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-UE
Google: "Use your full name on Youtube!" "No." "Tell us why!"
I was on Youtube signed into my usual account. It's already annoying enough that Google has forced me to link my YT account to one of my Google accounts. Okay.
As I'm typing a comment, suddenly, the screen goes dark and something pops up. It says that I should use my "full name" (i.e. the display name associated with my Google account) as my channel name.
No, I don't want to. In fact, I kinda hate it when I don't see people's usernames at the tops of videos. I also dislike how the button that normally shows their username has now been made into a button (so I can't hover over it to see their username either, though at least I still can get it from beneath the video).
But okay, at least you're giving me the choice to refuse, this time. That should be a given, but thank you for the option anyway.
Are you sure?
We'll help you review your YouTube content before your full name starts to display. And if you change your mind, you can switch back to your username.
[button:"Preview my name"]
Still not interested? Tell us why before leaving:
[button:"My channel is for a show or character"]
[button:"My channel is for a music artist or group"]
[button:"My channel is for a product, business, or organization"]
[button:"My channel name is well-known for other reasons"]
[button:"My channel is for personal use, but I cannot use my full name"]
[button:"I'm not sure, I'll decide later"]
And that's it.
No way to ignore this. Can't click out of this.
And most importantly, no way to say "I just don't want to." I'm being forced to click one of these six buttons. Even though none of them are true.
All of which give some amount of more specific information to Youtube/Google about who I am. Well, I guess I could lie, but apart from that idea...
Got any suggestions?
I understand that they want to do userbase research, but anytime organizations make a survey there should be an opt-out-of-responding option.
Not to mention that I still don't like how this fits into the idea of making the internet less anonymous. I know anyone can get a GMail account these days. But that's still an extra hoop you'd have to jump through to segregate things and keep your privacy.
Comments
Fuck Google, they're just getting worse every day.
I discovered the other day that my Youtube account (from long before the Google merger) now has an associated Gmail account.
Not only that but about a half dozen other accounts across various sites also now have an associated Gmail account.
Why? Couldn't tell you. I've never used Gmail a day in my life, but now I've got a fuckton of accounts if I ever need to, I guess.
And if you wanted disposable mail accounts, you can use any of them. Or just get one from a non-Google source.
I already have three Yahoo! accounts, though, is the thing.
I do not like that Google just assumes you have a Youtube account (for instance) and therefore you must want to do fucking everything on a Google service.
I need to start using Yandex or something, I can't support these people.
Okay, so I'm trying to dissociate my Google account from Youtube.
It doesn't want to let me.
Looking at help, the only reason it will give for that is that a YouTube account associated with a Google+ account can't be deleted, though you can go to Google+ and "downgrade" it if you want to delete your YouTube account.
I don't have a Google+ Account.
I think I'm going to have to make a Google+ account to delete my YouTube account.
Were they high when they designed their accounts system?
Quite the contrary - very lucid.
Oh no, trust me, you have a Google+ account. You just don't know it yet.
Try basically, every other account name for any site you have an account on. I guarantee one of them will have automatically associated to a Google+ account at some point.
No, no, I had one, and I specifically deleted it and it let me.
A lot of accounts of that nature (Facebook is another example) don't actually "delete" the account, they "remove" it and then put it back if you do anything that would cause it to reactivate, only actually deleting it after a certain amount of time (I think Facebook holds yours in storage for about two months, for instance).
Say, accidentally hitting one of those +1 buttons somewhere. Check it to see if it got reactivated.
If not, check everything else like I said earlier. If that doesn't work, well then I have no idea.
I did check it. It took me to an account creation screen.
And I know it's not linked to a different thing, because when I sign out of YouTube it signs me out of Blogger.
No clue then.
I block the like and +1 buttons and stuff. I forget exactly how I did it, but you can have the browser just block them out.
I do that too. I believe you do it by telling adblock to block content from G+ or Facebook if you aren't on G+ or Facebook.
You know what's scarier?
Those sites that let you Facebook comment on them.
I DON'T want a Facebook record of the fact that I've visited certain KnowYourMeme pages, for instance. No fucking thank you, jackasses.
How do I turn that thing off?
Same thing. Adblock Facebook content that isn't on Facebook.
No, I don't have a problem with me seeing it myself.
I have a problem with the website contacting Facebook to attempt to show it in the first place.
Yes, but if you block it, the bit of the page that communicates with Facebook won't load.
Oh?
I'll do that then. Thanks.
Really, Adblock wouldn't be very useful if the things you blocked still had to load first.
Speaking of AdBlock, apparently the AdBlock+ on Google Chrome can block (some) video ads while the Firefox one can't. Or maybe my friend just hasn't updated his AdBlock+ in forever. I dunno.
Also, lolFacebook.
Go to Tools -> Adblock Plus -> Filter Preferences.
Under Ad Blocking rules, click Add Filter, then enter ||facebook.*$domain=~facebook.com
That'll block anything coming from facebook unless you're actually on the site. I imagine you can do the same with Google+, but I haven't bothered on account of never being logged into my Google account.
Okay, that works. Thanks!
That said, what do the one or two pipes at the front of the line mean?
And what about domains like fbcdn or something?
Double-pipes at the beginning is kind of a smart extension that'll catch http, https, www -- the usual grab bag of prefixes that get tossed around that you never know which one they'll use at any given time.
Usually it treats every entry as having a wildcard on either side, but double-pipes delineates what must be the beginning of the domain once you strip those things off.
And yeah, you can just add another rule for fbcdn.*.
http://adblockplus.org/en/filters for their formatting rules.
The Firefox version can block video ads and for a while was much better at it than the Chrome version (which is to say, for a long time the Chrome version couldn't do it at all).
I'm using a pseudonym on G+, however crappy it is. I am NOT using my real name anywhere outside of Facebook; that is where I draw the line. Google "spokeo" and you'll understand why.
Good thing my Youtube account isn't even connected to the Google account that uses my real name.
The latter account is for meatspace communications so I have a vaguely-serious-looking e-mail address.
The former is for internet shenanigans.
And I like to keep it that way. Fuck off, Google, Facebook, and data aggregator sites.
I decided to use the name I crafted some months ago for an MMO.
So, if you see anyone named Roland Verliden, it's most likely me.
Anyways, I have to wonder if Google ever thought that having one's real name be displayed everywhere could lead to some real bad shit later down the line.
I remember Blizzard tried to do that for Battlenet a little after Activision took over. They announced it and promptly lost a tremendous shitload of customers, then retracted it within a week.
Problem is, Google is a lot less optional than a video game. Google Docs is used for a ton of software engineering classes, and gmail is pretty much the accepted professional email host.
So basically they're taking advantage of very inelastic demand to get their way.
Bad for you, maybe, but it's good for them and they don't really care about you beyond the fact that you're using their services, and considering how big they are they can be pretty confident that you're going to keep using their services no matter how much bullshit they force on you.