Google Plus + Bad Name Policy = Worse than Useless + Dangerous
I can’t use Google+, so I won’t use Google+. I’m not deleting my G+ account yet but that might come in a few months.
Excuse me Mr Google, tell me "Doctor Popular" isn't the name he goes by.
Their common name policy has gotten several personal friends of mine banned. Heck, I’m in-person friends with Doctor Popular but I honestly don’t know his given name. His Google+ account was removed despite the fact that “Doctor Popular” is the name he really goes by everywhere, even at Google events!
The ability to be Pseudoanonymous is important for a lot of reasons. I don’t have to describe them here. Here’s a hundred or so reasons to start you off. (and don’t forget Locke and Demosthenes from Ender’s Game!)
Google+ people, this is not a hard problem to solve, all you need to do is trust people by their reputation and history. You have tremendous records on us, use it to verify that the people that are registering are real. Give new users permissions and avatars based on their maturity as an online entity. Now, it’s possible that it’s Google+’s master plan to try and create a strict limit of 1 account per person to launch some evil master plan; if that’s the case, then G+ can jump off a bridge.
Attention Google Plus Management, get your act together, you’re really screwing up.
Here are some articles about this asinine problem.
Google Plus Deleting Accounts En Masse: No Clear Answers by Violet Blue
Trapped in the Googlehole by Doctor Popular
My.Nameis.Me
As you might expect (no, “Free” is not what’s on my birth certificate), this makes me really nervous. I have a large professional website, and want to make sure that anyone searching for my real name will find that site. Thus, even leaving aside things I might want to keep confidential, I simply don’t want materials unrelated to my career appearing if anyone searches for my real name.
I’ve long been known online by three different nicknames, each relating to a segment of my life. I have a separate Gmail account for each of them. Two of them are signed up with Google +. However, I am now worried that I will lost not only my Google+ account but my Gmail, my calendar, one of my websites, etc. if Google decides to investigate. The net result is that I have avoided using Google+ at all, in hopes of reducing the likelihood of a problem.
It looks like Doc Pop still has access to most of his Google features, but not “…Google Reader, Data Liberation, Google Profile, and various other services…” So I don’t think you need to pre-emptively close your G+ account. Just in case, here is how to do it. http://www.techfeb.com/2011/07/how-to-delete-google-plus-account-from-google
Wow, this is stupid.