Twitter should at least send a notification suspension, as well as a tracking code possibly, for both parties benefits, twitter and the app.
*Reason*: My app was suspended, for something perfectly harmless, and was re-granted permission the next day, but it took a few communications with twitter to resolve. This is only going to continue to become more and more frequent. I would hate to envision a team of a few people having to follow up on app suspensions w/o reference. On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 6:15 AM, Dewald Pretorius <[email protected]> wrote: > The argument of, "Clearly defining rules helps the spammers because > then they know exactly how to stay just within the boundaries," holds > _absolutely no_ water. > > Imagine you own an ice rink. You draw a circle with a radius of 2 > meters on the ice, and make the rule that it's okay to skate inside > the circle, and not okay to skate outside the circle. > > If someone skates right at the edge, at 1.999 meters, all the time, it > _does not matter_ because you have decided that it is okay and > acceptable to skate there. > > The same goes with Twitter rules. Make the rules very granular and > very clear. Then, if someone skates just within the fringes, _it does > not matter_ because they are still within what you deem acceptable. > > And, then _everyone_ knows where is the line between good and bad > application behavior, because then it is a fence and not a broad gray > smudge. > > Most app developers are _not_ "the enemy" and most app developers will > be more than happy to not develop or to disable features that violate > the rules. > > If only we can understand the rules. > > On Feb 15, 12:04 am, PJB <[email protected]> wrote: > > +1 to what Dewald says. > > > > We are purposely NOT developing certain features for fear that Twitter > > may suddenly change their rules once again. Is this the sort of > > business environment that Twitter wishes to foster? > > > > We had assumed that, at the very least, applications would be > > contacted before any sort of action on Twitter's behalf. But > > apparently not. And apparently this push for OAuth integration is > > simply a means to more easily cut-off access to certain apps. > > > > Ugly. > > > > On Feb 14, 4:30 pm, Dewald Pretorius <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I attempted to make clear that my issue was not with the guilt or > > > innocence of GoTwitr. > > > > > It's with the message being sent to all of us when no communication > > > accompanies a suspension. > > > > > I'm going to beat the dead horse yet again. With vague and nebulous > > > rules, nobody knows for certain what is allowed and what is not. > > > > > Twitter invite people to build businesses using their system and API. > > > By providing the platform, extending the invitation, and making the > > > rules, they are also assuming a responsibility. > > > > > It is a grave concern that one's business can be terminated by Twitter > > > with no warning and no explanation, based on some rule that nobody > > > knows for certain exactly what it entails. It would have been a > > > slightly different situation had their rules been as clearly defined > > > as Facebook's rules, but they're not, with intention. > > > > > Take follower churn for example. Do I churn followers if I unfollow > > > ten people in a day, and follow five others? Or do I only churn if I > > > unfollow a hundred? Or is it two hundred? Or, wait, is the number > > > immaterial while my intention puts me in violation or not? If so, how > > > is my intention discerned? > > > > > Take duplicate content for example. If I tweet "Happy New Year!" every > > > January 1st, is that duplicate content? What about "Good morning > > > tweeps!" every morning? Will my personal and business accounts be > > > suspended if I tweet, "Can't wait for the iPad!" from the same IP > > > address at roughly the same time? What if I did what Guy Kawasaki > > > recommended athttp://bit.ly/jkSA1andtweeted the same text four > > > times a day, will my account be suspended? > > > > > These are question my users ask me, and I don't have an answer for > > > them. > > > > > On Feb 14, 6:51 pm, Tim Haines <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Dewald, > > > > > > Try looking in the google cache. I'm surprised it was allowed to > live for > > > > as long as it did. > http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:o2N2KuZsuYgJ:www.gotwitr.com/+go... > > > > > > It was basically a spam enabler. > > > > > > T. > > > > > > On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 11:27 AM, Dewald Pretorius <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > I cannot comment on what Jim's site did or didn't do, since he has > > > > > pulled all descriptive information from the site. > > > > > > > Nevertheless, it is highly disturbing that applications are being > > > > > suspended without any notice. This particular site seems to have > had a > > > > > contact form, plus it was OAuth, so the owner could have been > > > > > contacted via the email address on file for the Twitter user that > owns > > > > > the application. > > > > > > > Yes, some apps do stuff that warrant suspension. But, to just > suspend > > > > > an app with no communication is bad. > > > > > > > If Twitter don't want to give some sites the opportunity to correct > > > > > transgressive behavior (I know they do communicate in some cases), > at > > > > > the very least send an email to the owner with, "Your service has > been > > > > > suspended because...", and give a clear path and instructions on > how > > > > > the situation can be remedied as soon as possible. > > > > > > > I'm going to say it again, Twitter: Your rules are vague and > nebulous. > > > > > Not everyone understands and interprets the rules the way you do > > > > > internally. > > > > > > > You must realize that actions like these sometimes shout so loud > that > > > > > we cannot hear when you say, "We care about our developers." > > > > > > > Rightly or wrongly, here's a developer who has lost face with his > user > > > > > base, and has been in the dark for 4 days now. The message it sends > to > > > > > us, the other developers, is a very bad message. If you properly > > > > > communicated with Jim, he probably wouldn't even have posted about > it > > > > > here. > > > > > > > On Feb 14, 3:56 pm, Jim Fulford <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Hello, I need some help. 4 days ago I started getting emails > from my > > > > > > users that they could not login to our site using the Oauth > service. > > > > > > I checked my site and it said my application had been suspended. > I > > > > > > did not get any email from Twitter, they just deactivated my > > > > > > application so nothing works. I have sent in two support > tickets, but > > > > > > gotten no response. 2 days ago, I took my site > downwww.gotwitr.com > > > > > > so that I would stop getting support email from my users. > > > > > > > > I have had this site up for 5 months, and I have over 5000 users > have > > > > > > used the service. I am so glad that I have never charged for the > > > > > > service, this would be a nightmare. > > > > > > > > If they would let me know what our site, or one of our users did > to > > > > > > get banned, we would be glad to fix it. We have tried to make > our > > > > > > site as Twitter API friendly as possible. > > > > > > > > We are 100% Oauth, we have never saved or requested any users > > > > > > passwords. > > > > > > We only let our users hit the Twitter API 1000 times in a 24 hour > > > > > > period > > > > > > We have all of our tools that follow or unfollow use individual > user > > > > > > verification, (no mass follow or unfollow) > > > > > > > > An email with the issue would have been great. > > > > > > > > Not getting a response in the last 4 days that my site has been > down > > > > > > is really not acceptable! > > > > > > > > Thanks >
