R.I.P. Google Plus

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Given their so-called improvements made using G+ less interesting, I'm not surprised. Oh well. I saw someone post about Minds, so I may check that out
 
I’ve been looking forward to a truly decentralized social network, so that Minds thing is interesting.

Somebody started a G+ community called G+ RPG Escape Rocket to share info on where people are going.

I thought google was on the right track when they introduced “collections” for users to separate out their posts but they should have just called them “tags”. The functional overlap with communities is also confusing.

I find the rpg culture over there hard to get into. Maybe it’s just the nature of social media.
 
This is admittedly selfish, but I kind of hope that this will force people to go back to blogs and forums like God intended.
Most of the blogs that I have subscribed to in the last five years are ones that I found through postings in G+ RPG communities. I'll probably be reading fewer blogs in the future, not more.
 
That's progress for ya. I'll miss occasionally browsing a few RPG communities, but I'm sure they'll find other formats and forums ("fora"?).
 
Oooh, it gets worse. Ars Technica just posted an article with more details:

Google exposed the private details of almost 500,000 Google+ users and then opted not to report the lapse, in part out of concern disclosure would trigger regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing people briefed on the matter and documents that discussed it. Shortly after the article was published, Google said it would close the Google+ social networking service to consumers.

The exposure was the result of a flaw in programming interfaces Google made available to developers of applications that interacted with users’ Google+ profiles, Google officials said in a post published after the WSJ report. From 2015 to March 2018, the APIs made it possible for developers to view profile information not marked as public, including full names, email addresses, birth dates, gender, profile photos, places lived, occupation, and relationship status. Data exposed didn’t include Google+ posts, messages, Google account data, phone numbers, or G Suite content. Some of the users affected included paying G Suite users.

Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai knew of the glitch and the decision not to publicly disclose it, the WSJ reported. Based on a two-week test designed to measure the impact of the API bugs before they were fixed, Google analysts believe that data for 496,951 users was improperly exposed.
 
A little. They wanted so hard to compete. They just sucked at it. The fact it always had to serve some separate corporate goals other than being great for users was what kept it from succeeding.
Ultimately I think this is a case of they see the writing on the wall that social networks are going to be seeing a lot of legislation and restrictions placed on them. I think they're hoping to avoid them by saying they have no social network.

Edit: had not seen Apparitions post when I commented. Interesting.
 
Most of the blogs that I have subscribed to in the last five years are ones that I found through postings in G+ RPG communities. I'll probably be reading fewer blogs in the future, not more.

Yeah, but nothing prevents people from posting links to blogs on forums.

I'm not particularly drive to try a new social network. I'll likely not join any efforts to "migrate", instead just checking off one less thing to bother with.

Migrating to another social network is a terrible idea. It's just kicking the can down the road. Nothing will prevent whatever social network you migrate to from leaking your personal details and/or interfering with your group and/or shutting down.
 
The exposure was the result of a flaw in programming interfaces Google made available to developers of applications that interacted with users’ Google+ profiles, Google officials said in a post published after the WSJ report. From 2015 to March 2018, the APIs made it possible for developers to view profile information not marked as public, including full names, email addresses, birth dates, gender, profile photos, places lived, occupation, and relationship status. Data exposed didn’t include Google+ posts, messages, Google account data, phone numbers, or G Suite content. Some of the users affected included paying G Suite users.
What, The, and Fuck. That's not the sort of minor glitch that just slips through. That's a big fuckup at many levels.
 
Full names, email addresses and birth dates isn’t good. But I think they also said there’s no evidence the vulnerability was exploited, so that’s a measure of comfort.

You can blame google for having goals other than being great for users, but I don’t think Facebook is any different. Actually, I think FB is worse because it deliberately tries to be addictive more than useful or even entertaining.
 
A bit of a bummer as I found the RPG community there pretty friendly and mostly free of the trolling and culture war politics of other US-social media.

The Gauntlet, DCC and OSR communities were a good way to keep up on good original content, blogs and releases. Not to mention the feeds of various RPG designers and artists.

I do wonder what will replace it, it had become the de facto public square for RPGs I think. Not that our niche hobby would be enough to sustain a web platform.

But with that data leak it obviously became too much of a liability.
 
Full names, email addresses and birth dates isn’t good. But I think they also said there’s no evidence the vulnerability was exploited, so that’s a measure of comfort.

You can blame google for having goals other than being great for users, but I don’t think Facebook is any different. Actually, I think FB is worse because it deliberately tries to be addictive more than useful or even entertaining.

There's no evidence because Google only kept API logs for two weeks, so they just don't know.
 
I have to take back my upbeat assessment:

The Google post said analysts found no evidence the API bugs were actively exploited by developers. But the post also said that, to ensure privacy, the company destroys most Google+ logs after two weeks. According to the WSJ, an internal memo acknowledged there was no way to know.
 
Full names, email addresses and birth dates isn’t good. But I think they also said there’s no evidence the vulnerability was exploited, so that’s a measure of comfort.

You can blame google for having goals other than being great for users, but I don’t think Facebook is any different. Actually, I think FB is worse because it deliberately tries to be addictive more than useful or even entertaining.

I would have left Facebook a long time ago if I could get my friends and family to communicate in some other way.
 
Well I will mainly miss just the Fate Core G+ threads, as that's been a great place for Fate-centric ideas and conversations.

There are a few other RPG communities there that I occasionally access, but I won't particular miss them.

I find the nature of G+ threads is not as easily communal as dropping in to a forum like this, so I won't miss G+ that much.
 
I said elsewhere here that I just never liked the layout of G+. It was frustrating to me, kind of like trying to work your way through an old Facebook thread to find a specific post.
 
Well I will mainly miss just the Fate Core G+ threads, as that's been a great place for Fate-centric ideas and conversations.

There are a few other RPG communities there that I occasionally access, but I won't particular miss them.

I find the nature of G+ threads is not as easily communal as dropping in to a forum like this, so I won't miss G+ that much.
All that. I'll miss the Fate Core, FAE, and ICONS communities, but I find it harder to communicate, given the format.
 
What, The, and Fuck. That's not the sort of minor glitch that just slips through. That's a big fuckup at many levels.

Yeah. Even worse than the screw up is Google and Sundar Pichai intentionally trying to hide the screw up because they were afraid of what the EU and U.S. DoJ and FTC would do. Now that the cat is out of the bag, Google and Sundar Pichai are in deep trouble.
 
Yeah. Even worse than the screw up is Google and Sundar Pichai intentionally trying to hide the screw up because they were afraid of what the EU and U.S. DoJ and FTC would do. Now that the cat is out of the bag, Google and Sundar Pichai are in deep trouble.
How so? They shut the service down. That's about as much as a government can ask beyond a fine. They solved their problem.
 
How so? They shut the service down. That's about as much as a government can ask beyond a fine. They solved their problem.

They prevented future Google Plus data leaks, but that doesn't do anything about the data leak that already happened and the attempt to cover it up.
 
What, The, and Fuck. That's not the sort of minor glitch that just slips through. That's a big fuckup at many levels.
What it sjshou remind everyone to do is lie like a dog as much as possible on any service asking you for information.
 
Full names, email addresses and birth dates isn’t good. But I think they also said there’s no evidence the vulnerability was exploited, so that’s a measure of comfort.
But they didn't retain logs long-term (Which has it's advantages, to be fair), so they can't say for certain.

Their statement hints at this ultimately being a regression issue, and that seems really worrying, because Google certainly should have the testing expertise for this; it doesn't sound like an obscure issue, and the bug was in the wild for years.

You can blame google for having goals other than being great for users, but I don’t think Facebook is any different. Actually, I think FB is worse because it deliberately tries to be addictive more than useful or even entertaining.
Facebook's goal is to keep your eyes on Facebook, so they can show you adverts that companies have paid for. The cat pictures and diary functionality all serve that end; you are the product and not the customer.

But that's just the nature of social networks.
 
They prevented future Google Plus data leaks, but that doesn't do anything about the data leak that already happened and the attempt to cover it up.
I can't say I think leaking my name address and email is truly significant. All of that is already out there. Given how little an issue seems to have been made of the Equifax leak I find this bordering on a non event as far as a company is concerned.
 
At least Equifax were attacked. Google basically just gave the data to anyone who asked politely.
 
At least Equifax were attacked. Google basically just gave the data to anyone who asked politely.
Ultimately I only care if my data is secure or not. If it was hacked or accidentally given doesn't change it's impact on me.
 
At least Equifax were attacked. Google basically just gave the data to anyone who asked politely.

Not only that, but multiple governments weren't already looking into Equifax for other reasons. This just added fuel to the already present fire.
 
I barely even use my gmail account. I think the last time I used it for anything was so Ronin Ronin could share his manuscript. So, Ronin Ronin, if you've sent me anything since then, I apologize as I have not checked!
 
I installed newsfeed eradicator on chrome, and focus on just the groups I'm in and a couple of games I play. Made FB a much better experience when I don't have to see a glut of bs all the time. If I want to see something, I just go to someone's page and catch up. Sure I miss all the cure animal videos a lot, but that's not why I go there anyway
 
The worse thing about FB is all the thinly veiled bragging, oversharing and ‘thoughts’ on politics or the latest celebrity death-of-the-week everyone pretends to be moved by for the day. It is mind-numbing.
 
During the last election I was pretty zealous about blocking/ignoring/hiding anyone who posted politics and while I was at it anyone who just over shared to damn often. Now FB is a fine.
 
I don’t mind calmly discussing politics over a cup of coffee with a friend but even when someone posts something I agree with politically the shallowness and smugness of it all turns me off.
 
I have a winged unicorn in my backyard I plan to give the first person I know on FB who brings up politics in a civil and respectful manner. Had her there for a year but no one has pulled it off.
 
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