Blackmoor Vituperative

Google keeps trying to get it right when it comes to social networking. Buzz. Wave. Now Google+. And they came so close, so very close this time.

And then whizzed it right down their legs. I haven’t deleted my Google+ account yet, but I won’t be posting anything there any more (other than to press for correction of the “government names only” policy), and I won’t be encouraging my friends and family to use Google+.

This is distressing, and inexplicable. How can Google have gone so utterly, utterly wrong with this. Google appears to be committed to this anti-social, anti-privacy, anti-user policy. I had been inviting friends and family to Google+ and encouraging them to migrate there from Facebook. I won’t be doing that anymore. However, I’m not going back to Facebook. So now what? Just go back to posting exclusively here on my blog, and to hell with these “social networks”? Maybe.

So disappointed, Google. So very disappointed.

Update (2011-08-31): I gave Google plenty of time, but enough is enough.

Update (2011-10-20): Vic Gundotra (not his real name) says that support for pseudonyms on Google+ is coming “in the future”. “In the future”? Why “in the future”? It’s a bad policy. It’s always been a bad policy. It can be changed with a MEMO. So why hasn’t it already been changed?

Update (2012-01-23): Six months later, and Google is still blisteringly clueless.

And now, some fun references (more recent ones are at the top; more interesting ones are bold):

• Google+ Name Policy Leaves Users Unsatisfied
• Google+ new name policy: Too little, too late
• Handle This: Google+ Finally Allows Pseudonyms (no, not really)
• Fake Names Better on Comments: Study
• Why Google is picky about profile pictures
• Occupy the Net!
• ‘Nymwars’ debate over online identity explodes
• Rushdie Runs Afoul of Web’s Real-Name Police
• ‘Nym wars, part 1/6
• Google moves Reader sharing to Plus, despite complaints
• Debating human rights in the IT industry
• Privacy a Concern as Google Links Plus With Its Other Sites
• Google+ pseudonym support is coming soon
• Google+ Chief: Co. In ‘Enviable Position’
• 4Chan’s Chris Poole Says Facebook and Google Get Identity Wrong
• Google’s Management Doesn’t Use Google+ So Why Should You?
• It’s official: Google+ will be connected to everything
• On Newspapers, Public Discourse, and the Right to Remain Anonymous
• Who Are You, Really? Activists Fight For Pseudonyms
• Google+: What’s in a name?
• Google+’s Real-Name Policy: Identity vs. Anonymity
• Google+: Why the Real Name Policy Is Creating a Very Boring Social Network
• I don’t want a fucking “identity service” that pretends to be a social network.
• Google Profiles Pseudonymity Debate Coverage : Articles
• The Netizen Report: Inaugural Edition
• Pseudonymity: Five Reasons the New Scienceblogs/NG Policy is Misguided
• How much has Facebook just damaged Google Plus?
• Minus the hype, what’s left for Google+?
• Google+, Real Names, and Groklaw’s Pamela Jones
• On Pseudonyms: Transparency And Free Expression Are Not Mutually Exclusive
• Twitter Doesn’t Give a Damn Who You Are
• Google’s strategic mistakes
• Why the Google Profiles (or any) “Real Name” Policy is Important to Me
• Social Networks Urge Users to Use Real Names
• Web Emperor Google
• Give social media giants your real name or say goodbye to your friends
• The death of anonymity online
• Are Real Names On Google+ For Truth Or Profit?
• Google’s “real name policy” — or, why you are the product
• Google Confirms It Aims to Own Your Online ID
• Real Names: Google+, Government & The Identity Ecosystem
• Google+ is a goddam Trojan horse
• Google users in Iran targeted in SSL spoof
• If Google is a combatant in the Identity Wars, who is the enemy?
• Google Plus forces us to discuss identity
• Watch Google Describe How It Can Exploit Your Name
• Death Threats and Hate Crimes, Attacks On Women Bloggers Escalating
• Google’s building products based on Google+’s ‘real names’ policy
• Google’s real names a real disaster
• Eric Schmidt: If You Don’t Want To Use Your Real Name, Don’t Use Google+
• Internet anonymity suffering scrutiny courtesy of the London riots
• Google: Thanks… for nothing.
• A Firsthand Examination of the Google+ Profile Reporting Process
• Google+ Naming Policy Causes Social Butterflies
• Google+ real name clampdown ignores own grace period
• Little Google Boxes (protest song)
• Google Plus: Too Much Unnecessary Drama
• How to stop Facebook and Google trampling on your privacy rights
• 5 Reasons Google+’s Name Policy Fails
• Quick Thoughts on Parents and Pseudonymity
• On the value of pseudonyms
• No nyms equals evil
• Controversy surrounds Google’s “No Pseudonym” policy
• ScoopIt: plusgate
• Google+’s New “Verified Profiles” Feature: Redundant?
• The issue Google+ cannot solve: forcing common names
• Google+ bans real name under ‘Real Names’ policy
• Does Google+’s ‘real names only’ policy make sense?
• To Google, we are data fodder, and I am an unperson
• Google, Privacy and the New Explosion of Data
• Google Quietly Changes Its Policy On Letting Advertisers Place Ads On Your Name
• South Korea’s “real names” debacle and the virtues of online anonymity
• Still Goodbye, Google+
• Google+ Real Name Policy vs. Users; The Battle Continues
• Opinion: Google+ name policy asks a lot of us
• Google’s Real Names Policy is Evil
• S Korea plans to scrap online real-name system
• Google+ Punts on Kafkaesque Name Policy
• Google Scales Back YouTube Korea
• Google+ pseudonym grace period misses the mark
• Google Plus should lighten up on its ‘no pseudonym’ policy
• Google’s gormless ‘no pseudonym’ policy
• Google Plus, Pseudonyms & Activists
• My Name Is Me