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First of all, thank you for responding publicly. In hindsight what I really meant to ask was this: Why is Google Plus (the social network) worth burning every

by dsl 13y ago

First of all, thank you for responding publicly. In hindsight what I really meant to ask was this: Why is Google Plus (the social network) worth burning every other Google service and product to the ground in an attempt to drive adoption? Is Google really that scared of Facebook? The fact that this post turned into a YouTube complaint fest highlights the bad decisions being made, but I am more interested in the big picture.

stanleydrew 13y ago
I think what OP is saying is that they are arguably not attempting to drive adoption of Google+ the social network, but rather drive adoption of Google+ the single-sign-on system. The fact that both things are tied so closely together is what's causing all the problems. Personally it seems like they could have just stuck with the concept of a Google Account, which I think still exists anyway. Use that thing for single-sign-on and let people link GMail, YT, AdWords, G+ accounts to it. They are essentially attempting to "rebrand" their identity system with G+ at the core. But what we are seeing is that there is major friction and unintended consequences when you attempt this kind of shift and have so many users with tons of different use-cases across different individual identity systems. I don't envy their position, although I do think this was probably mostly avoidable, or at least a lot of the problems (especially with YT) should have been foreseeable, and so they really only have themselves to blame.
- __m 13y ago
  i don't think that is the case otherwise google+ would only be used for authentication without making this connection public.
IanCal 13y ago
> burning every other Google service and product to the ground I think this is a massive exaggeration. The people who don't care about linking their accounts (like me) aren't filling up the front page of HN with "The google plus thing is fine I guess" stories. I don't care if they ask for my phone number, I've got an Android phone so the data is all already there, and I like the security of having it text me to check it's actually me signing in from some new computer. I genuinely find the level of complaints embarrassing. I've seen someone call being asked to create a G+ account "sickening". Sickening. What an astonishing first world problem, that one of the worst things happening to them is being asked to sign up for a free account with a company you already have a free account with. The horror!
- dredmorbius 13y ago
  If you think it's a first-world problem, ask yourself what the situation in a third-world or repressive government would be where all search and email traffic would be individually assignable and identifiable as it passed through the national firewall and surveillance systems.
  - IanCal 13y ago
    What? It's the same sodding data, passed to the same company, how does merging two accounts that they already know are linked change anything? Also, you can search without logging in, and sign up for as many different email accounts as you want. Are you honestly saying that google asking you to make a G+ account is a serious problem for activists?
    - chilldream 13y ago
      I take it you missed this: https://plus.google.com/u/0/115668950429167517685/posts/hTe4AZ8rqtd https://plus.google.com/u/0/115668950429167517685/posts/hTe4...
      - IanCal 13y ago
        I'm entirely confused by this. I have my G+ account linked with youtube. Just now I unlinked them, and changed the visible name from one that was obviously mine to a more anonymous name and posted a comment with absolutely no issue. No picture, no name, no link to me. And this is from after linking the accounts and then unlinking them (which took under a minute to do and was pretty easy to find).
        nisa 13y ago
        This option is not available for me. I can't disconnect my Youtube account without deleting Google+. I also found no way to create a pseudonymous page for my Youtube Account. And I've found no way to delete my Youtube account. After searching and looking around in the user forums for some time I've gave up.

by dsl 13y ago

stanleydrew 13y ago

I think what OP is saying is that they are arguably not attempting to drive adoption of Google+ the social network, but rather drive adoption of Google+ the single-sign-on system. The fact that both things are tied so closely together is what's causing all the problems. Personally it seems like they could have just stuck with the concept of a Google Account, which I think still exists anyway. Use that thing for single-sign-on and let people link GMail, YT, AdWords, G+ accounts to it. They are essentially attempting to "rebrand" their identity system with G+ at the core. But what we are seeing is that there is major friction and unintended consequences when you attempt this kind of shift and have so many users with tons of different use-cases across different individual identity systems. I don't envy their position, although I do think this was probably mostly avoidable, or at least a lot of the problems (especially with YT) should have been foreseeable, and so they really only have themselves to blame.

__m 13y ago
i don't think that is the case otherwise google+ would only be used for authentication without making this connection public.

IanCal 13y ago

> burning every other Google service and product to the ground I think this is a massive exaggeration. The people who don't care about linking their accounts (like me) aren't filling up the front page of HN with "The google plus thing is fine I guess" stories. I don't care if they ask for my phone number, I've got an Android phone so the data is all already there, and I like the security of having it text me to check it's actually me signing in from some new computer. I genuinely find the level of complaints embarrassing. I've seen someone call being asked to create a G+ account "sickening". Sickening. What an astonishing first world problem, that one of the worst things happening to them is being asked to sign up for a free account with a company you already have a free account with. The horror!

dredmorbius 13y ago
If you think it's a first-world problem, ask yourself what the situation in a third-world or repressive government would be where all search and email traffic would be individually assignable and identifiable as it passed through the national firewall and surveillance systems.
- IanCal 13y ago
  What? It's the same sodding data, passed to the same company, how does merging two accounts that they already know are linked change anything? Also, you can search without logging in, and sign up for as many different email accounts as you want. Are you honestly saying that google asking you to make a G+ account is a serious problem for activists?
  - chilldream 13y ago
    I take it you missed this: https://plus.google.com/u/0/115668950429167517685/posts/hTe4AZ8rqtd https://plus.google.com/u/0/115668950429167517685/posts/hTe4...
    - IanCal 13y ago
      I'm entirely confused by this. I have my G+ account linked with youtube. Just now I unlinked them, and changed the visible name from one that was obviously mine to a more anonymous name and posted a comment with absolutely no issue. No picture, no name, no link to me. And this is from after linking the accounts and then unlinking them (which took under a minute to do and was pretty easy to find).
      - nisa 13y ago
        This option is not available for me. I can't disconnect my Youtube account without deleting Google+. I also found no way to create a pseudonymous page for my Youtube Account. And I've found no way to delete my Youtube account. After searching and looking around in the user forums for some time I've gave up.