Comments on: When TOS isnt TOS

By: ines

ines — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:36:35 +0000

It’s pretty sad – why some people don’t focus that sick energy into something constructive, but even more sad that Twitter is not enforcing their own rules.

iness last blog post..Real Estate Market Reports for Miami Shores, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Fisher Island, Aventura, Biscayne Park and El Portal

By: admin

admin — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:12:49 +0000

We will see what happens. Either way Twitter knows how we feel.

By: Jennifer Stavros

Jennifer Stavros — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:16:08 +0000

Oh, I actually wrote a blog about this issue yesterday. It’s the entry before this most recent one. Again, here’s hoping that Twitter sees the responses here, Get Satisfaction, and other places.

Jennifer Stavross last blog post..One more reason taxidermy seems more & more appealing

By: Jennifer Stavros

Jennifer Stavros — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:13:17 +0000

Great post. I’m really disappointed by Twitter’s lack of action on the matter.. or even some real consideration in a vague way to at least tell us that they’re “looking into the problem.” This guy is a nutjob and an exception to the normal “fan”…
I’m going to watch the posts and hope there’s some progress. If there is anything wanted from me, you can reach me on my blog or my twitter @scandalous.
Perhaps a petition? /shrug sigh

Jennifer Stavross last blog post..One more reason taxidermy seems more & more appealing

By: When does a “fan” become a stalker « I am an Enigma

When does a “fan” become a stalker « I am an Enigma — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:04:15 +0000

[...] about this/these cases can be found here on @Dayngr ’s blog and here on @WiredPig’s site. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)USING THIS SITE – 2Windows RSS PlatformOrange [...]

By: mousewords

mousewords — Sun, 04 May 2008 01:21:40 +0000

There’s always potential for unpleasantness in an online forum, since people are people; but when it turns into abuse and harassment, something needs to be done about it.

Here’s hoping that this experience sets a precedent, and Twitter uses it to clarify and enforce their TOS.

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:26:41 +0000

Yeah except it’s not just their site – it’s ours. We’re the users and we’re their lifeblood. Without users twitter ceases to be relevant.

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:25:37 +0000

Yeah, about that rash…

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Fri, 02 May 2008 03:21:50 +0000

Why are we accepting that? Why are we allowing the sites we promote and use to abuse us and treat us as 2nd class citizens. WE are their lifeblood.

By: links for 2008-05-01 | Technovia

links for 2008-05-01 | Technovia — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:36:46 +0000

[...] Musings of Wired Pig 2.1 | When TOS isnt TOS Twitter seems disinclined to enforce it’s own terms of service – even when its founder acknowledges that harassment has taken place. (tags: evwilliams twitter) Elsewhere… [...]

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:11:34 +0000

I first heard about this guy a few days ago from a reply that @foulbastard posted to him & I thought it was just that account alone he was ranting on, until today when I saw the faves under @mailourmilitary and was surprised to see MULTIPLE accounts from this same guy making harassing statements over and over again. its one thing to have “free speech” and voice your opinion but to go to those lengths is just plain harassment. not to mention it could be considered libel.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter, but It seems twitter is unconcerned with the TOS since it clearly states spamming will result in deletion of your account when we all know the spamming problem is HUGE. not to mention, like the last commenter pointed out, the guy who’s going around adding women and tricking them into following links to show off his junk. why isn’t that considered harassment?

although I wonder how Twitter could possibly enforce these sorts of issues. Couldn’t the person simply create another account regardless of how many get blocked/deleted (which seems to be a problem in this case) ? spammers aren’t usually so persistent as to go through the trouble of creating new accounts if they get blocked but if its truly harassment, these people will go to any lengths it seems.

I really hope twitter finds a solution to this problem, and quickly, since it is our right as twitter users to NOT have to endure this kind of abuse.

Maggies last blog post..MaggieConv: @cmisicka night! I’m heading there soon!

By: Twila Marie

Twila Marie — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:11:00 +0000

Personally, I gave up on Twitter’s POS…er..TOS…policy a long time ago. While I do simply adore Twitter and the friends I have there, Twitter’s admin and support is simply a crock. For example, @foulbastard can be ostracized because of a few breasts women willing contributed, yet other miscreants can send unsolicited pics of his cock to unsuspecting women all over Twitter. When word gets out and the women block him, he simply makes up another nic and keeps right on sendin. Did admin respond to the complaints about that guy? Hell No! I can’t even get a response concerning my lack of email notifications. I’ve contacted them numerous times due to the fact that regardless of my settings, I haven’t seen a notification from Twitter in six months or more. Then you have the this guy….who’s flooding of the public timeline itself would seem to be enough to warrant some action. Let’s face it… they aren’t going to do a damn thing unless enough of the right people start protesting loud enough, and dragging in more voices on top of their own. So PREACH it brothers and sisters!!! Amen and Twitterlujah!

Twila Maries last blog post..The World at My Fingertips

By: admin

admin — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:01:03 +0000

Randy,

Thats a good point. I’m in a quandary though with contradictory clauses in the TOS. I read it one way and someone else can interpret it another.

By: RandyNose

RandyNose — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:43:38 +0000

Glen, I agree with what you’re saying. But in the end, it’s thier site, they are the ones that can decide how they will treat these matters. – True, a public outcry might change things, and yes, we should try to get them to do something. But I don’t know what their business model is, and if they don’t have someone hired to handle these things, it will get brushed off. – I honestly think that the twitter crew is more concerened right now to geting the site working, and not crashing, or locking up. Once there is some money being tossed around, and NOT fixing a problem means a loss of money, then they’re going to pay attention. – But this is only my two cents worth.

By: Sean Marler

Sean Marler — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:12:06 +0000

Of course there is contradiction – it is a legal document designed to protect Twitter.

They can, and probably will correct the contradiction by changing one word:

“Violation of any of these agreements MAY result in the termination of your Twitter.com account”

Additionally, there is a reason reporting issues isn’t straight forward and idiot proof – they currently don’t care. They’ve established that much.

Hopefully that will change, though.

Re: $$$$ <– have you figured out the Twitter revenue model? If so, please share. As far as I can tell, twitter isn’t making money (‘cept maybe in Japan, and that’s not likely) The value in twitter will come from a stable platform and huge user base – someone else will try to monetize it.

Unless abuse spirals out of control, or some blonde chick from Miami makes some noise, this has no immediate impact on $$$.

And, on that note, I’m done here.

I hope they step up. I hope you win the day. I hope the meds make this nasty rash go away.

Sean Marlers last blog post..Often Overlooked, Always More Profitable

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:11:59 +0000

Excellent point!

By: admin

admin — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:08:08 +0000

Sean,

I agree with what you are saying, but Twitter is being vague and contradictory.

Twitter states QUITE CLEARLY right after the Basic Terms that “Violation of any of these agreements WILL RESULT in the termination of your Twitter.com account.” Not MAY, but an emphatic WILL. It is not until, nestled into the General Terms, that Twitter states it MAY.

The Basic Terms are the conditions for your use of their service. Those are the “Twitter Rules” if you will.

Twitter cannot have it both ways. Either it WILL do something, as I read for violations of the Basic Terms or it won’t.

By: GeekMommy

GeekMommy — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:07:32 +0000

He kept adding me because I know you guys… but also possibly because I blocked his primary account ages ago.

Unstable is the nice word to describe his behavior.

By: GeekMommy

GeekMommy — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:03:54 +0000

Um, you actually can block someone who isn’t following you.
I use pre-emptive blocking all the time.
Just click on Block on the bottom of their sidebar.

By: GeekMommy

GeekMommy — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:02:38 +0000

I agree with you – there is more than one harassing troll on twitter, just as there is on the internet… very seldom have I found a site that will actively ban those who use their ‘voices’ to bludgeon others.

I guess I’m just too used to getting no response to be surprised.

I agree that they might as well change the TOS if they’re not going to even bother to pretend to enforce them.

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:46:56 +0000

Todd said it best too “Twitter in their ToS clearly reserves the right not to act. But the good will lost by not acting could easily turn into $$ if another site comes along offering the same thing. There is BrightKite for example.”

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:45:55 +0000

As a Twitter power user it certainly does matter what you think. Your voice counts and Twitter should hear it.

By: admin

admin — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:43:29 +0000

I like the idea. Either with the, funny as hell, Phucktard button or, more likely, flagging it for review by Twitter. The latter seems the most likely to be workable.

Yes having a group gang up and block a user isnt a good thing and I could see that happening. Thats one reason I didn’t put his user ID in the post.

Side note: If you get an error while trying to post a comment, please email me (wiredpig@gmail.com) with the details of the error that you saw and did not allow your post to make it.

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:43:10 +0000

Todd you hit the nail on the head!

By: Dayngr

Dayngr — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:42:26 +0000

Kelly said “This person did not just harass @Dayngr and @MailOurMilitary, he has harassed several of their followers. People that simply converse with Dayngr and/or MailOurMilitary”

That is the part that makes it bad for business for Twitter. As a business owner, I encourage our users to register and actively participate with us on twitter. If they are being attacked and harassed it not only makes twitter look bad, it makes ME look bad. I’m not ok with that and in good faith I can’t refer our users to twitter until twitter makes it right.