I, for one, really liked G+.<p>The linux community was very active. So was mostly all kinds of specific DIY discussion forums. Hobbyist & hacking forums too.
For me the visually appealing part was the historical timeline visualization (posts on both L/R around a stem). Some things were done nice.<p>If they had made it optional, and focussed efforts on the good stuff - circles/forums discovery, features like easier Drive integration/video Meetup like instant chat within circles - and probably sent a social message it was for the cool/nerd/l33t folks, it could have made a splash. Instead Vic Gundotra was shoving it down everyone's throat & their Google activity - and given the confusing nature of private/public viewable information on G+, you weren't sure whether some racy stuff you might be watching in your downtime might show up in activity feed. (It did for Google buzz). Many folks were signing out of Google before they did other stuff, because you didn't want your video watch history or similar, show up in your feed.<p>Poor conceptualization killed an otherwise good prospect.