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I was thinking about something related yesterday. It is amazing how big "Internet Silos" Google, Facebook, etc provide close to no customer support services a

I was thinking about something related yesterday. It is amazing how big "Internet Silos" Google, Facebook, etc provide close to no customer support services and that we "users" have accepted this. Getting cut off from one of these places can have a huge impact on people. They happen without warning and often without explanation. I think they ought to be forced to be more open around the process and how to get help in general. For Apple I have usually managed to get a hold of some support. Often not helpful but at least somebody. With Google and Facebook I have never been able to find anyone. Sameting that is demonstrated on this site frequently when someone will post a plea for someone who knows people at Google who they can't contact on their behalf. Since they can't get hold of anyone themselves. (Yes I am sure its covered in the EULA several times that there is close to no support) (For Google Workplace it is usually possible to get a hold of someone.)

rchaud 2y ago
> Google, Facebook, etc provide close to no customer support services and that we "users" have accepted this. This is why I've always rejected the concept of vendor "ecosystems" and cloud-first SaaS solutions for my personal computing. I've also designed my life so it's not dependent on having uninterrupted access to Facebook or Gmail.
lelanthran 2y ago
> I was thinking about something related yesterday. It is amazing how big "Internet Silos" Google, Facebook, etc provide close to no customer support services and that we "users" have accepted this. That's because you aren't the "customer", you're the product. The people paying the bills for Google and Facebook are the actual customers. With Apple it's supposed to work differently - the user is the customer.
- Freedom2 2y ago
  That doesn't really make sense as I pay for GCP and Google Enterprise. They specifically refer to me as a customer and in a roundabout way I pay for their bills. Your statement, while a neat adage, doesn't reflect the complexity of it all.
courseofaction 2y ago
These corporations are actively hostile to users and it's insane that anyone trusts or interacts with them. Recently when setting up GrapheneOS (android OS distro), my login to google play services was delayed by 24 hours for 'security concerns', after authenticating via youtube app. (Try to go OSS? Here's a 24 hour ban). It's funny because the forced youtube app authentication itself is not a security measure, it's a dark pattern to force the youtube app to be installed and opened. Logging in by phone or email quietly doesn't work anymore, the SSO messages never reach their destination. I find it hard to believe that this is not representative of google's perverse incentives. Consistently disgusting, rapacious company.
dariosalvi78 2y ago
It's because we just assume that these services must be for free. Pay for them and the music starts to change...
qingcharles 2y ago
Facebook is easy to get back in if you have several thousand to spend. There are plenty of insiders selling their services to get your account unlocked. Google, not so much. I've yet to find someone to unlock my Google account, even though I've slowly been working my way through their phone and email directory. [it seems everyone has access to the internal phone/email directory? and people sure want to hand you off to someone else to fix your problem..]

rchaud 2y ago

> Google, Facebook, etc provide close to no customer support services and that we "users" have accepted this. This is why I've always rejected the concept of vendor "ecosystems" and cloud-first SaaS solutions for my personal computing. I've also designed my life so it's not dependent on having uninterrupted access to Facebook or Gmail.

lelanthran 2y ago

> I was thinking about something related yesterday. It is amazing how big "Internet Silos" Google, Facebook, etc provide close to no customer support services and that we "users" have accepted this. That's because you aren't the "customer", you're the product. The people paying the bills for Google and Facebook are the actual customers. With Apple it's supposed to work differently - the user is the customer.

Freedom2 2y ago
That doesn't really make sense as I pay for GCP and Google Enterprise. They specifically refer to me as a customer and in a roundabout way I pay for their bills. Your statement, while a neat adage, doesn't reflect the complexity of it all.

courseofaction 2y ago

These corporations are actively hostile to users and it's insane that anyone trusts or interacts with them. Recently when setting up GrapheneOS (android OS distro), my login to google play services was delayed by 24 hours for 'security concerns', after authenticating via youtube app. (Try to go OSS? Here's a 24 hour ban). It's funny because the forced youtube app authentication itself is not a security measure, it's a dark pattern to force the youtube app to be installed and opened. Logging in by phone or email quietly doesn't work anymore, the SSO messages never reach their destination. I find it hard to believe that this is not representative of google's perverse incentives. Consistently disgusting, rapacious company.

dariosalvi78 2y ago

It's because we just assume that these services must be for free. Pay for them and the music starts to change...

qingcharles 2y ago

Facebook is easy to get back in if you have several thousand to spend. There are plenty of insiders selling their services to get your account unlocked. Google, not so much. I've yet to find someone to unlock my Google account, even though I've slowly been working my way through their phone and email directory. [it seems everyone has access to the internal phone/email directory? and people sure want to hand you off to someone else to fix your problem..]