Case closed without being notified

[cjsoftlab]

Still with my application suspended and to make things worse, the irresponsible operator assigned to my case (“rgenkins”) decided to close it without sending any notification. Meanwhile, I have been waiting like an idiot over the last week for such an answer. Not even mention about getting solutions from this person who only copies/pastes links referring to vaguely written rules that contain gaps and do not address my questions below. Indeed, this person showed a neglected and reckless attitude of a poor amateur who clearly has no aptitude to carry on with his/her work.

I need SPECIFICALLY someone to answer:

Is a two-minute interval between tweets allowed (720 tweets a day as maximum)? Yes or No?

The question is very simple and the answer too, but if such an answer is “No”, I would “ALSO” like Twitter to tell why many other applications like Tweet Adder, which has similar features, are not being suspended.

If operators cannot answer that simple question, it means that rules are not properly developed, contain gaps, and as I said, they are not contemplating this particular point. None of the links to API rules is assisting in this matter. So please, I would appreciate if operators could stop referring me to them unless they are punctually addressing the issue. My intention is to solve this matter properly and make things in accordance to any rule that is CLEAR and FAIR. On the contrary, I would have created a different account and a new application in order to rapidly bypass this issue. But I did not do that, and I am instead determined to develop an application that does not harm Twitter space. So please, I need someone seriously to take this matter into consideration as I cannot waste my time anymore.

See that whatever the answer to the question above is alright, but if have to remove such a feature I want to see other applications that do the same suspended. If Twitter predicates the fair use of the platform, equal treatment of developers should be predicated too. However, I do not see that all developers are treated equally and fairly.

So please, one more time, I am asking for assistance to definitely solve this issue so that I could EXACTLY know how to modify my software.

CJ

[clivealive99]

Hi

Seen a few of your posts so thought I would try and help.

You can reopen the ticket by replying at this link bit.ly/twicketstatus from what I hear you are lucky to even get a reply I know other devs who didn’t hear a word just ticket closed and have since dropped all development of Twitter applications as a result.

A point of contact for developers would be an excellent idea lets hope the twitter team bring something like this out in the future. They also need to work on updating developers on the new TOS when they are amended as hoping people read the blog posts isn’t really cutting it. Maybe a DM, Tweet (to account holder) or splash screen in the developer site making you agree or acknowledge they have been read.

[cjsoftlab]

Thank you for replying back. As long as Twitter does not seriously enhance the support and treatment provided to developers, I think that the best solution is to let users create their own applications within their accounts and to develop apps with capabilities to load external Consumer Keys and Consumer Secrets.

Thus, each user is responsible for their own actions and developers do not get their apps unfairly suspended. In addition, this is much fairer for the rest of the users utilising the same application, who, in accordance to current policies and unclear rules, get affected too. One commits the crime but all go to jail…

I completely understand that creating their own apps and obtaining their own keys/secrets could be troublesome for inexperienced users and that process should preferably be done internally by the app, and that is why I formerly decided to embed the consumer key/secret that I created for my app. But never more again. Considering the poor support I have received from Twitter, it is much easier to assist inexperienced users to perform the configuration of their own keys instead of attaching my app to a particular set of tokens. Hence, I am free from this hell and reckless operators like “rgenkins”…

With this attitude, Twitter is digging their own grave !!!

CJ

[clivealive99]

The getting users to register there own keys is an interesting idea for social media tools. It is one which I use in a CMS I wrote a few years back for Paypal API. This was the only solution for obvious reasons to protect users financial details. However the support tickets I had raised where about 25-40 per day and that was with 4k users. Social media applications blow that figure out the water as you can imagine and just answering tickets would be a strain both mentally and physically.

I am not sure about the specifics of your case but have you considered locating the names of the head of the API or a senior management within Twitter and sending your questions in a good old fashioned email or letter. They should be duty bound to investigate the matter for you and I would hope can answer your yes or no question in a flash.

Sorry just out of curiosity how has this case been left have you been told to remove the features in question or are you supposed to get this answer then email back once you in compliance?

Good luck with it all anyway

[cjsoftlab]

Unfortunately, I could not manage to get the names of the head of the API, and that is why I kindly asked operators for passing the issue to them if there is no a particular rule addressing my question. None of the operators cooperated at all and they just continued referring me to links that did not help at all.

However, the matter here is that Twitter has not suspended many other applications that feature such characteristics, regardless whether or not sending a tweet every two minutes is allowed.

I have not punctually been told to remove any specific feature. I just simply received an e-mail telling that my app was suspended and that was all. They did not even mention why and it took me one week just to find out the reason (actually, it took them one week to reply back). They finally said that my app encourages spam because it features some automated process: tweeting, DM, and follow/un-follow. However, it clearly showed how useless and irresponsible the operator in charge was, as my application has never featured automated DM, NEVER (user intervention is always required for every single DM, which does the process as slow as (or as manual as) sending a DM directly from inside a Twitter account). Regarding follow/un-follow operations, I removed them all, as I found out where it is stated that such actions are not permitted. However, there is no rule specifically addressing the tweet interval.

So, I started to enquire about that as I do not want to modify the application several times. I prefer to collect all the information, do all the required changes, and submit it for revision. But, Twitter insists on not providing answers; I do not really understand why as it would make everyone’s life easier.

I have also several times pointed out how contradictory Twitter’s rules are and showed clear examples of that, but they just ignore everything. For example, with a daily tweet limit of 1,000 tweets, it is actually Twitter (rather than developers and apps) who encourages users to use an automated process since no one is going to spend the whole day in front of their computers to do this process manually. So, I as a developer cannot limit a user to send only 100 automated tweets when they know that sending 1,000 is allowed, unless there is a specific rule regulating such a process. However, such a rule does not exist.

Anyway, writing a good help for users to use their own keys will be more dynamic than dealing with those Neanderthal operators. What is more, in order to compensate all the time I have wasted as a consequence of their pauper support, I do not even need to remove any automated process as each user will be now responsible for what they do. As I said, Twitter is digging their grave.

CJ

[clivealive99]

Ruslan Belkin head of engineering @ruslansv maybe he can advise not sure which of the mods on here is the API rules man or woman. Only other option is open another ticket and hope for a reply.

Good luck

[cjsoftlab]

I appreciate it, thank you so much.

[Tweep_Manager]

rgenkins is the WORST. He seriously needs to be fired.

[cjsoftlab]

I’m now indeed really happy to have stopped embedding the original Consumer Key & Secret within my app. I have sent to my clients a test version and they are also more than happy. I just cannot believe how loyal the have been after all this miserable time we had to go through thanks to this malefic rgenkins.

In any case, as Sleeper suggested, as soon as I have a little time, I will contact Ruslan Belkin and escalate the issue to him, as such a negligent person does not deserve to work for anyone; and the same as Sleeper did, I suggest that you also contact the head of engineering so as to put an end to rgenkins…Reporting these incidents is the only way to see improvements…

[Tweep_Manager]

I did send a tweet report to him but I’d rather get his email sometime. So how are you doing it - are you asking each of your users to create their own app and enter their key/secret into your database and you make calls on their account using their own app? I thought of that idea too but didn’t know if the users would go through the trouble of doing all that. You’ve had success with your users using that method though?

[cjsoftlab]

Hi Tweep,

I suppose that Google will help in getting in touch with Ruslan, although I have been very busy to try it.

As regard instructing users to create and use their own API keys, this is (at least for me) much more dynamic and agile than dealing with operators like “@rgenkins”. See that you only need to write a proper and detailed help, including screenshots, that leads users through a step by step process.

And as I mentioned in other thread, if I have 1,000 clients using my app and just one of them is a spammer, this person would be the only one whose keys would be suspended, while the rest would happily continue using my product.