Known. Ongoing.
Resolution: Unsolvable
First Reported: May 3, 2013
Last Updated: Nov 13, 2016

There is an ongoing issue with Google+ network. Some posts made to personal profiles (autoposted and manually posted) are disappearing and links to those posts result a “Post Not Found” error.

This is not SNAP or NextScripts API problem. This in internal Google+ issue. Issue affects all kind of posts – autoposted and manually posted. Issue affects only some kind of post sources. Unfortunately, there is no distinctive pattern. Some users reported that posts made by SNAP are not appearing on the Google+ page, while some users report that only posts autoposted by SNAP are visible, but manually created posts are immediately disappearing. We even saw accounts that never got autoposted to with this issue. Also you can try to search on Google for “Disappearing Google+ posts” you will see how many people, who never even heard of SNAP are experiencing this issue.

So far only personal profiles are affected. We have no reports of any problems with business pages or community pages.

This issue going on and off for several months. The good news is that in most cases this issue just resolves itself after some time. Some time could be days or weeks.

We will keep tracking and investigating this issue and if we find any kind of solution or any info how to avoid this problem we will update the API.

PS: Yes, we and some other users have tried to contact Google, got no response.

UPDATE Nov 1, 2013.

Issue is still occurs from time to time. It looks like logging in to your G+ profile from the browser and making some posts of different types manually helps to improve restoration times. Profiles with NO manual activity are getting fixed within 2-4 weeks, profiles WITH manual activity are getting fixed in 3-5 days.

UPDATE June 19, 2014.

Unfortunately, after more than 7 months of no reports the issue has re-appeared. We have two users reported that it’s back.

Progress:

May 3, 2013 – User #1 reported an issue.
May 4, 2013 – We asked user #1 for an access to client server to investigate.
May 8, 2013 – User #2 reported an issue.
May 8, 2013 – We asked user #1 for an access to client server to investigate.
May 8, 2013 – We got access to user’s #2 website, started an investigation.
May 10, 2013 – User #1 reported that the issue fixed itself.
May 11, 2013 – Issue fixed itself for user #2 right in the middle of our investigation.
May 31, 2013 – Users #3 and #4 reported an issue.
May 31, 2013 – We asked users #3 and #4 for an access, got both. Still could not find a solution.
June 2, 2013 – User #5 reported that SNAP posts are staying, but manual posts are disappearing.
June 4, 2013 – Users #3 reported that all posts (manual and autoposted) vanished from the Google+ account
June 10, 2013 – User #4 reported that the issue fixed itself.
July 5, 2013 – User #5 reported that the issue fixed itself.
July 5, 2013 – User #5 also reported that he has that issue on another account that he never autoposted to.
July 17, 2013 – User #3 reported that about 75% of the disappeared posts have came back. New posts are still immediately disappearing.
July 19, 2013 – User #6 reported an issue.
July 19, 2013 – User #7 reported that SNAP posts are staying, but manual posts are disappearing.
July 19, 2013 – We asked users #6 and #7 for an access, got it from user #6.
July 22, 2013 – One of our own accounts got the issue. One of our developers spent a whole day trying to find solution or workaround.
July 25, 2013 – Issue fixed itself on our account.
July 26, 2013 – User #8 reported an issue.
August 29, 2013 – It was more than a month with no new reports, but today user #9 reported an issue.
Sept 6, 2013 – User #10 reported an issue.
Sept 9, 2013 – User #10 reported that the issue fixed itself.
Oct 24, 2013 – User #11 reported an issue.
Oct 25, 2013 – User #12 reported an issue.
Oct 28, 2013 – User #13 reported an issue.
Oct 29, 2013 – User #13 reported an issue with his another profile.
Oct 30, 2013 – User #13 reported that the issue fixed itself with the first profile.
Nov 1, 2013 – User #13 reported that the issue fixed itself with the second profile.
June 19, 2014 – After more than 7 months of staying resolved, unfortunately, the issue has re-appeared. We have two users reported that it’s back.
Nov 13, 2016 – We got an email from somebody who is not a SNAP user, but who stumbled upon this page while trying to find a solution for “disappearing Google+ posts” problem. Looks like the issue is still not completely resolved by the Google.