h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>1. Buzz is not active by default unless I go through that set-up process.

Nope, when first introduced it *was* active by default.

>2. If I don't have a google profile, I don't have an active buzz. Or is it a gmail profile?

Nope, Buzz is/was active regardless.
BUT if you don't have a *public* google profile then nothing will be published. If you do have a public profile then buzz was publishing it.

Not a Buzz opinion (yes, I do have it - but with these things I'm a deliberate late adopter: let everyone else learn how to use them and what they're for first).

But I have a Facebook question:

Is there any way I can make a posting visible to only a select group of friends and have it so that they can comment on it? Yes, I can send Messages, but a) commenting relies on everyone using 'Reply All' and b) you don't get the conversation thread in the same format and in the same place as other postings/comments.

Ideas?

Could you make them into a list? I play a maddening game and have tried to only send postings to other sad addicts like me who also play, by making them into a list for that game only.

Lists work for Messages. But I can't see a way to get them to work for Comments.

Is it just me...but I don't find Facebook the most usable of sites. And it's Help Centre is one of those where you have to know the right terminology for what you're trying to do.

Ictoan, I'm talking about how Buzz works now. Is it still active by default? When it first appeared and I clicked on anything it wanted me to go through some kind of setup process (which I didn't do). That seems to have changed.

By active I'm meaning makes me visible to the internet (as opposed to being a piece of sw attached to gmail).

It's not just you. I despair at trying to do anything more complicated than logging in or sending a message to someone. I couldn't even find the help centre for a while, and even then it didn't answer my question (I can't remember it now; I just ignored it and the problem got fixed in the last FB change so I'm happy now).

I always thought of myself as computer savvy - I can install operating systems, sort out networks, use programmes - but use Facebook? It just doesn't seem to help. Mind you, if I spent more than five minutes a week on there it would probably help.

Radio 4 now has programme about Google Buzz - seen as threat

If you can't listen now you can get it again on iPlayer. It's called the Media Show.

Kea, if you use Gmail, buzz is active by default.

There is now a lawsuit about this. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35429782/ns/technology_and_science-security/

az

Nice quote in The Media Show along the lines of BUZZ working fine amongst a bunch of eggheads in a laboratory, but they can't understand that real people lead messy lives, have emotions, etc.

Apparently the Phishing has already began. Scammers are finding Buzz just to their liking.

"Unsure of its ability to successfully roll it out as an independent product, Google must have then decided to force feed Buzz through its Gmail user base of 175 million. Google executives likely reckoned that in a single day Buzz would garner more users than Twitter has been able to in two years after all that celebrity publicity. That really is why Gmail users woke up one day to find their private account details exposed to the public, unannounced and unprepared, because without such default exposure Google executives likely didn’t believe they could deliver a critical user base for Buzz. That’s not “improper testing,” it’s a platform strategy."

http://counternotions.com/2010/02/15/buzzback/

>>Kea, if you use Gmail, buzz is active by default. <<

Count, if I don't have a profile set up, in what ways is Buzz active?

I never set up my google profile, yet I was being followed, and apparently was following someone.

Until I deactivated the damn thing

How very Tal, that you were being followed and following someone...the same person...

How did you deactivate it?

If it's active by default, how come I didn't have any followers and wasn't following anyone?

I have a half-dozen gmail accounts


I was probably following myself...


Yeah, it *is* kinda

I deactivated it by un-following those I was inadvertantly following, and by blocking those who were following me.

Then I turned it off, by clicking the link at the page footer.

Later, when Google apparently collected what wits they still have, and turned on more choices, I chose to deactivate it completely in the gmail settings thingy...




Six times

>>>I updated to Opera 10.50 today. It's fast enough that I can access h2g2.It lost all my bookmarks, notes and preferences from 10.10, though.<<<

That happened the last time you upgraded Opera too B'El. It must be something you're doing (or not doing), I've upgraded and all the settings have imported as usual. Did you get the install shield wizard pop up when you installed? There's a setting there to install as an upgrade and keep all your settings.

Regarding Google Buzz being 'on by default', there's a lot of this going on at the moment. Ebay have done something similar with their photo sharing option. Anyone who uploads a photo of what they're selling is now handing all ownership of reproduction rights for the photo over to Ebay so they can use your photo as a 'stock' catalogue photo for when someone doesn't have one to accompany their item. Like Google, Ebay have also decided that it's perfectly acceptable behaviour to 'assume' people want to agree to this (unless they happen to find the tiny little button on their 'My Ebay' page that lets them switch auto sharing off).

Companies like Google and Ebay should remember the old adage: 'Assume makes an ass out of u and me'