Every once in a while I think about shutting down my Google+ account.

Every once in a while I think about shutting down my Google+ account. Today - or rather - this entire past week has been one of those days. Why, you might ask? Because ...

[1] the amount of link-dumping is insane. Scrolling through my stream and I see repeated posts from a handful of people (the handful Google shows me, anyway) and most, if not all, of those posts are merely links with no introduction or comment by the original poster. Nothing. Just a link. Loo, I don't need any of you to be my RSS feed aggregator. Sorry, I just don't. If you're going to post something, tell us why you're posting it. Better yet: create content.

[2] speaking of algorithms ... I'm tired of seeing the same content day in and day out. Yes, I like a certain type of content and engage on certain types of posts, but I followed people to see it all, not what Google has decided I want to see. The same five to seven posts every day all day? No thank you. And sometimes it's not even the same posts, but it's the same links. I can only read the same headline fifty times before from fifty different people before I switch over to a different network.

[3] the lack of discussions. Sure, some posts are very discussion heavy and I like it, but others (most) are little to none. It's called "social media", let's be social. But no. Some people just post and then have comments either limited or turned off altogether. It's annoying.

[4] blocking. Yes, I know there are some trolls out there and there are some people who believe the anonymity of the internet gives them a right to be a dick, but blocking here has just always been too prevalent. The above screen shots show a perfectly benign conversation that resulted in the OP blocking commentor and, in my opinion, she was wrong. I pointed this out to her and she took away my ability to Comment. It's like a bunch of babies who are incapable of having a discussion where they're not being agreed with all the time. You know, like #DonaldTrump. Whatever happened to the free exchange of ideas or giving the other side the benefit of the doubt? Have we all become so intolerant that a simple disagreement or a misinterpretation leads to blocking? This worries me on a larger scale as each time someone using the block feature they're voluntarily sinking themselves further into a self-made echo chamber. Couple that with algorithms and we can start to see why Americans are so polarized and intolerant.

Lately I've been spending more time on Twitter and even though that service is limited in it's usage, I've had better discussions than I have here. And having talked with other Plussers, I know I'm not alone in my thinking. In fact, if I didn't own a thriving community here, I might give up the Ploos altogether.

I've taken G+ hiatuses (is that the plural of hiatus?) before and am thinking it might be time to take one again.