Woke up this morning and logged into my Google+ plus account was checking out the updates from my various circles and enjoying my morning coffee. Noticed that the order of my circles were not at what I had set them at. Did not make a big deal of it... more coffee and surfing at Google+ ... As many of the regular readers of the blog will know that I am a big fan of KDE and digiKam photo management software. That from time to time I keep posting bits about both and beta test/file bug reports for them.
Along the same line I was testing and reporting an update for digiKam 2.0.0 ... it kept giving me an error "post could not be saved" as we know Google+ is still a public beta I thought it may be a temporary snag. Logged into my Facebook account and checked few updates ... the works ... now tried to post the update again on Google+ same error. Hmm what is going on ... well more checking of cool stuff at Google+ ....
All the hoopla seems to be over the usage of "Monts Here". Well if it helps since day one I have had the same name on arch rival social network Facebook. All my friends know and call me 'Monts'. I am a amateur photographer and watermark/label my photographs with "Monts Here". I have the same name/id on Google's another social network photo sharing site Panoramio (http://www.panoramio.com/user/5700136) This was indeed much before the launch of Google+. On another popular photo sharing site Flickr I go by the ID 'Monts 4 ya' and that is indeed an old account. I have even posted photos back in 2006-2007.
"Please remember that we are currently limiting profiles to individuals and will be launching a profile for businesses and other entities later this year." Is what G+ says. I clearly state that I am a passionate armature photographer. It is not my profession, I do not make money from it. Nor do I sell any photography related product or services. I am a computer tech by profession and very clearly stated that on my G+ profile as well as my blog over here. however I do not sell any computer product, service or even support of any type on these social networks. The Google+ profile just like my Facebook profile is a personal one.
Well as a popular joke goes in India .. does all this has the hand of a foreign conspirator power ;) :p :p or have I irked someone so much they are reporting that my profile is a fake one ??? hmm well could be or then maybe not... thought it does feel flattering to think so ;)
Google+ has been suspending the accounts with commercial id's and pseudo names... so for now at least I will rule the above conspiracy theories out. Do I think it is a bad thing ... well not really. It is a good thing and will keep things clean, good for security. Thankfully Google is not a one way street and they do listen to user feed back. All other Google services are working like gmail, blogger etc .... If those were blocked too that would have really made me mad indeed.
So I here you saying 'Monts... so what is the ranting all about...' Well for once I would like to leverage the power of social networking for personal ends. I would request you to share the link to this post in your circles and friends on Google+. I have already filled the form to remove the ban. I have good faith in Google, but it never hurts if you have a few friends lobbying for you cause. Please post and re post on Google+ Thanks
Feedback from the whole episode :
- If and when a Google+ account is suspended for now you do not have any auto feed back. A mail would have been very polite. Thank you Google.
- If you are active on a social network, normally you fill out 'about me' once and hardly update/edit the details every other day. No I am not self obsessed and do not check the about Me page everyday.
- By default one goes to the Stream page on Google+. The suspension note should be displayed there. UI/coder at Google+ should look into this. Accessibility tip :)
- Kudos to Google of having the common sense of not disabling/suspending all other Google services linked to the account. As was reported before, that would have enraged me.
It is good that there is a link that lets you appeal against the ban. But then "Reviews are usually completed within a few days." Bummer. Need for speed faster and better please few hours not days ... :D Now hoping that the account will be back to normal very soon. :D Thanks all.
