Google+

Jul 24, 2011 06:54

Google, here is a use-case and a complaint.

Forcing me to use my real name on my Google+ account violates my privacy. I do not want random people to search for my full name and find this profile. It is an un-feature. It destroys my existing social circles.

The point of my previous social circle mechanisms (livejournal, twitter, Facebook) was to separate these avenues of my life.

I used to have my twitter account linked to my Facebook. I used to be "Karl Pagan" on Facebook. This changed when my family started joining. I integrated my real-life contacts with my family contacts and made a free-standing separate social experience of Facebook vs twitter. I do not federate my twitter posts to FB. Breaking the barriers between my circles on FB diminished that experience for me.

Here's the thing: I use twitter and G+ a lot more than I use Facebook. If I had the option to have two separate Google profiles connected to my G+ I would do that and preserve that functionality here. I am not going to continue to use G+ without this pseudonym.

Fortunately I am only known publicly as Karl the Pagan. It is a name of note, and my only public identity to League of Legends fans. I used this name professionally as a part of my job duties as I represented Riot's interests on their forums. If I get another gaming gig there's a 99.999% chance I'll continue to use this pseudonym. Publicly. What now Google?
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