PROTIP: Just redirect vrypan.com/plus to your G+ page.
Bonus: Use vrypan.com/+
Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
51–60 of 165 posts
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#52I think the author is making it a bigger deal than it really is, nothing stops google from bringing down the google plus or any other service he might be using(just like google reader or wave) so according to his logic (printed on business card etc...) you can't even have a long unfriendly URL because google can shut down google plus any day they want to or just start charging people.
Google Profiles used your email id as your unique identifier which made more sense. Now I have an email id, a name and a g+ profile unique url which are all different.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#53Why I won't get a Custom URL: > Many people have the same name. Add a few extra letters or numbers to this URL to get one that is unique for you. Why would I want yet another "MyName " identifier? How does that help friends and family remember or identify me? What purpose does it serve? I'm yet another person with a nickname that identifies me all over and has for years, I too own the domain. But Google+ keeps insist…
Even though I prefer +simoneau, e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=simoneau, I had come around to living with +MatthewSimoneau (if only to keep someone else from getting it). When it required me to add some trailing garbage after my name though, I also canceled the process.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#54Why the phone verification is required to claim a custom URL? Custom URL is a poor incentive to provide Google your phone number.
"People who have this phone number may be able to find you on Google services."
yeah, no thanks.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#55I noticed the same clause in the TOS last week and was taken aback. Ideally I'd love to be able to distribute my Google+ URL with the same confidence as I distribute my email address: namely, if you send a message to this address, you can guarantee that I'm the one who receives it. The fear here is that, should Google start charging for this "service" in the future, and should I decline to play along, someone else co…
> I was about to go through with it anyway until I realized that doing so would require me to register a phone number with my Google account, which I have so far avoided. That requirement was the final straw That's exactly how I feel. I try very hard to not give my number out, why the hell does google force me to tell them, just to get a URL?
If I had to guess, and this really is just a guess, I'd say the phone number requirement is an attempt to discourage whatever the short-url equivalent of domain squatting is.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#56Here's how it works. The techies create something. The legals come along and say, OK, to release that in the wild it needs some T&Cs that cover our arses for everything and then some, because people keep sueing us. In practice, would Google ever dare invoke this on a large scale? No, you know that. Yes, there should be some transparent process that is undertaken if yours were revoked, but Google only like stuff that…
Indeed. A huge corporation would never do anything unethical for money.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#57While choosing a unique url you also give Google the right to (almost) publicly list your mobile number (Helping a user find you if they know your number). I can see websites, which store all possible number combinations to drive page views, trying to get username, email and other details from this Google feature. Soon everyone who gives Google their mobile number will have their name, G+ profile and possibly email id made public.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#58Here's how it works. The techies create something. The legals come along and say, OK, to release that in the wild it needs some T&Cs that cover our arses for everything and then some, because people keep sueing us. In practice, would Google ever dare invoke this on a large scale? No, you know that. Yes, there should be some transparent process that is undertaken if yours were revoked, but Google only like stuff that…
As a quick reality check, we're talking about boring old URL rewriting here. "Cool new invention mangled by legal paranoia" is a solid story, but other stories would probably fit the circumstances better.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#59 is upset that Google+'s TOU for custom URLs gives the company too much unfettered discretion.
In reality, Google+'s overall TOU for the service also gives the company plenty of discretion. As do similar ones from Twitter and Facebook. (Gasp! Bulk-delete your accounts now!) The overall Google+ TOU says, for instance, "Google reserves the right to restrict the content on your Google+ Page at its discretion."
Facebook says you can't create "more than one personal account" or provide any "false personal information," which probably half of the folks on HN have done at some time or another. Facebook can "remove any content or information you post on Facebook" if, in its own discretion, the company feels like it violates the TOU.
Twitter's TOU says it can "create limits on use and storage at our sole discretion at any time without prior notice to you." The company can delete tweets "at our sole discretion." And so on.
In reality, as says, Google (and Facebook and Twitter) would not invoke this on a large scale. There would be a reputational impact. The language does come from the lawyers, but largely because of the plaintiff's bar, not because SV GCs enjoy adding this language to TOUs.
tl;dr: If you're going to assume the worst from every company, you might as well never create any account or log in anywhere.
Re: Why I won't get a Google+ Custom URL
#60Honest question: are these terms of service significantly different than other services? Do Twitter / Github / etc have similar terms?
From GitHub TOS:
> GitHub, in its sole discretion, has the right to suspend or terminate your account and refuse any and all current or future use of the Service, or any other GitHub service, for any reason at any time. Such termination of the Service will result in the deactivation or deletion of your Account or your access to your Account, and the forfeiture and relinquishment of all Content in your Account. GitHub reserves the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason at any time.