Twitter Says Suspended, You Tweet Too Much
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It's the end of one type of twitter era for me after two years, three weeks and three+ days. Gone are the multiple listed people tweets for my primary interests #GoPackGo Packers fans and #WritersWednesday (authors and writers) and the first basic twitter tradition I ever learned #FF for #FollowFriday which now includes #FollowSaturday through #FollowThursday. (I was using --> Follow Friday Helper ~ I will continue to use it as a resource to see who shows up there for however long it may or may not last.) <---- December 9, 2012 UPDATE ~ I'm sad to report that Follow Friday Helper has now closed for good. I want to thank their developers for always being a trustworthy application for me to have used.
I can be suspended and permanently revoked by Twitter, THEY told me so on Thursday, November 1st, 2012. Twitter briefly suspended me for too many @replies and @mentions. Twitter gave me the opportunity to be immediately unsuspended if I checked boxed two oath swearings not to do it again. Of course the only link they sent to refer to in all this is --->
What Are @replies and @mentions?
I didn't think at the very time, nor do I know how to take a photographic page shot to have it available to show you. Some verbiage, observations and personal conclusions (opinions) I need to relate to you by my own memory.
There was some suspension verbiage on how annoying to others too many @replies and @mentions are. ~ Since I very first asked and received the answer for "What is #FF?" ~ I've long been a supporter and consummate tweeter of the 'then' tradition of rallying folks together on whatever subject it would be, particularly #FollowFriday. It was an opportunity to call out names and thereby hopefully promote the twitter accounts of other human beings. It was my capacity or ability to at the very least send out that 'wee hello'. My conclusion is that since that word "annoying" even exists there is possibility I was reported aliken to being a 'spammer.'
Another word used in the suspension verbiage was unsolicited ~ used in the context as in sending out tweets, mentions, even replies to others that they did not specifically ask me to either generate or respond to. My conclusion was two fold, the first fold was 'confusion' ( HUH ???????) and the second fold was that "unsolicited" verbiage also indicated a possibility of having been reported aliken to being a 'spammer'.
The "CAPTCHAs" ~ of significant note, on the two check box oath swearings not to do it again, it used a CAPTCHA (where you must type two words to prove you are a human being). I think it was two times after being re-instated (unsuspended) signing into direct twitter "type the two words" ~ CAPTCHA came up again. My conclusion was actually a question to myself, "Am I such a prolific tweeter, Twitter absolutely believes me to be an automated account?" (The 'twittervine' has often said Twitter is not at all fond of automated accounts, see Automation Rules and Best Practices.)
Putting myself in Twitter's shoes for a moment ~ For several months now, I've realized the exponential growth of Twitter accounts and the sheer volume of particularly #FollowFriday has got to be mightily stressing on their technical platform. So rattling around in my brain for these months is could I find a better way to reach folks besides the multiple listed people tweets. I came to no possible solution. Now I have no choice but to adapt and find a better way to tweet.
The 'twittervine' has often said Twitter is not fond of users using any third party applications either. You can reference some of this to @3DogsWhite Unsuspended and that which happens when people authorize untrustworthy third parties in Update Twitter Scams.
MY MAIN CONCERNS ~ I just had a twitter friend who went through the same thing. They got the too many @replies and @mentions as I did. The next week they did not do #FF or #FollowFriday. The week following after they replied to the all the #FF they had received leaving all the multiple names in with their reply ~ they were again suspended for another six days during which they appealed and felt relieved and lucky to get their twitter account activated again.
This means that I too cannot reply to your multiple listed tweets or be suspended yet again and/or permanently revoked. I have no choice but to ignore or shun these tweets, your tweets, that you were kind enough to include me in. For now, I ask, "PLEASE FORGIVE ME, these are my circumstances."
I don't have a clue what Twitter's vision of what Twitter wants twitter to be and/or do? I can't "share their vision" as an account user if it is unknown to me.
Another main concern ~ NOW ~ there does not exist a specifically stated formula or amount from Twitter for me to gauge what are too many @replies or @mentions so that I don't meet the 'too many' mark or 'exceed' it at any given time. I'm totally at the 'mercy' of Twitter Administration. I only know I have to stay completely away from multiple listing of tweeps. I also don't know if I now reply with RT (retweet) vs. simply hit the RT (retweet) button will it count to Twitter as @reply? I just have to take it for granted that it will and sparingly RT (retweet with reply) without knowing what the Twitter Administration parameters are. Basically every time I tweet, I am tweeting in the dark.
Just so you know ~ while I am now one 'rah rah cheerleader down' ~ I am not a vengeful person. If you are still able to 'rah rah tweet rally' the tweeps from your account, I won't be hitting any report button on you. I am not angry with Twitter Administration in writing this blog. I just want you to be aware and informed of what my experience is/has been in case it would happen to you.
I'm not fully sure of how to adapt myself to all of this. My brain doesn't process as quickly or efficiently as it used to. However, if you see me tweet out at any time, please feel welcome to respond. Consider yourself solicited and welcomed to do so.
MY FINAL CONCLUSION ~ I do repeat myself. Twitter owns twitter. Everything is at their discretion and only their discretion. As an account user, I am but a guest in their Twitterverse.
So far today, at the least I am still @grammakaye on Twitter. Please feel free to leave a comment.
Hi Kaye, Had a similar accounting of your incident & tryed to narrow down what they wanted by contacting the twitter Gods but they were as vague as a shadow. Have changed up the usage but still multi list, just 1 or 2 times in a day, same group of tweeps. Will see how that goes. Yep, we are at their party & Howling is a privilege. @FSBull :)#GoPackers :)Woofya
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting me know this. I can't remember the exact words of the two check box oath swearings except about 'not doing it again.' ~ So you see it doesn't really say, I might be allowed to multi list one or two times in a day or that I won't be allowed to do that. Simply says 'not doing it again' (don't do it at all or whoever is on duty or in-charge can immediately suspend ~ the literal translation??). I take it this to mean, however it all works ~ Twitter Aministration is going to be keeping 'eyes on' me.
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Obviously, I am not of greatly intelligent technical knowledge, I still write some of these things down as best I know them to inform others. Thanks for your visit and comment! ~ Kaye
Thanks for this, Ms. Kaye. Been meaning to read this for a while now. "Unsolicited reply"? What? There's a reply button there for a reason. Who has time - or space out of 140ch - to solicit replies or indicate that you wouldn't mind them?
ReplyDeleteAnd, you're right. It would be helpful to know what constitutes "too much" this or that.
I suppose if the day comes when they all leave their building and turn out the lights, we'd be left in a kind of Twitter phantom-limb zone in cyberspace - for a while. Something else would have come along and we'd have forgotten about all this. Guess we just make use of it and enjoy it as much as we can without sweating the small stuff. And, it's all small stuff.
You know what, though, had it not been for Twitter... ;)
Muahh!
Yeppers, met the NICEST people on twitter like (((YOU)))! I've recently made a few tweets out and replies to three or four people MAX (getting brave again.) but I stay away from the #ff format these days.
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Speaking of MAXIMUM ~ I put in 2-12 hours every week on the #ff type formats. I did pick up some 'time' and I am blogging more now. Not all such a baaaaad thing.
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"Unsolicited reply" ~ clueless, don't know this to be 'the truth' but I've often wondered if instead of like "blocking me out" ~ if some celebrity or football player (I know blasphemy) ~ that I may have annoyed someway and they reported it. I do know that 'celebrities' have some twitter privileges that we 'ordinaries' do not.
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"Breaking the rules" ~ who the hey wants to be called out all the time for 'breaking the rules' when to begin with, all of that became a 'tradition' to BUILD Twitter and the use of Twitter. It is just so ironic to me that Twitter if it 'has a vision' doesn't make it a shared vision, until they decide arbitrarily someone has 'broken the rules' and then informs them of such.
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This is not to take away from my solid admission that I was then a prolific tweeter of that specific type format. I'm not a 'high tech' genius, just so much 'I don't get.' #LUVYA ~ Kaye
I started a new account and it seems with new accounts the limit is lower. You have no followers so a tweet with no replies or mentinos is seen by ZERO people. I sent 3 tweet with a @. 3! and I was suspended. All hand written and not sent with any software. How are you supposed to talk to people with a new account when after three tweets you are suspended?
ReplyDeleteI think you are quite correct about this. I know my @3DogsWhite account was suspended when it was just (brain freeze) couple, three weeks old. Only we were using Follow Friday Helper web site when it happened. I'm hearing/seeing lil bit here and there on Twitter that is reflecting what you just said in the comment. Whole lot of changing going on, it's hard to keep up with and the only time you actually KNOW you are in someway 'not in the graces of Twitter Admin' is when you get suspended. Sigh! Thank you for taking your time to come here, read and graciously leave me a comment. Very appreciated, and possibly helpful to those who come and read this at a later date. ~ Kaye
DeleteI found this in an attempt to get some answers, because the same thing just happened to me! Yikes! When I saw my follower count dip from 3,010 to 0, you can imagine my horror! I have no idea what Twitter is trying to achieve with this. I've always believed that one of the main reasons for Twitter is the @reply feature.
ReplyDeleteHow else are we supposed to interact with other users? Are we just supposed to Tweet into a vacuum, never expecting to get any feedback? If so, why not just type 140 characters into a Word Doc and get the same results? Yeesh. As a content producer, I wasn't thrilled to find out that my audience is actually being discouraged from reaching out to me when they find something I've shared interesting. Glad I'm not the only one!
Thank you Lana. How nice for you to come, read, and reply...I know all of this is helping those who come to read at a later time and/or date? I sure don't know 'the right questions' to ask or how to discern what 'good answers' are to this situation. At least here, we can discuss it somewhat and 'leave written tracks' for others to follow. No, we are not alone...whatever is happening is BIG and it's happening to quite a volume of people. I am not 'angry' with Twitter Administration, I only wish I had/have a 'clearer picture' of what it is they need from me to be an 'account user in good graces' before I or others would be suspended first by them. Thank you again. ~ Kaye
DeleteI've been suspended for the same thing.. response from twitter so vague, wasn't sure what happened. I like communicating with tweeps now paranoid about every tweet. Twitter does not define how many replies or mentions are too many. Hiding out in florida..
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting. I see you, I hear you, I feel you.... Exactly like today (December 19, 2012) when I spent a whole lot of time, sending separate tweets out not in direct reply to several multiply listed received tweets and then sent out a "few" multiple listed tweets to my football friends...I got that 'twitchy feeling' in my right shoulder and neck....'uh' better not tweet anymore 'multiple tweeps' today...yes, so far my own 'paranoia' has been keeping me unsuspended. Hoping that keeps working. Again, thank you for reading/commenting, very appreciated. ~ Kaye
DeleteSame thing happened to me too about five days ago. I fortunately was using Tweetdeck at the time of the suspension and had a running record of my @reply/mentions. I think over a span of 4 hours there were 7 of them mentioning at the most two people. Most received personal replies from the recipients and several yielded new followers. I was not automating any replies or responses at the time. I was having real conversations with others on Twitter and I was suspended for this. My account is about 4 weeks old. I hear that it is easier to get suspended when the account is new. I am also now hiding out and nervous. I am not sure when I might cross over the hidden "@reply/mention suspension line." The frustrating thing is this: how will people know who I am if I can't engage in a real conversation with them? Urgh! If I didn't need Twitter I would walk away. -Kerry (@KKMcAvoy)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for leaving this glimpse of your experience in these comments Kerry and reading and replying. It's helping those who come and read this later follow along and see what is happening, even if we cannot get to the 'why' of it all.
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With your experience added: It's now beginning to further reveal that new or recent accounts to twitter are being suspended due to these 'unknown' Twitter parameters or tripping some pre-set Twitter algorithm as to be suspended.
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It is indeed frustrating because the majority of folks who use Twitter like us love that social media interaction.
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Your Urgh! My Arrrgh! For me, it's like "the more I think I know, the more I know I don't know" or something like that! At that very least folks have here to looky see at and know they (WE) aren't alone in all of whatever this is. Thank you again for coming by. ~ Kaye
I had a similar situation. I think i was just connected too many APPs
ReplyDeleteThis just happened to me today. I'm like what the heck?
ReplyDeleteI'm Megaman_RA on Twitter.
Thank you for reading and replying...I'll go look for you on Twitter ~ Kaye
DeleteI got suspended for the same & suspended four times but my fourth time I had to wait 2 days to get my account back I hate the twitter rules its so dumb
ReplyDeleteOh yes, keeping up with what are Twitter Rules and what do they mean is very difficult. TY for visiting and replying.
DeleteI've recently been suspended for "too many" @ mentions. I hadn't listed any more than 3 @ in one tweet! Like you I had to agree to modify my behaviour to get my account reinstated. I immediately tried to find the parameters for @ mentions. How many per tweet? How many per /hour/day/week? Does tweeting into the ether (non directed tweets) modify your @ mention quota? Do RT's count as @ mentions? Do replies count as @ mentions? No info & it's impossible to get a response from Twitter. Tweeting on eggshells has really taken the shine off my love affair with Twitter...but Twitter doesn't care, it's fully automated & has no ♡!
ReplyDeleteI was suspended for 31 days for the same reason: "sending multiple unsolicited messages using @replies or mentions." From the time I was suspended until my release two days ago, I received no email from Twitter save for one declining a second request and folding it into my first.
ReplyDeleteI read elsewhere that being involved in a multi-user debate during which several handles are mentioned in each post can be considered abusive if one or more of the participants chooses to block any of the others out of spite. This may have happened to me, as I was debating three hostile people for over an hour not long before I was suspended.
I didn't have to respond to anything from Twitter! 31 days after being in gulag I was notified of my release by email an hour after noticing my account was active again.
I wish Twitter would issue clear guidelines on these matters and communicate with users rather than leave them in a Kafkaesque limbo where one has been punished without knowing why.
An it continues too this day I've been suspended 3times today I made another account an hour later suspended iam frustrated an it seems too be no fixes with this darn glitch !!!
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