[HN Gopher] An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure ...
___________________________________________________________________
An Example of a Sad Google Account Recovery Failure and Its Effects
Author : PrimeMcFly
Score : 33 points
Date : 2023-05-21 21:13 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (lauren.vortex.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (lauren.vortex.com)
| usernew wrote:
| I've said it once, and I've said it again for well over a decade.
| The only google account recovery is creating a new account in 5
| minutes. If doing that does not restore the full extent of the
| purpose for which you were using google's services, you're doing
| it wrong.
|
| Google accounts serve one purpose: if you are trying to use a
| google resource that requires an account. Example: save some
| marked places on google maps.
|
| I can't think of other examples. As the article states, google's
| explanation for their user-hostile policies, is that at their
| scale, there is no other option. The other option is, provide
| services at a scale you can support, and if going larger is not
| affordable, then you are not able to go larger.
|
| Imagine going into a store. You purchase a microwave. You get it
| home, open the box, and in the box is a dead cat. You take it
| back to the store, and there's no one to talk to and no customer
| service desk. You walk back out of the store with your dead cat
| in the box, and when you show the receipt to the guy in the
| store, he accuses you of stealing a microwave because the receipt
| is from yesterday. No, he won't look inside the box, there's
| another customer walking out whose receipt he needs to check.
| Then they ban you from all their stores for trying to steal a
| microwave, because they have you on camera walking.
|
| You write a letter to corporate, and they tell you that at their
| scale, they cannot have a customer service desk, or hire another
| receipt checker.
|
| The thing is, there's actually no real reason to use google for
| anything. You don't need to ban it from your life, you just don't
| use it for anything that needs an account with data you need to
| keep. I use google products for maps and to chromecast to my tv.
| I use it for search. When I get a new machine or browser, that
| account just gets recreated because I don't bother storing their
| password or login name. Like for this site.
| swang wrote:
| I have a very old account that I still use for some email
| forwards to my main account. Even though I can verify all the
| other requirements, since I haven't logged into that account with
| a machine it recognizes that I still have, apparently I will
| never be able to log into the account. Literally nothing can be
| done because google would rather take the easy way to handle
| this.
| chasingthewind wrote:
| I have a similar story with a major ISP. I had their service 20
| years ago but eventually switched to a different provider. They
| let me keep my email address, however, and I set it to auto
| forward to my new address. I have long since lost the ability
| to log into that original account, but it is still happily
| forwarding emails to this very day. They are always scams or
| junk. :P
| dannyphantom wrote:
| I've (slowly) begun to make an archive of all my Google data so
| it will be less-awful should something ever happen. Your story
| scares the crap out of me because I (already) have an account
| that I'll never be able to access again either - c'est la vie
| but it still stinks to know that a large part of my life is
| locked behind a metaphorical prison.
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| You know about Takeout, right?
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2023-05-21 23:00 UTC)