5 ms·

Don't let the FUD fool you. It's "active" in that you can see other people's buzz posts and you get a buzz item on the left menu, but until you create a public

by gwc 17y ago

Don't let the FUD fool you. It's "active" in that you can see other people's buzz posts and you get a buzz item on the left menu, but until you create a public profile none of your information (such as follower/followee lists) has been made public. For you (and others like you and I who picked 'no'), clicking 'turn off buzz' does seem to actually turn off the service for all intents and purposes. No info is made public. Sure, some people 'auto-follow' me, but only those who already had your email address. No real harm done.

wooster 17y ago
It's not FUD. I don't have a Google Profile, but Buzz was automatically activated (even though I clicked the no/cancel/whatever-it-said-because-it-totally-ignored-me-anyway button) when I logged into GMail. I don't care if it was made public. If I had a profile, and it was made public, that would not have made things better. That would be worse. I should not need to understand the subtle privacy interplay of several different and seemingly unrelated Google products just because I use one of them (Gmail).
- gwc 17y ago
  I should not need to understand the subtle privacy interplay of several different and seemingly unrelated Google products just because I use one of them (Gmail). I entirely agree with this, although I'll point out that IIRC Google Chat did the same thing in terms of modifying gmail but no-one seemed to really object to that. Buzz seems to be different because of the privacy issues, i.e. Google didn't communicate well what would happen (specifically a public profile that included your follower/followee lists) if you clicked "yes". That there's a new link on the left-hand menu can't really be the main issue, is it? As far as FUD, I'm specifically referring to comments like this: There is absolutely no way to opt out of Buzz. http://twitter.com/etherial/status/9023625277 http://twitter.com/etherial/status/9023625277 It IS possible to opt out of Buzz, ~ its just that its counter-intuitive and once you've hit the "Yes" button, somewhat difficult to undo.
  - emily37 17y ago
    I've been wondering the same thing: why does it bother me so much that Buzz auto-follows frequently-emailed contacts, but it doesn't bother me that gchat automatically adds frequently-emailed contacts? I think it might be because having contacts added in gchat doesn't mean I'll actually be communicating with them, whereas auto-follow does mean that some communication will take place... I'm not sure though. Also, I guess that having a strictly professional contact's name sitting in my gchat contacts list is different than that person being notified that I'm following them.
    - orangecat 17y ago
      why does it bother me so much that Buzz auto-follows frequently-emailed contacts Because in combination with the default of having your follow list public, that exposes who you've been emailing to the world.

by gwc 17y ago

wooster 17y ago

It's not FUD. I don't have a Google Profile, but Buzz was automatically activated (even though I clicked the no/cancel/whatever-it-said-because-it-totally-ignored-me-anyway button) when I logged into GMail. I don't care if it was made public. If I had a profile, and it was made public, that would not have made things better. That would be worse. I should not need to understand the subtle privacy interplay of several different and seemingly unrelated Google products just because I use one of them (Gmail).

gwc 17y ago
I should not need to understand the subtle privacy interplay of several different and seemingly unrelated Google products just because I use one of them (Gmail). I entirely agree with this, although I'll point out that IIRC Google Chat did the same thing in terms of modifying gmail but no-one seemed to really object to that. Buzz seems to be different because of the privacy issues, i.e. Google didn't communicate well what would happen (specifically a public profile that included your follower/followee lists) if you clicked "yes". That there's a new link on the left-hand menu can't really be the main issue, is it? As far as FUD, I'm specifically referring to comments like this: There is absolutely no way to opt out of Buzz. http://twitter.com/etherial/status/9023625277 http://twitter.com/etherial/status/9023625277 It IS possible to opt out of Buzz, ~ its just that its counter-intuitive and once you've hit the "Yes" button, somewhat difficult to undo.
- emily37 17y ago
  I've been wondering the same thing: why does it bother me so much that Buzz auto-follows frequently-emailed contacts, but it doesn't bother me that gchat automatically adds frequently-emailed contacts? I think it might be because having contacts added in gchat doesn't mean I'll actually be communicating with them, whereas auto-follow does mean that some communication will take place... I'm not sure though. Also, I guess that having a strictly professional contact's name sitting in my gchat contacts list is different than that person being notified that I'm following them.
  - orangecat 17y ago
    why does it bother me so much that Buzz auto-follows frequently-emailed contacts Because in combination with the default of having your follow list public, that exposes who you've been emailing to the world.