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-   -   Not sure about Google (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=25655)

glatt 08-10-2011 02:08 PM

Not sure about Google
 
I've been a fan of Google for quite a while now. Their products, and the products they have acquired, have been excellent.

Email is email, but Google does a good job with theirs. Google Earth, which I think they bought from somebody else, is outstanding. The traffic feature for Google Maps is revolutionary. Sketch-up is excellent, but again I think they bought that one. I don't use Google docs, but I know people who love 'em. I'm not going to list all the stuff they do, but even though some of it is *meh*, most of them are outstanding.

But last week, Google had me pissed off and my daughter in tears. It's because of Google+. I signed up for Google+ and have been trying it out. It's fine. Basically, it's a non-Facebook Facebook. I thought it would be neat to invite my kids to Google+. I didn't want them getting active with friends and stuff, but I thought it would be a safe way for them to do stuff online with just the extended family, and I would keep a close eye on them.

Google doesn't have the age restrictions listed anywhere obvious. But I figured if my 12 y.o. daughter wasn't old enough, they would just say "Nope. Sorry. You're too young." So she got to the page where it asks for your d.o.b., and she asked me what to put down. I told her to tell the truth, because I figured this was going to be her real account and one day it would look weird if she's all grown up and her age is off. So she told the truth, and Google said she was too young to have a Google account. Not a Google+ account, a Google account. They shut down her Gmail account! This is an account I signed her up for when she was a baby. She uses it to email everyone. It's her real name. Not unicornfan2000 or any crap like that. This was going to be her account through adulthood, and she was going to be one of the few in her generation who were early enough to snag their real name in Gmail.

So she was devastated and just started sobbing. She had lots email addresses for friends who had moved away, and no easy way to get them back. She saw her social connections being cut. She's already at an emotional age, and this just completely pushed her over the edge. I was frantically looking at the options, and they said that *if* it was a mistake and we entered the wrong birth date, all we had to do was fax a copy of her birth certificate to Google to prove she is an adult. Also, she could enter her credit card number to prove she was an adult, and they would charge like 50 cents to her card. I figured my credit card wouldn't work, because the name wouldn't match, and I wasn't about to go forging her birth certificate to get her email back. I was furious at Google. The FUCKERS! So my wife came up to see what all the ruckus was about. She figured, it couldn't hurt to enter her own credit card info, so she did. Google charged her like 50 cents, and my daughter's Gmail account was turned back on. Even though the names didn't match. All they cared about was that a kid could get their hands on a credit card.

So that's what turned me against Google. Even though it turned out OK in the end, why did they have to put us though that?

An then yesterday, my wife updated Firefox, and the Google bar, which was already crippled in the last version of FF, was removed entirely. Google won't support it any more. This multibillion dollar company apparently can't find the resources to support their toolbar any more. I assume they are trying to push Firefox users to Chrome. That's something right out of Apple's or Sony's playbook.

Don't be evil. Bullshit. You make my daughter cry, and I'm going to harden my heart against you.

Bullitt 08-10-2011 02:38 PM

To be the devils advocate, if you lied about her age to begin with to set up her gmail, why would you be surprised for them to suspend her account when they find out the truth? By using their services, you agree to play by their rules. If you refuse to follow their rules, is it not within their rights to then refuse service?

glatt 08-10-2011 03:04 PM

I don't recall there being a question about age to sign up for e-mail, but that was about a decade ago.

classicman 08-10-2011 08:16 PM

How do I get rid of my google+ account. I think it sucks ass.
Big fat smelly ass.

I'll do it now in honor of your daughter. Eff 'em.

And that Chrome crap sux too. If the mess with my firefox I might make a deal with the debbil and go back to IE. Ugghhhhh

gvidas 08-10-2011 09:11 PM

Fuck'em.

I once skimmed a long interview where a "live in the boonies on your own land & generate your own power" anarchist sat down and talked with a "rent an apartment in LA and slip through the cracks" anarchist. At some point, the boonies anarchist was talking about how much crap he jumps through to be left on his own -- having to pull permits in order to build a shed, etc, even though he owns the land -- and how much more free one can be, in a sense, by just paying rent instead.


I'm not sure which side of the fence this falls on, but fuck google, go for the dot-com. daughter@family.com, or daughter@firstnamelastname.com $5-10 a year to sit on the domain, probably not much more than that for a POP3 account somewhere.

Being of the generation to have firstlastname@gmail.com is, definitely, a fleeting moment. But, if your email address is a strangely consumerist way to benchmark your generational pigeonhole, it's at least slightly less so to do it outside of a corporate framework.

Griff 08-11-2011 06:01 AM

My kids have opened the Fazebook Pandora's box. The phrase that came to mind when the wife and I were discussing it was "the commoditization of our children." It will be allowed, but the teenage males who talked them into it are now suspect or possibly shitlisted.

jimhelm 08-11-2011 10:45 AM

sorry your daughter was upset glatt. sorry there was no one for you to punch in the mouth for making her cry, too.

Griff 08-11-2011 08:36 PM

We should be able to think of someone to punch in the mouth.

Gravdigr 08-12-2011 01:48 PM

Google can shove their toolbar.

Gravdigr 08-12-2011 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvidas (Post 749534)
...where a "live in the boonies on your own land & generate your own power" anarchist sat down and talked with a "rent an apartment in LA and slip through the cracks" anarchist. At some point, the boonies anarchist was talking about how much crap he jumps through to be left on his own -- having to pull permits in order to build a shed, etc, even though he owns the land...

An anarchist, that gets permits...

Fail.

John Sellers 08-15-2011 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt (Post 749495)
I don't recall there being a question about age to sign up for e-mail, but that was about a decade ago.

I have a new Gmail account as of yesterday, and I wasn't required to tell them my age.

monster 08-15-2011 10:34 PM

I do too (for a Fb sockpuppet).

I have loads of gmail accounts becuae I'm a wicked terrorist. You never need to give your DOB for gmail.

Gravdigr 08-16-2011 05:05 AM

They asked me for my cell phone number, you know, "in case I forget my info". If I didn't want to use my cell phone number, they said that was no problem, I could just give them a friend's cell number!?

Morans.

John Sellers 08-16-2011 01:40 PM

I wasn't asked any of that either. All I had to do is give my home phone # in order to get an automated call with my account activation #.

TheMercenary 08-25-2011 06:49 AM

I am not pleased with google+. It requires participation and linkage to lots of stuff that you did not previously have to share if you didn't want to share it. I am thinking of bailing.

I have been very happy with everything Google, until G+ came along.


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