Update #1 on my Google+ suspension. #nymwars
Last Wednesday (5 days ago, 3 business days) I was suspended from Google+ for violating the part of their names policy that states one must use the name they most commonly go by in real life, by using the name I most commonly go by in real life. As I stated in that post when I blogged about it, I selected the button to edit my name, left it untouched, and this then submit my case for review. They state that this review process takes an average of 4 days, and we will continue to be able to use our accounts as per normal while this takes place.
Today I went to +1 someone’s post, and got an error stating “There was a problem performing this action, please try again”. Odd, but not the first time Google+ has acted up on me. Closing the page and re-opening usually fixes it, or restarting my browser. Not this time though, so I thought I’d run a test by posting something to my wall. This time I got a different error.
“Your profile is currently suspended. View profile”.
As you can see from my profile, I last succesfully posted something to my stream yesterday. I have still been getting people adding me to circles on G+ all throughout the day as well. I have not received any emails or notifications to state any changes to my account either through Google+ or through email (spam folders checked as well). My profile cannot be viewed by other accounts either.
Google have just decided out of the blue to change things so that those whose names are under review can no longer use the site as per normal. At least I hope that’s the case as the only other option that comes to mind is that they decided to decline my review and not tell me or provide me with any feedback or options.
Suspended from G+ for name violation. This name, is “Bastard Sheep”. #nymwars
My Google Profile has just been flagged for not complying with the names policy. I was just refreshing my Google+ page and the message shown to the left came up. As you can see, it clearly states that the Google+ names policy is to “use the name that you are commonly referred to in real life”. This name, is “Bastard Sheep”. Read more…
Pseudonymity and social networks.
Those who follow me on Twitter, MyFace and Google+ will know that I have been linking a fair bit recently to news articles and blog posts about Google disabling peoples G+ profiles for doing nothing more than using a pseudonym. There has been a large amount of discussion about it in the media too which I find surprising. I wouldn’t have expected the media to care less about this story. I’m also surprised so many people seem up in arms about it mostly because it’s been MyFace’s policy to only allow real names from the very start. Nobody seemed to give two hoots back when MyFace started, nor do they give two hoots now.
I thought it was about time I threw my two cents in to the mix, as someone who exclusively uses a pseudonym online and actively uses that same pseudonym in real life. There are already plenty of arguments about who is harmed by a “real name” policy, so I suggest you read those instead if that’s what you’re after. Personally, I’ll be tackling some of the main questions and arguments I’ve seen in the last week in support of a “real name” policy, and why these arguments don’t hold water.
Suggested reading before you go on:
Who is harmed by a “Real Name” policy at Geek Feminism (Note: Read the Wiki link they have on this page too)
Infotrope.net – Skud, an ex-google employee’s blog on being kicked off Google+ (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Read more…
Blinkered views halting the equality.
I was on my way in to the office this morning when a friend of mine retweeted this from Mike Stuchbery. The article is from a Doctor in Toowoomba Queensland, and it’s his opinions of gay marriage. It sent me in to a rage, I responded but I’m not sure if any of my replies are going to be approved so I’ve decided to quote the article and my responses here as well. They’re short and designed to be comments on an article, so for the most part there’s no real references.
The article shows very clearly the blinkered views of life and reality that is stopping equality from happening. It is stopping people from seeing their own blindingly obvious bigotry and errors in ways of thinking. I know none of the people who need to read this will, which is a shame really. Read more…
Little Sugar Pills: Why fall for Homeopathy?
After my post last week about #Ten23 many of you may be asking why people fall for homeopathy. Well, one reason is because many people don’t completely understand what homeopathy is, they think it is something that it’s not. There is another reason, lined out quite well in the little video below which was made by Kylie Sturgess of Podblack.com and Token Skeptic. Take a look, and don’t forget to subscribe to her podcast.
Don’t forget about 10:23 this weekend. Sydney is on Sunday the 6th at 9:30am in the Royal Botanic Gardens, we’re meeting at the Opera House entrance. For other locations in Australia check out the Kylie’s website here and for international visit the official site here. 
The #Ten23 campaign, coming to a city near you!
The weekend of February 5th and 6th will showcase the second year of the #Ten23 campaign across the world. It is a campaign with similar goals to World Homeopathy Awareness Week. WHAW seeks to educate the public about what homeopathy is and how it works, and tell people it does work. 10:23 seeks to educate the public about what homeopathy actually is, how it actually works, and its actual efficacy.
The events in Australia are being centrally co-ordinated by Kylie Sturgess at the website for her podcast, The Token Skeptic, with (currently) more cities in Australia being involved than any other country. For more information on what’s happening near you, just keep an eye on that page for updates.
Those overseas, there’s no better site than the official 10:23 website.
Finally, the Sydney #Ten23 event details, being organised by Paul Cageggi, can be found here.
And while you’re checking out sites, vote for me in #NoPants for the Shorty Awards. Sorry, had to.
Read more…
Sydney #NoPants Subway Ride #NPSR
Last weekend I attended the Sydney #NoPants Subway Ride (also on MyFace). For those who don’t know what it is, it was started by the group Improv Everywhere who specialise in flashmobs and as they say on their website “causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places”. You can probably guess what the nopants subway ride is by its name.
Basically, a group of people get together, jump on a subway or train, and remove their pants. Underwear is left on, obviously. To not do so would be illegal in just about every country. Most western nations though, as long as you’re wearing underpants that cover your private areas then it’s no different to people wearing their swimwear and hence it’s perfectly legal. Read more…
The Shorty Awards are HERE! Get nomnomnominating!
As per my previous post, the Shorty Awards are now OPEN for nominations! Time to get voting!
What you need to do:
There’s a few things you need to keep in mind so I’d like to spell them out nice and early if I could.
- Your twitter account MUST be an active one. Any accounts with zero tweets will not be counted, and if too many such accounts are seen voting for someone, that person could end up being disqualified so do NOT create dummy or bot accounts.
- Your nomination/vote MUST have a reason included. Any nominations or votes without a reason will not be counted.
- Create a twitter account and post a few tweets on it. If you’re not sure how to use twitter then following Lucas Randall’s #TAMOz list may be a good place to start.
- Get involved, reply to people, have a conversation.
- Post some nomination tweets in the format of “I nominate (person) for a Shorty Award in (#category) because (reason)” or a shorter version of “#shortyawards (person) #category (reason)”.
- And of course, spread the word on twitter, facebook, blogs, and any other method available to you (even real life!).
You can keep an eye on how things are going here.
Some of my suggestions are:
“I nominate @DrRachie for a Shorty Award in #health because she does such standup work against quacks.”
“I nominate @BastardSheep for a Shorty Award in #NoPants because #NoPants is life!”
“I nominate @BadAstronomer for a Shorty Award in #science because he always brings us such interesting and amazing info.”
“I nominate @GeorgeHrab for a Shorty Award in #entertainment because of his awesome podcast, music and comedy stylings.”
“I nominate @PZMyers for a Shorty Award in #Religion because of his push to use reason instead of it.”
“I nominate @jref for a Shorty Award in #Education because of their promotion of reason in schooling.”
“I nominate @RSPCA for a Shorty Award in #charity because of the awesome work they do for animals.”
“I nominate @nocompulsoryvac for a Shorty Award in #Quacks because of her tireless effort to spread lies about vaccines.”
Of course, you should feel free to nominate who ever you’d like, and remember you actually CAN nominate multiple people in one category.
The Shorty Awards are coming.
Those of you who were around 12 months ago may remember the fun and games that happened during the Shorty Awards. Those of you who weren’t around or don’t remember, I’ll cover that below.
The Shorty’s are only a few weeks away from opening up for nominations, and I’d like to get a jump on that quacks this year so lets start spreading the message already. If you’re interested in helping out Science and Skepticism defeat the quacks, willingly ignorant and blatantly deceptive then please create a Twitter account (if you don’t have one already), get at least a few tweets out there and watch this space ready for the nominations and voting to commence. Read more…
My take on #TwitterJokeTrial.
I woke up this morning to see numerous people I follow on twitter saddened by the verdict that the twitter joke trial would continue on as originally set. This may come as a surprise and a sad thing to many people, but it not a surprise in the least to me. But first, a little background for those who may be unaware of the situation.
Paul Chambers (I am unable to find his twitter name in the three seconds I spent searching for it) was planning on meeting up with a friend, but required a flight to get there. There were delays however due to the weather and his flight was cancelled. That night from a hotel while joking with his friend @crazycolours he sent her the tweet “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!”. The authorities noticed this tweet, tracked it down to Paul Chambers and pressed charges for making a terrorist threat.
Originally he was given a conviction and a rather minor (considering the charges) £1,000 fine, however he chose to appeal this. That appeal happened today. He lost and according to The Guardian has been told his fine has been increased a further £2,000 for the proceedings that have taken place.
From what I’ve gathered so far, his defence relied on convincing the courts that this was a private conversation between himself and @crazycolours. The statements of his were not made publicly or directly to the airport. Also, they were purely said in jest, they were a joke with no actual intention of even considering following through with them. Read more…
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