Error message at random intervals. "You are unable to follow more people at this time"

TweetAdderAPI · 2014-02-25T16:13:37.000Z

Since around Jan 28th, the API has been having issues following users. The API has been returning the following:

{“errors”:[{“code”:161,“message”:“You are unable to follow more people at this time. Learn more \u003ca href=‘http://support.twitter.com/articles/66885-i-can-t-follow-people-follow-limits’\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.”}]}

This seems to be happening to all users, including users who are no where near published limits. I had this happen on an account with only a few hundred friends - after only following a a few users. This does not appear to happen based on the speed of following users.

This error has been very inconsistent, working fine for a few hours, and then giving the error for a few hours.

Can anyone else confirm this happening? Can anyone from Twitter confirm if it is a known issue that is being worked on?

Thanks

TweetAdderAPI · 2014-03-10T18:19:37.000Z

Is Twitter working on this? Can I get a response?

TweetAdderAPI · 2014-03-14T15:31:17.000Z

This issue stopped happening on Wednesday, but then it started again late Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

PhilTheWebGuy · 2014-04-01T14:13:00.000Z

I am seeing the same thing on my application (discussion at https://dev.twitter.com/discussions/27324). It seems for periods of times all of my users get the same error message that they can’t follow more users at this time even if they are nowhere near ANY of the published limits.

Then it’ll work again for a few hours and then go back again.

Are you still having these issues or did you get a resolution for them @TweetAdderAPI?

Thanks.

froginthevalley · 2014-04-01T19:51:31.000Z

We are investigating this issue. Will report back in this thread in a couple of days, will take a while to get to the bottom of this one. If anyone else is seeing this problem, please chime in.

TweetAdderAPI · 2014-04-01T21:22:02.000Z

@PhilTheWebGuy - Yes, I am still having these issues.

@froginthevalley - Thank you so much for looking into this. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help! Seriously, anything! I will fly out there and debug it with you!

Additional info:
Sometimes it happens very frequently, sometimes it doesn’t. Usually fairly often though. I recently created a new account to test, and was able to follow only 9 users before getting that message. I will also note that TweetAdder strictly follows the Twitter TOS, and that all follows are performed manually.

I have also tried my API key using the a Twitter library for PHP, and had the same exact issue.

I have used HTTP debuggers to make sure that everything is correct with the oAuth, etc. The exact same HTTP request that fails, will often succeed if sent again.

In further testing the issue, I even created a new App (API Key) to test. Interestingly, it worked flawlessly at first, but within about two days after releasing the “test” version to a group of our users, it started having the same issue again.

Thank you

TweetAdderAPI · 2014-04-04T15:48:08.000Z

@froginthevalley Any updates? Please keep us informed. Thanks.

froginthevalley · 2014-04-04T21:17:16.000Z

Still haven’t found the source of the issue. Still digging.

ferryhan63 · 2014-04-09T00:11:01.000Z

I can follow people/articles/66885

twitclubcom · 2014-04-09T06:24:59.000Z

Just adding to the thread that I’m having the exact same problem as everyone else. I would appreciate any update as to what is going on. Thanks

YuryAlinkaa · 2014-04-09T08:54:38.000Z

Two of our developer friends are going to fire because of this problem.

Pr0nPr0n · 2014-04-09T17:58:44.000Z

@TweetAdderAPI @PhilTheWebGuy @froginthevalley :

I’ve been having the problem for well over 2 months now.

It also should be noted that on one of the accounts I maintain, I ignored the errors and continued to follow accounts; the next day, the account was suspended. Twitter staff immediately unsuspended it once I brought it to their attention, but I’m just giving an alert that it may also set off another flag with accounts experiencing the error.

hashim_mijo · 2014-04-10T05:41:00.000Z

Been experiencing errors ★→ {“errors”:[{“code”:161,“message”:“You are
unable to follow more people at this time.
Learn more \u003ca href=‘http://

help.twitter.com

Help with follow limits

Read about Twitter's follow limit and why you may not be able to follow people.

follow-people-follow-limits’\u003ehere
\u003c/a\u003e.”}]}←★ that I cannot follow more users for atleast 2days now and just can’t stand the fact that I can’t follow back my users. Please confirm with the team responsible for the difficulties, I ain’t ready to get my account suspended for that matter Cc: @TweetAdderAPI work on the issue please!

TweetAdderAPI · 2014-04-11T01:05:36.000Z

@froginthevalley I saw your message to @PhilTheWebGuy. I realize you have alot of open issues, but is there anything that can be done to expedite this one? It has been causing major issues for all of our customers, and many many others for over two months now.

If there is anything I can do to help you on this, please let me know.

TweetAdderAPI · 2014-04-11T01:08:44.000Z

@hashim_mijo You are very close to the 2000 user follow limit (explained in the URL in the error message you posted) and you will need to get more followers before you can follow more users. This thread is about a similar but different issue with users who are nowhere near the published limits getting the same error message.

YuryAlinkaa · 2014-04-11T18:44:58.000Z

We are still getting same error and it started to be big trouble for us.

PhilTheWebGuy · 2014-04-16T12:59:22.000Z

Are there any updates on this? It has been quite some time and this is really causing issues with my application. Please bump the priority on this one up as multiple developers are experiencing the issue and it’s quite a big problem.

Thanks.

YuryAlinkaa · 2014-04-28T16:44:56.000Z

It has been weeks but it is still same!

JonathanNazzal · 2014-04-28T18:11:31.000Z

I’m reading the comments, and I am shocked that this problem has been going on for this long without a fix yet. Wonder how much longer it will take.

justxxxxxxxxice · 2014-04-29T04:53:13.000Z

it’s happen to us…no near limit at all…but we toughs it’s happen after we follow some link DM’