That being said, there's an important note that wasn't communicated in the email since it was sent to (paid offering) admins: consumer (non-paid) users who have Web and App Activity disabled will have their Workspace search history setting _also_ disabled as part of the migration. That's because we recognize a user who has turned Web and App Activity off explicitly likely won't feel the need to benefit from Workspace search history either.
That's a very elaborate way to say "because we don't want to".
I remember, as a youngster, a Google advertisement that was in the form of a math quizz. One of the questions was about how many colors are needed to paint the sides of an icosahedron. The next question was: "which colors would you choose? Why?" I was utterly fascinated by the, so far unknown, company that wrote this funny ad that appealed so personally to me!
Twenty years later, the mouth of Google uses wooden language with terms like "product experience". This is not only useless, but also sad and stupid. Damn, Google, what the hell happened to you? Your ass used to be beautiful!
Managing an application for 4B ppl is not something to sneeze at. There's a lot of different user profiles involved, and it's difficult to keep all of them happy.
This seems reasonable for new customers, maybe? but for existing customers this is pretty heavy handed.
I get that you want users to experience the benefits of this feature, but I personally would prefer to be informed of the feature and its value, and guided to opt in. I’d prefer to make that choice. Especially considering the potential downsides of accidentally preserving all of one’s search history.
Just because your company has a product named Android, doesn't mean you _need_ to talk like one, you know.
> That being said, there's an important note that wasn't communicated in the email since it was sent to (paid offering) admins: consumer (non-paid) users who have Web and App Activity disabled will have their Workspace search history setting _also_ disabled as part of the migration. That's because we recognize a user who has turned Web and App Activity off explicitly likely won't feel the need to benefit from Workspace search history either
This is actually (at a first read) GOOD news for individuals' privacy, and you bury it like this? I know there many be a bonus or two on the line here, but what the hell, you almost didn't get the message across. Please communicate like humans, at least as long as you still have humans as an audience.
Do users have the ability to disable the setting when they receive the first e-mail, or do they have to wait until the setting is enabled then go back and disable it?
Are the users being notified, or just the admins? (The e-mail in the pastebin sounds like it went only to admins).
Will users be reminded when the setting changed, or is that left to the admin/do they have to remember that and disable it once the change happened?
Why is this? The company should have control over how employees use the company assets.
The proper way to do this is:
Admin level:
- default to off
- options
- enable
- disable
- allow the user to set this
- default to off
- default to onObviously bad for business when 90% of your revenue is from ads.
Then make a case for them to turn it on, don’t use a dark pattern.
> Great question
This is exactly how politicians (or whoever is doing something nasty) will start the answer on sensitive question. Shady business.
Would you mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html? Note these guidelines:
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
"Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine."
Some background on why this is particularly important in this sort of thread:
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
That’s also true of most people who aren’t doing something nasty.
P(doing something nasty | "Great question") > P(doing something nasty)Another content here says that they'd say "great question" genuinely, which I don't doubt. And that's the problem, fakers have hijacked such phrases and mannerisms.
I also suspect it's a mannerism that's more common in some nations than others. In the US, conversations often seem overly polite to me e.g. the infamous "have a nice day", particularly in corporate settings. There's nothing exactly _wrong_ with that, it just comes across to me as insincere sometimes. I'd rather have an honest conversation, which can of course still be polite, while avoiding apparent insincerity. Cultural differences are subtle and profound! :)
Hmm.... thinking aloud... I don't speak Japanese, but if I could, I wonder if I'd find their famously uber-polite business-speak mannerisms jarring too?
It's also how people will answer bad or a bit silly questions, and then try to turn it into a great question by rooting around in it and pulling something great out so as not to hurt people's feelings. Because of the whole there are no stupid questions thing. (just listing other reasons why people answer with Great Question, not insinuating anything here)
It is also how someone might be expected to reply to a Great Question.
You are drawing the product manager for this website feature(!) up to be some sort of corrupt politician or big tech conspiracy mastermind. Really absurd.