daveh75 said:
If you have/had G+ then its because you created a profile.
Are they trying to 'encourage' people to create one, by various means? Absolutely. But it isn't foist on you, at least for the moment...
Actually I've just gone through the motions of opening a new Gmail account to check this. It automatically sets up a Google+ account. It prompts for a photo to be uploaded with an innocuous "this is how you will appear" prompt, but doesn't say "we will plaster your image every time you comment on something, and possibly use your image to target adverts to your circles contacts". Google are abusing their gmail dominance to package google+ to people who don't really want it. I wonder have they fully considered the competition/antitrust ramifications...
The account is there, and you can ignore it or deactivate it, rather than it being something that you should be given an opportunity to opt in to.
daveh75 said:
dealing with the trolling problems (as well as more data points) and YouTube is going the same way.
There are other way to deal with trolling. I post here as Big Aura. If I'm some sort of cyber bully or troll, you can complain to WHF and they'll warn me or delete my account. I appreciate that publishing under ones own name will serve as a disincentive to be a troll, but setting up a default system where my picture and real name appear next to everything leaves the poster exposed.
If you're a pretty teenage girl, it will alert web creeps to your existance/appearance and possibly elevate the risk of being a target. If I had to publish everything under my real name and photo on here, I probably wouldn't bother.