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Dear Googles: Stop asking

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Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#251

Post by dboyd »

alextingle wrote: post #234
dboyd wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> even more offensively intrusive than Facebook Not sure if that statement is specifically related to your wife having to "provide a phone number", but... Facebook does the same thing.

No, they don't. FB want to know what your number is, but they don't prevent you from using their service if you can't/won't give it to them.

I tried to create an account the other day and they explicitly required a mobile phone number they could send an SMS too.

I suspect that different people see different behavior.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#252

Post by jdrenterprises »

I don't like the "persistence" of Google either, but... if you want to use their package of services (Plus, GMail, others...) the stakes are just going to get higher and higher.

Today, it's a cell phone number for the "benefit" security. Tomorrow, they will ask for a SSN in order to use Gmail.

They offer free services for one reason, and one reason only... and it isn't because they like giving away stuff.

Google is offering "X" service so they can bargain your data out of you, more and more of your data. That, IMO, is the reality of the situation. I would challenge that most people don't understand fully the bargain they are getting.

Google knows most people don't understand this bargain.

Now, that said, do they offer value in the services they provide in exchange for this data? Sure.

If you want that value, they will either:

1. Get your data, and quit asking for it.

2. Not get your data, but keep asking for it, as many times as they want, because it's their sandbox.

And here's the kicker in my opinion, millions of people are going to keep signing up for and using their free services, and keep offering their data in exchange for using their services.

The Google world just keeps on turning...

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#253

Post by eropple »

alt_f4 wrote: post #200
davidgerard wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I posted that link to G+. One person claimed it must be a disgruntled YouTuber, another seriously claimed b3ta must be Microsoft shills. I despair.

So, you are surprised about a negative reaction on the social network for (former) Google employees?

He didn't say he was surprised. The general lack of basic self-introspection makes me sad, too.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#254

Post by fpgeek »

brownbat wrote: post #127
supergauntlet wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because Vimeo decided fairly early on that they weren't going to be YouTube. They remove stuff like gameplay videos, which means no lets plays, but that also means no low quality lets plays. Thus if you find a link to a video on Vimeo there's a good chance there's some semblance of quality. Especially if it's a gaming video, because they do allow machinimas. They fostered that artsy niche and in the process beca…

I'm surprised the uploaded video services haven't fragmented as much as news aggregation. There are a dozen news + comments that all have a slightly different threshold for what stays on the site, determined by the tastes of the community. Why haven't more video sites emerged with a similar ethos?

> Why haven't more video sites emerged with a similar ethos?

Because if they touched commercial music or video at all (even by accident or if it's fair use), they'll be sued into oblivion and/or asked to implement the same level of "content protection" YouTube has today (effectively the same thing because a startup video site wouldn't have the resources for that). Remember, the only reason YouTube exists today in any sort of recognizable form is that they got together with Google's checkbook and Google's lawyers. That gave them the legal ammunition to force some kind of settlement (albeit a deeply flawed and problematic one, between ContentID and non-DMCA takedowns, among other things).

If a YouTube competitor is going to emerge, it's going to come from a big company. That's not impossible, but most (all?) of the likely candidates would bring their own (similar or different) serious flaws to the table. And even then they'd need to develop a "content protection" scheme roughly as good as YouTube's - which would take serious machine learning chops on top of everything else, whittling the list even further.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#255

Post by n09n »

PeterisP wrote: post #172
n09n wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No means not now. If they really didn't want to take no for an answer, they could just merge the accounts without asking the user. Instead, they keep reminding the user with gradually increasing frequency to make sure that the user has all their shit in order before the merge actually happens.

Well that's the whole problem - the youtube name dialog options end with "well, we'll ask you later" while the user wants an option "I said 'never' and I mean it".

That option is there, it's the x button in the top right corner.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#256

Post by n09n »

joelrunyon wrote: post #164
n09n wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Searching "yegge memo" on google gives a plethora of relevant results. A copy of the full text can be found here: https://plus.google.com/+RipRowan/posts/eVeouesvaVX

I'm not asking for myself as much as the community. Linking to things you reference to helps multiple people & makes the thread, site and your comments all that more valuable.

And not linking certain things helps people more by helping distinguish between which references are particular enough to merit linking when mentioned and which can be assumed as common knowledge.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#257

Post by mung »

xtc wrote: post #39
_delirium wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vimeo is on par or ahead for artsy original content, but pretty much focuses only on that niche, so there aren't many music videos for popular music, tv show / movie clips, or any of the rest of the stuff you find on YouTube.

I would really like to see Vimeo become more popular. Their service is much cleaner and far less annoying. Although the recent discovery of Youtube Feather has me intrigued.

The video uploader needs work. Even content optimised for the site uploads like a dog.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#258

Post by BrandonMarc »

zaraflan wrote: post #51
buro9 wrote: post #34

Does Google believe that if they just push a little harder and finish the job, that somehow the people so alienated will be won over? Or is the pursuit of profit far more important than the perception of the brand overall? Right now, and for the last year, the brand is being severely tarnished in all of the networks I have, tech and real-life. I don't see them winning on any front. A Pyrrhic victory.

Never forget that you are not the customer, you are the product.

Precisely. It's as though Google is the new network television. Advertisers pay to be delivered bits of your attention, and the network focuses on trying to keep your attention, and with a little data mining & demographics match you with the "best" advertisements.

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#259

Post by weland »

username223 wrote: post #250
weland wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My browsing habits are pretty much along the same lines, but I expect it will become much harder to do so in the following years. Between the feature creep and the monetization of idiocy, I expect we will lose even more diversity than we already have; on the software side, privacy-enabling features will just slowly disappear, as a smaller and smaller proportion of people will have the technical prowess to even care a…

In the middle term, it will probably come down to stone tools: blocking via /etc/hosts, filtering headers through proxies, etc. I'll re-learn it. As for the Eternal September... I used to be able to talk to people on the internet, with threads, groups, and killfiles, using the software of my choice. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

I'm gonna make an Internet of my own. With hookers and blackjack and threaded newsreaders :-).

Re: Dear Googles: Stop asking

#260

Post by w4 »

iskander wrote: post #120
w4 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't permit all sorts of content that YouTube does, which is what holds Vimeo back from broad acceptance as a YouTube replacement.

...but their higher quality standards are also what has allowed them to carve out a niche which youtube can never replace.

Sure -- it's a double edged sword, but the point is that Vimeo does not represent a potential YouTube replacement.
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