I think the primary request here is: if the user is multi-signed-in in the content area, and one of the accounts is the Chrome sync account, allow some way of having a different account as the "default" content area account.  So not a request to revert DICE, but simply to be able to control which account acts as "default" for multi-account users.

This seems reasonable to me.  Plenty of people use multi-login to handle work + personal accounts and may have times when they want one or the other to be default.

Just to add that disabling chrome://flags/#account-consistency no longer works as a temporary solution for this issue in Chrome 70.0.3538.16. Also tried fiddling around with chrome://flags/#sync-standalone-transport and chrome://flags/#sync-support-secondary-account to no effect.

Assigning to Eli to provide an explination for the current behavior. 

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate your thoughtful explanation.

We recently made a change to make identity across the browser and the "content area" (i.e. Google web services, such as Gmail or Drive) more consistent. This means that whenever you sign into the content area, you're also signed into Chrome. On the flip side, whenever you sign out of the content area, you're also signed out of Chrome. Furthermore, we decided to make the "default" account at the browser level match the "default" account for Google web services, which is the behavior you're describing.

We made these changes for several reasons. First and foremost, it is a much simpler model for identity for the vast majority of users. Before making this change, we had seen many users with "inconsistent" identity states (where they were signed into the browser and the content with different accounts, or the default accounts were different between the two). We know from previous user research that many users are not intentionally in this state or don't understand how they got into it. This has significant potential downsides (e.g. your Search history is saved to account A, while your Chrome browsing history is saved to account B, which could be unexpected/negatively surprising). By simplifying the system, we eliminated these potentially confusing states, reducing the probability of negative surprises for these users.

Of course, we acknowledge that there are some users (such as yourself) who would prefer to keep separate default accounts in the browser and the content area. We're working on some future-facing projects that will allow more flexibility for "power" users that want to customize their sets of identities (Sabine, I'm re-assigning this bug to you as an FYI as you think about incorporating this feedback into Spaces). And we will take this feedback from you and others into account as we design those projects.

I'm marking this bug as "WontFix" for now, since it's currently working as intended.

One other comment I'll make: you can always use multiple profiles to separate out your different accounts (https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824). That way, you can have one profile where your work account is your default account, and another profile where your personal account is your default/sync account. Hopefully this workaround serves your needs in the near term!

Please at least ensure the flag continues to work until a permanent workaround is available.

I also second the request that you ensure the flag continues to work until a more permanent solution is implemented. I think there are numerous power users who are using this flag to resolve this issue. 

And other users/articles indicate that this issue has resulted in widespread confusion among users who are concerned with privacy. 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-secretly-logs-users-into-chrome-whenever-they-log-into-a-google-site/

I would hope that the devs here can continue to consider the needs of power users and regular users alike. 

Thanks

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/08/disable-the-sign-out-link-between-chrome-gmail-and-other-google-services/

https://news.softpedia.com/news/how-to-disable-the-auto-sign-in-feature-in-google-chrome-69-522856.shtml

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3306838/google/heres-a-way-to-help-protect-your-browser-from-google-chromes-latest-privacy-snafu.html

This is really bad behaviour.
 
1. Usability: I didn't sign into the browser, nor did I consent to be auto-signed. Usability rule: User should always be in control (or at the very least have the manual option to be able to do so). 

2. Privacy: When I'm logged into automatically, all of my actions can be tracked, regardless of what I do with google opt-out cookies and blocking analytics. This is again a UX issue AND a privacy issue.

3. Optics: This is more about branding and optics, but if you insist on going against what your users want while breaking usability rules AND (potentially) reducing privacy, it will come back and haunt you.

Personally I will watch for one X1 iteration of this and then switch back to Mozilla, if it is not fixed. The speed differences are minimal anyway.

I want LESS tracking and MORE control, not the other way around.

I'd imagine I'm in the majority.

Why does the 'chrome://flags/#account-consistency' feature now not work ? 

Why enable a new feature which disrupts 'power users' forcing them to share their data when they don't want to, and then disable another work-around\feasture that protects their privacy, functionality and free choice ? https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/09/how-to-turn-off-the-auto-sign-out-link-in-gmail-and-chrome/

Back to firefox i suppose until someone creates a plugin to get rid of this terrible behavior. 

I agree the flag should work. Been using chrome since it came out in 2008 and this is seriously making me consider switching browsers.

I'll be using another browser until you stop being communist cucks and take away my ability to be in control of what I do. I'm starting to migrate away from Google anyway....whenever a reasonable option comes along to replace one of Google's services, I run to it.

Google, you're stupid. Being a terrible company just because you can only makes a mass exodus all the more likely when a real competitor comes along. RIP Google. Gen-z hates your btw. All you liberal morons are going down!

Please read the Chromium Code of Conduct and make sure that your feedback adheres to those standards (https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).

I'm going to close comment access to this bug, since I've replied to the specific feature request/fix and we will factor it into our future product plans. If you have feedback on a different issue, feel free to file a new bug for anything else. Thank you again for your feedback.