Google finally evil: YouTube account linked; can't separate from email

I was logged in to my Youtube account since a long time ago, and I hadn't signed out, so despite Google's change to "you have to use your Google account to log in", I didn't have to. Which meant that I could log into a different Google account at the same time, in the same browser session.

I tell you, this thing of having to swap between accounts all the time hasn't become any less of a nuisance. There was a period where, for some reason, I was able to use both Gmail and Youtube, with separate accounts, simultaneously, but I guess that was a fluke, and it stopped working...

I got an e-mail letting me know that a You Tube account I haven't used in forever is going to be deleted unless I link it with a Google account. I have until, IIRC, December 15 to do so. Ha ha ha.

You too? I got untill 17th. Oh, and I linked my account to google ages ago. I tried to login the account they gave, it jsut moves to my google account. Insane.

So now, I just created another gmail address for myself (abite with and ending that is not "gmail.com"), but just today, it took me to a form, where I can "add a Gmail to my account, and and my Gmail address will become my primary account username." ???? What's MORE puzzling? IT WON'T LET ME CHECK MY MAIL UNLESS I DO THIS!!! >:

edited 8th Dec '11 6:00:24 AM by Shota

I don't know what you can do now, but if you have other Gmail addresses, you might want to pre-emptively enable IMAP on your other accounts so you can go use e-mail programs with them whenever you need to.

Know what?

GOOGLE NO LONGER ALLOWS EMAIL ADDRESSES THAT DON'T END IN @GMAIL.COM!

I have no idea when this went into effect, but it's annoying, because You Tube does. It becomes a problem when someone starts a second account on You Tube with a different email address tied to it- Google thinks it means there's an incompatible email address and forces you to open an entirely new Gmail account for it!

edited 8th Dec '11 8:24:36 AM by kyun

Are you sure about this? I logged in using my YouTube username and password, and it accepted my username and password without any problems.

I don't know about normal users, but I've seen alumni e-mail addresses for certain colleges using the Gmail system, but retaining their own domain name.

Is anyone having problems playing videos on You Tube? I get an error message on HALF OF THE VIDEOS I TRY TO PLAY, and I KNOW they're perfectly fine because I can play them on other computers!

And now Youtube asks for your full name, and if you refuse, goes all "are you sure you don't want to enter your full name for everyone to know"?

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

Too bad for them, as far as the internet knows, my full name is "Kyler Thatch".

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

I almost feel like bothering to log in again so I can fill out the name field with something rude...

Apparently I was fortuitously prepared for this.

I already normally use Youtube not logged in. This is because I don't use Google account (and by extension, Youtube) cookies on my main browser at all. After my legacy Youtube cookies stopped working, I decided to keep it that way—maybe I can't add Yt comments but such are rare occasions anyway.

Instead I log on via another browser.

So, now, shortly after I start watching a Yt video on that second browser, the video stops and I'm greeted with a a greyed-out screen with an internal popup asking for me to use my real name.

At first, I was like FUUUUUCK YOUUUUU.

Then, I was like, I'll just use Notepad to type, then copy-paste, my comments onto the video, quickly.

What I hate most is that if you refuse to use your real name, Google still tries to get their fill. They ask you why you don't want to use your real name.

And none of the six reasons provided are true for me. But answering any of them will effectively give them additional microtargeting information. And there's no option for "I just don't want to", which I suspect is intentional.

edited 20th Oct '12 7:45:37 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

I went with the padlocked one, which was closer to my "no fucking way I'll put my real name on YT" idea.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

EDIT: That was unnecessarily difficult, but I managed to unlink my youtube account.

edited 20th Oct '12 10:55:05 AM by Boredman

cum

How? Did it NOT involve deletion of either account?

I went into settings on Youtube and clicked "Advanced" under account settings. Then I went to "Change which Google Account is linked to this account". I had to use my phone number to get a verification code, and I kinda struggled around setting up a new Google account, but it finally worked.

cum

...wait...

1. So you basically set up a new account?
2. You had to use your phone? You can't just go and make a new account?

edited 20th Oct '12 12:52:55 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

I really wanna pothole "And That's Terrible" in there just to point out how melodramatic you're being.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

So? As far as You Tube needs to know, my name is Marshal Banana. Or Gary Motherfuckingoak.

Also, I can't say that I've ever been really bothered by the account linking thing.

edited 20th Oct '12 2:04:34 PM by Balmung

You can either use an existing, unlinked Google account, or you can make a new one on the spot.

edited 20th Oct '12 2:23:29 PM by Boredman

cum

You did see the thread title, yes? Declaring the policy discussed in the OP as "evil" kind of requires melodrama in at least one post per forum page.

edited 20th Oct '12 3:50:54 PM by Nohbody

All your safe space are belong to Trump

Very fair point there.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

And now they've changed the youtube layout (again), but only for people with youtube accounts, at least for now.

I don't necessarily mind the new layout except it's LEFT JUSTIFIED and I see no option to center it, leaving me with an annoyingly huge amount of white space on... oh, just the entire right half of my screen.

I may well abandon my YT account if they don't fix this. This may be the last little straw. The annoying details are piling up and starting to outweigh the benefits.