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Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

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21–30 of 104 posts

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#21

My father recently died and while things like these may trigger some slight pain, that's just life. You have to get the fuck over it. It's never worth accommodating the easily offended, especially on the Internet.

I hate labeling people as "easily offended", but to complain about something like this seems excessive. If your father died would you presume to insist that your mother take down all his photos?

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#22

My father recently died and while things like these may trigger some slight pain, that's just life. You have to get the fuck over it. It's never worth accommodating the easily offended, especially on the Internet.

Agreed. I'm dreading calling my dad because he has dementia and severe hearing loss, but I'm glad Google is showing a bit of humanity.

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#24
post #16

My father recently died and while things like these may trigger some slight pain, that's just life. You have to get the fuck over it. It's never worth accommodating the easily offended, especially on the Internet.

Couldn't agree with you more, my dad passed about 7 years ago, the OP on the ticket seems to have daddy issues. If I was her father I'd be glad she didn't call. There's a great way for the complainers to get rid of the message, stop using a service provided to you for FREE. Pay for your own server, own web interface, own backups, etc then there will be no "Call Dad" button. Until then deal with the fact that most fat…

I couldn't agree more on this. I don't always agree with everything Google does, but they provide some damned fine services for free. It's kind of hard to complain in light of that. Furthermore, every single comment that had been made disregarded both all of the users that hadn't lost their fathers, and more importantly all of the users such as yourself that had but are well-adjusted human beings that can deal with loss. I just hope it doesn't ruin any Google engineers' day because a bunch of lusers felt the need to complain about a gesture of kindness.

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#25

You know, as soon as I saw that, even though my dad is perfectly healthy and I hadn't called him yet today, I was a little creeped out. I couldn't put my finger on why. The doodles are one thing, but Gmail is supposed to be a tool, and I think people expect different things from that.

I think having a generic banner such as a "Fathers Day" doodle wouldnt really upset as many people. I think there's something more personal about the specific 'Call Dad' that would certainly make me feel more emotional if I saw it pop up in my contacts list.

People get bombarded with "fathers day" "mothers day" "valentines day" every year and it's easy to brush it aside...

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#26
post #4

When you operate on the scale of Google or Facebook, getting "cute" will inevitably end up with some angry users. But without little touches like this, the company would move closer and closer to the IBM-esque corporate monolith. And neither the users nor Google want to see that image. That said, maybe this one was pushing it. I saw that this morning and thought, "Oh, here we go..."

Upvoted not necessarily because I agree with your conclusion, but because I think it synthesizes the main point. Anything with personality automatically means some people will not like them.

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#27
"Call your dad on fathers day" as politically incorrect? This seems like overkill. There is a 1000 other vastly more important things to get worked up over. Its not like Google took your dad away or made him someone you despise, and then flaunts how great it is having a dad you'd want to honor on fathers days in front of you. It's a little something to give their service a slight personality. Perhaps its like Field of Dreams, give people somewhere to complain, they will complain, which is fine, but complain about the problem, the people that caused it, not the things that remind you of it, which end up getting those things taken away from the majority of people that would enjoy the rather innocent reminder.I could see being pissed off if you were in jail for a crime you didn't commit, and you were being forced to celebrate the 4th of July or something, but this is not even close to that.

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#28
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lost my father a couple of years ago. I like being reminded of him, personally. Today is a good day for that.

that is a great way of looking at it. people need to stop being so sensitive. same goes to fleitz and schrototo

Seems like the context of their posts went over your head by a mile, because I don't think they're being sensitive.

But I could be wrong. It was the "get the fuck over it" part that tipped me off. Again, could be wrong.

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#29

I think it is a good lesson to small companies in that you shouldn't add things to what people consider "mine" or expect the normal family situation applies to everyone. The doodle is ok, but adding reminders crosses the line. Some of the forum postings are just sad and to think some managers decision added one more bit of pain is not something you want.

The flip side is the number of people that called their father because of the reminder, and what positive impact this had. Sorry, I can't help feel any sympathy for people pitching a fit over this. It reminds me of that woman who chastised the free lemonade kids.

It reminds me of that woman who chastised the free lemonade kids.

Sorry, I don't know the story behind this one, but would like to. Link?

Re: Google reminds users to "Call Dad", makes users angry

#30
I'm not sure how I feel about this (although I don't use Gmail, so thankfully, it doesn't matter how I feel).

I like the fact that Google adds little touches that try to remind you that their employees are actual human beings.

I can be sympathetic to people who this might make uncomfortable (Father's Day is a pretty bad day for me), but I'm not sure how reasonable it is to try and shield yourself from things like this. I mean, presumably, you don't break down into tears every time a commercial airs advertising a "Father's Day" sale?

It just seems like a futile endeavor. It would be like if the color Yellow reminded you of some terrible memory. You'd kind of just have to deal with it.

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