Google+ To Start Cracking Down on Fake Names?

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Google+ looks like it’s about to become a little more authentic…and maybe a little less annoying about the way it gets there.

In a post from Rackspace’s Robert Scoble yesterday on everyone’s favorite quasi-Facebook, he discussed a conversation he’d had with Google VP Vic Gundotra on the subject of identities and Google+:

He says it isn’t about real names. He says he isn’t using his legal name here. He says, instead, it is about having common names and removing people who spell their names in weird ways, like using upside-down characters, or who are using obviously fake names, like “god” or worse.

He says they have made some mistakes while doing the first pass at this and they are learning. He also says the team will change how they communicate with people. IE, let them know what they are doing wrong, etc… He also says they are working on ways to handle pseudonyms, but that will be a while before the team can turn on those features (everyone is working hard on a raft of different things and can’t just react overnight to community needs).

On the plus side, this means that you’ll have a better idea who you’re actually talking to on Google+ in the future, but on the minus side, it means I’ll have to rename myself something more sensible—no more “Lady Gaga McGasmeter” for me.

MORE: Report: Google+ Soaring With Upwards of 20 Million Viewers

Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.