No Thoughts

Once upon a time, Google "wasn't evil." Now it's too big not to be. When a company has this much power—too embedded to boycott, too rich to punish, too essential to regulate—it becomes a monster of itself, mowing down anything that stands in the way of profit.

This year we switch. We know, we know: deGoogling's a chore. But, like cleaning your room, we promise you'll feel much better when it's over. (The difference is, cleaning your room could never, you know, save the world…)

As motivation, we'll be showcasing Google's (staggering) assortment of evil deeds this month. From privacy and data misuse, to environmental and social malfeasance. It's all good (bad).

Today's post asks... Did we ever really choose Google? And when did it get so… gross?:

🎉 200,000 WRITERS 🎉 🎉 2 MILLION STORIES 🎉

Ellipsus just crossed a ginormous milestone - 200,000 of you, and over 2 million docs written (and edited, and argued about, and lovingly obsessed over). 🤯 That’s a lot of words. (How many? What kind? We’ll never know… because we don’t read ‘em. 🔏)

We’re so grateful to every writer who’s found their flow here - everyone who’s conquered the blank page, traded drafts with a friend, found community, catapulted Google Docs into the abyss once and for all, and kept writing because you love it. Because you believe in creating something together, and in proving that real stories still hit harder than the algorithm.

Shit used to be wild, and this is just what I could find that had decent sources, I've heard a lot more horror stories.

The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon 2: the Lord of Dorkstein courts the comely Henry of Swagless.

We’ve seen a number of writers sharing stories about suddenly losing access to their Google Docs today.

It’s still unclear what’s causing this, but if you’re concerned about big tech creeping in creative tools and spaces… you’re definitely not alone. (We’ve written about de-Googling and censorship before.)

You should be able to write freely—without fear of deletion, censorship, or extraction.

All writing should be safe. It should stay yours.

We want to help build a space where writers are in control:

Ownership of your work. No surveillance; no surprise removals.

Sync, share, and collab, without scraping or data-selling.

A writing tool that you know is safe, now and in the future.

Please stay informed. Back up your work. And don't be evil (👀 Google).

Everyone: Please please please don't write your books in Google Docs. Frankly don't use Google Drive for personal stuff.