Bradley Horowitz on ailing Google+: Islands in the stream, that is what we are ...

The sooner it gets decoupled from other services and stays optional, G+ may be fine.

There are people who would still like to use it and appreciate the flexibility of circles etc.

So long as membership to it, isn't tied to nearly everything in the G universe, G+ may do just fine for those that want it. Ramming it down peoples' throats just isn't going to cut it (just ask Sinofski).

google anything has been a dirty word ...

... on this here ranch right from the git-go.

Consume, consumers! Consume!

(mutters: Idiots.)

Trust: hard to build; easy to demolish

Uses' need to put more than a little time/effort into building groups on a social network for it to have any worth. How many folks will take the effort to do so when Google may pull the plug at any point? They have history in that area after all.

Now can we untangle it from youtube comments and be done with it.,

Time to break up Google's web-division, in two separate low-contrast and flat design -divisions.

It follows the Wave...

...if anybody even remembers it.

Tried it, it's stupid

The basic concept of g+ as a bit of social media is fine. But it seems to have gone all wrong.

* Hundreds of asians stealling and re-posting other peoples pictures, with no copyright traceability. They get "auto enhanced" every time till they end up looking like crayon images

* Snotty self-opinionated people setting up groups and then arbitrarily moaning about what you post.

* '+1' ing has become an end in itself. Loads of people trawling for likes

* I have not had a decent converstaion on it with anyone. Even facebook is better for that, and Usenet remains king for sensible discussion

*

just what is Google+?

I don't see the point for it

Facebook and Google+ are basically the same thing - a wall to post stuff on and (assuming you're interested) follow other people and see their posts in aggregate form. The problem for G+ is that Facebook got there first and it doesn't really have a differentiator. It's just another social wannabe with a fraction of the content.

It also copies the most annoying and evil aspects of Facebook. It nags you to provide more personal info. It nags you to connect to people "you may know". It nags you to join groups. It doesn't provide options to stop nagging you. It throws the switch on all the security / privacy settings and ensures the settings are deliberately vague or confusing so you're never quite sure if you are secure or not.

If G+ were NOT evil, or had a simple to control privacy, or if it acted more like a traditional home page where I could add feeds and other things of interest then I might use it. But as it is, it's just an intrusive bore.

I actually quite like G+; when I look at my FB wall all I see is multiple variations of, "Mrs Thingumy is taking her dog for a walk" or "Mr Whatsits is settling down with a pint"! Completely mindless drivel in the main and of no interest. On G+, however, I've "followed" N.A.S.A., Hubble, ScFi (discussion), Phil Plait, Discworld (discussion) and so forth.

There in much less inane, mindless drivel on G+ than there is on FB, or there is in my feed and I have had, and do have, quite a few interesting discussions there whereas on FB, nada ...