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Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

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Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#231

Post by DavidAbrams »

nextparadigms wrote: post #45

In the beginning people complained that Google has like a dozen different "Like" buttons on the Reader, Youtube and so on. Now they complain that they want to use just one everywhere? I think it's a great move. Personally, I even want them to integrate their G+ commenting system into all their services. It's one of the best commenting systems out there, and certainly much better than the Youtube one. It might even en…

"In the beginning people complained that Google has like a dozen different "Like" buttons on the Reader, Youtube and so on"

No, they didn't. Who in hell would complain about that? Who cares?

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#232

Post by DavidAbrams »

macrael wrote: post #75
nextparadigms wrote: post #45

In the beginning people complained that Google has like a dozen different "Like" buttons on the Reader, Youtube and so on. Now they complain that they want to use just one everywhere? I think it's a great move. Personally, I even want them to integrate their G+ commenting system into all their services. It's one of the best commenting systems out there, and certainly much better than the Youtube one. It might even en…

A friend of mine actually convinced me otherwise re: youtube comments. Because youtube comments are reverse threaded by time, so the newest comments are first, it encourages comments to be actual reactions to the video instead of just getting lost in replies to replies to replies.

YouTube comments (aside from being a cavalcade of human stupidity) don't even work right. Threads don't work, with replies appearing in random locations rather than indented under the originals (but sometimes they do inexplicably appear correctly). Page breaks are totally wrong, with the same comments appearing on the next page but many of them missing. Really, why even bother. YouTube is a failure of basic design and Google, with all their resources, hasn't been able to field a competent layout. That's pathetic.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#233

Post by saurik »

VikingCoder wrote: post #188
lubujackson wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big difference between upvoting a video on YouTube for other people on YouTube and giving a +1 to a video that could possibly go on your Google+ wall (if that even exists), influence your search results in ways you don't want, or show up awkwardly in other strange ways while using other Google products like Gmail. The real problem is the effects are unknown and upvoting is no longer a contained action with a specific…

> giving a +1 to a video that could possibly go on your Google+ wall (if that even exists) It does not exist. You can specifically Share a video with Circles. > influence your search results in ways you don't want, In the upper right on your Search page, you can click "Hide personal results." > or show up awkwardly in other strange ways while using other Google products like Gmail [citation needed] > The real problem…

>> giving a +1 to a video that could possibly go on your Google+ wall (if that even exists)

> It does not exist. You can specifically Share a video with Circles.

https://plus.google.com/109412257237874861202/plusones

> +1's are inherently public.

> I can appreciate that you like to give feedback to content creators saying, "Hey, I liked this!" Google is tying the "I" in that sentence to your Google+ account.

> I think the days of "Anonymous Likes" are somewhat over... They were always susceptible to spamming, anyway. And they were never really as anonymous as we liked to think they were.

There is a big difference between unauthenticated and anonymous, even if from the perspective of the viewer they look identical. On Hacker News, you can't tell whether I +1'd or -1'd you, but I certainly have an account that I must be logged in to in order to vote.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#234

Post by justincormack »

jonnathanson wrote: post #130
waterlesscloud wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that helps explain why Google's social efforts are weak, it doesn't make the case that social is something Google needs. What Google needs, in this case, is more information on its users, which is not a particularly social thing to need. Say Google is approaching social as an information gathering problem, and Facebook is approaching social as a users-interacting problem, then who will always win social under t…

"While that helps explain why Google's social efforts are weak, it doesn't make the case that social is something Google needs." Actually, my intent was just the opposite: to explain why Google "needs" social (but not so much to explain why its efforts have been weak). That said, I think it does offer explanation for their weakness in social to date: they didn't really see it as a threat until it became one. It's ver…

I think they are also split between trying to think of Facebook as doing an extension of their information gathering, ie social relationships add more data that we can use to sell you ads more effectively we need to do this, as against Facebook as a platform is a threat to the open web with search as a gateway. The first part is easier for them, especially as plus gives them some data from circles even if no one uses it. The only big platformy thing they have is youtube, and perhaps android, oh and orkut, but they dont really know how to compete with facebook, in the past they just tried to build attractive places on the open web.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#235

Post by DavidAbrams »

jahmed wrote: post #147
jiggy2011 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very true, I often dread "upgrades" or "redesigns" to software or websites that I like using. Everything seems to now be adding hoops that you have to jump through. This is why I often prefer things that I either have to pay for or that are OSS because then at least I feel like I have some of influence in the relationship. I dread the day that google slap a login page up in front of their search engine service.

Sometimes I forget that services I use everyday have login pages. I cant remember the last time I logged in to facebook.

Facebook is still trying to use E-mail addresses as user IDs. Amateur hour, just like Apple.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#236

Post by dendory »

Personally I think removing the thumbs up and down is a huge mistake. I understand that video producers don't like them, but guess what, when I load a YouTube video the rating is the first thing I look at, and if it's under 50% I know that the video will be crap. That judgement has been right EVERY time.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#237

Post by dendory »

VikingCoder wrote: post #123

> It is bad for viewers, bad for video creators, and bad for YouTube’s ability to curate and tailor videos to potential viewers. First, a question: any random person on the internet, without being logged in, used to be able to Thumb Up a YouTube video? If that's true, then I bet it was very easy to spam. Giving it a Thumb Up, without being logged in, would also mean that none of your friends had any idea that you had…

Right now your IP can vote once a day per video I believe. Yes it's pretty easy to game, but the rating % is amazingly accurate to tell me whether I'm gonna enjoy a video or not.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#238

Post by fear91 »

sesqu wrote: post #214
fear91 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending users detail to governments: http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/governmentrequests/... Google supportive of CISPA: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/report-google-...

That's not selling user details.

That's sending user details to the governments.

Which we all know, are always the good guys and they want to help you with your life knowing what you search for and which websites you visit.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#239

Post by muyuu »

jrockway wrote: post #216
est wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the difference like you have to get a Condé Nast subscription in order to comment on reddit. Condé Nast owns reddit, remember? I don't want to link my personal email (Gmail) account with the what cats I watch on the Internet.

Which email address would you use to register for the YouTube account?

Everyone uses the old, already spam-ridden hotmail account for that.

Re: Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

#240

Post by idleloops »

tomkarlo wrote: post #172
idleloops wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I do think it's a big mistake and here is a simple reason why: I was wanting to share a Google document with family members a year ago. And those without Google accounts simply were not interested in getting one - despite my want for them to access the document. When I said it was quite simple to get themselves a log in they still weren't interested. They just didn't want to sign up to yet another service.

If you were sharing the doc via another service that required a login (and pretty much anything that doesn't post it to a public URL is going to), wouldn't you hit the same problem? It's hard to do collaboration (even if it's read-only collaboration) without identities. Overall, it seems to me it's probably both more likely than a random family member will have a Google account, and/or be willing to sign up for one,…

It didn't matter if it was Google or another company to them. What was putting them off was the thought of having to manage yet another online identity and remember the credentials. These people aren't power users. They can just about cope with doing an online search, and occasionally sign into their web mail to read and send messages. The one member who had a Google account had no problems.

I could have just emailed them the document. But it was a work in progress. I just wanted them to give it a once over.

In part this is why Google are integrating their services in the first place. Centralising signing in increases the chance of participation in their other apps.

It's a case of what you already know and anything beyond that is a barrier to entry.

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