
Opt out of Google using you as an ad - Chirag
https://plus.google.com/u/0/settings/endorsements
======
redbulls
I honestly don't understand whats wrong with this. It just seems like the
natural progression of the services that Google already provides. If my friend
searches for a new phone, they should see my public reviews of the phones.
Friends reviews should be made front and center because reviews from people we
know are always more valuable. The way the page reads, it seems they will only
use your reviews in ads for friends, I think that's fair, but if they use it
for strangers too then I'll probably opt out.

~~~
pjbrunet
Shouldn't that be a conversation you have with your friend directly? Also it's
not a recommendation for your friend, it's a recommendation to the general
public.

If I want to recommend something to my friends on Plus, don't I already have a
"Friends" circle I can broadcast to?

~~~
estel
It's not a recommendation to the general public: your existing +1s, reviews
and comments were already shared with whatever circles you'd already opted to
share them with; this option just has those recommendations appear next to
adverts for /only/ those same people.

------
panarky
The contrast with Facebook couldn't be more stark.

Google is advertising the change extensively, and they explain it in simple
English.

Google lets you opt out.

And if you were already opted out, they retain that more restrictive setting
without you having to do anything.

I personally don't want to be an unpaid shill for anybody, which is why I
refuse to create G+ or Facebook accounts.

But I have to recognize that Google's approach is far more open and honest
than Facebook's.

~~~
vbhavsar
> The contrast with Facebook couldn't be more stark.

Wouldn't it be more stark if Google didn't do this at all?

~~~
dtx
One good reason why it "shouldn't" do this? It's doing it and giving you a
choice to either be a part of it or not. That is more than you can ask for
from a free service. If you were able to be a part of a service, not pay a
thing, feeding data to it and expecting it not to use it in anyway you
wouldn't like- then you would also not see the constant innovation brought
about by such companies; and this is justified as long as the user is not
forced into it; the golden rule of software.

~~~
tjoff
Because with that reasoning we could, and _really_ should, just abandon all
free software. Because with that reasoning it is worthless.

There are other ways to make money in this world, even for a free service,
than being a dick.

------
badclient
When we look back a few years from now to see where google went wrong, it'll
begin and end with Google+. It is the worst product execution and strategy in
recent times.

~~~
mythz
I've moved our Open Source Community to a Google+ Community, I've personally
found it's the best way to communicate and share content, news and
announcements which ended up being much more engaging, interactive, visible
and functional than everything else I've tried.

It encourages a better community feeling than the 140 chars allows for on
Twitter, the content posted ends up being a lot more interesting, richer and
more positive than the constant _dump o ' hate_ I see in my Tweet stream.
Personally I'd prefer more ex-bloggers start posting on G+ than micro blogging
their opinions on Twitter

~~~
rhizome
_Twitter_ is your counterpoint? What else did you consider?

~~~
mythz
We've moved from a mailing list which was a black-hole for Content with very
poor discoverability, and despite having many members was mostly read-
only/ignored with just the same small group responding. We're now directing
future support questions to StackOverflow. Many people were using GitHub
issues to communicate, but this was primarily only seen by the Core team and
effectively invisible to the wider community.

We see much more engaging and visible feedback on G+, people frequently
comment on posts, +1 and re-share.

------
300bps
I opted out by deleting my Google+ profile last night. I honestly never wanted
a Google+ profile and me submitting a YouTube video for a private audience
(demonstrating a new feature in a web site I developed for a side client) that
got broadcast to all my friends on Google+ was the last straw.

~~~
Steko
I hope you're prepared for a zillion A/B tested strategies to trick you to
resigning up with G+ through YouTube. Say what you want about Facebook (and I
don't have a FB account for many reasons) but at least they aren't constantly
in my face trying to trick me to sign up.

Protip for the many Google employees that browse HN for fun or just to flag
positive stories about Apple off the front page: the first 100 times I said
"no" were not a mistake, I really don't want to sign up for G+. Get that shit
out of my face forever pls.

~~~
revelation
If it was only YouTube... I recently got the prompt on GMail after a login, it
was a mini-tab inside GMail for quite some time, it's a recurring question or
even requirement on any new Google service, but the closest I've come to
converting my old-style Google account into one with a G+ profile is certainly
when adding your account on Android. One touch-sensitive button to start the
process directly next to the one for skipping it..

Quite the obstacle course.

------
ChikkaChiChi
This is exactly how opt-out pages should work.

I understand it took some bad publicity before it happened, but I commend
Google for correcting their mistake and making it easy to disable.

~~~
ryanmcbride
Agreed. It's nice to see an opt out page that isn't asking me if I'm sure that
I don't not want to opt in to not being used as a not ad.

~~~
pjbrunet
It's too vague. Some of it sounds cool, some of it does not. So I opted out.

I would have made a series of focused opt-in pages that popup in stages over
months (less annoying, less confusing) and sell each recommendation function
as a cool feature with real benefits, like increased SEO authority, traffic to
your Google Plus page, etc.

That said this makes me not want to comment, thumbs-up, plus one anything.

------
talmand
I don't understand this page.

Under the heading "Setting: Shared Endorsements in Ads" the copy reads as if
this setting was an opt-out type of thing.

The actually text next to the checkbox reads as if this setting was an opt-in
type of thing.

~~~
derefr
It's phrased as "do this", but it starts already-checked. So you're unchecking
it to make it stop.

~~~
wf
The box was already unchecked for me as well, thus the confusion.

~~~
smoorman1024
It must be because you already opted out of +1's

It was blank for me too.

[http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/11/google-users-shared-
endor...](http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/11/google-users-shared-endorsements-
ads/)

------
Glyptodon
I don't have a Google Plus profile for my Google account so I can't get to the
checkbox to opt out without first creating a creating a Google Plus profile.
Talk about a catch 22. Though maybe they're only planning to use Google+
content for ads?

~~~
RyanZAG
If you don't use G+ there is nothing this opt out would do. This is an opt-out
for having your G+ profile picture and name show up next to search results for
people who have you in their circles. If you +1 a page, then that page can be
promoted in your friends search results with your name linked to the page.
It's actually a fairly useful feature and I often see Android links promoted
by people I have added to circles, which is useful.

It's really a fairly benign feature to begin with as you have to actually +1 a
page before it shows up. At any rate, this checkbox appears to remove that so
that others can't see your +1s in search results. I don't really understand
why you would +1 something and not want people to see though, although I'm
guessing it has something to do with an employee of companyA +1ing companyBs
page by mistake and making it look like an endorsement.

------
drelihan
"When you disable this setting, your friends will be less likely to benefit
from your recommendations." \- I'm surprised that even my computer could
render these bytes with a straight face.

~~~
jff
Why? It's absolutely true. If you disable the setting, your reviews for
products will not show up in your friends' results. Presumably some people
would be interested to know that one of their friends purchased such-and-such
a thing and found it useful.

------
nullc
Asks me to make a google+ account. Does that mean I'm already immune?

~~~
redbulls
yes

~~~
nullc
You sure? I'm now getting a banner at the top of all my google pages that
directs me to a page that tells me that I need to opt out (of course, I get
the same useless upgrade to google plus screen).

Ugh.

------
marban
This was default off for my paid G Apps account with a regular G+ Profile.

------
graiz
It's interesting that folks in the tech community had the same reaction that I
did... TURN IT OFF. Seems that this would be one of those "Don't be Evil"
moments for Google. It seems reasonable that people wouldn't want their rating
or review used out of context on an ad. This is exactly what's wrong with
Facebook "Like" buttons. Why repeat the same mistake?

~~~
estel
Why would a rating or review of a place be out of context on an ad for it?

------
robodale
Who wants to bet that checkbox does nothing...like the thermostat in my office
to control the temperature.

------
kmfrk
Speaking of all this tripe, does anyone know how to export your YouTube
favourites without creating a G+ account?

A couple of days ago, it starting requiring me to sign up to add a video to my
list of favourites, and the API throws an error - probably for the same
reason.

~~~
packetlss

       http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/base/users/<youtube-username>/favorites?alt=rss&v=2&orderby=published&client=ytapi-youtube-profile

------
sequoia
Is it unchecked by default? For me it was unchecked when I got there.

~~~
swetland
I forget what the old setting was, but there was a G+ setting about showing
+1s in other contexts, which I recall unchecking when I was unchecking all the
"email me about..." settings and other cruft in the G+ settings. Looks like
they remember that (it was unchecked for me too).

------
dmamills
I'm in the minority in that I love Google+. It's everything good about social
networking without any of those pesky people everyone seems to like so much.

------
benblodgett
This is a perfect example of HN acting productively. Identifies a serious
problem that effects the audience and pushes the solution to the top.

------
duaneb
Do I have to make a plus account to opt out?

~~~
nilved
Don't you need an account to be used in ads to begin with?

~~~
Lewisham
Yes, you need a G+ account to make reviews. Not having a G+ account means you
cannot be used for Shared Endorsements.

Disclaimer: I'm a Google employee.

------
piptastic
Didn't go through the link.

This was turned off by default for me when I edited my Google Profile (not a
paid user).

Shared Endorsements Off edit

------
ausjke
I made this simpler, just leave google+ and I'm "safe".

------
randomstring
Anyone else find it ironic you cannot +1 that page?

------
ck2
Shouldn't it be opt-in ?

------
barista
Unfortunately this page will probably not even hit the most gullible folks who
signed in their gmail and are using Google+ unknowingly. Hope there is a
broader communication from Google to allow people to disable this. Can't
imagine this was made an automatic opt in.

~~~
jff
So the people who are unknowingly using G+... aren't really generating
anything for Google to use, are they? They want to show your reviews alongside
ads. Well, if you're making reviews on Google+, that's not really "unknowing".
If you're sharing, +1'ing, following, or starring content on G+, you're not
really unknowingly using G+.

So basically people who technically have a G+ account but never use it
shouldn't be affected, because you have to _use_ G+ to generate this content.

