Then it became clear that Google, like Facebook was going to force people to use real names and since then, everybody likes to hate on G+. Whatever they do is said to be even more evil and whenever they or others publish user numbers, everybody is explaining how the data must be wrong and how G+ is a ghost town and a failure.
Can't we just be honest here? Yes. The real name policy sucks. But does this mean the whole G+ is a failure and every evidence to the contrary must be wrong? Just because you dislike it doesn't mean everybody does.