#I. did not realize people don't all think of gdocs as specifically cloud storage/possibly public. that's terrifying

[just7frogsinapeoplesuit]

If anyone needs a little push to do their work anywhere else: what "cloud storage" means, inherently, is that your stuff is being stored on someone else's computer and you have no control over whether it gets accidentally (or purposefully) shared or deleted.

Do not ever write/upload anything you don't want to be public, and always keep a backup on a device you own. Google does not care if your novel vanishes because of a server glitch or if someone hacks in and sees the tax forms you sent yourself on Drive last year. They will thank you for letting them mine you for data and move on.

begging people to stop using google docs to write your smut and start using LibreOffice.

Its free, its open source, it doesn't datamine your shit, and it doesn't use fucking AI for autocorrect. (Although you may need to manually update the dictionary occasionally for spellcheck)