No shit. I was okay with using G+ and really thought it had some great features and potential until Google started getting all fucking dark overlordish about using real names. That was when I drifted away from using it.
But as you mentioned, that bullshit about youtube commenting was insanely stupid. As was their decision to disallow commenting on Google Play without a vaild G+ account.
All that real name/closed environment bullshit was thought up by one very, very insecure person who had little experience (as compared to us older computer users) who did use GEnie, CompuServe, and Delphi for our first internet access and who also used dial-up BBSs back when a modem was an acoustic device you clamped onto a phone's handset.
Fucking google.... Still in mid-air during this shark jump.