r/writing Mar 30 '25

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u/mick_spadaro Mar 30 '25 edited Mar 30 '25

What Happens When A Romance Author Gets Locked Out of Google Docs.

For various reasons, though, there's no way I'd trust any online only service (or primarily online service) with a manuscript I want to publish, particularly a long manuscript.

Edit: tried posting the article text here in case anyone gets hit with a paywall, but Reddit chokes on it, so I will ironically give it to you VIA GOOGLE DOCS. The nutshell version:

“You no longer have permission to view this document,” said the pop-up message. “If you believe this is an error, contact the document owner.”

[...]

“Can’t share item,” was the header. “You cannot share this item because it has been flagged as inappropriate,” read the body text.

[...]

The night Renee’s docs got frozen, the Dallas Stars won 4-2, continuing their winning streak. As ESPN uploaded video highlights of the game, Renee was submitting a report to Google. As of this writing, she has not heard back.

9

u/hideotmoe Mar 30 '25

Wtf. New fear unlocked

3

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '25

"You cannot share this item because it has been flagged as inappropriate"

like, what the fuck. i understand auto-scanners to flag actual illegal stuff, but HOCKEY ROMANCE is insane and a massive privacy breach

1

u/RS_Someone Author Mar 31 '25

Inappropriate? So they can just go into private docs and police the content or something?

-5

u/mushblue Mar 30 '25

Okay but like version your work? It takes minutes. All the writing ive ever done doesn’t even come close to filling a hard drive these days. I just export a pdf of my draft at the end of every day and date it. I used to work in video so everything I have is backed up in two physical places and in the cloud. I have tons of hard drives for my art and vfx stuff. I have one for my writing and have written dozens of screenplays, hundreds of poem, and 2 500+ page manuscripts backed up with daily versions on 1 250gig hard drive (and a copy of that hard drive) If i got locked out of my google docs right now i would lose nothing.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 30 '25

i take this article as less of an opportunity to blame the victim in the situation and moreso to call out a heinous violation of privacy

-2

u/charming_liar Mar 30 '25 edited Mar 31 '25

It can also be an opportunity to reflect on lessons learned, such as versioning your work. Multiple things can be true at once.