Mountain View, Calif. — Google Inc. released a statement Monday responding to upset Google+ users who had their accounts suspended for not following their “common name” policy.
Vice president of product for Google+ Bradley Horowitz used his page on the platform to address users’ concerns about the process of suspending accounts. Several bloggers noted this weekend that they had been suspended for violating the Google+ policy that reads: “To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your full legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, either of those would be acceptable.”
Horowitz acknowledge that they have read their user feedback regarding the policy, and that they are taking steps to ensure users are warned and given time to change their name in advance before any suspension occurs.
He also said that Google is aiming to improve the Google+ signup process while developing a feature designed to add nicknames and maiden names to the “other names” section of Google+ profiles. He also promised other improvements are in the works.
“After running through his reasoning, mostly to have a nicer, more personal, community, I feel even stronger that Google is on the right track here even though I feel they weren’t fair or smart in how they spun up these new rules, but Vic [Gundotra] convinced me to hang in there and watch their decisions over the next few weeks,” said well-known tech pundit Robert Scoble.
Horowitz also took time to outline that suspension of a user’s Google+ account does not mean suspension of all Google products — meaning users will still have access to Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, and the rest.
“We’ll keep working to get better, and we appreciate the feedback–and the passion–that Google+ has generated,” he said.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3vl7noc (Mashable)
http://tinyurl.com/3nrvcm3 (Bradley Horowitz)
http://tinyurl.com/3ztq5y7 (Robert Scoble)
