Twitter, Role-Playing and Twitter Jail
This post is written from the point of view of the leader of a role playing group on Twitter, but it can easily apply to anyone is using Twitter and who has experienced Twitter Jail.
Before I start, let me say that I fully understand that Twitter is a free service and that they have every right to set whatever limits they feel are necessary.
With that being said, I – and others, from what I have seen and read – feel that the hourly limits that have been placed on members are doing nothing but irritating the very members that make up the majority of faithful Twitter users.
Why?
- The limit seems to be arbitrary. People have been placed in Twitter Jail for as little as 8 tweets. Time outs last anywhere from an hour to a day.
- There is no warning. You do not get any type of countdown saying that you have X number of tweets left. You simply try to send an update and you are locked out.
- There is no response from Twitter Support or Corporate. I have seen numerous postings saying that they have requested help and the only answer they are getting – if any – is a link to the TOS (which doesn’t help). This does not do anything to ease the frustration or to help prevent it from happening in the future – there is no clarification.
If Twitter wants to have a profitable business, that begins with keeping the users happy.
What I am asking you to do:
- Please ReTweet this tweet: “Help get issues with Twitter Jail fixed! http://tinyurl.com/twitterjail #plzfixtwitterjail”. Let other people know about the problem and that they are not alone in their frustration.
- Please respectfully pass along this petition to @ev and @biz as an @reply using copy and paste: “Please fix the issues with Twitter Jail. http://tinyurl.com/twitterjail #plzfixtwitterjail”
And, if you are one of our followers and a player disappears in mid-scene, please be patient – they’ll be back in an hour….or two….or three….
EDITED TO ADD:
This has now interrupted several important scenes with our RP group (and others). With no warning, one player simply drops out, then must notify the others of his/her incarceration. Those, in turn, must send out tweets that the player is in Twitter Jail and will now be absent.
At the very least, can we have some sort of warning? (i.e. “You have 5 tweets left”) This would, at least, let us prepare our followers and plan accordingly.
I suppose they do this to try to avoid Twitter’s failures we’ve seen lately…. But… by doing that, they may have made impossible role play in Twitter.
We should make them understand that. And as added result, TwitterFic makes no sense any longer.
Role Playing is one of the entertainment factors related to twitter. Every other twitter use is being interrupted in volume. Sense needs to be made of this issue to make it move consistently for all who use the service.
With the unfortunate rise of TwitterJail other problems will arise, and eventually should it not be addressed, many of us will take our attention n focus elsewhere.
ohmygod how long has this twitter jail been going on? im worried i twitter alot…if i get sent once im quitting forever!
Understand!! Sometimes it is good, b/c I talk too much. But if Twitter is going to be great…Allow us to learn from our failure’s and give rest a break. There are great folks on Twitter. Let whom have made you big, all your clients, socialize. I see nothing but greatness in Twitter’s future. Twitter has created something no one else thought about. Do what you must, b/c I can not say why only you can. The mistakes companies do is, commercialize which most of the time fails. I see Twitter as the future. If you have a great product, Tweeple will come. Tks Kathleen
…i am in jail
TWITTER MAKES ME RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAGE WHEN THEY TRY TO MAKE TWITTER ALL THINGS TO ALL PEEPS! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR! >:( WHY SHOULD THEY ALLOW PORNBOTS TO TWEET ALL DAY LONG YET RESTRICT THOSE OF US IN THE “CREATIVE TWEETING BUSINESS”? IT’S NOT FAIR I TELLS YA! ARRRRRRRRRRRGH!
Haven’t run into Twitterjail yet, thankfully. I’m sure this was setup for the bots, and the role players are the dolphins caught in the tuna net. They aren’t the problem, so it seems unfair to punish them, too. I’m not auctally a role player, but I have interacted with them and found them polite and respectful. Of course if they aren’t, no one will play with them, right?
I’ve noticed several have setup “backup” sites to jump to when cut off.
By the way, I had a question about the follow limit and emailed here with problem: support@twitter.zendesk.com It took a couple of days, but they did get back to me. Maybe if they get enough complaints. Be polite, remember they have created a “monster” and they are trying to control it. Still it’s not a good reason to punish the innocent.
I use Twitter for both RPing and personal (chat room features I guess) and well, I hit TwitterJail up to 10 times a time.
It’s incredibly frustrating, and as you say, it’s not that I don’t understand why they have limited API’s, it that they don’t warn you when it is getting close to kick off time. Maybe they could fix this? Maybe I’m delirious…
Also, Twitter clients are royal pain in the ass ~~ they eat up API’s and seeing as how most experienced Twitter uses use a client such as Twatdeck, we all suffer API munchies…
I’ve been in twitter jail for 3 days!!! When will I get out? This is so annyoing!!