LOLING (ALBEIT IN PAIN):

From Yonmei, at feministSF:

I realised in June 2006, when I was kicked off Livejournal by Denise Paolucci (who, ironically, now runs Dreamwidth), that the model that we’re all becoming used to, of social services which are free at first-registration (and sometimes, always free) is one in which we are the product. Facebook and Livejournal and WordPress and Twitter (and Huffington Post and Comment is Free at the Guardian) all look different but they all have the same basic business model: you are providing the means by which the corporation that owns the network attracts viewers to their site. You get to use the service provided for free, for much the same reason as a farmer doesn’t charge chickens for their feed. In 2006 I made a decision that substantially lowered my value as “product”: SixApart banned me and SUP upheld the ban even after they had themselves removed the specific rule I had protested. [Update: In a naked reminder of How This Works, literally while I was composing this post Twitter took away my ability to access their site using their original clean design and I now have only a muddled, confused screen, based on Tweetdeck, which restricts the original functionality but will enable them to push advertising at me more easily.]

Google+, in demanding your credit-card name, simply makes this overt. You are allowed to use their social network for the purpose of making them money: and they no more want us to be able to decide for ourselves how we’ll be used by Google than a farmer wants a flock of independently-minded hens.

brb never joining one of those massive real-name sites ever.