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Hey Google, thanks for making my daughter cry.

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Re: Hey Google, thanks for making my daughter cry.

#171

Post by sossles »

CamperBob wrote: post #123
magicalist wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may feel like the Googles and the Facebooks are self-sustaining juggernauts, but customer happiness and retention is exactly the incentive machinery you are missing. Everyone plays the balance game. You can have the best customer service in the world, but my daughter is still going to cry if your moving company breaks her stuff, or your store sells us tainted dog food, or your family-run email service writes the w…

It may feel like the Googles and the Facebooks are self-sustaining juggernauts, but customer happiness and retention is exactly the incentive machinery you are missing. Except we're not their customers.

We are customers, but the currency is attention, not money.

Re: Hey Google, thanks for making my daughter cry.

#172

Post by cynwoody »

danilocampos wrote: post #18

B-b-but Google made this fancy video advertisement about how I can give my infant daughter a Gmail account and write to her as she grows up! Does it only work if she never uses it? You've gotta wait until you can hold a bat mitzvah to hand it off to her? This kind of chicanery is why I can only chuckle when Google announces new initiatives that require significant customer service, like selling telephones or providin…

This would seem to have more to do with the 535 dumbest people on the planet than with Google.

Re: Hey Google, thanks for making my daughter cry.

#174

Post by cynwoody »

wvenable wrote: post #91
rmrm wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had never tried, so I just tried to create an underage account at Yahoo, they handle it thusly: Please get your mom or dad! You need your parent or guardian's permission to continue. Show them this screen. Parents, Please Sign-In. To complete your child's Yahoo! registration: Sign in with your own Yahoo! ID or sign up for a new account by clicking on the "Create New Account" button below. Confirm your child's informa…

When my child gets a little older he is going to be 13 for a very long time, online.

I'm glad he's progressing.

If the internet had existed when I was a little tike, I'd have been 13 for about eight years.

Re: Hey Google, thanks for making my daughter cry.

#175

Post by cynwoody »

modeless wrote: post #149
sigmaxipi wrote: post #72

There is an interesting rule in COPPA that is the cause of this bad experience: http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.shtm#teen For sites that choose to age-screen, age information should be asked in a way that does not invite falsification. See Question 39, below. In addition, we recommend that sites that choose to age-screen employ temporary or permanent cookies to prevent children from back-buttoning to change thei…

This is the important bit that people miss. Google isn't allowed to warn you that changing your age will apply restrictions to your account, and they aren't allowed to let you easily undo it after it's done. This is what happens when Congress dictates user interfaces.

So, in effect, this means a kid is 13 as soon as he figures out he needs to be 13. OK.

Not all kids are created equal, and some kids will be 13 sooner than others. Some might argue that's not fair. But, back in the day, I would not have been among them.

Re: Hey Google, thanks for making my daughter cry.

#176

Post by cynwoody »

vasco wrote: post #81

I remember being on the internet since I was about 10 and I always said I was over 18 for whatever I did on the internet because I knew otherwise there would be restrictions. Is this a hard concept to grasp?

Nope.

And it should set your attitude towards the government for the rest of your life.

Re: Hey Google, thanks for making my daughter cry.

#178

Post by maigret »

yanw wrote: post #41
danilocampos wrote: post #18

B-b-but Google made this fancy video advertisement about how I can give my infant daughter a Gmail account and write to her as she grows up! Does it only work if she never uses it? You've gotta wait until you can hold a bat mitzvah to hand it off to her? This kind of chicanery is why I can only chuckle when Google announces new initiatives that require significant customer service, like selling telephones or providin…

That is not entirely fair, automation is the only way to admin millions of users and when nonsensical factors like COPPA get introduced to the system this happens. And I don't think that they did anything wrong here considering the consequences of not complying with the law.

Amazon has quite an awesome service actually for the few times I had to deal with them. They also have quite a few users. Oh, but right, those are actually customers paying for what they get. I guess Google support is what you get for using a free service after all.
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