G+: Should I stay or should I go?

[firecat]

From here: https://plus.google.com/107625304798786970122/posts/cz6fCZDM5SV

Now that Google has clarified the name policy for Google+ I'm trying to decide whether to maintain a Google+ account. Do you have an opinion?

ETA: This is the clarification:
http://www.google.com/support/+/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1228271

ETA2: I'm not using my legal name on G+. I'm using Firecat Stef.

I'm not worried about having my account suspended because (a) I'm not influential enough for Google to bother about me, and (b) I don't use Google's other services in ways that would be broken if this account's G+ access were suspended.

(I use Google Reader, which is affected if my profile is suspended or private, but my tests have suggested that it's only affected in the sense that I can't "share" stuff or +1 stuff, which is fine. I don't use Picasa or Buzz.)

Reasons to leave

Google+ is not designed for people like me. " The name that commonly identifies you" doesn't apply to me. I have several names; they all commonly identify me, and I insist on choosing which ones I use in which fields.

The name rules are patronizing and controlling. I don't cotton to being patronized and controlled. I don't want to add value to a social networking service that patronizes and controls its users.

If I'm not sure whether my profile will be suspended, I'm unlikely to post anything particularly interesting.

Since I don't want Google to have more private data about me than it already has, I'm unlikely to post anything particularly interesting anyway.

I already try to follow far more information sources than I can keep up with.

Reasons to stay

I like the interface. I seem more inclined to interact with this interface than with Facebook's interface.

I like that I am learning more about some of my friends who are posting different stuff here than I've seen them post elsewhere.

I like some of the political discussions I'm seeing.

Comments

[piranha]

yeah, all of the above. i haven't written anything on G+ yet because i found out about the "real" name policy the day after i signed up, and that stopped me. i've been planning to get away from gmail anyway, and i can live entirely without picasaweb, and use google docs only because i share docs with a few other people and it seemed the best way at the time; but we could move them into email easily enough; we don't need to edit them often.

but now they clarified, so that's no longer a small reason to stay.

i have few spoons for fighting the google machine, but i am leaning towards leaving, followed by a paper letter telling them exactly why, politely. because no matter what people i know write there, i already don't have enough energy to follow all the sources now; i need another one like i need to out my legal name on the web so my toxic birth family and stalker can find me. how're they gonna check for that anyway? who's to say i'm not "john p. smith" if i sign up with that? nobody asked me for a copy of my passport. it's a stupid, narrow-minded, unenforceable policy.

google has moved into my "temporarily evil" list. seems no large corporation remains good for long.