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Why are you sure “no one else is going to stick to the rules?” I’m confused. Do you really believe you are the only people who do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing? Because I believe most people do what is right most of the time.
@spookiewon – previously limor stuck to the rules and google removed her account because they did not believe it was her, using her real name. however, hundreds (and thousands) of profiles are not using real names if you look at any of the followers on her account or the adafruit pages. not a big deal, but it’s really common and adafruit (and limor) are held to a high standard.
we’ve already seen coupons and discounts on pages, so it appears not everyone is sticking the rules already 🙁
however, we said we are going to do our best and will 🙂
I’m a bit confused (it often happens)…I followed the Adafruit Industries page on G+ and it says I’m in your circles too, but for some reason, I don’t see any special link…am I doing something wrong, or has the link not been posted yet, or did I miss it? It’s probably PEBKAC on my part, but just wondered if you could please confirm. Thanks!
I guess my point was that you are engaging in hyperbole when you say that “no one” but you will follow the rules. Just for lolz, I scrolled through limor’s circles and adafruit’s circles and it certainly looks to me like the majority of the people ARE using their real names–or at least following what appears to be Google’s policy IN PRACTICE. I suppose, strictly speaking, I’m not using my real name, since I’m using the first name people call me rather than the given name that appears on my birth certificate. (NO ONE calls me Patricia!) By that standard, Larry Page isn’t using HIS real name, either; and neither are MANY Google employees. Certainly there are some people who are not using real names, but in all fairness it’s far from the majority. I’m sorry limon’s name was doubted, but Bill Shatner was banned for using his REAL NAME because Google decided Bill is a brand. Steve Wozniak was banned for spelling HIS real name in mirror image. Was Bill to be prohibited from participating at all because he’s famous? Is Steve misleading people by spelling his name in the same way he has on numerous other social sites? Indeed, Woz isn’t the ONLY Steve Wozniak, and the mirror font was an easy way to know that it WAS really him. And I’ve seen coupons and discounts on G+ too, but the MAJORITY of the G+ “brand pages” ARE following the rules. It’s just not true to say that you’re the only ones, because you’re not.
It just struck as me a little self-righteous when you said, “We’re sure no one else is going to stick to the rules, but we are.” It only makes it worse to follow up to my objections by saying that “adafruit (and limor) are held to a high standard.” Many, many people hold themselves to high standards, not JUST you.
Are you really suggesting that most–which by definition is AT LEAST more than half–of the people who are in limor’s and adafruit’s circles are not using their “real names” and that most–again, AT LEAST more than half–of all “brand pages” on G+are breaking the rules in regards to “contests, sweepstakes, offers, coupons, or other promotions?” Let alone everyone except you, which was your first assertion? Because I looked, and from what I can see, that’s NOT the case.
I stand by my assertion that most people do the right thing, most of the time, and it’s not fair to characterize things otherwise. Are there people who do break the rules? Of course! And there always will be, no matter what. I’m proud that I do the right thing, but it’s not an ACCOMPLISHMENT for me to point to. The world has a right to expect me to do the right thing–that’s only right.
@spookiewon – there are about 60,000 followers for limor – many are using real names but many are not. that’s how it goes, not a big deal – that’s what makes the web an interesting place.
to make it more clear, we’ve updated the post “We’re sure there will be some that will not stick to the rules, but we are. We’re also sure someone would report us if we didn’t stick to the rules.”
to be even more clear – we think most people do the right thing, but many don’t that’s really all we have to say about it. hope it’s more clear now and thanks for posting 🙂
Thank you for changing the post to reflect that you don’t believe that you are the only ones following the rules. I am also following the rules and it hurt to hear you say that nobody but you would. I’m not the only one of your followers who is using her real name and following the rules here at G+, most of us are and we don’t deserve to have our honor disparaged.
Yes, Bingman, I AM serious. I didn’t and don’t appreciate the implication that because limor got her account deleted because they “thought” her name was fake now she somehow has higher standards than the rest of us. I notice her name doesn’t use any capitalization, and proper names usually do. Maybe if her name was written Limor Fried instead of limor fried Google wouldn’t have made the mistake? No, I don’t think she needs to use capitals if she doesn’t want to, but it might explain the mistake. Aside from the capitalization, it certainly looks like a real name.
The post originally said “no one else” would follow the rules, but adafruit was held to a “higher standard.” Saying “no one else will follow the rules” is exactly the same as saying “everyone else cheats.” Aside from the fact that the only universally true statement is that all universal statements are false, it’s really both insulting and self-righteous. To make it worse, when I objected to the universal statement that “no one” would follow the rules, instead of saying something like”we know it’s not everyone, we were just frustrated,” they tried to prove the point by saying that “hundreds or thousands” of people who follow limor are using fake names. Neither they nor I can determine exactly which of the names are false, but I spent several hours counting the obviously fake names among her followers and found less than 100 in almost 60,000. G+ has hundreds of millions of users, thousands of fake names represents on the order of less than 1% of users. (Closer to a tenth of a percent.) The best estimate I can find of the total number of G+ users is around 170,000,000; 1% of that is 1,700,000! If only 1% of G+ member are using a fake name, that would be 1.7 MILLION PEOPLE!! “Thousands” just isn’t a lot, no matter how you look at it. If limor’s account alone had 1000 fake names (and it doesn’t appear to) that would still only be less than 2% of her 60,000 followers. Yes, people do cheat, but implying you’re the only one not cheating, or even that you’re one of only a few who are not, is simply not true. The large majority don’t cheat. The fact that adafruit won’t edit the post so it doesn’t reference ANYONE else cheating seems pretty childish, since the number of cheaters at G+ really doesn’t seem abnormally high and a comment about how one isn’t going to cheat even though SOME others are seems unnecessarily smug. That’s what I don’t understand. Why would anyone need to mention what other people are doing at all? Why not just say; “G+ rules dont’ let us do ‘contests, sweepstakes, offers, coupons or other such promotions’ so this is how were going to do it, because we want to follow the rules.”
The rule makes sense. Google is just engaging is a little CYA. You can have a contest. You can talk about it on G+. You can link to it from G+. You can post discount codes (like “enter the code GOOGLOVE when you order to get 5% off” or the like) on G+. You just can’t get your entries from G+ directly or post coupons there directly, because Google doen’t want to be legally responsible in case something goes wrong. I wouldn’t want to be either. It’s really not hard to follow the rule, and while I’ve seen some pages not following it, the VAST majority of them ARE, and they aren’t making a big deal out of the few who aren’t.
thanx !
And a big +1 to you for doing the right thing. 🙂
Why are you sure “no one else is going to stick to the rules?” I’m confused. Do you really believe you are the only people who do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing? Because I believe most people do what is right most of the time.
@spookiewon – previously limor stuck to the rules and google removed her account because they did not believe it was her, using her real name. however, hundreds (and thousands) of profiles are not using real names if you look at any of the followers on her account or the adafruit pages. not a big deal, but it’s really common and adafruit (and limor) are held to a high standard.
we’ve already seen coupons and discounts on pages, so it appears not everyone is sticking the rules already 🙁
however, we said we are going to do our best and will 🙂
I’m a bit confused (it often happens)…I followed the Adafruit Industries page on G+ and it says I’m in your circles too, but for some reason, I don’t see any special link…am I doing something wrong, or has the link not been posted yet, or did I miss it? It’s probably PEBKAC on my part, but just wondered if you could please confirm. Thanks!
@michael kuhl, we haven’t posted the link yet
I guess my point was that you are engaging in hyperbole when you say that “no one” but you will follow the rules. Just for lolz, I scrolled through limor’s circles and adafruit’s circles and it certainly looks to me like the majority of the people ARE using their real names–or at least following what appears to be Google’s policy IN PRACTICE. I suppose, strictly speaking, I’m not using my real name, since I’m using the first name people call me rather than the given name that appears on my birth certificate. (NO ONE calls me Patricia!) By that standard, Larry Page isn’t using HIS real name, either; and neither are MANY Google employees. Certainly there are some people who are not using real names, but in all fairness it’s far from the majority. I’m sorry limon’s name was doubted, but Bill Shatner was banned for using his REAL NAME because Google decided Bill is a brand. Steve Wozniak was banned for spelling HIS real name in mirror image. Was Bill to be prohibited from participating at all because he’s famous? Is Steve misleading people by spelling his name in the same way he has on numerous other social sites? Indeed, Woz isn’t the ONLY Steve Wozniak, and the mirror font was an easy way to know that it WAS really him. And I’ve seen coupons and discounts on G+ too, but the MAJORITY of the G+ “brand pages” ARE following the rules. It’s just not true to say that you’re the only ones, because you’re not.
It just struck as me a little self-righteous when you said, “We’re sure no one else is going to stick to the rules, but we are.” It only makes it worse to follow up to my objections by saying that “adafruit (and limor) are held to a high standard.” Many, many people hold themselves to high standards, not JUST you.
Are you really suggesting that most–which by definition is AT LEAST more than half–of the people who are in limor’s and adafruit’s circles are not using their “real names” and that most–again, AT LEAST more than half–of all “brand pages” on G+are breaking the rules in regards to “contests, sweepstakes, offers, coupons, or other promotions?” Let alone everyone except you, which was your first assertion? Because I looked, and from what I can see, that’s NOT the case.
I stand by my assertion that most people do the right thing, most of the time, and it’s not fair to characterize things otherwise. Are there people who do break the rules? Of course! And there always will be, no matter what. I’m proud that I do the right thing, but it’s not an ACCOMPLISHMENT for me to point to. The world has a right to expect me to do the right thing–that’s only right.
@spookiewon – there are about 60,000 followers for limor – many are using real names but many are not. that’s how it goes, not a big deal – that’s what makes the web an interesting place.
to make it more clear, we’ve updated the post “We’re sure there will be some that will not stick to the rules, but we are. We’re also sure someone would report us if we didn’t stick to the rules.”
to be even more clear – we think most people do the right thing, but many don’t that’s really all we have to say about it. hope it’s more clear now and thanks for posting 🙂
Thank you for changing the post to reflect that you don’t believe that you are the only ones following the rules. I am also following the rules and it hurt to hear you say that nobody but you would. I’m not the only one of your followers who is using her real name and following the rules here at G+, most of us are and we don’t deserve to have our honor disparaged.
Again, thanks.
“we don’t deserve to have our honor disparaged” LOL! Is this lady serious?
est-ce qu’il y a une application iPod Touch comme cela? Is there an iPod Touch App like this? Will be great!
j.
Yes, Bingman, I AM serious. I didn’t and don’t appreciate the implication that because limor got her account deleted because they “thought” her name was fake now she somehow has higher standards than the rest of us. I notice her name doesn’t use any capitalization, and proper names usually do. Maybe if her name was written Limor Fried instead of limor fried Google wouldn’t have made the mistake? No, I don’t think she needs to use capitals if she doesn’t want to, but it might explain the mistake. Aside from the capitalization, it certainly looks like a real name.
The post originally said “no one else” would follow the rules, but adafruit was held to a “higher standard.” Saying “no one else will follow the rules” is exactly the same as saying “everyone else cheats.” Aside from the fact that the only universally true statement is that all universal statements are false, it’s really both insulting and self-righteous. To make it worse, when I objected to the universal statement that “no one” would follow the rules, instead of saying something like”we know it’s not everyone, we were just frustrated,” they tried to prove the point by saying that “hundreds or thousands” of people who follow limor are using fake names. Neither they nor I can determine exactly which of the names are false, but I spent several hours counting the obviously fake names among her followers and found less than 100 in almost 60,000. G+ has hundreds of millions of users, thousands of fake names represents on the order of less than 1% of users. (Closer to a tenth of a percent.) The best estimate I can find of the total number of G+ users is around 170,000,000; 1% of that is 1,700,000! If only 1% of G+ member are using a fake name, that would be 1.7 MILLION PEOPLE!! “Thousands” just isn’t a lot, no matter how you look at it. If limor’s account alone had 1000 fake names (and it doesn’t appear to) that would still only be less than 2% of her 60,000 followers. Yes, people do cheat, but implying you’re the only one not cheating, or even that you’re one of only a few who are not, is simply not true. The large majority don’t cheat. The fact that adafruit won’t edit the post so it doesn’t reference ANYONE else cheating seems pretty childish, since the number of cheaters at G+ really doesn’t seem abnormally high and a comment about how one isn’t going to cheat even though SOME others are seems unnecessarily smug. That’s what I don’t understand. Why would anyone need to mention what other people are doing at all? Why not just say; “G+ rules dont’ let us do ‘contests, sweepstakes, offers, coupons or other such promotions’ so this is how were going to do it, because we want to follow the rules.”
The rule makes sense. Google is just engaging is a little CYA. You can have a contest. You can talk about it on G+. You can link to it from G+. You can post discount codes (like “enter the code GOOGLOVE when you order to get 5% off” or the like) on G+. You just can’t get your entries from G+ directly or post coupons there directly, because Google doen’t want to be legally responsible in case something goes wrong. I wouldn’t want to be either. It’s really not hard to follow the rule, and while I’ve seen some pages not following it, the VAST majority of them ARE, and they aren’t making a big deal out of the few who aren’t.
So, yes, Bingman, yes I am serious.
LoL! “I spent several hours counting the obviously fake names ” – Spookiewon.