If people are getting locked out a the rate that Google suspends AdSense accounts( as in, 5 seconds after it's made it get suspended for no reason) , it's probably better I'm staying away from it. Unless they start locking people out before hand.

Avoid Google.

Jafo, I fully understand your point of view, and I won't argue it, but Google+ does have a large (20,000,000+) and growing (very rapidly) following at this point. It can be an invaluable help for businesses, and for social purposes. This is just to highlight to people potential drawbacks.

I lost my mail once when I switched ISP. I had Bredbandsbolaget.

Called them and told them I needed my mailaccount. 10min to copy mails and adresses would be enough but nooo....she even explained it such a way like I was a computer newbie!!

Hmm I'm completely politically incorrect AND I got Gmail. Time to worry??

Guess I was really lucky, then. When the same thing happened to me, I talked with a tech who gave me 24 hours to retrieve everything.

I guess it depends who you get.... and if he/she is willing to help or bend rules...

Yes, if Google wants to get the edge over Facebook they need to fix this lockout issue, pronto.

Best regards,
Steven.

Or do like I do with Facebook/MySpace/other social media, avoid it like the plague. I use gmail because I had switched isp's 3 times and was sick of having to update my email address.

Well, I don't use Facebook (or Google+) at all.  But there are some who would use Google+ as long as the TOS aren't too draconian.

Best regards,
Steven.

Doc...the rapid growth matches the methodology of 'gmail's' growth....both were synthetically propagated by the equivalent of viral advertising....this 'invitation' bullshit which gets the first 'user' blindly promoting the service to all his friends/contacts.

It's no different to Pyramid Selling which most parts of the world prohibit.

Reason for it is to con as many people as possible as fast as possible to give the impression the 'service' is indispensable.

It isn't.

It's just another way to datamine the planet for their advertisers.

I'll stick to Facebook.

I'll pass on facebook, and gmail.... i'm minimizing my presence on the web... just too much BS. 

Google can keep Google. I use Scroogle.

No argument.

When considering joining

I set up a dummy google account for my Google+.  If it gets locked out, oh well!  No damage.

But another thing.  IE8 hates gmail since I added Google+.  It did not before, but now it will not open.  I have to open it in Firefox 3.x