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Comment by mtgx | Hacker News Reader

This is so much worse than anything Google has ever forced upon users with Google+.

I don't think it's worse than the "obligatory real name" thing. This at least can be fixed by a savvy user by changing preferences.

Facebook also requires real names: http://www.facebook.com/legal/terms

I haven't had problems with G+ specifically, but I did have to delete my gmail account (which I only created so I could access the android app store) because it was impossible to have a gmail address without it being my "primary" address for all things google-related.

Facebook at least manages to let me hide the facebook.com address.

What has Google "forced upon users" with Google+? Especially given that you can still remove G+ from your large Google profile (for now at least)

One big thing that had a real impact on me was removal of the social features in Google Reader. I'd also argue that removing the ubiquitous "subscribe to this site via RSS" icon in the location bar was also damaging. RSS readers are a boon to the open, eclectic web, and any action that reduces their use is damaging, in my opinion.

They did nothing to change the RSS portion of Google Reader, the rss icon is a Chrome issue and is easily solved with one of a dozen extensions. The feature they removed was "sharing" and that was really ancillary to Reader/rss anyway.

Except when they killed that feature, they killed a community of people sharing. I'm friends with the same people on G+, but we all share a lot less now. Why? So that Google could promote G+.

You are a troll.

Other people clearly agree with me. Is there a reason you feel this way? You can still subscribe to and read RSS feeds. As I said, the sharing aspect you mention, while a part of Google Reader, had nothing to do with RSS (the idea OR protocol) and was an add-on.

Naturally as Google wanted to unite social strategies they shifted "Sharing on Reader" to "Sharing on G+". I don't see why that's shocking or terribly hard to cope with.

And most of all I don't know why me expressing that makes me a troll. Or are you just angry and unable to articulate yourself outside of calling me names?

If there was any doubt in my mind before, you've removed it.

What is your problem? Again, do you have anything to say? You realize that by calling people names and not engaging in discussion, you're acting precisely like a troll, right?

Forced integration of G+ with Gmail, maps, youtube etc...

The toolbar that is present across all services that is the G+ alert bar...

As well as the fact that by default all your use of all Google products would be captured. You have to opt out of all google tracking to turn that off.

While I wont call it being forced, it was an edict which you had plenty of time opting out from prior to it occurring...

Forced integration? It's your _Google_ account, it should work across all their products.

And if I'd much rather it didn't work, and log my activity, and broadcast my activity, among all Google products?

Then you could have not activated it? Or you can go now and in two-three clicks remove your Google+ profile entirely?

I removed it under my real name, maintain an identity under a pseudonym, and do much of my use of various Google products without logging in / authenticating.

One thing that I still find highly annoying is the auto Youtube login.

What's an "auto Youtube login"?

Google tried to get users to link their gmail accounts and youtube accounts. Thus, if someone sent you a youtube link in gmail and you clicked it - you would be logged into youtube already/automatically so that they can track your viewing behavior.

I'm sure they could track you without linking through two accounts together. They also track all link clicks from within gmail.

Not saying the tracking isn't bad, just that the account linking had more to do with unifying the Google experience than tracking.

Actually, that was the whole point. They were not allowed to due to their separate service agreements/privacy policies.

Then, early in Q1 2012, presumably as part of the whole G+ ecosystem push, they unified/changed their Privacy Policy terms across all (most?) services which users also had to accept.

This actually sounds pretty convenient.

The only thing that was ever really "Forced" from google was when all my google plus circle's appeared in my android phone and I had to manually move them into different groups in my contacts to get it to stop.

Well, you can't sign up for it without giving them a phone number. That's why I and the missus don't use it.

> What has Google "forced upon users" with Google+?

If I remember correctly, on launch I suddenly had a profile that was rather cryptic to opt-OUT of and I somehow (despite never having added them) still PUBLICLY show up as a contact/friend of some guy I know who is using gmail and google+ and with whom I sent a few emails back and forth in the past.

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