For those of you who are west of the Mississippi and who sleep past 6am on a Saturday it is my unfortunate...
For those of you who are west of the Mississippi and who sleep past 6am on a Saturday it is my unfortunate circumstance to inform you that +Ryan IT Lab, a staple in the Buzz and Google+ community, has had his Profile suspended.
Why? Because, in a rush to do away with malicious accounts, abuse and violators of Google's ToS some 'bot somewhere has flagged his account. Hopefully for review and not for deletion.
From +Ryan IT Lab to a few of us:
_Hey Google - please reinstate my account.
This is my profile, this is who I am.
[//profiles URL deleted because, well, Google deleted it//]
Ryan IT Lab also designates my unique, personal online presence. Ryan is one of the most popluar names for men, and my last name takes 3 or 4 times to pronounce correctly and it is nearly impossible to spell.
My birth name is Ryan Drewrey - and I have used this name in a bunch of Google accounts - but it is not the screen name I go by
Please reshare on Google + to as many Googlers as you know - I would like my account back up and running ASAP._
I understand Google's policy here. In an effort to fight abuse and to instate a defacto policy of authenticity they are flagging accounts that do not have real sounding names, even though in their own words we are to use the names we go by in real life.
This is not a good policy as far as I'm concerned. What names do people go by in real life that do not sound real? Dudemeister? Mooch? Gooch? Sumo? Shadi? Other (my alias in middle school since we had a plethora of Jasons)? Tootie? McGeek?
How about Barry Obama? President Obama goes by Barry with his friends and family? Or Bill Nye the Science Guy? Is his last name really the Science Guy?
And what of those who don't have Judeo-Christian names? What of those names from the middle- and far-east? What of Scandanavian names or Gaelic names? Is Google giving them the benefit of the doubt? Perhaps "Itlab" is a real last name somewhere; Rain, or Rainy and Rainyday as a variation, is a real first name. What about Apple? or Blanket?
The point simple: some people use pseudonyms for a variety of reasons. For safety sake, for privacy, or for professional reasons as many actors aren't born with their stage names. One could argue that Ryan IT Lab is a stage or professional name.
As +Jannik Lindquist recently posted, this could be detrimental to the future of Google+ or other Google properties. With Buzz there was all the negative feedback about security and privacy which caused many people to not adopt it as a communications platform, with Google+ there could be a negative backlash regarding names and naming.
Instead of flagging, suspending and/or deleting accounts, Google needs to institute some sort of verification process that isn't birth-certificate required in order to verify user authenticity. But even then, there will be a work-around for those crafty people who use social media for their own unethical ends. But innocent people like +Ryan IT Lab, Aqeel Kh, +Rainyday Superstar and others aren't doing anything to harass or harm other users.
On Buzz we came together as a community to report and block users who spammed our posts. We can in Plus as well. And there can be a tiered response to questionable accounts such as an auto email sent to said account that requires a reply with verification before suspension or deletion. This would go a long way of ensuring satisfaction between both Google and it's users as opposed to a blanket kill policy.
Please share and share alike. We need to pass the word that there needs to be a better way. Accounts in good standing need to be given the benefit of the doubt not held accountable for other's misdeeds or perceived future abuse.
Author's note:
Oh, and I apologize for the haphazard way this post sounds, but this is the first thing I did this morning aside from take a shower and get dressed. I haven't worked out my brain enough to be articulate in a meaningful way. I'm sure edits will follow. :D
Why? Because, in a rush to do away with malicious accounts, abuse and violators of Google's ToS some 'bot somewhere has flagged his account. Hopefully for review and not for deletion.
From +Ryan IT Lab to a few of us:
_Hey Google - please reinstate my account.
This is my profile, this is who I am.
[//profiles URL deleted because, well, Google deleted it//]
Ryan IT Lab also designates my unique, personal online presence. Ryan is one of the most popluar names for men, and my last name takes 3 or 4 times to pronounce correctly and it is nearly impossible to spell.
My birth name is Ryan Drewrey - and I have used this name in a bunch of Google accounts - but it is not the screen name I go by
Please reshare on Google + to as many Googlers as you know - I would like my account back up and running ASAP._
I understand Google's policy here. In an effort to fight abuse and to instate a defacto policy of authenticity they are flagging accounts that do not have real sounding names, even though in their own words we are to use the names we go by in real life.
This is not a good policy as far as I'm concerned. What names do people go by in real life that do not sound real? Dudemeister? Mooch? Gooch? Sumo? Shadi? Other (my alias in middle school since we had a plethora of Jasons)? Tootie? McGeek?
How about Barry Obama? President Obama goes by Barry with his friends and family? Or Bill Nye the Science Guy? Is his last name really the Science Guy?
And what of those who don't have Judeo-Christian names? What of those names from the middle- and far-east? What of Scandanavian names or Gaelic names? Is Google giving them the benefit of the doubt? Perhaps "Itlab" is a real last name somewhere; Rain, or Rainy and Rainyday as a variation, is a real first name. What about Apple? or Blanket?
The point simple: some people use pseudonyms for a variety of reasons. For safety sake, for privacy, or for professional reasons as many actors aren't born with their stage names. One could argue that Ryan IT Lab is a stage or professional name.
As +Jannik Lindquist recently posted, this could be detrimental to the future of Google+ or other Google properties. With Buzz there was all the negative feedback about security and privacy which caused many people to not adopt it as a communications platform, with Google+ there could be a negative backlash regarding names and naming.
Instead of flagging, suspending and/or deleting accounts, Google needs to institute some sort of verification process that isn't birth-certificate required in order to verify user authenticity. But even then, there will be a work-around for those crafty people who use social media for their own unethical ends. But innocent people like +Ryan IT Lab, Aqeel Kh, +Rainyday Superstar and others aren't doing anything to harass or harm other users.
On Buzz we came together as a community to report and block users who spammed our posts. We can in Plus as well. And there can be a tiered response to questionable accounts such as an auto email sent to said account that requires a reply with verification before suspension or deletion. This would go a long way of ensuring satisfaction between both Google and it's users as opposed to a blanket kill policy.
Please share and share alike. We need to pass the word that there needs to be a better way. Accounts in good standing need to be given the benefit of the doubt not held accountable for other's misdeeds or perceived future abuse.
Author's note:
Oh, and I apologize for the haphazard way this post sounds, but this is the first thing I did this morning aside from take a shower and get dressed. I haven't worked out my brain enough to be articulate in a meaningful way. I'm sure edits will follow. :D
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