Unfortunately, I just mistakenly deleted the banner for the April 2, 2019 closing of Google+.
Does anyone know any way of restoring this banner? I tend to be extremely absent-minded in general, and am afraid that I might mistake the date for some other date and forget to back up my data.
Generally speaking, I have far more important matters to attend to than wasting my time in figuring out how to restore a banner that shouldn't be removable in the first place.
Does anyone know any way of restoring this banner? I tend to be extremely absent-minded in general, and am afraid that I might mistake the date for some other date and forget to back up my data.
Generally speaking, I have far more important matters to attend to than wasting my time in figuring out how to restore a banner that shouldn't be removable in the first place.
Take yellow tape and wrap it around the top of your display. Use a permanent marker to write the message on it.
ReplyDeleteSakari Maaranen Sorry, but I don't have yellow tape. Also, I'm mysophobic, and would rather memorize the date than use such a messy solution. My Mac has a keyboard for a reason.
ReplyDeleteJust now, I discovered a URL for the page referenced by the April 2, 2019, sunset banner: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/9195133 .
ReplyDeleteWhile it may not be possible to restore the banner per se, it is possible to keep a browser/tab pointed to this page.
(Of course, that is no guarantee that the URL cannot also be lost, and this reference not also lost/forgotten.)
support.google.com - Google ヘルプ
Bookmark the page and set a calendar reminder to make sure you've exported anything you want to save by April 1?
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Russell You can use the Internet Archive to archive the page and then point to the IA link of the page.
ReplyDeleteJohn Lewis > You can use the
ReplyDelete> Internet Archive to archive the
> page and then point to the IA
> link of the page.
Thank you. Your suggestion was far more constructive than trying to make fun of a non-shared phobia. I thought that the purpose of this community was for constructive suggestions, not for making fun of a different personality.
Sakari Maaranen please be productive, thanks.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Russell No solution, though I've the same problem.
ReplyDeletePlease submit as feedback.
Just now, I added a bookmark to the URL for the page referenced by the April 2, 2019, sunset banner to a folder on my Firefox bookmark menu. This solution is much cleaner and easier than using a post-it note. (Of course, there is no guarantee that I won't forget the fact that I put it there, but the same could happen for any post-it note as well.)
ReplyDeleteEdward Morbius > Please submit as feedback.
ReplyDeleteDone. Requested that the banner be restored as valuable information using the triple-bar menu in the upper-left-hand corner of Google+.
Benjamin Russell My view is that it should be nondismissable.
ReplyDeleteplus.google.com - Dear Googles: Thank you for the site-closure ButterBar. Please make it non-...
Edward Morbius > My view is
ReplyDelete> that it should be
> nondismissable.
That would be even better.
A active count down because I often lose track of dates would be great
ReplyDeleteEdward Morbius Just now, I tried posting a comment to the relevant post in your collection, but was unable to post because I am not on the list of users added to your permissions list for commenting in your circle.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago, I pinged you with a private message in Google+ requesting that you add me to that list. Have you received that message? (It should be in your list of "Social" notifications (under the middle tab in the latest version, between the "Main" and "Promotions" tabs) in Gmail if you use it.)
Benjamin Russell Right, that is a separate issue.
ReplyDeleteYou're added to the relevant Circle now, though I may be disabling post contents shortly (that won't affect Community posts).
And no, I don't use Gmail.
CA M The countdown feature is actually a key benefit of that bar.
ReplyDeleteCA M https://www.google.com/search?q=days+till+april+1+2019&oq=days+till+april+1+2019&ie=UTF-8
ReplyDeletegoogle.com - days till april 1 2019 - Google Search
(at least for me that displays an active countdown)
ReplyDeleteOK this is weird. I've never dismissed the banner, it was there until this morning. I started my computer again just now and it's gone.
ReplyDeleteIf you access G+ logged out the banner is always there.
ReplyDeleteMy banner bar is also gone when logged in. I have not tried it when logged out.
ReplyDeleteNot really understanding why G+ didn't just go with an April 1st drop dead....because the whole ill-considered mess is surely a bad joke. TNQ
ReplyDeleteTodd Q > Not really
ReplyDelete> understanding why G+ didn't
> just go with an April 1st drop
> dead
Perhaps they thought that an April 1st sunsetting date would be treated as an April Fools' Day joke?
Benjamin Russell Yes, of course. I was speaking ironically.
ReplyDeleteI just spent a few more minutes at my account on MeWe and it only served to intensify my feeling of bereavement at the loss of G+. TNQ
Todd Q > I just spent a few
ReplyDelete> more minutes at my account
> on MeWe and it only served
> to intensify my feeling of
> bereavement at the loss of G+.
Have you tried combining Dreamwidth with pluspora? Over the past few days, I have read a number of sample posts on various alternative social network services, and IMHO it seems that different services seem to have different strengths.
Specifically, Dreamwidth seems to have some interesting posts on candid topics related to art, writing, and popular culture, whereas pluspora seems to have some interesting posts related to technology (at least regarding watches). Friendica posts seem divided by hub, with different hubs having different foci for topics.
Of course, that is just my personal opinion. YMMV. HubZilla (at least GogglePlus), by contrast, seemed to have very convenient features, but not much of a focus of topic in posts overall.
Generally speaking, social network services with very high populations of users seemed to be less focused on particular (especially esoteric) topics; however, that could just be my experience.
Quality and quantity do not necessarily seem to correlate.
Benjamin Russell Blog for publishing / social for discussion is a split I'm considering. Not necessarily Dreamwidth, but same principle.
ReplyDeleteEdward Morbius > Blog for
ReplyDelete> publishing / social for
> discussion is a split I'm
> considering. Not necessarily
> Dreamwidth, but same principle.
Ironically, this strategy is exactly what I tried back in circa 2008-2010, before first using Facebook (and then migrating to Google+), and then abandoned.
Apparently, it works for certain topics, but not for others. In particular, it doesn't seem to work for topics with a very small potential audience.
In 2008, I created a blog to discuss programming language theory at an introductory level: "Monadically Speaking: Adventures in Programming Language Theory" (see https://dekudekuplex.wordpress.com/). The blog discussed primarily functional programming-related topics in the Scheme and Haskell programming languages, but from the perspective of someone who wasn't a researcher. However, most of my blog entries attracted very few comments, most of which seemed to be spam.
In 2010, I created two more blogs. The first one discussed Smalltalk-related topics on Squeak, Open Croquet, and Open Cobalt, and was entitled "Virtually Squeaking: Adventures in Squeak, Croquet, and Open Cobalt" (see https://opencobalt.wordpress.com/). The second one discussed, in Japanese, a certain otaku-related topic, and was entitled 『不思議なエオルゼアの冒険』 ("Mysterious Adventures in Vana'diel") (see https://lalafell.wordpress.com/). However, these two blogs were even less successful than the first.
Eventually, I even rented a server from a Japanese server rental service for a few years and copied my first blog to there; however, most of the comments that I received were spam.
At this point, I simply gave up and migrated to Google+.
According to my experiences, it seemed that most people who read topics in programming language theory were researchers, and that there was essentially almost no audience for people who wished to discuss such a topic, but from an introductory viewpoint.
Conversely, it seemed that most people who read otaku related topics in Japanese were Japanese otaku who, for some reason, didn't seem interested in reading posts written by a bilingual gaijin living in Tokyo.
One reason that I use Dreamwidth is that that service seems to have a relatively high percentage of users who are either writers or artists of some sort who seem to share related interests, at least in otaku related topics. Conversely, it seems that trying to find an audience for programming language theory-related topics at an introductory viewpoint is almost futile.
The only posts that seemed to attract much attention were my English-language posts on category theory, which was a very difficult topic to discuss given the fact that my cramped apartment lacked a dedicated study desk, and that there was no local library open nearby when I was awake during midnight hours.
dekudekuplex.wordpress.com - Monadically Speaking: Adventures in Programming Language Theory
Benjamin Russell writing the blog post is only a third of the effort. It takes the same again to engage with other bloggers. And again to promote across your chosen social media.
ReplyDeleteDiana Studer > It takes the
ReplyDelete> same again to engage with
> other bloggers.
This can be very difficult when everyone else writing on the same topic seems either to be a researcher who discusses at a level that is far above myself, or a beginning student who seems to know nothing about the topic. It seems that very few other people choose a mathematical/scientific/technological topic while being more cut-out for poetry or fiction.
Benjamin Russell True. But a few of us do. I once wrote an ode to photons and several other published poems which exemplify a love for the physical and natural sciences. A small but dedicated audience I'm afraid, lol. TNQ
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Russell needing to reach out to both maths, and poetry, while seeking the few who overlap. Or to make your focus a little wider to reach more people.
ReplyDeleteThere are poetry memes. If ever the meme was your math / sci / tech that would be the place to find your village, your tribe. Todd Q poetry and nature would be a much wider audience.
I blog about gardening - with fynbos - in Cape Town. I haven't found any others within that niche. But I can find scientists blogging about research on fynbos, or conservation. I can find other garden bloggers who share my summer dry mediterranean climate. Or who nurture fynbos in their (unsuitable) climate. If I keep looking maybe one day I will find another in my niche?
Todd Q > I once wrote an ode
ReplyDelete> to photons and several other
> published poems which
> exemplify a love for the
> physical and natural sciences.
> A small but dedicated audience
> I'm afraid, lol.
Fascinating. Yes, that is indeed in the same vein.
Most of the difficulties that I had in trying to find others with similar interests seemed to be a difference in goals. Specifically, it seemed that most of the other users who discussed programming either wanted to use it (as opposed to discuss it) for some practical purpose, or wanted to research it in a graduate program of study (and therefore weren't interested in an introductory-level discussion).
The only occasion on which my interests seemed to match those of my readers was when I discussed introductory-level publications on category theory for the purpose of achieving a deeper understanding of the theoretical basis for the Haskell programming language. However, this topic was very difficult to discuss because it required a quiet place to study on my own terms, which didn't exist either at home or nearby.
Conversely, when I tried to discuss Japanese-language otaku culture topics with Japanese otaku, in most cases, they tended either to ignore or ban me. In particular, I remember one particular case of an author of an anime character bot on Twitter that was set to auto-follow anyone who followed the bot. However, when I attempted to perform role-play with that bot, within a day, I was banned by that bot.
When I then wrote to the owner of that bot, he replied that he periodically checked the list of followers of his bot and removed anyone whose account had posts in English. When I inquired as to the reason, he claimed that English-language posts on Twitter attracted spam. When I then tried to continue the conversation, he simply ignored me.
Since I used my Twitter account, as opposed to my Google+ account, primarily for short, 140-character tweets about otaku subculture in Japanese, I then adopted a policy of writing all of my tweets henceforth in Japanese, and never in English again (unless writing on a business-related topic in a private conversation). This removed the basis for similar claims by Japanese Twitter users; however, I never escaped the feeling that Japanese otaku subculture had a strong undercurrent of xenophobia, which one local Japanese bookstore owner subsequently confirmed in a private conversation (he claimed that he was harassed by Japanese Internet junkies who criticized him every time that he adopted a pro-Western stance on any Japanese otaku related topic).
Although this reaction does not always happen, it does happen with a high enough frequency (roughly 50%) that it greatly reduces my motivation for writing on otaku subculture in Japanese using my real name. However, writing in Japanese using a pen-name does not allow me to claim credit for my posts, which is the purpose of writing them in the first place (unlike, it seems, for most Japanese otaku, who seem to write anonymously merely to discuss a topic, as opposed to claiming credit for authorship of what they write).
In sum: Writing in English on anything but category theory does not seem to attract readers of the same level on the same topic, and writing in Japanese on otaku topics actually seems to annoy many Japanese otaku, who seem to treat any gaijin discussing an otaku topic in Japanese as an unwelcome outsider corrupting a domestic topic.
Alas.
Diana Studer > poetry and
ReplyDelete> nature would be a much
> wider audience.
The issues with writing about poetry and nature, as opposed to poetry and programming or poetry and mathematics, are twofold: 1) My background is principally in computer science, and I have very little specialized knowledge of any natural science, and 2) many faculty and students in computer science seem to have a poorly-hidden prejudice against any topic outside of computer science, mathematics, or electrical engineering.
For example, Professor Eric Mjolsness once said in class, in a session of "Computer Science 223b: Data Structures and Programming Techniques," "I don't know if biology is hard or soft, but it's definitely wet."
This statement might seem neutral at first, but roughly corresponds to the following statement about computer science: "I don't know if computer science is hard or soft, but it's definitely digital."
Some contemplation immediately reveals that no computer science professor or student would be likely to make such a statement. Generally speaking, any statement that claims, "I don't know if subject X is hard or soft ..." reduces to a de facto claim that the subject probably isn't hard, or else the statement would not be made in the first place.
Although I could try to write on, say, poetry and physics without almost any knowledge of physics, first off, I would not know where to begin, and second, I am concerned that some random faculty member or student in computer science might think, "Oh, I see, Benjamin has finally decided that Professor McDermott was right after all, and that he wasn't really 'cut-out' for computer science, so he's finally decided to abandon ship and write about something less abstract."
That is a claim that I definitely do not wish to encourage.
Benjamin Russell I find you fascinating and thank you for your perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe presence of so many unique and diverse, endlessly interesting human minds is one of the attributes that I found so satisfying about G+. I am certain that other platforms offer value in that respect, but oh how I will miss the G+ Rolodex that I have effortlessly collected. TNQ
Todd Q > I find you fascinating
ReplyDelete> and thank you for your
> perspective.
Thank you! Likewise!
> I am certain that other
> platforms offer value in that
> respect, but oh how I will miss
> the G+ Rolodex that I have
> effortlessly collected.
While I can understand your concern, and I can remember feeling similarly a little over a month ago, after having found a number of other users with similar interests on both USENET and Dreamwidth, these days I do not feel so discouraged.
Basically, in my case, there were 2 main needs that urgently needed to be addressed: 1) Find a social network service with like-minded users (found: Dreamwidth), and 2) find a social network service that would allow migration of a programming language community with over 3000 users (found: LifeCloud, which allows automated migration, apparently of the entire community).
Prior to finding solutions that addressed both needs, at one point, I almost became desperate and felt as if I was at wit's end.
One way that I was able to address these concerns was to find posts that described how to find users on Dreamwidth (one recommended using the "Explore -> Latest Things" menu option in that service; this was the option that finally allowed me to find other users, since the search options did not seem very useful).
Afterwards, examination of the "Plexodus FAQ" (see https://social.antefriguserat.de/index.php/FAQ) led to finding a link to the "Established G+ Exodus Communities" page (see https://social.antefriguserat.de/index.php/Established_G%2B_Exodus_Communities), where I found a description of LifeCloud stating, "LifeCloud has a community aspect similar to G+ and is the only platform to offer a public import tool allowing you to quickly import and recreate all your Google+ communities, collections, and posts in minutes."
At this point, I realized that in the worst place, at least I could probably use a combination of Dreamwidth + LifeCloud to survive. Then I stopped panicking.
You might wish to find some beginner articles outlining how best to use your favorite alternative social network service, and to consult the above-mentioned "Established G+ Exodus Communities" page. Those are the pages that helped me. (If you can't find them elsewhere, you might want to search through my main circle, where I have posted a number of such articles, especially on Dreamwidth.)
social.antefriguserat.de - FAQ - PlexodusWiki
Benjamin Russell The discovery problem for blogs -- bloggers finding audiences, audiences finding bloggers, and then finding / encouraging appropriate feedback, is a deep one.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure my approach will solve this, but my strategy will be:
1. Have one canonical home, with a high level of publishing capabilities (that is, formatting, image, and other options which suit my needs).
2. Syndicate content to numerous other channels -- RSS/Atom, bot-fed posts, etc. These may be abstracts or longer selections. The idea is to get circulation for the post.
3. Actively seek out and engage with others who are working in related areas. This is something I've been doing on an ongoing basis already, largely by email, but also through blog comments and the like. Finding like minds and cultivating relationships seems key.
This is more-or-less what I did on G+ also: finding others writing on topics of interest and commenting on their posts / re-sharing their content. Making clear you're interested in genuine mutual exchange helps.
It's not fast, but it's fairly durable.
4. Keep pumping out quality content, on a reasonably consistent basis. This does not mean "3 posts/day" or "3 posts/week" or any other set schedule (though a post a month helps to keep you in the general consciousness). The real key is that posts be relevant to those interested in the topic. Deliver payoff to interest, don't tease, don't post crap.
Sometimes you are the world's resident expert in some obscure field. Relish that.
(Often you aren't.)
5. Keep in mind that incentives for publishing vary widely. Many academics do face publish-or-perish pressures. Many cranks simply want attention. And there are those who have the freedom to research and write simply for the goal of gaining and spreading knowledge. That last is rare, but tends to be the sweet spot for me.
6. Assessing quality of complex and obscure topics and writings takes time. Sometimes lifetimes.
Someone just showed me a screen cap (real or fake) the notifications bell opened and an alert that it would be going away in early March.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else sees this let me know.
Benjamin Russell
ReplyDelete> This can be very difficult when everyone else writing on the same topic seems either to be a researcher who discusses at a level that is far above myself, or a beginning student who seems to know nothing about the topic.
> It seems that very few other people choose a mathematical/scientific/technological topic while being more cut-out for poetry or fiction.
Though, one way to improve your own knowledge of a topic is to try to explain it in simple terms to less-versed people. Subreddits such as ELI5 (Explain Like I'm Five) are built on this concept.
While it at first might not seem like it would help your own understanding of the subject as it feels like you're dumping it down, being able to explain a complex subject at varying levels of experience can be a very valuable skill, and perhaps forces you to do more research yourself to be able to fully grasp the subject.
Besides, helping beginners become more advanced students would also mean you'll eventually have more people to discuss things at your level with.
reddit.com - r/explainlikeimfive
John Lewis I'd posted an active thread, and this appears to be true, though the notification of it is ... ambiguous.
ReplyDeleteYes Mr Jingles is counting down his last month till he retires.
ReplyDeleteEdward Morbius I am wary of syndication. For a commonorgarden blog like mine, syndication drifts to link dumping, to quote Damian Farnsworth when he was on G+ for Copyblogger.
ReplyDeleteSyndication, without engagement at those far flung points, can be Standing on Your Soapbox and Shouting, and wondering why the audience skirts around you to Next Please.
I wonder about the effect of unengaged syndication, with spam comments, reducing traffic on G+?
None of the above applies to you, Edward, since you obviously have an audience who seek out your thoughtful content.
But I have learnt to plan out promoting my latest blog posts till the next one is published. If the algorithm hides my first attempt, maybe the second one will be seen?
Diana Studer if I look at my wife's Norwegian blog about garden/indoors plant help, who is far better and more prolific at blogging than I am, then part of the interaction comes from other bloggers with the same interest, commenting on each other's posts, and competing for the most clicks on curated blog lists. There seems to be a sort of unwritten rule that if a fellow blogger comments on one of your posts, you leave one on theirs. Fortunately these comments tend to be more insightful than the typical 'I love your photo' circlejerk/egostroke / positive echo-chamber comments left on Instagram (or Allpoetry, when I still frequented that site).
ReplyDeleteFilip H.F. Slagter I started blogging with Blotanical, where gaming for most clicks antagonised many. Maybe three quarters of my comments come from people I met there, almost ten years ago. We remember Camelot days of blogging - there I had both kind techie support and engagement from my first floundering post. Gratitude for that means I pay it forward when I come across new blogs.
ReplyDeleteComment back yes, but not spammy tit for tat.