In which she won't even read posts on Google Plus

[zeborah]

Firstly and most importantly, the thing where they're privileging people who have, or who are willing and able to pretend to have, WASPonyms. Other people have explained why Google's choice here is problematic. Yet others have pointed out that Google has no legal obligation to do otherwise, which I don't dispute. But regardless of legality, barring the most vulnerable in our societ[y|ies] from your service is an evil action, and is possibly even more evil if you pay lip service to welcoming them but nevertheless make it too dangerous for them to actually join.

Secondly, if I've followed a link to view a Google Plus entry and I want to scroll down to read the rest of the conversation, pressing the spacebar does nothing. (In case you've never used it, the spacebar effectively provides a "next screen" function on just about every other website out there on the entire interwebs. I've been using it since all I had was Usenet.) Instead I have to

• press Function-PageDown (an extra key and using weaker fingers) or
• use the scrollbar (lots of wrist movement to get the mouse into the right position) or
• dictate commands to my voice recognition software (which just crashed three times while trying to launch and on the fourth attempt took so long I fell asleep while waiting for it to succeed)

-- in short, this bizarre disfunctionality cripples my ability to read anything on their site. I don't know if this is a general accessibility problem or just me, so I won't call it evil -- but it's damnedly annoying.

If anyone knows somewhere I can copy this information to Google themselves I shall do so; I've given up searching myself.

Comments

[irinarempt.pip.verisignlabs.com]

I do read posts on Google Plus when someone points me to them (and use the PgDn key, which fortunately works on my computer without a function key) but I don't want an account, though I have a bland enough name that they'll probably believe it rather than wanting to see my government-issued ID showing a different name altogether. It's the principle of the thing.

[cyphomandra]

I had no idea the spacebar worked like that! (tries it out again) Very exciting.

Yes, I've been following the Google Plus thing, and it's gone from being something I'm not all that interested in to something I am actively avoiding, due to this bizarre behaviour over names that they don't think sound real enough. I do use Gmail, but have been looking at GoogleDocs for a work group thing and now will explore other alternatives.

[green_knight]

I'm on G+ as Green Knight and will hang around as long as I'm allowed to - so far, nobody has complained, I have a circle (or several) of friends who talk to me, and I want to make a non-disruptive, pseudonymous contribution that can be pointed to as 'see? This person isn't harming anyone.'

The 'but they aren't obliged to' argument bothers me. I wish I had a name for it, because I encounter it from time to time - it's a combination of siding with the people who have just hurt you or your friends and who you are complaining about, of shifting the argument to a 'rational' ground (they're not legally obliged, they have the right to choose who to do business with, they have a right to determine what is a sin in their eyes).

The 'space bar' thing on the other hand puzzles me, since it works in Safari 5 - it's not a function of websites, but of the browser. But the principle applies - on my slow connection, the 'add this person' widget is the last to load which means it almost never loads, which means I can't add people through it, and I cannot post (can post from iPhone) because that, too, is a widget needing more bandwidth than I can afford to buy right now. So people with old computers and slow connections are cut off from it. Through my tech support work I know that in both Germany and Switzerland there are *a lot* of rural areas not covered by broadband, and all these people are left behind.

This isn't new. The search engine interface Google presents to the world failed to display in Safari 2 as well; and most websites these days are so dependent on javascript or advanced css features that an old computer with an old browser does not stand a chance.

And yes, I see it as a problem, and not only because I happen to own an old computer right now.

[zeborah]

The 'space bar' thing on the other hand puzzles me, since it works in
Safari 5 - it's not a function of websites, but of the browser.

And I now discover it works on Firefox at work (Windows) but not at home (Mac). Strange. And still unforgiveable. Web designers should know better.

[laughingrat]

Why am I not surprised to hear that their interface isn't accessible, on top of everything else? :(