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The Proverbial Straw

12/5/2013

6 Comments

 
Well, Google, you win. I've resisted you at every turn, publicly decried your decisions and methods, and conscientiously objected to your unwelcome changes with whatever clever subversions I could muster. Finally you've made it so inconvenient to not have Google+ that any further resistance would defeat the purpose of using your services in the first place.

I couldn't comment on my own videos. I had dozens, if not hundreds, of unanswered questions and dangling conversations from my viewers that begged for a response, and you took away my right and privilege to communicate if I didn't sign up for Google+. But then you nullified those conversations without warning—suddenly, Google+ or not, it was physically impossible to respond to any comments posted before a certain date. Was this part of the plan all along, or were you so eager to push your unloved Facebook competitor on us that streamlining the transition didn't matter?

I resented the theft of my voice. I ran out of ways to be upset at you, Google. First the obnoxious popups about connecting my accounts, then the subterfuge that led me to unwittingly set up a Google+ account, then the horrendously organized options pages that brought me this close to inadvertently deleting my entire YouTube channel, then the denial of my basic ability to talk to my fans without playing your little game, then the denial of my basic ability to talk to my fans who'd been waiting for months or merely minutes for a response. No amount of resistance, criticism, or outright complaining could satisfy my rage. I had been grumpy before about change for the sake of change; this time your agenda was clear, and this time, I was angry. This is not the creature of habit talking who'd prefer to leave well enough alone; this is the person who despises being bullied and taken for a fool by someone he trusts.

Today, I grudgingly but willingly signed up for your Google+. Today, you deprived me of one of the greatest joys I have from making videos: checking my e-mail the day after posting a long-awaited video to discover a deluge of subscriber and comment notifications, and taking my time to read through and appreciate each and every one. Today, after posting a video that's been in the works for two months, my inbox was empty.

I don't receive notification e-mails if I'm not signed up for Google+, you see, despite there being e-mail notification options in YouTube
whether I've connected Google+ or not. You ever put on a performance only to have the audience stare at you instead of clap when you're finished? That's what this felt like. And navigating to the comments section of the video to see if anybody had said anything was like listening to the audience members talk amongst themselves on their way out of the theater. I was no longer involved in my own videos. I had become a cyber stork who left newborn videos on my subscribers' doorsteps before disappearing from their lives. So I swallowed my righteous pride and admitted defeat. Making videos isn't worth the effort without the human connection, but the human connection, I thought, might be more important than refusing to compromise my principles in the face of a corporation who isn't even listening.

I had fun populating my Google+ page with ridiculous information, claiming to be a Super Fighting Robot who works at Dr. Light's Lab and who went to school for special weapons use at the Challenge stages of Mega Man 10. Under better circumstances,
Google could have persuaded me to at least create an account for the sake of better publicity—after all, I signed up for Twitter, which I neither like nor fully understand, so that people who prefer Twitter can get automatic updates about my blogging and YouTube activity that way. I'm not unwilling to try new things, but their value needs to be made clear to me if they're not forced upon me. As it stands, I feel dirty for joining Google+ because I neither wanted to nor was truly forced to. It's a little like being blackmailed—do I give in to the villain's demands to maintain the status quo, or do I preserve my sense of morality at the expense of something potentially greater?

I started to get anxious when, after two hours of setting up Google+, I still wasn't receiving e-mail notifications—as though I'd sacrificed my principles for nothing.
That situation righted itself after enough time had passed, but I'm still finding brand-new comments I cannot respond to, and if I never have to wade through all those settings menus again, it'll be too soon. To me, that's the big tip-off that Google+ was never intended to be so integrated with YouTube: multiple settings menus that all seem to say the same thing and have a delay of several hours before the changes in one place take effect at the other place.

So I'm on Google+ now. It's not the end of the world. Maybe I'll end up using it or even liking it.
One thing's for certain, though: Unless Google gets their act together and either streamlines or apologizes for this mess, it won't take much for a man who's already abandoned his principles to abandon the company that pushed him over the edge.
6 Comments
Matt Link
12/5/2013 03:02:31 am

***We are the Google... throw down your freedoms and lower your standards... resistance is futile***

But in all seriousness, that's terrible youtube is force blocking communication to the fans. And it's a real low-brow tactic at that.

Imagine how silly (and tolerable) this situation would be in real life...

(at a grocery store)
Customer: "I've got everything I came for and I'm ready to check out now."
Cashier: "Would you like to try a sample of our new raisin fish cracker popcorn pizza spread over on isle 12? It's brand new and everyone likes it."
Customer: "Um... no thanks, maybe another time."
Cashier: "But it's new, and everyone is buying it! It's the best thing since sliced bread."
Customer: "Again, no thank you. Now that I think about it, that doesn't really sound appetizing. It's not for me."
Cashier: "Well I'm sorry sir, but in order to check out today, you need to make your way back there and take a sample. Otherwise you'll have to leave everything here. We'll have the worker confirm with me when this is done."
Customer: "That's preposterous. How many times do I need to say no? I need to speak to your manager."
Manager: "What seems to be the problem?"
Customer: "I just want to check out and get my groceries home, but I was informed that I need to slog all the way back and try some sort of raisin... pizza fish thing. I don't want it, I just want to go about my business. Is this true?"
Manager: "Well sir... you actually must not only try it, but as of today, store policy states you must buy a jar of it too in order to check out. And you must buy one every time you visit our store."
Customer: "Then perhaps I won't be visiting here again."
Manager: ".... I don't get what the big deal is...."

Reply
Nathaniel
12/18/2013 03:32:30 pm

That's very funny and highly accurate. :)

Reply
Jasini link
12/5/2013 03:23:55 am

That seem much more like a brick than a straw.

I signed up for Google+ a long time ago, but I never use it. I hardly even check it.

Reply
Nathaniel
12/18/2013 03:33:59 pm

Seriously! And I admit I'd have no idea what to do if anyone ever interacted with me in any way on Google+.

Reply
Joseph Martin
12/5/2013 05:45:26 am

Just to compound upon your rage, Youtube/Google/GoogleTube is going to roll out a new system next year that will basically delay all the people who monetize videos to go through what'll probably be a several hour long process that might delete the video if there's even a *hint* of music or footage that isn't yours. Considering this is how people make their livelihoods, though not you necessarily since you don't monetize, I honestly suspect that people are going to start using other sites and venues to publish their content, at least in the video game world. I know that's been said before, but before it was just nuisance and now it's actually being a detriment to people who literally live off of doing this. I know if I ever "go pro" (read, start getting 50 cents per video) I'd probably look into other services before trying to work Googletube's system.

Reply
Nathaniel
12/18/2013 03:36:24 pm

Somehow I'm not surprised. What I AM surprised about is that no one has yet seized this opportunity to offer even a severely simplified alternative to YouTube that is a true competitor, at least for gamers. You've got Twitch, but it's not the same.

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    This work by Nathaniel Hoover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
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