fossBytes reports
Just for a single day, Gmail users were able to choose 'drop the mic' during email conversations.
"Simply reply to any email using the new 'Send + Mic Drop' button. Everyone will get your message, but that's the last you'll ever hear about it. Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won't see it."
If you used this feature, you could find the [replies] in [the] 'all mail' tab, but they would remain absent from the typical notifications. As a result, many people easily missed their mails.
Google [thought up] this prank to give you some kind of relief. If you felt [you were] being unnecessarily [...] tagged in an email, [you could say] goodbye to that email thread forever.
But, according to the claims made by a writer called Allan Pashby, he ended up losing his job, as he sent an email with [the] mic drop GIF to his boss. Pushy wasn't so lucky and his boss took offence and fired him with an angry voice mail.
The placement of the button could be held responsible for this backlash, as it sat directly next to the default Send button.
"Accidentally hit this new 'mic drop' button halfway through composing a professional email. Dying to remove this thing", wrote one user on Google's product forum.
Another user wrote, "This is horrible--just sent an email to a client with this stupid icon on it. I can't afford these stupid pranks!"
Considering the fact that it was April Fool's Day, many of these claims could be fake. However, keeping in [...] mind the possibility of some outrage, Google has removed the feature from Gmail:
"Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. ?? Due to a bug, the MicDrop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We're truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page."
Previously: Google April Fool's Gmail Button Sparks Backlash.
Related Stories
BBC News reports:
Google has removed an April Fool's Gmail button, which sent a comical animation to recipients, after reports of people getting into trouble at work. The button appeared beside Gmail's normal send button and allowed users to shut down an email thread by sending a gif of a Minion dropping a microphone. However, a flurry of complaints about the button appeared on Google's forums. The firm has since withdrawn the feature and apologised.
[...] The button was not enabled on the Gmail accounts of enterprise business customers. "Thanks to MicDrop I just lost my job," claimed one user on Google's product forums. "I am a writer and had a deadline to meet. I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her. I inadvertently sent the email using the MicDrop send button." Another complained that they had been having interviews for a job with a company for three months and then accidentally sent a mic drop email to the HR department.
(Score: 5, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:22AM
Why does this need to be posted/discussed again?
The prev time it already had mentions of "troubles because of stupid prank", what's new? Another blogger to increase the traffic to his site?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Tuesday April 05 2016, @02:22PM
I'm kind of glad to see it again because I'd like people to scrutinize these claims a bit more, now that the furor has died down, so we can see if people were lying or exaggerating.
Rest assured regarding the blogger's site - I did not RTFA.
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 06 2016, @12:33AM
because THEY TOOK OUR JORBS
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:31AM
In the social media era, tolerance doesn't exist. Every issue is a polarizing issue. You either like or dislike, friend or unfriend. You better hope everything you do earns a like, or your boss will unfriend you and then you're fired.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by q.kontinuum on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:49AM
I ignore a lot of stuff on the internet, don't feel that polarized at all... Maybe it's not the internet but you? Or your personal bias-bubble?
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:55AM
Your personal bias is to ignore stuff that feels polarized, and you don't feel polarized? I WONDER WHY.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:51AM
Case in point.
sign of the times (Score:-1, Troll)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05, @02:31AM (#327450)
In the social media era, tolerance doesn't exist. Every issue is a polarizing issue. You either like or dislike, friend or unfriend. You better hope everything you do earns a like, or your boss will unfriend you and then you're fired.
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Tuesday April 05 2016, @08:53AM
Well, if you actually take it serious to be modded "Troll" by one stranger, than yes. In that case, Internet is a violent, totally polarized place full of online terrorists [for you and probably a bunch of others]. For me it's not :-) (Although I do appreciate a positive rating once in a while, and when I keep being modded down at some point it would make me think.) As the saying goes, "if someone calls you a fool, laugh at him. If two different people call you a fool, think about it. If many people call you a fool, better start looking for a nice green patch."
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday April 05 2016, @05:25PM
Nah, they must've just hit the wrong button by mistake.
--MIC DROP--
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:34AM
I fail to see how this isn't a dupe. It's not really any different from the previous story, and I don't see why it needs to be discussed again. Also, Slashdot posted this four days ago. It sure seems like SoylentNews scours Slashdot (who is already behind on posting news) for stories, then posts them a day or two later.
The real problem here is why anyone expects Google, who is known for pranks, constantly trying to be funny with logo changes, and frequently discontinuing widely used services, to produce products suitable for use in professional environments. Microsoft wouldn't play pranks in Office 365 and wouldn't do things that cause workers to lose their jobs. If you want something that's cute and funny, Google might be the way to go. If you want to get work done and be professional, you'll need to use Microsoft products. If there's any justice in this world, businesses and professionals will switch away from Google products and migrate to Microsoft software.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:39AM
use Microsoft products
Dislike! Dislike! Mod down -1000
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @07:03AM
SoylentNews news is greener than the green site's news. In fact, it's made with 100% recycled content. Every byte is good for the planet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrv78nG9R04 [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @07:09AM
"Microsoft wouldn't play pranks in Office 365 and wouldn't do things that cause workers to lose their jobs."
vs.
"Black Monday: Office 365 down and out in Europe"
/article.pl?sid=16/02/23/0139240 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday April 05 2016, @07:16AM
For sure millions were lost, but... nobody lost his job.
Now... that's professionalism!
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday April 05 2016, @09:38AM
My first thought was, "we need multiple burn units here". Second, no employer penalizes employees because a computer or information system breaks and work could not be performed. Unless, they're in IT, in which case it can go either way depending on how well they remember the Problem Solving Flowchart [buzzfeed.com].
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 05 2016, @07:11AM
FTFY - because nothing speaks better the bosses' language than a PowerPoint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday April 05 2016, @05:25PM
Have you ever actually tried to use Oo's or Lo's spreadsheet? It's nearly completely worthless. If you need a spreadsheet, you need Microsoft. But I agree, NOBODY needs PowerPoint. IMO the horrible open source spreadsheets are what keeps open source out of most offices.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 05 2016, @10:00PM
Yes and was satisfied completely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by PocketSizeSUn on Wednesday April 06 2016, @06:49AM
Boggle.
What prey tell do you do with these spreadsheets that only Excel can do?
For the record I don't use these Microsoft thingies so what I am missing out on?
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Wednesday April 06 2016, @07:39AM
Embedding them into PowerPoint.
I wish I was joking.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday April 12 2016, @08:08PM
Importing a text file as a delimited table, for one.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by PocketSizeSUn on Wednesday April 13 2016, @08:14PM
Well now that is complete horse pucky. LibreOffice does an excellent job of dealing with CSV files. I use *that* feature all the time.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday April 15 2016, @05:35PM
Haven't tried Lo's spreadsheet, the word processor is almost identical to Oo. Does Lo understand other delimiters, like space, dash, or tab?
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by tibman on Tuesday April 05 2016, @02:09PM
Yeah, "professional". Office 365 has more outages than the 10 year old server running in my closet. And my cat keeps sticking her paws into the fans and stopping them.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @07:13AM
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @07:30AM
You're getting older and your mouth isn't quite as moist around the big boss cock as it used to be.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @09:46AM
I didn't know I was being filmed. They sent it out on Gmail. My boss received it. He fired me. They've invaded my privacy and ruined my career. I'm suing for $45 million in compensatory damages and $55 million for emotional distress.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bitstream on Tuesday April 05 2016, @12:27PM
Run your own mail software?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @01:30PM
And let's for the sake of argument "assume" it is not financially feasible option...
Gmail is a service people in business setting subscribe to (like my company for example), and as a professional service it should not be fiddled with for no good damn reason. Sorry but in this case Google has got no leg to stand on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @02:52PM
Except, of course, that Google didn't "fiddle" with the business accounts, so they do have a leg to stand on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 05 2016, @03:20PM
Not only does Pashby lose his job, but also he gets called “pushy” on Soylent News. Truly, there is no justice.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Tuesday April 05 2016, @06:13PM
Seriously, have these people never had problems with e-mail before?
They have never had one of their messages automatically deleted as spam before it reached the recipient? They never had an overloaded server send their message days later? They have never had someone "send" them a message but it went to someone else's slightly different address instead?
Do they really send something of absolute utmost importance without getting some kind of acknowledgment back?
Anyone who thinks technology is always 100% infallible is a complete and total moron. And probably an MBA too.
(Score: 1) by cyberthanasis on Wednesday April 06 2016, @06:05AM
Yeah, right.