How Google+ Punk'd The Oatmeal 218
ryzvonusef tips this quote from TechCrunch about a tit-for-tat exchange between Google+ and the creator of The Oatmeal webcomic:
"This summer, the artist (Matthew Inman) wrote that Google+ comment threads sound like *crickets*, poking fun at the social network's lack of engagement. He also criticized not being able to 'set up a fancy profile URL so I don't have to link people to http://plus.google.com/blergasdf1234thimbleturdorgasm99meatpoopypoopxv9donkeypie ' — a made-up, ridiculously long string of random characters. ... In retaliation, the Google+ team didn't cite its user growth stats or give an excuse for why there are no custom profile URLs. ... Instead, they just redirected the vanity URL back to The Oatmeal author Matthew Inman's Google+ profile. Congrats, Matt, you've now got 'donkey pie' at the end of your own special Google+ vanity URL."
Re:I still don't get it (Score:5, Informative)
It means someone watches too much awful television and doesn't own a thesaurus.
Re:The reality... (Score:5, Informative)
I know what you mean though, the average internet chatter does make me wonder.
Re:The reality... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The reality... (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, the average IQ is constantly rising - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effect [wikipedia.org]
After reading the very long and very boring Wikipedia page which contained lots of reasons why over a hundred years, Peoples *results* from IQ tests have been higher...everything from Genetics; Good Eating; Learning Stuff. You get to the end...And their is a rather large section titled "Possible end of progression" which basically states that the the Flynn Effect was over as much as 37 years ago, and shows many results showing no change, marginal increases, or a deterioration in IQ scores.
You should really have read the link before posting it.
Re:The reality... (Score:4, Informative)
Actually there's a lot of people on it. I'm not particularly special and I have over 1000 followers myself, with many of my posts generating two or three comments and plusses. That's quite good considering none of these people know me at all.
When I tell people how to use G+, I tell them to use the search bar. People aren't accustomed to being able to Google social interactions, but you can on G+ (so long as they're not private).
So if you're into cars https://plus.google.com/s/cars [google.com] or funny hats https://plus.google.com/s/funny%20hat [google.com] or many things in between https://plus.google.com/s/needlepoint [google.com] ... you can find discussions about those topics, join in, and add the people who are interesting *to you* to your circles for those topics. If they find you interesting back, they may even circle you in return.
You can build great relationships with complete strangers (a lot like on isolated subject forums) and choose what to share with each group, or share publicly for everyone to enjoy.
If I want tor each the average person I went to highschool with, there's still Facebook.
Re:Sour grapes much? (Score:4, Informative)
Ironically Google+ also announced shortened URL availability for verified accounts, which I'm sure the Oatmeal would qualify for.
In the mean time, they did this redirect, and it is quite funny.
They *do* listen (Score:4, Informative)
I suppose that the original post should have included at least two things:
a) Apart from the harmless prank, Google is actually moving towards sane aliases for G+ profiles: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/13/google-plus-custom-url/ [engadget.com]
b) For the impatients, there is a sort of "url shortener" providing the service now: http://iplus.im/ [iplus.im]
Apologies if someone else mentioned this already and I missed it in the discussion.