[madeofpalk]

The intention of the feature is that it will have an impact - that's usually the main goal of features.

Just because something has an impact doesn't mean it is enforcement.

Trust me when I say Google isn't going to throw you in the gulag for putting a word in whatever design doc you're writing.

[dogman144]

I didn't imply GOOG was setting up gulags, but I will refer to my early comment in response - it's either naive or bad faith to say that network effects from dominant players do not lead to enforcement in everything but name, and that the scope of concerns from engineers and the products they build should stop at "well, its just a feature." Algorithmic news feeds on social media was just a feature too.

Enforcements, mandates, suggestions, impacts, governances, features - spitting hairs semantically on the overall issue that tech "features" shape areas that tech and its product owners have no business shaping/influencing/impacting/enforcing but still do anyway, let alone even understand, and the downstream ramifications are significant.

They get away with it partially via enablers like your view which minimize the dynamic to local examples that open up framing the counterpoint as something absurd - yes, Google's gulags aren't built yet.

Edit - to put at least one impact of tech like this another way, it's not Google that puts a user in a gulag. It's the coworker of the user who notices a phrase the coworker also typed, was caught by Google, and the coworker corrected - why didn't that user also change it? All these second order effects were doubtlessly considered by that Google product team, I'm sure? Putting aside my original point that Google doesn't even belong in this space by a mile.

[camdat]

If I were to argue that AAVE speakers should not be forced to see red squiggly lines when their spelling doesn't conform to "standard" spelling, using the same argument you make above ("A coworker might ask why they didn't correct a supposed misspelling") would you agree that a spell-checker is racist/inappropriate?

[ryandrake]

You’re all still talking about a tiny squiggly line (that can be turned off), right?