Are IT Giants Now a Problem?

[ProJiJi]

«To protect your security, www.google.com will not allow Waterfox to display the page if another site has embedded it.»

Well, that's just a shameless lie. It's NOT "to protect my security", it is to annoy me as much as they can.👎😒

Are we allowed to discuss the idea of posts like this?

I mean, I would very much like to dig deeper into El Heggunte's thoughts on this and another post above, but are we allowed to start that line of questioning here? Or should we take that line of questioning to another sub-forum?

To go one step further here, I have some experience with Google, as in being on the "inside" in a manner of roughly putting it. For example, I helped with some research back when Gmail was first launched. And, no, I never sold an 'Invite' back then.

I think it will be OK to discuss these topics, but in the Off-Topic forum.
When I started to write posts like these some years ago, the Off-Topic forum of Videohelp was visible to members only,
and I believed these complaints and criticisms were worth being indexed by the search engines,

— especially by the false-god.

I am trying to take the advice offered about a new thread.

And let me start with a specific question/example.

Google changed the algorithm for many of their sites back in about the middle of 2024 and I immediately noticed that when I logged out of a GMail account the remove this account option page no longer loaded in English, as it had for quite a few years. My account still loaded in my choice of languages, English, but not that one page. Only that one page. Seemed like all others remained just like usual.

Frankly, I hadn't fussed myself too much with that as I don't have any problem using the Japanese, but about a month ago it hit me that for many, many people who might be traveling around the world in foreign lands, or even just living someplace but can't read the language, they will click on the button to change the language. It wouldn't be too hard for a normal to bright brain to see where that button is, even if they can't read the language it's displayed in.

But why would Google make that sort of change? It didn't make sense, whenever I gave it thought, which wasn't really too often. I'm not even sure if I asked any of our team members about that.

BUT, an idea hit me about a month ago and all those other folks . . . extra clicks. Yes, at least two extra clicks are required on that new Google generated page, if you want to change the language. And you multiply those two extra clicks times thousands of people per day and I'd say that might start adding up to a whole bunch of extra clicks.

Maybe some sharp programmer went to their boss and told her/him she/he knew of an inconspicuous way to generate a few more clicks that could add up and they should try the new style (program it into the new algorithm) and then monitor whether it did generate enough extra clicks to make some difference on some balance sheet.

It is the only idea that makes any sense. I would guess that if that had been a glitch, they would have been told or noticed it themselves and would have fixed it. I am guessing, now, it was intentional.

Yes, in the grand scheme of things in this digital world and this IT business, it isn't such a big deal; but if I am right, it allows a peek into a thought process at one giant in this business.

Some years ago I started to openly complain about the common use of the vocabulary "User" on the old Gmail Help platform, and offered that everyone using the GMail product was a 'Customer' and that sure didn't set well with colleagues and management at Google.

And it has remained very common at many companies to follow this thought process: You are a "User" if you aren't paying out of your pocket for the product, so we can do to you whatever we want when it concerns how we look upon you and how we treat you."

It strikes me that since we first used the 'then' Net at universities and when we really knew we were communicating with another 'human' we have gone into a sort of New Net World where the human aspect (the human sense; the human feeling) has frequently been missing.

[thecoalman]

Maybe some sharp programmer went to their boss and told her/him she/he knew of an inconspicuous way to generate a few more clicks that could add up and they should try the new style (program it into the new algorithm) and then monitor whether it did generate enough extra clicks to make some difference on some balance sheet.

How could Google possibly benefit from extra clicking on control panel age? If anything it's unnecessary load on the servers.

[ProJiJi]

Please excuse my poor explanation and allow me to turn to the image to help. While I have reduced the size of these images and packed the key points to also create a smaller image, I have not added content to change what is shown by Google on each page. I might also add that I don't allow any browser to save anything for me, thus I input account information and passwords myself, and remove that stuff, too.

Here is what Google shows when it is time to enter the password and the reason to show this is to show it is in English. Works the same on all browsers I have used from time-to-time; except I have never used Google's browser, nor Edge.

Image One:
[Attachment 84661 - Click to enlarge]

Next is when it is time to log out:

[Attachment 84662 - Click to enlarge]

Notice that those two are in the King's English. The next image is what Google loads right after I clicked bye-bye:

[Attachment 84663 - Click to enlarge]

The blue arrow points to where I would click to change the language to get what is in the blue box.

I think that third image is showing I am still in the clutches of the Google Kingdom and so any clicks on that Royal Page must in some manner enter into their stats. That is where I get the idea that two extra clicks would occur to change the language; one to get that list of languages, and another when choosing the language you want.

Now why should that program have gone from the choice of language I had set, and it showed me as I went into the account, and allowed me to use while I was in the account, but then hit me with a need to choose a language when I have left my account?

And it has been doing that for about 6 months and on four different browsers.

[thecoalman]

The only time internal clicks are important is on content pages with advertising, at least as far as revenue goes.

When you log out the session will end and you will be treated as anonymous user with new session(at least this is common practice). e.g. if you were at library for example and log out it's not going to use your default settings for next person. Taking a wild guess it thinks you use Japanese for some reason, are you in Japan?

Just tested this on my own account and I get punted to login screen when signing out.

[ProJiJi]

Yes, I reside in Japan; have been living here for decades. But the key point is that for as long as I can remember that was not happening with Google when I signed out of an account; not until about mid-2024, when they made changes to lots of platforms.

As for the calculations, and value thereof, of click counts, that is not a field of study I have engaged in. Of course, I can see the value of clicks on pages that have adverts, but overall product usage reflected in other click counts must be a factor in some way or another, no? And that page that loads to remove a given account is a Google page.

Let me also add, that was just something that came up very recently and it probably isn't that important in the grand scheme of things. There are other, even bigger, aspects of the Google fingerprint on the Net that are certainly much more worrying than that example I highlighted in the first post up there.

For example, I was recently taken aback by Amazon, when they showed me products based on some earlier browsing I had done using the Google search tool. I've only recently started using Amazon because of my medical situation and so I don't have so much experience with that bit of Net work, but I must confess that I was kind of pissed off when I realized that Google was handing such information over to Amazon, because I don't think Google owns Amazon. I reckon that Amazon is paying for that information.

You see, I am an old fart and to me that is simply spying for profit. I have not yet gotten used to that new legal way to spy on people, regardless it being the Net. And it seems that the basic thought process in this 21st Century is I should accept and don't complain because that is just the new style of this new modern world. But I have a thought of my own; where is this legal spying going to go? Just how much are these companies going to be allowed to do? I mean, when will there be miniature drones hovering outside one of my homes that follows me around and sends all the data to some data center? Or maybe technology is so good that these companies can park a camera in orbit that covers a large part of the city and can provide such detail as to do the same thing; record every movement out and about that thousands of people make and keep that data stored away for whatever reason? And if commercial entities are legally allowed to do that, then I suppose all sorts of government agencies are allowed to do it, too? Where is all this going to end? Does anybody even care?