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Every time I try to get out of google they (my colleagues) pull me back in. They share documents in google docs and google drive. I have no choice but to keep m

by vinni2 6y ago

Every time I try to get out of google they (my colleagues) pull me back in. They share documents in google docs and google drive. I have no choice but to keep my google account.

bdefore 6y ago
Would they accept you using a work-related Google account?
- firecall 6y ago
  I always make a “work” google account if the company isn’t already using GSuite. Never use my own Gmail account for work. Or my own FB account for that matter! I don’t need FB locking my account as it’s connected to some clients dodgy FB ads :-/
- vinni2 6y ago
  They don’t mind which gmail account I use. I work at a university so we don’t have gsuite. I guess it’s a good idea to use a separate account for this but I don’t want to create yet another google account.
ricc 6y ago
Keeping Google as a secondary/special purpose account should be fine. I would personally consider that as “already gotten out of Google”.
hairofadog 6y ago
Firefox Containers are extremely helpful in this regard. I put off using them for a long time because i thought it would be a hassle but it’s super easy and keeps your work-related google activity segregated from the rest of your digital life. It also helps a lot with switching between google accounts; before I used containers I was constantly fighting with Google’s account switcher, which more often than not just straight-up didn’t work (it would either act like I had switched accounts but I hadn’t, or it would put me into a sort of endless “which account do you want to use / enter your password” loop.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  It's been really interesting to see the shift in ads and other things across the entire web when I forced all of my Google interactions to non-default containers. The amount of painful ReCaptcha interactions I've had has gone way up, but getting rid of a lot of the low quality "personalized" ads generally seems worth it. It was most useful for cleaning up the horror show that is YouTube recommendations if random YouTube videos from searches and chat recommendations don't get tracked to my logged in account. There's still a ton of noise in the recommendations engine and I will never trust auto-play again, but I'm having to block and/or report fewer channels and I don't automatically shudder just seeing the recommendations column show up above the fold anymore (though I still tend to prefer browser widths that drop recommendations below the video I'm watching because what a waste of space that is).
  - sundarurfriend 6y ago
    > The amount of painful ReCaptcha interactions I've found that clicking the Headphone icon and transcribing the few words makes this a much less annoying experience (especially as a non-American [1]). It also seems more forgiving of errors, though the audio is pretty clear anyway. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25226805 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25226805
    - WorldMaker 6y ago
      I have resorted to that more than once at this point. I consider that part of the "painful" as I may not always have speakers at the ready and/or at certain times of day feel a need to take the time to plugin headphones so as not to bother neighbors/etc. I also suspect given how many bots have moved on to using that themselves that those are going to get nastier and worse "soon" too.
0xbadcafebee 6y ago
You can create a "Google account" using a non-Google e-mail address. You still have access to all their services but you don't have to use them for anything other than accessing documents.
probably_wrong 6y ago
"I'm sorry, I don't have a Google account (anymore?). Could you share it in a different way?" I have seen this work more than once.
rakoo 6y ago
I personnally see work-related accounts as not mine. I'm in the process of de-googling myself, but I don't mind my company still using it that much because in the end it's not mine, and they actually have read and agreed with the Terms of Use. None of my personal info is reachable from my work email.

by vinni2 6y ago

Every time I try to get out of google they (my colleagues) pull me back in. They share documents in google docs and google drive. I have no choice but to keep my google account.

bdefore 6y ago

Would they accept you using a work-related Google account?

firecall 6y ago
I always make a “work” google account if the company isn’t already using GSuite. Never use my own Gmail account for work. Or my own FB account for that matter! I don’t need FB locking my account as it’s connected to some clients dodgy FB ads :-/
vinni2 6y ago
They don’t mind which gmail account I use. I work at a university so we don’t have gsuite. I guess it’s a good idea to use a separate account for this but I don’t want to create yet another google account.

ricc 6y ago

Keeping Google as a secondary/special purpose account should be fine. I would personally consider that as “already gotten out of Google”.

hairofadog 6y ago

Firefox Containers are extremely helpful in this regard. I put off using them for a long time because i thought it would be a hassle but it’s super easy and keeps your work-related google activity segregated from the rest of your digital life. It also helps a lot with switching between google accounts; before I used containers I was constantly fighting with Google’s account switcher, which more often than not just straight-up didn’t work (it would either act like I had switched accounts but I hadn’t, or it would put me into a sort of endless “which account do you want to use / enter your password” loop.

WorldMaker 6y ago
It's been really interesting to see the shift in ads and other things across the entire web when I forced all of my Google interactions to non-default containers. The amount of painful ReCaptcha interactions I've had has gone way up, but getting rid of a lot of the low quality "personalized" ads generally seems worth it. It was most useful for cleaning up the horror show that is YouTube recommendations if random YouTube videos from searches and chat recommendations don't get tracked to my logged in account. There's still a ton of noise in the recommendations engine and I will never trust auto-play again, but I'm having to block and/or report fewer channels and I don't automatically shudder just seeing the recommendations column show up above the fold anymore (though I still tend to prefer browser widths that drop recommendations below the video I'm watching because what a waste of space that is).
- sundarurfriend 6y ago
  > The amount of painful ReCaptcha interactions I've found that clicking the Headphone icon and transcribing the few words makes this a much less annoying experience (especially as a non-American [1]). It also seems more forgiving of errors, though the audio is pretty clear anyway. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25226805 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25226805
  - WorldMaker 6y ago
    I have resorted to that more than once at this point. I consider that part of the "painful" as I may not always have speakers at the ready and/or at certain times of day feel a need to take the time to plugin headphones so as not to bother neighbors/etc. I also suspect given how many bots have moved on to using that themselves that those are going to get nastier and worse "soon" too.

0xbadcafebee 6y ago

You can create a "Google account" using a non-Google e-mail address. You still have access to all their services but you don't have to use them for anything other than accessing documents.

probably_wrong 6y ago

"I'm sorry, I don't have a Google account (anymore?). Could you share it in a different way?" I have seen this work more than once.

rakoo 6y ago

I personnally see work-related accounts as not mine. I'm in the process of de-googling myself, but I don't mind my company still using it that much because in the end it's not mine, and they actually have read and agreed with the Terms of Use. None of my personal info is reachable from my work email.