This article by an Xoogler illustrates why things at Google are hard to change.
From the point of view of my own issue, it shows why Google Scholar, with all its unearned academic authority, will never be able to change to be inclusive of trans authors.
https://medium.com/@pravse/the-maze-is-in-the-mouse-980c57cfd61a
If Google had any alternative, a plan better than shutting down Scholar, we would have heard of it by now.
But instead they’ve done nearly nothing for 4 years, they’ve never even responded to the Name Change Policy Working Group, and the one thing they tried (while taking no input from non-Googlers) just outed and deadnamed trans authors _more_.
Here’s an alternative that is ready and not poisoned by Google culture: Internet Archive Scholar. https://scholar.archive.org
They consulted trans authors, including me, on their data update process.
@arborelia Please consider this thread for your valuable work on open aggregation+discovery of the scholarly record, dear @OpenAlex developers 🙏🏽
To catch up on why Google Scholar is a uniquely trans-exclusionary force in academia:
https://scholar.hasfailed.us