Live data from Hacker News

Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

wilwheaton.typepad.com

161–170 of 276 posts

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#162
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't thumb up on Youtube without a Google Account (which is not exactly the same as a Google+ account). And, I already get the +1s (or thumbs up, or whatever it's called) of the people I follow on Youtube, in my Youtube stream. And I do like things there. On the other hand, sharing ? I'd think twice before doing it.

I have a Youtube only account, not linked to any other Google services or their hosted email, and I can up or down vote any of the three videos I just randomly clicked on to check this out.

Err, it most likely is also a Google account, even a basic one, or at least linked to one. Unless you know a trick that I don't.

As far as I know, the migration from Youtube accounts to Google accounts has been forced some time ago (I tried to avoid it as long as I could).

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"While I appreciate the sentiment and agree with his point of view, his simply telling Google 'go fuck yourself' doesn't really offer an in-depth critique of why these changes [are] wrong" what you said is literally false. here's his in-depth critique: "I’m going to lose a crapton of potential upvotes for Tabletop, because the core of my audience is tech-savvy and may not want to “upgrade” to yet another fucking soci…

> translation: "we might lose the ability to do our show, because this G+ +1 button introduces friction and a sign-up process we don't expect our users will bother to complete." Yeah, but he misses the next step in logical thinking which is that the changes will apply to everyone. This new button is for everyone, which means everyone will get less votes which means less are needed for him to continue to run the show.

"Yeah, but he misses the next step in logical thinking which is that the changes will apply to everyone."

no he doesn't, not at all. he "misses" this step because while it might be logical over the long term for the world on average, it's irrelevant to his business.

if you've got a deal in place, based on existing expectations of the number of upvotes, and Google changes how upvotes happen, your existing deal is threatened. it's like if you agree to work for an hourly rate right before your government devalues their currency.

I believe what's happening here is he has a certain number of upvotes which he needs to obtain if his show is going to continue. for instance he might have a deal with investors, or he might just want to compete with pre-existing vidoes whose upvotes (achieved under the previous system) are already secure. Google made it harder for him to get upvotes, thus disrupting his business.

it's cool to disrupt businesses but if you set yourself up as a platform and then you disrupt businesses built on your platform, that's less cool. that's an unstable platform and a dangerous place to do business.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#165
post #106
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what do you base that astounding assertion?

Uh... masklinn was self-admittedly "pissed off", Will Wheaton "made a rageface" and posted "go fuck yourself, Google"., I paraphrased those both to "bone to pick" because I thought it sounded better. What is "astounding" about that? They sound like synonyms to me. Do you have an argument with the substance of what I wrote (regarding average users' reacions to youtube merging accounts with G+)?

A "bone to pick" implies a preexisting grudge, which is different from simply being displeased with one decision or other.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even with those safeguards, it is still possible to create a phony/spam G+ account. Asking for more information doesn't solve the problem, it simply forces the user to fabricate more information in the beginning during the sign up process.

The user, however, doesn't know the consequences of subverting the form.

If they're an accomplished spammer they won't hesitate to experiment. After which it's yet another hoop which obstructs only the bona fide users.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#167
post #110
post #42

G+ is a joke. Nobody outside of the tech and geek industries either wants it or uses it. And yet they carry on doing everything they can just to herd people into creating G+ accounts. Hey, it might work. Got to get those numbers up, right? But they can't make me USE my G+ account.

Any page with a +1 button on it reports your visit back to Google. Even if you don't push the button! So now Google can mine your browsing history for advertisers.

Good news everyone! Chrome now supports multiple profiles. So you can have one to log into Google services, and one for the rest of the web.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#168
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook isn't so dumb that they haven't seen YouTube as Google's trojan horse for a long time. Facebook has had a video platform since 2007 -- it just hasn't taken off. > I miss the days when Google, Apple, and Facebook cooperated rather than squabbled. I don't; competition is good.

It's funny to think that Google Video didn't take off, and Google had to buy YouTube. Now YouTube is not available for purchase by Facebook. This is interested with the instagram purchase.

You're being downvoted but you're exactly right. As long as Instagram hung out there floating in the breeze, anyone could become a major photo-sharing player, just as Google did by acquiring YouTube.

By purchasing Instagram, Facebook prevented themselves from being edged out in photos the way Google is shouldering them out in video sharing.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#169
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't thumb up on Youtube without a Google Account (which is not exactly the same as a Google+ account). And, I already get the +1s (or thumbs up, or whatever it's called) of the people I follow on Youtube, in my Youtube stream. And I do like things there. On the other hand, sharing ? I'd think twice before doing it.

So, to make some people happy, Google would have to allow you to have a separate Google account, Google+ account, and YouTube account. To make other people happy, it would be completely optional to link those accounts together - but keep them separate, for some reason. To make other people happy, they should be able to use one account to do all of the those things. Finally, to make other people happy, Google should j…

I don't really argue one way or another. Just wanted to precise that the anonymous user issue is a bit irrelevant. They couldn't do anything before, they still can't do anything.

What changes (if they really do what the original blog post suggests) is this: * They remove the up/down votes system internal to Youtube (which is already a full-fledged system, where you have a stream where you can see when someone you follow likes something, etc) * They move 'share to Google+' from the 'Share' submenu (where it already is, alongside with Facebook, Twitter) to where the up/down votes were

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#170

Stop using Google! You know its a company that spies on your every move, you know they are selling your information to governments, you know they are constantly IN YOUR FACE everywhere you turn on the net these days. They are even worse than Microsoft was back in the days, when Google came along with a clean search engine and a clean slate. These days, "dont do evil" is as ridicolous as Obamas "Change!" campaign. Goo…

what are your references for: (i) selling your information to governments (emphasis added) (ii) strong supporter of CISPA?
Post reply on HN