*I WAS WRONG*

After getting into a HUGE discussion last month on the evils of shutting off your +1 sharing (and the self-centeredness of asking others to do the same), I've changed my mind. 

Yes, I have. And I'm going to share why.

My original argument was based on the perception of being responsible for your own feed, and not demanding that others change their behavior to fit your perception of what should or should not be in your feed. The Author of the post where I got in the big argument called us all "selfish" and told us that "we need to not think that we're all that, that our stupid little post is important"

That's still an asinine rationale, by the way, and one I reject. You should still be responsible for maintaining (through circle management and volume sliders) what shows up in your main feed. 

But I realize that there are valid reasons to limit or eliminate the automated +1 resharing that The Googs is doing on your behalf that have nothing to do with being considerate of others, and everything to do with managing your 'public face' on Google Plus

When you click +1 on any post, there is a chance that your +1 will be selected (based on a Super Sekrit Google Algorithm) to appear in other people's Streams, with a "So and So +1ed this Post" tag above it, like this:
http://i.imgur.com/iaGMxoR.png

And so when you +1 something, (in this case, it was lovely-but-NRSFW content), it can still pop up in the middle of other people's streams – people who you may have (or who may have you) circled for very different reasons. 

Who, exactly, it may show up for as a "So and So +1ed this post" is a bit of a mystery. The only safe presumption when you +1 something is that it will be blasted out to not only everyone who has you circled, but everyone who might see their G+ stream.

Sure, maybe everyone who has you circled might appreciate your "+1 gift" of a pretty girl in a filmy top on a lovely beach at sunset, but then again, they (or their boss, or wife, or husband, or 10 year old) may not think it's particularly awesome.

So, that's the first reason for my change of heart. +1s are now de facto reshares to EVERYONE, and that defeats the original purpose of the +1 being a statement of "Dear Author, I appreciate/approve of this content/message, but not so much that I would reshare it, and I don't really have anything insightful or funny to say about it, either. So…Thanks for sharing this? I guess?"

The second reason for my change of heart?

I've seen a huge increase in the number of "So and So +1ed this Post" that are
"So and So  +1ed this Post" 
– "Such and Such reshared this post"
– – "Borderline Racist Joke of the Day posted"
or  
"So and So  +1ed this Post" 
– "Such and Such reshared this post"
– – "Yet Another Macro Flower Or Breathtaking Landscape Picture posted"

And there's no additional content attached.
No insight, no reason WHY you've +1ed it, or reshared it, no discussion in the comments, just mindless semi-automated resharing of the same crap over and over, all day long, with the same "beautiful", "breathtaking", or "lol" comments from dozens and dozens of people one after another… 

The worst part is that I've engaged a couple people on the subject in the last month, and have discovered that they were not aware that their +1s were being randomly shared out to people who have them circled

There are two ways to deal with this "feature".
1) Choose Reshare over +1 – and be mindful of what you +1, knowing that it'll be reshared indiscriminately.

 * Good (hell, any) circle management means you can reshare questionable content to specific people (like me) who you know are cool with it and have taken some steps to put a wall up between "Teh Boobies" and "Teh Coworkers" and to not share it with other people where that would maybe be A Bad Thing, like family, or co-workers.
 * It makes your reshares intentional, rather than automated, making a bigger statement about your desire to actually reshare the content, rather than having arbitrary +1s reshared on your behalf.

2) Go into your settings and limit your +1 resharing to specific circles, or elect to disable your +1 sharing entirely.
 * This has the (not-insignificant) downside of choking out any and all +1 automated reshares, including The Cool Stuff. The upside being that you can +1 to your heart's content, and only the people active on that post will know.

To do this:
Select your Google Profile Picture at the top right of this page -> Account -> Google+ -> Apps and Activites -> Google Tab -> +1's on posts activity -> Only You (or 'Custom', and select specific circles).

Hope that helps!

P.S. If you have a look at my profile, you'll see my circle management method. I have my +1s limited to (only) my +1ers circle – People who have +1ed my content (and specifically not my reshared content) in the past.
It's some kind of +1 fest all up in there!