They are defending it, because they read TFA and understood, that basically nothing changed.
If you wrote a review or +1ed something, you published it (whether for all, or for some circle). Now this review will show for exactly the same audience alongside the ads for the same product/page/whatever.
This is just a knee-jerk reaction by people who didn't bother to read what it is about, just went straight into "bad Google" mode.
This might be a minor degree of "bad Google," but it still is firmly in the realm of "bad Google."
If you're arguing that this is a tiny sliver in the greater scheme of things, I'll agree with you. If you think this sliver doesn't reflect the larger direction Google is taking (and everything that comes with it), I would disagree.
If you wrote a review or +1ed something, you published it (whether for all, or for some circle). Now this review will show for exactly the same audience alongside the ads for the same product/page/whatever.
This is just a knee-jerk reaction by people who didn't bother to read what it is about, just went straight into "bad Google" mode.