Disqus - Latest Comments for mdy

Re: Public Service Announcement - Twitter gets tough on Spam

mdy — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:26:52 -0000

IMHO, it's actually a better to report a spammy account via direct messages because the spammers don't get extra publicity, and we don't clutter Twitter Search with our spam reports.

Auto-follow is enabled for the spam account so if you follow it, it will follow you back. Once it has followed you back, you can send it DMs.

Re: Losing followers on Twitter? (Scripting News)

mdy — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:00:02 -0000

There are blogposts on the Twitter Status blog regarding this

- http://status.twitter.com/p...
- http://status.twitter.com/p...

Re: Using Summize to Create Filtered Group Views

mdy — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:46:02 -0000

Wow! Thanks for sharing that. This looks great.

Re: Twitter Twerp Scan update: Reputation

mdy — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:58:47 -0000

Hi Carlo. Finally had time to try the newly enhanced Twerpscan. 8-)

I love the paging feature. Also, my machine used to hang while the followers were being analyzed, but it works just fine now! *thumbs up*

I find the Reputation score (and the related greasemonkey script) interesting. Do you intend to publish a Top list on your site somewhere?

The only unexpected behavior I encountered is from the little pop-up that appears after I click a 'thumbs up' symbol (the one that confirms my vote was cast and also lets me see "Top" "Hot" and "Info"). I can't seem to find a way to close it or move it.

Each time I click on a 'thumbs up' a new pop up appears and obstructs more of the page. It also doesn't disappear when I click through to the next page in my list.

Thankfully, the columns can be moved around so I just kept moving the "reputation" column around to parts of the page that weren't obstructed by the pop-ups. 8-)

I use Firefox 2.0.0.14 on WinXP, fwiw

Finally, I wonder if there's a way for you to indicate (perhaps in the verdict column?) that I'm not yet following someone back. I don't actually need a "Follow?" link (although that would be nice) since I can just click on the person's name and go to their profile page and follow them there.

P.S. With the reputation score and the possibility of finding interesting people to follow back, it feels like TwerpScan is evolving into something more than just finding out who you should block. I like that. 8-)

Re: Holy Hannah it's a Morning Coffee Notes podcast! (Scripting News)

mdy — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 08:47:15 -0000

D'oh! That last statement should read:

The default (assuming you create a Twitter account and didn't change the setting) is [b] (and not #2).

Re: Holy Hannah it's a Morning Coffee Notes podcast! (Scripting News)

mdy — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 08:39:36 -0000

Hi, Dave! 8-)

1. Twitter's FAQ is currently offline, but here's an older version of their FAQ (June 2006) which describes how they first implemented @replies.

The interesting tidbits:

a. @username replies are viewable on public profiles and in message archives. They're not private (the way direct messages are).

b. @username replies must use the user name (located in the profile URL) and not the real name to appear in the intended recipient's Replies tab (http://twitter.com/replies)

c. @username replies will only appear in the Replies tab if the "@username" appears at the start of the update.

2. In December 2007, Twitter introduced additional settings that give users more control over which replies they will see.

With these settings, users can now which @replies they want to see on their Twitter stream. Preferences can be set at http://twitter.com/account/... (login is required).

They give you three options:

a) I want to see all @replies made by all the people I'm following, regardless of who they are addressed to.

b) I want to see @replies made by all the people I'm following, but only if they're addressed to people that I'm also following

c) I don't want to see any @replies

The default (assuming you create a Twitter account and didn't change the setting) is #2.

Re: How spam will likely enter the Twitter community (Scripting News)

mdy — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:42:05 -0000

Apparently, if an account is blocked by a large number of users, it gets flagged and may be suspended.

See Why Twitter Accounts Get Suspended

So community blocking seems to be one of the ways we can help keep Twitter spam free.

Re: Good or Bad, Black or White

mdy — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:37:37 -0000

Hi, Jeremiah.

There really are no apologies needed. In fact, thank YOU for sharing that link because it *is* worth talking and thinking about.

Re: Twitter's business model (Scripting News)

mdy — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:42:47 -0000

Frankly, I've been expecting SMS-based ads from Twitter ever since the first "Tip" text appeared in the SMS tweets. Right now, the "tips" are just short blurbs reminding people of Twitter keywords, but they could easily be replaced by ads in the future.

I personally wouldn't mind if Twitter continued to offer a free service supported by contextually relevant ads (as long as I don't have to *pay* for the ads I receive). They can always offer an ad-free, paid service for folks who hate the ads.