So, does this prevent people from following me after I go through these steps? Or will I have to periodically purge everything again?
On a side note, as I was purging my lists today, I found that Picasa had magically been re-added to the list of my shared sites after I explicitly removed it yesterday morning. What is going on here?
What seems to be going on is that Google was never trustworthy and is being considerate enough to finally broadcast that fact. Too bad they have 10 years of query data on me tied to my email account. [EDIT: Capitalization and verb congruence]
I don't know what, but something's happening. I use POP3 access always. I logged in an hour ago just to check. First, there was no way to log in and NOT activating Buzz. And not only Buzz was activated, but also Chat. WTF?
As a Google fan boy, this pains me to say this. I had to turn it off :( After everyone connected their twitter, blog, google reader feeds it became the same useless jargon as everywhere else. I'll come back around to it after they change things up.
That's seems to be a strange stance to take. "Everyone" wants to turn on those features, except for you. And you expect them to turn off those features? heh
This Buzz things gives me some insight what it must feel like to be an average user; I have NFI (still!) what my Buzz status is. Is it on or off? Do I have followers? etc
I'm even more confused as I read more, because it's inconsistent with what I'm seeing, and the reports from other people are inconsistent with each other, making me think there's perhaps some A/B testing going on
[Edit: figured it out. Buzz was enabled for both myself and my wife. I'm pretty cross about this. To me it's a flagrant breach of trust. Imagine what would happen if Apple or Microsoft pulled a stunt like this]
This whole debacle is completely ridiculous, mainly because it's so confusing. I won't go into all the inconsistencies and weird privacy policy interplay issues that are going on, as others have, but I'll say this:
If I can't pound ten beers in an hour and still understand your privacy policy, it's too complicated.
I'm going to leave it enabled. I'm aware that it's public, and I'll just make sure to treat it as such. It seems unlikely that I'll publish any content other than syndicating my Twitter feed (much like LinkedIn), and all of that information is public already.
My life on the web is open to everyone, and that paradigm isn't going anywhere.
My life on the web is open to everyone, and that paradigm isn't going anywhere.
I think the problem that most people are having is that Google is blurring the line between our lives on the web and our lives in our inboxes. Specifically, it seems that auto-follow is particularly offensive because who we frequently email might not be who we want to include in our social networking sites.
Can anyone confirm that blocking everybody like the article advises can be done, erm, subtly? I'd rather not have my mom, sister, and best friend get a message saying I blocked them. OTOH I am supremely annoyed that suddenly I'm part of Google's dumb social network (I am one of those avoid-Facebook-Myspace-etc.-at-all-costs people.)
It might not be obvious but I found that even though my profile is not "public", visitors who stumbled upon my Google Profile page could see who I was following / who was following me.
In the Edit Profile section, looks like "Display the list of people I'm following and people following me" is enabled by default.
Holy shit. I can't believe Buzz is on for me. I've explicitly declined activating it when asked. Now I'm seeing people following me. WTF, Google, can you take NO for answer?
Silly article, IMHO. Main reason: if you are really caught up in the privacy issue, don't use Google (signed in), Facebook, etc. Also, strongly control what cookies you want to allow.
To me it is a value proposition: what are the advantages of a service vs. disadvantages like privacy issues. I choose to use most of Google's services, occasionally use Facebook, and I am sort-of addicted to following people who I consider to be "thought leaders" on Twitter.
Also, my early take on Buzz: it is OK, but I have an attitude that I don't have to read everything that shows up on my Buzz list. Same as Twitter.
I have also started to sometimes do short tweets on Twitter, and maybe following up with something more detailed on Buzz.
It really is ridiculous. Seems Facebook is much worse when it comes to doing things you don't ask it to.
There are two things I see people getting frustrated about with Buzz.
1. It makes your name public and therefore allows people to search for you.
2. It's an unnecessary distraction.
If you are bothered by (1), then you are little out of the loop with regards to the state of privacy on the Internet in general. Basically, you need to get used to having your name out there. If you are bothered by (2) then you can turn it off.
[+] [-] jazzychad|16 years ago|reply
On a side note, as I was purging my lists today, I found that Picasa had magically been re-added to the list of my shared sites after I explicitly removed it yesterday morning. What is going on here?
[+] [-] aswanson|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] narag|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bilbo0s|16 years ago|reply
Aaarrrgh!
That's the last time I 'try out' a Google product. From now on I test their crap on a junk account that I'll create in GMail.
Thanks a lot Google...
No...not really.
Jack@$$es!
[+] [-] MikeCapone|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Vladik|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johns|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Goronmon|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cubicle67|16 years ago|reply
I'm even more confused as I read more, because it's inconsistent with what I'm seeing, and the reports from other people are inconsistent with each other, making me think there's perhaps some A/B testing going on
[Edit: figured it out. Buzz was enabled for both myself and my wife. I'm pretty cross about this. To me it's a flagrant breach of trust. Imagine what would happen if Apple or Microsoft pulled a stunt like this]
[+] [-] nfnaaron|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanwaggoner|16 years ago|reply
If I can't pound ten beers in an hour and still understand your privacy policy, it's too complicated.
[+] [-] elptacek|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] treblig|16 years ago|reply
I'm going to leave it enabled. I'm aware that it's public, and I'll just make sure to treat it as such. It seems unlikely that I'll publish any content other than syndicating my Twitter feed (much like LinkedIn), and all of that information is public already.
My life on the web is open to everyone, and that paradigm isn't going anywhere.
[+] [-] emily37|16 years ago|reply
I think the problem that most people are having is that Google is blurring the line between our lives on the web and our lives in our inboxes. Specifically, it seems that auto-follow is particularly offensive because who we frequently email might not be who we want to include in our social networking sites.
[+] [-] megamark16|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hyperbovine|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brown9-2|16 years ago|reply
In the Edit Profile section, looks like "Display the list of people I'm following and people following me" is enabled by default.
[+] [-] ww520|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] awt|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mark_l_watson|16 years ago|reply
To me it is a value proposition: what are the advantages of a service vs. disadvantages like privacy issues. I choose to use most of Google's services, occasionally use Facebook, and I am sort-of addicted to following people who I consider to be "thought leaders" on Twitter.
Also, my early take on Buzz: it is OK, but I have an attitude that I don't have to read everything that shows up on my Buzz list. Same as Twitter.
I have also started to sometimes do short tweets on Twitter, and maybe following up with something more detailed on Buzz.
[+] [-] theli0nheart|16 years ago|reply
There are two things I see people getting frustrated about with Buzz.
1. It makes your name public and therefore allows people to search for you.
2. It's an unnecessary distraction.
If you are bothered by (1), then you are little out of the loop with regards to the state of privacy on the Internet in general. Basically, you need to get used to having your name out there. If you are bothered by (2) then you can turn it off.