Google+ promises heads' up before it dumps your fake account

via Know Your Meme

Who gets dumped by Google+? People who use upside-down characters in their names, or who are using obviously fake names, "like 'god' or worse," writes Robert Scobal.

Google+ wants you to know that while yes, it indeed "screwed up" over how it handled businesses flocking to the fledgling social network (by dumping them), it is not all about dumping individuals using fake names willy-nilly.

Rather, "it is about having common names and removing people who spell their names in weird ways, like using upside-down characters, or who are using obviously fake names, like ‘god’ or worse,"  tech blogger Robert Scobal posted on his Google+ profile yesterday, following his conversation with Google VP +Vic Gundotra (and Scobal's former boss at Microsoft).

As Technolog noted previously, for all Google+'s attempts to do things better than Facebook, the one thing the nascent product had in common with its chief competitor is unceremoniously and without warning, dumping profiles like it's running out of Internet.

Further addressing the growing freakout over "Google+ deleting accounts en masse, with no clear answers," Google+ product VP Bradley Horowitz attempted to provide some answers Monday night.

"We’ve noticed that many violations of the Google+ common name policy were in fact well-intentioned and inadvertent and for these users our process can be frustrating and disappointing," Horowitz posted on Google+. "So we’re currently making a number of improvements to this process — specifically regarding how we notify these users that they’re not in compliance with Google+ policies and how we communicate the remedies available to them."

From here on out, Google+ will give users a clear heads' up if it thinks your account is in violation, and the opportunity for the suspect user to address the issue. Further, any confusion over the Google+ name policy is clearly addressed in this document you'll receive at time of notification — and pretty much states you still have to use your real name, not a pseudonym: 

Google Profiles is a product that works best in the identified state. This way you can be certain you’re connecting with the right person, and others will have confidence knowing that there is someone real behind the profile they’re checking out. For this reason, Google Profiles requires you to use the name that you commonly go by in daily life.

On the "plus" side (get it?!), it's awesome that Google wasted little time in openly addressing the hitches that come with any new endeavor. But to believe that Google+, like Facebook, demands real names because, "this way you can be certain you’re connecting with the right person, and others will have confidence knowing" that unicorns exist or whatever, is like asking us to believe the YouTube battle between Old Spice Dude and Fabio is for realzies. (It is not.)

Real names, as far as social networks are concerned, are about real information about you that advertisers can use to better sell you stuff. There's no such thing as a free profile, and your info is how you pay.

As Horowitz writes, Google+ does give you the opportunity to use a nickname or maiden name elsewhere in your profile, which you can make visible to whomever you choose, but of course this is no concession to those interested in Internet anonymity — a concept still worth fighting for elsewhere in cyberspace. (On social networks, it's a battle you ain't ever gonna win.)

The popular myth — spread by social networks, primarily — that lost anonymity means a troll-free Internet was quickly proved false by the Facebook comments app now used on many websites (including msnbc.com). Check underneath any news story of heated interest and you'll see more than a few commentors spewing bile on their fellow Web users, despite having their "real" Facebook identities attached to their comments.

Then check out the Geek Feminism Wiki for a full list of "people who are disadvantaged by any policy which bans Pseudonymity and requires so-called "Real names" (more properly, legal names)." Abuse victims, political dissidents and people who wish to discuss issues of health, sexuality or politics without damaging their relationships with acquaintances or employers.

That said, the Google+ policy on non-anonymity is pretty much the same as Facebook's, and most likely will never change. You've got to give Google+ credit, however, for straight-up addressing Google+ hysteria with comparatively little spin. It's rare you'll see any giant company repeat its bad press, but here Horowitz speaks to "myths" spawned by early Google+ gaffes:

MYTH: Google doesn’t care about ____. (businesses, teenagers, organizations, pseudonymous usage, disadvantaged populations, etc.)

We aspire to having great solutions for these (and many more) use cases. While this may appear as easy as the stroke of a policy pen (“Just let the businesses in!”), we think we can do better. We’re designing features for different use cases that we think will make a better product experience both for them and for everyone else. Please don’t misconstrue the product as it exists today (< 4 weeks since entering Field Trial) as the “end state.” We’re flattered that there’s so much passion and interest... and will continue to improve the product and innovate in ways that will hopefully surprise and delight.

MYTH: Not abiding by the Google+ common name policy can lead to wholesale suspension of one’s entire Google account.

When an account is suspended for violating the Google+ common name standards, access to Gmail or other products that don’t require a Google+ profile are not removed. Please help get the word out: if your Google+ Profile is suspended for not using a common name, you won't be able to use Google services that require a Google+ Profile, but you'll still be able to use Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Blogger, and so on. (Of course there are other Google-wide policies (e.g. egregious spamming, illegal activity, etc) that do apply to all Google products, and violations of these policies could in fact lead to a Google-wide suspension.)

Summing up: Google+ will still dump your fake account, but it will tell you first. And that's just good manners.

More on the annoying way we live now:

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook ... and see if you can find her on Google+. She triple-dog dares you

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