At long last, I can retire this alias and move on. I’ve said a lot more on my G+ post last night, but the gist of it is:
– There is no longer a requirement to use your real name on Google Plus, they’re not demanding it and they’re not going to flag people’s profiles for violation on these grounds and no, nobody else can report you for it as it is simply no longer a violation of their rules. People who need to use pseudonyms are now allowed to do so, freely and openly. This is what I wanted above all else, not just for myself but for everyone out there who, for reasons of safety, can’t afford to use their full real name publicly online.
– People who want to use a handle by which they are already known are now allowed to do that, they just have to show Google that this is indeed an established handle (through links to relevant websites, for instance). So, for example, well-known bloggers won’t have the problem of: everyone online knows me as Blogger123 and my offline name of John Doe means nothing to them.
– People who want to show an alternative name by which they are also known, like a nickname or maiden name, can now do that. So you can be shown, for example, as John “Fitz” Doe, and those who know you as Fitz will know it’s you.
There are still some issues that need work, and it looks like someone is indeed working on them, and making a huge effort to address all the problems. And he’s communicating with the users. In real English and not in Googlespeak.
To those who say: yes, but they’re still insisting that you use a name-shaped name and not a handle (except for established use), I say, yes, they are, and personally I’d rather they didn’t but I don’t see what the harm is in that. People who need to use a pseudonym for reasons of safety don’t need it to specifically look like it isn’t a name. People who need to use a handle need it because it’s an established online identity, so they’re fine under the new policy. And people who fell foul of the old policy because they wanted to use their real name and their real name looks particularly peculiar – these people can just show documentation and get their real name approved. (And when I say “their real name looks particularly peculiar” I mean it doesn’t look like a normal name in any known culture, not just in US terms.) Ideal? no, it isn’t, but life often isn’t. Personally I would have liked to see total freedom to use whichever name you want, but since Google own this thing and they’re evidently quite adamant that they’re not willing to go down that route, I think what they’re now offering is a pretty good deal. I will not fight them for someone’s right to call themselves JohnDoE3 instead of just John Doe, when there’s no reason for it other than that’s what they feel like. Sorry.
Yours
Meirav M., aka Meirav Berale, who is very definitely Not Celia Rogut.
P.S. The policy has been changed again since I posted this, and they now allow the free use of handles. (They also allow the use of a name-shaped name with an initial instead of either first or last name – for example, I’m now using the name Meirav M. on G+.)
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