Google+
Revision as of 22:24, 23 July 2011 by Woozle (talk | contribs) (Created page with "<hide> page type::article thing type::social networking service created by::Google owned by::Google operated by::Google </hide> ==About== Google Plus (aka...")
About
Google Plus (aka Google+ or G+) is a social networking service created and operated by Google. As of July 2011, it is still in beta and invitation-only.
Pseudonym Dispute
The G+ policy of requiring users to use only the name they are "commonly known by" has been the source of a large number of user complaints for the following reasons:
- Google's enforcement of this policy has been somewhat arbitrary.
- Google's enforcement of this policy has not always been consistent with the actual policy. The policy says "commonly known by", but enforcers seem to be interpreting this to mean "legal name"... unless that name sounds too unusual (to their ears) to be a "real" name.
- There does not appear to be a formal appeal process.
- Towards enforcement of the policy on G+, Google often cut users off from access to other Google services such as Gmail.
- Many users are known better by their online handles than by their legal names.
- Many users have valid reasons not to use their legal names in public or semi-public spaces online, ranging from personal protection to aesthetic preference.
- It is not clear what the purpose of this policy is, as Google's explanations so far have not correlated with reality.