Missing/Hidden Reply in certain conversations

[ad_bluerobot]

Hi Guys,

We have a very strange scenario. If I log in as handle ad_bluerobot (or any handle except @janbraai) and I browse this URL: https://twitter.com/ChadToerien/status/646359993516736512 I cannot see the Reply to the Tweet (it is hidden but it definately exists), additionally the user @ChadToerien also cannot see the reply nor did he get a notification of the reply to his Tweet. However, if I log in as @janbraai (the person who replied) I can see the Reply Tweet (full conversation) in the exact same URL posted above.

The Tweet was posted using the Public REST API with the following code in twitter4j:

// pollTweet is just a POJO with the context (info about the original Tweet and the Authorised User
final StatusUpdate statusUpdate = new StatusUpdate(tweetText);
statusUpdate.inReplyToStatusId(pollTweet.getTweetId());
// makeTwitter is just a method to build the Twitter object from the configuration.
final Twitter twitter = TwitterUtils.makeTwitter(pollTweet.getToken(), pollTweet.getTokenSecret(), true);
// There is some text I removed here to upload the media which I don't think is completely relevant to this question
Status status = twitter.updateStatus(statusUpdate);

I know that the above code is using twitter4j and I know that this forum is not for support of the Java Library, but I don’t need support on that. I have been using twitter4j for over 4 years and despite using code similar to the above I have never encountered this strange hidden Tweet anomily. I have been debugging this issue now for 3 days and I have concluded that there must be something about the Users or the Tweets themselves that I need some incite on from someone who may have encountered this before, or from a Twitter staff member who knows what is hapening behind the scenes. In the above code I have already double checked that the correct Token and TokenSecret was used. I also checked that the correct TweetId was being set in “inReplyToStatusId”.

None of the accounts mentioned above have any specific security settings enabled. Interestingly enough, this only seems to happen to certain accounts. @ChadToerien is an good example of an account where there is a missing/hidden reply. BUT here is an example where everything is working correctly despite the Reply being created with exactly the same code as above: https://twitter.com/Mel_Bender/status/646424095391883264

Here is another example of the hidden Tweets. In this example, StevenEdge13 Replied to a Tweet and then His Reply also Received a Reply - there are two hidden Tweets: https://twitter.com/StevenEdge13/status/645900784115281920
Yet, the only way I can view the full conversation is by logging in as @janbraai (the creater of the hidden Tweets) - yet there are no protection/security settings enabled on the account.

Please can someone explain why this is happening and what I need to do to resolve it? Or at least give me some ideas on moving forward in solving this?

P.S. - you may need to use the REST API just to see what I am talking about above since you are unable to log in as @janbraai to see the hidden Tweets. The Tweets are most certainly all visible using the REST API regardless of who you are logged in as.

[andypiper]

Can you share the specific Tweet IDs that are “hidden”? I’m curious as to what is going on here.

[ad_bluerobot]

Hi,

Thanks for looking into this.
Tweet ID’s that appear to be “hidden” from certain views are:

In this link: https://twitter.com/ChadToerien/status/646359993516736512 the Tweet with the following ID is “hidden”:

• 646360027813552129

Another example is in this link: https://twitter.com/StevenEdge13/status/645900784115281920 the Tweets with the following IDs are “hidden”:

• 645881816730218496 (This one was Promoted in a campaign)
• 645900824728727552

In both the above examples, all users should have been able to view the full conversation, yet I can only see the full conversation if I am signed in as @janbraai (the replyer). Additionally, in both examples the users we replied to (ChadToerien and StevenEdge13 respectively) did not receive any notifications and also cannot see the replies under “Notifications” nor “Mentions” - From their perspective they think we ignored them and did not reply.

Something that confuses me even more is that in the second example, the Promoted Tweet is “hidden” and it was not created with the REST API.

This behaviour seems to be consistant accross the Web, Desktop and Mobile Twitter App. I have more examples if you need?

[ad_bluerobot]

Hi Andy / Twitter,

We still randomly receive this problem and it has really started affecting some very important Twitter interactions and we need to figure out why this is happening. I am bumping this old thread because it is still the same problem, and I have some more recent Tweets and data to add. Please can you assist us? Data follows.

3 Tweets and Replies with almost the same content with Varying results below.

Interaction 1

Tweet: https://twitter.com/markplatt/status/714782683751194624
From: @markplatt
Text: @BlueRobotDemo #priceuk headphones
Source: Twitter for iPhone

Response: https://twitter.com/bluerobotdemo/status/714782696707325952
From: @BlueRobotDemo
in_reply_to_status_id: 714782683751194624
Source: Blue Robot
Text: @markplatt Headphones…\nWelcome to Amazon UK’s Headphones & Earphones Shop. Choose from brands such as…\nhttps://t.co/bIZk3iGIKN

Problems:

1. User did not receive notification of reply.
2. User cannot find the reply, but can find it when looking through @BlueRobotDemo’s timeline
3. User DID receive the email notification
4. Conversation cannot be seen when browsing either the Tweet or the Reply Link.

Interaction 2

Tweet: https://twitter.com/seraphimalia/status/715566436547174401
From: @seraphimalia
Text: @BlueRobotDemo #priceuk headphones
Source: Twitter for Mac

Response: https://twitter.com/bluerobotdemo/status/715566442045943808
From: @BlueRobotDemo
in_reply_to_status_id: 714782683751194624
Source: Blue Robot
Text: @seraphimalia Headphones…\nWelcome to Amazon UK’s Headphones & Earphones Shop. Choose from brands such as…\nhttps://t.co/01mFrTtXjy

Problems:

1. User did not receive notification of reply.
2. User cannot find the reply, but can find it when looking through @BlueRobotDemo’s timeline
3. User DID receive the email notification
4. Conversation cannot be seen when browsing either the Tweet or the Reply Link.

Interaction 3

Tweet: https://twitter.com/addynamotest/status/715566077678383104
From: @addynamotest
Text: @BlueRobotDemo #priceuk headphones
Source: Twitter for Mac

Response: https://twitter.com/bluerobotdemo/status/715566090491928578
From: @BlueRobotDemo
in_reply_to_status_id: 714782683751194624
Source: Blue Robot
Text: @addynamotest Headphones…\nWelcome to Amazon UK’s Headphones & Earphones Shop. Choose from brands such as…\nhttps://t.co/01mFrTtXjy

Contrary to problems above…

1. User received notification of reply.
2. User can see the reply and find it.
3. Email notification are disabled, so no email notification received (understandable)
4. Conversation can easily be seen when browsing both the Tweet or the Reply Link.

Interaction 4

I recreated the same conditions as Interaction 2, but this time, I copied the text from the Blue Robot reply, I deleted the reply, and Tweeted it from Twitter for Mac. I received the same problems with the reply as shown in Interaction 2.

Tweet: https://twitter.com/seraphimalia/status/715593428114006017
From: @seraphimalia
Text: @BlueRobotDemo #priceuk keyboards

Manual Reply: https://twitter.com/bluerobotdemo/status/715594896061644801
From: @BlueRobotDemo
Source: Twitter for Mac
Text: @seraphimalia Computer K…\nWelcome to Amazon UK’s Computer Keyboard Shop. Browse the latest Keyboards fro…\nhttps://t.co/xtlRTjqZGC

The only difference I can see in the above tests is that @addynamotest is following @BlueRobotDemo, however this does not seem to be a consistent difference (as you can see from my first post). I have seen this interaction work fine with accounts that are not following each other.

Please assist us with what is happening here?

[ad_bluerobot]

Hi Twitter / Andy,

I have just managed to successfully recreate the problem we are having. Here are the steps:

1. @addynamotest and @bluerobotdemo must NOT be following each other.
2. @addynamotest Tweets: @BlueRobotDemo #TryingSomething WOOAAAH!
3. @bluerobotdemo replies with: @addynamotest Here is what you are looking for! http://www.addynamo.com/
4. @addynamotest does not receive the notification in the Twitter App. Only the email notification is received.

If @addynamotest is following @bluerobotdemo, then the problem goes away and all notifications function normally.

So the problem is very simply described… If a Handle is not following @bluerobotdemo and a reply from @bluerobotdemo contains a link/url, then the notifications are silenced in the Twitter App.

This is consistently repeatable and re-creatable outside of our Twitter Application. My tests above were done manually using the Twitter for Mac app, and the Twitter for iPhone app.

[MentionParrot]

Is there a solution for this scenario? I am encountering the same issue using twitter android official application.
A hidden reply and no notification but I get the email notification.

[andypiper]

There’s no API for notifications, so this is not a developer / API platform question. If a Tweet is in reply to another Tweet then from an API perspective the in_reply_to_status_id should be sufficient to connect the Tweets up.

There have recently been a number of changes to the ways in which notifications are handled in the official Twitter apps, which you can read about on our blog and in various Tweets. You’ll also find more in the support center, where you can also find a link to contact support.

We cannot offer any assistance with issues related to accounts (suspension, verification, usernames etc), or usage of the twitter.com website, analytics or ads dashboards, and the iOS and Android mobile apps in this forum

[jehannumma]

When you reply in a conversation you can untick who you reply to, and I often do it so famous people aren’t notified about our inane conversations. Could that be the problem?

[andypiper]