what’s wrong with google forms…
Sunday, December 18th, 2011 at 12:34 pm by Brian Ales
Google Forms are great: they’re dead simple to build, and they can be accessed on the web via Google and (through the use of <embed> code) any other website as well. Support for email publishing is great, and Google Forms work seamlessly with Google Docs spreadsheets. It’s been my experience that within small and mid-sized businesses that are already using Google Apps, the internal use of Google forms has become routine.
What’s interesting, though, is that you tend to see them being used much less often out there in the wilds of the public internet.
That’s because Google Forms have one major weakness: unlike within the Google Apps ecosystem, public submissions are completely anonymous – so there’s no way check against users submitting multiple responses to the same form. Granted, it’s not an easy technical problem: browser cookies are one option, but users can always delete them. Comparing the IP address of each submission against those of previous submissions? That’s not a perfect solution either: consumer ISPs typically issue dynamic IP addresses, multiple legitimate users could be sharing the same internet connection, and lastly, there are, as always, privacy concerns.
And that’s just the technical side of the issue – from a PR perspective, of course Google has to be very careful about being perceived as being in the business of anything remotely resembling the tracking of users out there on the public web. Still, it’s hard to imagine why Google hasn’t yet implemented a transparent, user opt-in system to prevent multiple public Google Forms submissions (even if it might reduce the number or submissions).
In the meantime, for all the <embed> code and URL access, Google Forms is essentially crippled as a public web service.
OK, so that’s the web – what about Google Forms sent via email to a private finite set of known respondents? Here, the privacy issues (both real and perceived) are much reduced – and technically speaking, identifying data could easily and securely be embedded within the ‘Submit’ link contained within each email – but yet, even privately emailed Google Forms responses are completely anonymous (and therefore uncontrolled) as well. As a result, a Google Forms email survey subject could ‘game the system’ by clicking on the ‘Submit’ link in their single email any number of times.
Conclusion As a public web service, Google Forms has great potential – but addressing the unique/multiple submission issue would involve technical challenges, privacy concerns, and a potential for third party misuse that are clearly beyond Google’s comfort level. As a result, any serious use of Google Forms remains limited to within the Google Apps platform.
Sure, a nod has been made towards the public use of the service (Google URLs, <embed> codes, email distribution) – but it seems that Google’s comfortable with letting Google Forms remain merely a Google Apps value-add.
In the meantime, here’s a completely anonymous (and therefore completely meaningless!) Google Forms survey for you.
Vote early, vote often!


Post your comments »





Previous Entries