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Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

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Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#31

Kind of unrelated question: Do you guys see comments on YouTube videos or it is just me? I don't see anything.

Maybe you're blocking apis.google.com or plus.googleapis.com?

Even more unrelated: NoScript users who allow apis.google.com might want to add an Adblock Plus 'Ad Blocking Rule' ||apis.google.com/js/plusone.js to prevent spying via G+ buttons.

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#32

What is the frequency with which these prompts to connect show up? I use youtube daily, G+ not at all and I've only seen them twice. These instances were at least a few months apart. In both cases, I opted out of connecting my profiles and nothing has happened since. Are some people getting these prompts more often? Why? Maybe someone on the G+ team can explain this. without deleting my entire G+ account and profile…

The prompt used to show up everytime you log in. If you use multiple computers, an authenticator or multiple accounts, that is quite frequently.

Since YT comments are now G+ comments, I believe it now shows up every time you try to interact with anything, such as like/favourite/comment etc.

I turned my YT account into a G+ page when the option became available as a way to get rid of the prompts without using my real name on YT.

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#33
post #23

I think anonymity on the internet is a great thing. It's a place where you can socialize and share ideas with strangers without having to give them your name/address/home phone #. You can even start honest, more controversial discussions and do some high-level reasoning that you couldn't necessarily achieve with close friends. If Google won't allow that on their services anymore, I pray everyone leaves them & moves t…

I think it is great when needed, but that don't mean it should be needed. Which reminds me of http://slashdot.org/submission/1778830/google-is-gagging-use... (noticed I mentioned the irony)

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#34
post #29
post #25

The easiest way to solve this is to get rid of your G+ profile.

You cant . That's the problem. You automatically get that profile by having a gmail account. They're trying to force you to use that profile for YouTube as well. Google has these incredibly valuable products and that work great separately but they're trying to mash everything together.

A bit of a bait-and-switch in that respect as well. I probably wouldn't have signed up for Gmail if I were making the choice today. But years ago, it was just an ad-supported email service, and seemed like a pretty reasonable choice. It was better than Yahoo Mail or Hotmail. When I signed up for it, there was absolutely no indication that it was a social network or going to become one, and in fact their rhetoric around it strongly suggested that it would not be (there was a lot of reassurance about how the only use of your data would be for the automated ad-targeting).

And as a webmail service, it's still pretty good. But I'm uncomfortable by all this stuff I've now been involuntarily opted-in to as a result of opening a Gmail account. And as these things go, having accumulated several years of use of it, it's now going to be some hassle to move away from it.

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#35
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Or if you truly want to be horrified, make an ad on Craigslist pretending to be a woman. You will get pictures of penises." This might initially seem like a silly question, but as someone who wants to understand the perspectives of both sexes I wonder: Why can this behaviour generally be observed only in male to female exchanges but not the reverse?

Women tend not to have penises.

I am sure you were joking, but to clarify and expand: Why do men seek contact with the opposite sex more frequently than women? Why do they tend to do so in a way that seems to bother the woman in question? Why are women not doing the same to men?

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#36

So what is the next coup? Linking all the comments from the past that you wrote when you were thinking it was pseudonymous to your real name? My only recommendation: Get out of such services as fast as possible.

I _think_ this has happened because I have seen comments on Youtube with real name (or at least appearing to be real names) that I can't believe someone would leave with their real names attached to it. But still speculation on my part

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#37
post #32

What is the frequency with which these prompts to connect show up? I use youtube daily, G+ not at all and I've only seen them twice. These instances were at least a few months apart. In both cases, I opted out of connecting my profiles and nothing has happened since. Are some people getting these prompts more often? Why? Maybe someone on the G+ team can explain this. without deleting my entire G+ account and profile…

The prompt used to show up everytime you log in. If you use multiple computers, an authenticator or multiple accounts, that is quite frequently. Since YT comments are now G+ comments, I believe it now shows up every time you try to interact with anything, such as like/favourite/comment etc. I turned my YT account into a G+ page when the option became available as a way to get rid of the prompts without using my real…

I just liked and commented and nothing happened. I even left the 'post on G+' checkbox enabled and it still doesn't show up on my G+ profile. I've setup youtube to use a pseudonym, btw.

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#38
post #31

Kind of unrelated question: Do you guys see comments on YouTube videos or it is just me? I don't see anything.

Maybe you're blocking apis.google.com or plus.googleapis.com? Even more unrelated: NoScript users who allow apis.google.com might want to add an Adblock Plus 'Ad Blocking Rule' ||apis.google.com/js/plusone.js to prevent spying via G+ buttons.

And now that I checked again, I get them. This is weird... I use AdBlock Plus, maybe it updated its filters?

Thanks anyway!

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#39
post #29
post #25

The easiest way to solve this is to get rid of your G+ profile.

You cant . That's the problem. You automatically get that profile by having a gmail account. They're trying to force you to use that profile for YouTube as well. Google has these incredibly valuable products and that work great separately but they're trying to mash everything together.

False. You can delete just your G+ profile here: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1044503?hl=en

Re: Dear Googles: G+/YouTube Anschluss – you've done outed me

#40
post #23

I think anonymity on the internet is a great thing. It's a place where you can socialize and share ideas with strangers without having to give them your name/address/home phone #. You can even start honest, more controversial discussions and do some high-level reasoning that you couldn't necessarily achieve with close friends. If Google won't allow that on their services anymore, I pray everyone leaves them & moves t…

The problem is that anonymity leading to great conversation is disproved by reality.

This move, though short sighted and ill advised, is precisely to combat the cluster fuck that is YouTube comments powered by anonymity.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but one look at the quality of anonymous unmodderated comments calls for one.

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