Twitter Limits Getting Ridiculous!
Well, my friends and I feel that it is time for a serious Twitter rant. There have been some very strange things going on recently and it seems that those in charge of @twitter, such as @ev and @biz, think they are above having to provide any explanation.
Some of us have tried filing trouble tickets, only to discover that they send you an email informing you to read the site FAQ and then close the ticket with NO resolution.
@RReedPC has created a blog post Twitter Service Request Fail that is well worth the read about this issue.
He’s done another one on People Known To Be Missing From Twitter Search, so you’ll want to check this article out as well. He invites anyone missing from the searches to leave their usernames and comments!
Several popular twitter users, like @Jason_Pollock and @_Sdo had their accounts suspended recently for no reason. Only after much fighting, did they get their accounts reinstated. Neither was spamming or breaking the Twitter TOS.
My name, as well as those of @mlomb and @RReedPc have all been removed from from all Twitter Search sites, including the People Search. None of us have ever done any of their primary reasons for removal:
1) Aggressive Following
2) Spamming
3) Having Suspended Accounts
Yet, we HAVE BEEN REMOVED with no reasons given!
As if this isn’t bad enough, TONS of isssues have arisen recently regarding the Twitter limits. Now, supposedly these limits are supposed to be 1,000 updates a day, 1,000 DMs a day, and 100 API calls an hour.
I’ve been told that the DM limits apply only to how many you send in a day, you are supposed to be able to send 1,000, but can still receive. However, I have talked to several people and have also had it happen to me, where I got cut off when I was nowhere near this limit. I purge my DM box regularly, so if I haven’t done it in a few days and I glance at the count and see I am nowhere near 1,000 in my inbox, then it’s a dead giveaway to me that I haven’t sent out 1,000, either.
The same goes for the following limits! I’ve been cut off after following as few as 50 people in a day and I know others who have done only 200 or so and been cut off for awhile. This is nowhere near the limits they claim.
Hitting your API limit can be frustrating, but easily suffered, you just simply wait until your hour is up, so your limit resets and you can, once again, post. Those of us who are regular twitter users, consider this the equivelent of giving a naughty child a ‘timeout.’
The big issue, however, has recently arisen regarding the ’supposed’ hourly limits. @adrence and I have both searched for more information, but Twitter no longer has anything posted like they used to saying the post limit was 100 updates an hour and if you hit that limit, you would have to wait until the next hour to post, again. Here is the only information they have available on limits, so it appears that they have NO INTENTION of providing us with answers in regards to this matter, either.
We refer to hitting these limits as being in Twitterjail, because, kind of like a real jail sentence, it can be rather unpredictable and just as a criminal on the run from the law, you have NO WAY OF KNOWING exactly when you’re going to get caught.
There are many of us who have had problems with the UNKNOWN limits recently,including: @verwon, @scarletmandy, @Donnette, @adrence, @crusaderz4life, @WiltingSoul and @DJalfy. For, it seems now, there is NO rhyme or reason to their limits.
UPDATE: I’ve recently talked to Twitter poweruser @SharonHayes, an incredibly warm and friendly person, who informed me that she’s ended up caged for as few as 24 tweets in an hour!
UPDATE: I’ve recently spoken to @ToddBrink and he is also experiencing these same issues, this very morning, 06/06/09, he was put in Twitjail for 2 1/2 hours after only 36 tweets!
Seriously, are we the only people who think this is getting just a little out of hand?
Is Twitter aware that some of us would rather pay some type of fee to use the service in exchange for getting rid of these silly limits?
Sometimes we’ve been posting very little and suddenly we just can’t post anymore. If you try on the website, you get a pop-up that says “Wow, that’s a lot of Twittering, you’ve reached your limit of updates for the hour. Please try again, later!” This “limit” has been hit with as few as 23 updates an hour and as many as over 100. It gets really frustrating when you are watching other users and you KNOW they’ve been posting way more than you, yet you’re the one that ends up hitting the limit. WTF?
As if this confusion isn’t bad enough, the length of time they will prevent you from being able to post also varies, so you have no way of knowing how long you’re time in Twitjail is going to be. Personally, I’ve had them last as little as 15 minutes and as long as 2 hours. So, once again I ask WTF?
Speaking of the posting limits, here’s a great example…I just hit mine, AGAIN, but since I’ve been typing this blog, I’ve not hardly been posting. I’ve counted my updates for the past hour and the grand total is 13. Yes, you’ve read that right, so someone PLEASE explain to me how that can POSSIBLY be considered overposting? Because, I would REALLY LIKE TO KNOW!
If anyone is interested in our explanation, here it is:
It seems to us that they aren’t targeting people with a ton of posts, nor are they doing this to prevent spam, but rather they are targeting popular users! People who have gained a lot of followers in a short amount of time. In other words…the people that ’social media’ should be all about.
None of us have failed to notice that the ‘failwhale’ has been appearing more and more since certain celebrities have been using Twitter, however, it would seem that rather than impose limits on them and risk the wrath of the famous, they’d rather take advantage of the little people…apparently we are just not as important!
I think we should all start asking those in question, whom I named at the start of this post, WTH is going on and why they are targeting us? I am hoping that everyone will take advantage of the opportunity to tweet this link as often as possible and cc it to them! If enough of us complain, then hopefully, sooner or later, they will actually pay attention and realize who their most important users are and why!
I also encourage anyone else who has experienced these same issues to post your complaints and usernames in the comments section, maybe we can show them that we are disgusted and something needs to be done.
***I am not sure if it will be helpful or not, but when you get twitterjailed, try to post here or send me a DM and let me know how many tweets, what you were doing when it happened and how long you were jailed for…maybe we can figure something out that will make sense.
*So far it seems that an excess of almost any activity has resulted in it from clicking on links to deleting DMs!
Good on ya Ver..it is crap..i was there for 20 minutes..it’s supposed to be 1 hour..they can’t even get that right..and i only posted 34 in the hour.
Well, the one I included in my post, where I only did 13 posts kept me off for an hour. This is incredibly ridiculous.
I don’t know this for sure, but some of the accounts that were closed over the weekend were because of the worm Juste ur that someone brought the link to into Twitter. It was weird there on Saturday night.
A lot of folks have started using those follower apps that are considered malware by Twitter. Tazz had them listed last night. Based on what I’m seeing it might be that some of you have as friends and may have retweeted posts that come from those folks. It also might be that the count of the API limits is screwed up as a residual affect of the worm.
The last @spam tweet is an announcement that if you retweet a spammers tweet they will close your account. Something is going on with that problem that they aren’t being entirely forthcoming about. I don’t tweet as much as some do, I just read a lot. Most of my conclusions here are a result of much of what I’ve read this week.
I am aware of these issues, however, the problems I am talking about are completely unrelated.
I do appreciate your comments, they might inform some others as to why they have had problems on twitter and these could provide them with resolution.
Good one Queen V! They need to give us some solid and reasonable answers not just a lame one. We have our right to tweet just like others do. I’m writing this from the twitjail. They managed to caught me again. This is the third time. Not cool!!!
p.s: They need to give me at least some rusty nail while I’m been arrested here. That’s my right as a human being.
@Cammmalot does provide delivery of Rusty Nails to Twitjail, he has his Muppets friends bring them!
I can’t believe they got you a 3rd time today!
Yeah me too. But I was preparing for it that’s why I hide some of the rusty nail inside my cell. Do you know that they will kept us in the same cell each time they caught us. But the place’s suck. Maybe I should hide and run a bit faster than them. Better luck next time. All this chaos really turn my day from good to worse. I thought I can relax and enjoy the day by twitting but I get sent to twitjail instead. Some luck. Keep on #SMILING!
Your friend from twitjail.
^_^”
I really think this issue needs to be brought to their attention and we need to get some answers.
While @Butterose had valid points, none of them explain the issues we are all having problems with, I wish they did, then we’d at least have a rational explanation.
For us, however, they just leave us hanging…
Passes a double Rusty Nail to @adrence
Yeah. I’d checked on my email and still no reply from them. Then I go back to their customer support site to see if they had answered my question but it’s still in *awaiting assignment to a help desk operator* It had been 3H. What are they doing in the office? Sleeping?!?! I need my lawyer.This is MADNESS!!!
Thanks for the drink. (_)D Cheers. *glup glup*
As I said in this article, you probably WON’T get an answer!
*glup glup* Guess I just have to escape to China. They maybe not gonna find me there. I need to think of another plan to avoid getting caught for the 4th times today. This is gonna be RAD! *glup glup*
Well, the site is down for maintenance now, shall we all just HOPE when we return out accounts are still there, like they should be?
I’m going to spend the hour @Cammmalot’s twitterpub!
This is a really good article! It explains exactly what Ive been seeing and feeling about the limits imposed on some of us lately. I don’t mind if I get a timeout if I’ve been Twittering like mad, thats fine, but after as few as 40 updates? Yeah, seems to me someones gotten the’yre panties in a bunch and they’ve decided to take it out on some of us. It seems too targeted to be completely random. Like you said, there’s others who never seem to get a timeout yet they’re twittering double what I am most of the time. The worst part is no one is willing to explain what’s going on so this frustrates me to no end.
You have hit the nail on the head! I wouldn’t even care if the same limits and timeouts were imposed on EVERYONE, but they aren’t!
Oh well this is exceptionally well written and let’s hope that if we do RT the link enough someone will actually take notice.
He’s my story. I WORK with Social Media (in addition to the other brilliant multi-tasking that I do) and part of my work is setting clients up on various sites and tranining them on how to maximise their experience. I do NOT tweet all day from my little Twitterfox that stares lovingly up at me. I do however reply to tweets when I get there.
I didn’t know anything about API limits, posting limits or the like until what I have gleaned from reading this post.
Thursday night I was “jailed” for 45 minutes, I thought it was absolutely hysterical, and was over the moon to be joining @Crusaderz4life and @verwon in jail.
Friday morning I got up to start my working day, as always before the sun rises, and it wasn’t long before I realised I was sending out thank you’s and replies to absolutely no one… Twitjail.. an hour.. I was allowed on for an hour after I was released on parole.. exactly one hour. I was jailed for 2. One for one again. I got bored, gave up and did the laundry.
The next incareration occurred in 22 posts in less than an hour. 2 hours Jail. I went shopping.
The next again was 2 hours. I went and visited my EX.
All in all I was jailed 8 times in a space of 18 hours on Friday. Posts were as few as 16 – the maximum was 24 in an hour.
Now help me out here.. I must set my clients up on Twitter, work with them real time, recommend that they make optimum useage of an application that will block them from posting their links, and then wait an hour before I can help them with their online queries. I get paid by the hour. While this would be great for me, I think clients won’t love it.
Sounds like too much hard work actually, and I’m all about hard work, don’t get me wrong, but when I wanna play with my friends, I wanna play with my friends… shouldn’t be an absolute drag. A pain in the bottom.
*sigh* I have posted 6 this morning, in half hour… shall we start counting, the clock just chimed the new hour…
Donnette, thank you so much for adding your experiences and to everyone else who has chimed in as well.
If they are going to have limits they need to make them clear and impose them on EVERYONE, not just certain users and not just randomly.
When this affects your work, that is really screwed up.
Dear Twitter WTF is going on?
It seems to happen often in Social apps… and because of the high percentage of users that are not affected either intentionally or unintentionally the lower profiles (albeit those who actually use the app for anything other than selling a product or spamming) get targeted. It is absolutely true that A celeb wouldn’t be timed out.. well let’s say I find it highly unlikely.
Let’s say – ummm who do I fancy rotten? Let’s say Liam Neesen was following 10000 and he had 200000 followers. On either one of those incoming & outgoing has GOT to be high. Now how would this affect his experience, taking into account an external application, API, Tweetdeck, web-based whatever… This number is considerably higher than my 3900 vs 4100… surely I can’t be using up tenth as much bandwidth…
Just as an aside have you noticed these celebs? 10 zillion followers and they are so self-important and self-assued that they have absolutely no interest in their followers or what their followers are contributing to THEIR economic up, so they feel it is entirely beneath them to follow back… Now THAT is shameless self-promotion at its worst.
And, once again, you are right. You know these celebs are draining API, just like I mentioned them in my article, and NOTHING is being done about them at all. They get to do whatever they wish, because they are FAMOUS!
This is unacceptable and discriminatory!
i was on twitter timeout 3 times today, and i was in timeout for longer than an hour. NOT cool. Twitter is a great networking tool and if anything, we deserve an explanation to this fuckery.
I have to agree with you there, it’s absolute fuckery and we are provided with no explanation whatsoever. Talk about bad CS and mismanagement.
Just makes it an unpleasant experience… not fun.. so what happens when things start going awry? People move to other apps.. twitter screwed up not too long ago with their @ replies and changed it very smartly when it was clear that the useage dropped *doink*… maybe the folk that are getting targeted will get so fed up that they will network elsewhere, where there is no unreasonable time out ~ we did it before Twitter.
Strangely enough I joined Twitter in January of this year. I did not like it, I did not understand it’s purpose or see how it oculd be beneficial to my clients. I did not use it for anything other than Training Clients on SM. ‘Twas only in April that I really started making use of it for social networking – yes this coincides with having met @verwon @Cammmalot’s Pub when I was stalking Fozzie. When I use the word “social” I mean “social” – to me this was fun.
Why would anyone go anywhere to be social if it was not fun? I don’t find it amusing or fun watching a criminal trial so I avoid it. I don’t find our newspapers fun and enjoyable so I avoid them. I don’t interact with people who are not fun, engaging or interesting. When Twitter stops being “fun” it will be avoided, there are no two ways about it. It’s in the human nature.
Having said that I am left a little traumatised, to the extent that I actually forgot to put sugar in my coffee.. that is unheard of! Muffins anyone?
You forgot to put sugar in your coffee? Yes, you are DEFINITELY upset!
It is very true though, the whole point of ’social media’ is that you are supposed to be able to be ‘SOCIAL!’ No one is going to stick around if they ruin that or keep letting these stupid spammers post hundreds of links and ads all day long!
ahh well excatly 23 tweets since Twitter started working again and all the sudden I am over my twitter limit again.. Fix Twitter Song Still applies. I dunno what I am doing wrong?!
(
Alfy: wow twitter starts working i send off one tweet and it stops working again
Alfy: saying im over my bloody twitter limit fuck you twitter assshole
Had that happen about an hour ago as well I am feeling very paranoid!
No where near my api limits either. and didn’t go over them last hour either?!
Hmm
*SAD*
You are not doing anything wrong, that’s the precise issue, none of us are! They have seriously screwed with something and in turn, SCREWED us all over.
I’m back in TwittahChookie now.. I’m going back to bed.. perhaps we should have a TwittahBoycott… i seriously did not tweet much in the last hour… I was reading blog posts… ewww…
aww well night!!!
It did it to me, last night, when I was writing this blog and barely tweeting at all.
[...] posted by that username, you get no results at all. (This problem is also touched on in the post Twitter Limits Getting Ridiculous! by @verwon . If you’re having Twitter problems you should read this [...]
They are ridiculous and I am adding a link to this post in mine, I almost forgot! Thanks Richard!
Seam dun Talor Jz K
Have you ever had a spool of thread run out and uoy look up and find out that the spool has plenty of thread left, Its like that ,, The maker of the thread just did not want to jo to the troble to do any thing about there flaued product
.
This is apparently true, but also very annoying.
I have just spent 2hrs and a half in twit jail . I posted 43 posts and was hauled off @2:20am est , I counted my posts and became very angry. I figured it was a mistake and waited finally at 4:42am est . I was allowed to tweet again . I believe this is there way of cutting down on people so that folks will leave and they can safely manage with out reccuring issues( technical) . Either way it is unclear if they are going to address the issue , or they just going to keep randomly let spam bots join, and celebs and kick us people who use it for “social media” or “business networking” out.
I agree with you! You make very valid points, they are catering to the elite here and leaving the rest of us to hang.
I was twitter jailed last night and twice today. I do tweet a lot but no more then my normal amount, which I never had problems before.
I’ve also been noticing a lot of people getting jailed that don’t really tweet that much. I’ve heard some say that Twitter has reduced the 100 tweet per hour down to 70.
Well, they can claim 70 if they want, though twitter doesn’t list that anywhere, but a lot of us are being jailed for A LOT less than 70! I got it last night for 13 posts and you can read these comments to see most are nowhere near 70 when it happens.
http://www.Twitter.com/SnickersTV
I only have 1 complaint of my background not loading right. As far as tweeting too much, I have no problem there, but my heart goes out to all the twitter users getting banned and put in a “time out.”
Thanks, Jeff. I’ve heard of several people having background problems, too, so this appears to be starting to be a regular thing, as well.
I am not a profuse tweeter and do not have a big, let alone huge, following but found this morning I was twitter jailed for over half an hour and I hadn’t posted anything. I was in Tweetdeck and had many windows open at the time. Thought maybe this was my problem. Not really sure but all I know is that the effect was the same, I was swindled twice. Once with the Twitter jail sentence and then with today’s maintenance – booo Twitter!
I have to tell you it doesn’t matter how many windows you have open for what, it will happen anyway. We’ve all tried that, closing stuff so we only had twitter open or even switching apps and nothing helps.
I had my act closed and then re-opened by filing a complaint with customer service (CS) and using my followers from a business act to RT the reference number to @Twitter & @Lukester . I did end up getting my problem solved but I had to go through about 2 weeks of updating my CS request.
I am active duty military and have gained quite a few followers quickly (1500 in about 3 weeks) and was told by twitter CS that my act was closed for growing to quickly and for mass unfollow (I unfollowed all of the people who weren’t following me).
I know of a few other act’s that have been ‘jailed recently and I am wondering if this is all a waste of time. I personally have invested at least a few hundred hours into my account. I hope that I do not have to wake up and see it all go away again.
Follow me @Larry_T I am working to open a company that gives FREE phone calls to military service members to call back to the USA. We are also assisting with fund raising for many non-profit organizations.
Also please follow @JoeOnTheMove to get updates on the new website and features coming soon to military, their families and the local communities.
Wow, very sorry to hear of the problems you had. That really sucks. Why penalize someone for getting a lot of followers fast? It’s not like you made people follow you, they do it on their own.
I was in twitterjail even tho my tweet deck stated I ahd 38/100 API’s left!! Unreal. I was there for almost 3 hours!!! Frustrating.
Exactly, this isn’t an API issue, it is a limit issue and they have it seriously screwed up somewhere.
Twitter is coping with enormous growth and they are trying to reduce server load any way they can. Unfortunately they do it in ways that are plain annoying and outright ridiculous.
Take the “Aggressive Following” rule. I am not an aggressive follower, but even if I were, there are follow limits. Aren’t the follow limits enough to take care of that problem? Nooooo…. they have to add some obscure rule to “punish” users as they see fit.
They only conclusion is that they are waaay over capacity and they are trying to do whatever they can to control traffic. In the meantime, while they are too busy handling server overload and finding creative ways to piss of customers, alternatives are emerging, cash keeps burning and revenues are not coming in.
Wake up Twitter!
Thank you, Marcelo! I am glad you popped in to add your comments.
They are trying to cater to the elite by using smaller people to reduce their server load and this is just amazingly ridiculous.
i did not know they were doing that. it is plain nasty!
Could it be the third party apps themselves? Tazz got jailed last night doing 17 tweets from Blip instead of from the web. Until Tazz it seemed to affect things like Tweetdeck, Tweetfox, Tweetie and one other that I can’t remember. Then Tazz got jailed from Blip.
Oh and excuse me for butting in, I just get curious about stuff and I have to try to figure it out. Yep! I was one of those kids that took my toys apart to see how they worked.
Oh, no problem, you are perfectly welcome to butt in and add your ideas and try to figure it out.
The problem we are having isn’t just with 3rd party apps though, I’ve had it happen just using the web and it is very annoying.
I am so glad to hear this is not just my problem!
I don’t have a lot of followers – I may get a few each day. I do tweet a lot, but that has never been an issue until now!
I am in a Twitter RP group, and several members have been in Twitter jail recently – and the fewest tweets to get a jail sentence was 8. Yes, 8 in one hour incurred the wrath of the Twitter Gods.
I would gladly pay a small fee per month to get the limits lifted. Perhaps a premier membership? I’m all for it.
And I never use a third-party app. I always tweet from the web.
Wow! Just 8? That just astounds me. Though I shouldn’t really be surprised.
They did have a thing awhile ago to offer pro memberships, then never did it, yet. I’d rather have that than deal with this crap.
I know the rate limit is 126 tweets an hour – I’ve exceeded that numerous times; twice in one night even and have been put on time out. This week, I was banned twice & I know I hadn’t exceeded my limit….I guess it really is a bug & I’m not tripping…sucks tho
They used to have the limit at 100 tweets an hour, now they don’t list any limit on them if you look at the link in my article, so we have no way of knowing what they are supposed to be.
No, you are not tripping, it is just crazy and is happening, as you can see, to a lot of people.
As you know, this just happened to me. It made no sense. I was tweeting at a rate of one per 3 or 4 minutes, just tunes. I think that the main dudes owe us a proper explanation or face the fact that we will all start leaving Twitter. In other words, get it together or we’re outta here.
Yes, I can’t believe it happened to you, you don’t tweet anywhere near as much as most of us do. When you sent me that DM, I have to say I was completely floored.
You are correct, they owe us some reasoning or they are going to lost a lot of people. There are plenty of other options we can use to still keep in touch, it’s not like we actually NEED twitter!
I must say I am delighted at the responses we are getting and how many people are tweeting and RTing this link. Your efforts to draw attention to this matter are very much appreciated!
Feel free to tweet the link any time, you don’t even need to @ me on it, I am not worried about that. I just want to make our point very clear!
Well I’m on time out for two and a half hours again now.. When I was put there I had tweeted 37 in an hour. I don’t have a massive following and the ratio is fairly even. I am on auto follow/unfollow and very rarely follow anyone first. Tis true… I do however clear up every other day and get rid of the Britney type followers that by default I am following. Today was 7.
Other than following my followers I do not mass follow, never have and I don’t have a massive growth. I also do not tweet a lot, have never gone over 50 in any one hour – I just do not use Twitter that much.. I might log on and furiously reply and then I go off and do my work or water my fairy garden, then I’ll call back later.
I use Twitterfox, there are no API settings in there. I have been timed out using the web as well. I agree it may well have something to do with the bandwidth but they are looking in the wrong tea cup for the answers. It’s the millions of little tweeters that make Twitter what it is, not the Oprahs who have posted 134 or whatever posts in 4 months. I mean seriously go to http://twittercounter.com or one of the other Twitter gadgets and just see the top 100… may not tweet a lot but hell who wants to follow them anyway.
Aaah what to do.. My fingers are frozen, it is almost midnight and I am really not impressed with this whole scenario. Solution here is for everyone to create a second account methinks…
Yes, seems a great solution to me, which is why I created @oVERthetopWON to use when I am in jail, until they do something about this mess!
@verwon just got put in the TwitSlammer, AGAIN, for just 38 tweets in over an hour!
LOL new day same shit thanx @twitter, anyways I Was AWAY DOING CHORES.. and POOF.. barely tweeted 12 tweets.. and POOF.. can’t Twitter any more?!
I demand a complaint line for @Twitter to resolve these issues!
Actually 12 TWEETS! ALso I’ve noticed my Blip.Fm’s dont show on my page any more neither do my ustream tweets.. ODDNESS
Yes, it is getting even worse and stranger, it seems, by the day!
I am in the same Twitter RP groups as Shara the Orion. I got put into the Twitterjail about twenty-five minutes ago, luckily after I had finished doing an important RP scene. To think that I (and other members of my group) might get cut off in mid-scene really pisses me off.
We have been roleplaying for months now, and these problems only seem to have started in the past couple of days. I’ve looked over Twitter Support, and have seen no changes in their “1000-tweet-per-day” policies. If they continue to do this without giving a general announcement about it on the site, then they are really betraying us and ruining the fun we’re having.
I hope that the number of people complaining will convince Twitter to fix this problem. I’ve looked over the posts here, and the numbers seem to be both random and upsetting.
I can see why are you are so frustrated. It seems you just can’t enjoy yourself and tweet, it doesn’t matter what you are doing. I used to love to tweet funny stuff, quotes and jokes, and just don’t have the opportunity anymore.
Yes, they are completely random and very upsetting.
I received a twitter jail sentence in May for tweeting 8 (EIGHT) times. Yeah. I hadn’t sent any updates that day, and had just logged on, then had to wait an hour before I could send tweets again.
That is cradonkulous!
My bad, it was 9 (NINE) tweets and it was on May 12th. I created a trouble ticket and got their shitty reply to refer to the TOS. Grr!
As if 9 isn’t just as bad as getting it for 8 tweets.
The response to my trouble ticket told me to read the FAQs, then they closed it.
I tweeted like I usually do, and no Twitter Jail.
Two other members of my RP group got put in Twitter Jail, though, tonight.
This is very disappointing.
It’s just incredible the way this is working, there is no rhyme or reason whatsoever.
I was thrown in Twitterjail Friday right before my weekly Twitter SiteWarming party (which I’ve been holding since October….perhaps they aren’t happy with that anymore?) after only tweeting 3 times. I literally went, had dinner, returned to tweet three times and was locked out for the fourth. After being allowed back in I was locked out again pretty quickly, and my panelist for the night was locked out after only 64 tweets the whole night.
Those of us who hold Twitter events have also noticed that the search function seems to go down during our regularly scheduled events making Grid, Summize, Deck, and Chat completely useless. In other words – they end the parties.
Considering everything I’ve just read and the fact that certain hashtags seem to have been removed from the search – keeping them, of course, from trending – I’m starting to smell a conspiracy.
I agree – charge me a fee and provide me a service – a reliable one. It would be much better than these random punishments!
It isn’t just hashtags that have been removed from the searches, it is WE as PEOPLE who have been removed! Try searching my username @verwon or my real name Verleen Wonderly in them…. you will see nothing, except for people talking to me, nothing from me and nothing under my name.
They are certainly up to something and it is getting downright disgusting to try and use twitter.
ooooh, thank u so much for postin this mess, i hate bein put in twitter jail, hell, MySpace doesnt do it, and nerither does Facebook, so y in the hell would they punish me jus bcuz i talk too much, thats the dam purpose of Twitter, to respond and mix with ppl, they need to fix this problem ASAP…
It appears they are having issues with us using ’social media’ to be social!
Thank you so much for adding your comments. I’d rather pay a fee than deal with this crap!
There is only one way you get twitter’s attention. You have to twitter spam @ev and @biz.
This is how:
Simply set up a page on the web that is not nearly as long winded as this post (cut it down to 5 of 6 paragaphs, max). Skip all the verbiage, editorializing and misc. whining. Just the facts.
At the bottom, include a petition for people to copy and tweet to ev and biz. Include a hashtag like #FixTwitter. The @messages drive them crazy and they can’t block them.
Start tweeting your petition with something simpl and engaging like “Petition to force twitter to answer many questions we all have (link) #FixTwitter.”
All the blog posts and emails won’t do squat. This does.
That is a great idea. How would I set it up?
I agree with you! I am a Rabbi who posts positive messages on twitter and it seems that once I reached 2000 followers I was suddenly limited. I am in “time out” right now and have been for almost 2 hours… I for one would be willing to pay for the ability to tweet more.
Wow, that is just ridiculous. I could even understand locking someone out for posting porn or swearing like crazy, but positive messages? Come on!
Stupid – #twitterjail I felt like I was been punished as a child in time out, for talking to much. U can only send 2.5 tweets a min.
RT Is #twitterjail a form of taking away our rights to freedom of speech http://bit.ly/142Mzp What Do You Think? Please Retweet.
Thanks I feel better after sharing that with you guys.
Have a great day. Stay Out Of Jail.
P.S. Does anyone have a Get Out Of Jail Free card? ROFL
ROFL! Yes, a get out of jail free card would be nice! Wish they had one.
Thanks for posting and tweeting the link so much, John. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
Yes, they treat us like kids who need to be controlled, I haven’t needed that for many, many years.
GAH! Yep! I agree TOTALLY! I am so frustrated at this.
BUT, I already pay for my internet, and I am a single disabled mom with a low income, so I couldn’t afford a “user fee” for twitter. I am already making the sacrifice to pay for the internet – and that HURTS. But, my kids need it for school.
When I found Twitter, VERY RECENTLY, I started having FUN. and, now it isn’t so fun.
I BOO those limits – as they DO seem very arbitrary.
Then, I would suggest for you the same option that some of us have already used….a second account! You can follow your fave people from there, get them to return the follow and then tweet from there, for now, while you are jailed.
I’m using @oVERthetopWON
I got to the #twitterjail for the 5th time yesterday. That was SO EXTREMELY RAD!!! I think they are hating me and don’t want me to promote #SMILING! and the sites I’m using now to download/streaming/reading manga/anime. This is RAD! After almost 12H, they responded to my trouble ticket but the answer was to go to the link to the faq. WTF!!! I did go there but there’s NO fucking thing that can help or explain WTH is going on here.This is Madness!!! If they want Me to pay for tweeting a lot, I’m OUT of here!!! Putting me to the #twitterjail for unknown reason after only a few tweet is NOT AN AWESOME ACT!!!
Well, as you can see, it’s happening to all of us. It has nothing to do with what sites you are promoting or anything. It’s purely crazy!
*sigh* I am in Twitter Jail. Again. *groan*
UGH! I am really running out of words to describe this, I’ve already used crazy, ridiculous, unacceptable and etc. over and over.
We had a Twitter Site Warming party and we were lock out of Twitter not once, not twice but 4 times in one day! We did not tweet anywhere near 100 tweets an hour but our followers did increase drastically that day.
Twitter has been aggravating and hard to use, much more so now then it was in the past.
On my personal twitter I may not tweet for 2 or 3 days then I tweet maybe 4 or 5 tweets and get locked out for too many tweets. I feel like giving up on Twitter sometimes but some of the greatest people I have met are on twitter and that is where we socialize!
There is no help, no explination, no nothing! I am so glad that you wrote this post and intend on tweeting it… let them lock me out again at least our voices will be heard all over Twitter!
Yes, it is out only chance of making ourselves heard. Feel free to tweet it any time you want and as often as you want, IF they let you!
I am still in Twitter Jail. It has been well over an hour.
Out of three players doing a scene in my RP group, 2 have been put in Twitter Jail. It is impossible to do a scene this way.
This hourly limit is penalizing legitimate users, not spammers. If this keeps up, Twitter is going to ruin a very good thing.
Well, even if they had a set hourly limit, it might not be so bad, we could plan accordingly, but since they have no set amount of tweets, we can’t possibly know and that is what makes it really frustrating.
I have been very frustrated for over a year with Twitter constantly putting limits on the number of new people I can follow daily—I’m limited to about 3-5 new people, and I work with corporate clients and the media constantly, so Twitter is only shooting itself in the foot by doing this!
At present I am following 7,582 and being followed by 6,891 so my ratio is really not very unequal. I have contacted Twitter support directly at least 3-4 times, pointed out this problem on Twitter to @Biz, @Jack and @Ev, and submitted the complaint form to “Get Satisfaction,” with the lack of results you describe above and very little response from Twitter staff. It’s incredibly frustrating because I can no longer be spontaneous about adding new people I find essential or important to my business on-the-fly, and I’ve lost some as a result. I also send very few direct messages, often less than 1-2 per day. Twitter definitely needs to review their policies, especially with users they know are not “spamming” and use Twitter with high profile corporate clients.
Valid points, ALL! They really need to wake up and pay attention.
If they don’t, they are going to lose a lot of very big, important people who are just not going to put up with it.
Yep. I’m thrown in #TwitterJail quite often. I’m a friend of @ToddBrink (I’m @inklesstales, real name: Elizabeth Williams Bushey) and it’s getting really frustrating. Been on about two months, and I have to wonder? Is it because I tweet a lot? gained a lot of followers fast? Who knows? But I would be willing to pay a fee to end the hassle.
You are in the same boat as me, I’ve been on a little over 2 months, I have a ton of tweets and over 3,000 followers, now. However, I have friends who are nowhere near that and have been on for over a year and it is also happening to them.
Haha. I went to jail for the 1st time today. So make it 6th time. The last 4 tweet before they sent me to my #twitterjail cell no.49 were when I was sharing this link. I will NOT stop til they gave me some SOLID answers!!! #twitterlimits Getting Ridiculous! http://tinyurl.com/pag93t
Wow! I heard you where in, again. Just astounding. I can’t believe how bad this is getting.
I agree with you there are some strange things occurring with our “friends” @biz and @evan. There are inevitable growing pains, and I am so grateful for the impact Twitter has had on my life – for FREE, but enough is enough. The original design with API limits, for example, need changing. What seemed like a good idea at first doesn’t work in practice. The removale of accounts and names just baffles me. I can see no upside to that at all.
Well, you are as baffled as the rest of us, then.
I’ve talked to several new people recently and it doesn’t seem to matter WHAT we are doing, if you are doing a lot of anything, you get GROUNDED.
Today, @Donnette was cleaning out her DMs, barely tweeting and she got jailed.
I was returning follows, only did a few tweets and got jailed.
Another person was checking out a lot of links, not tweeting hardly at all and got jailed!
Excellent Ver! I was grounded for DMs for 24 hours the other day!! Could rad but not send!
Things are really getting out of hand.
There is definitely something unfairly punitive against verwon – I’m tracking a couple of, well, shall I say politely “idiots” who are posting WAYYY more than 18 an hour- they’re approaching or exceeding 100 per hour – and I read TWO HUNDRED OF THEM last night – and there was absolutely nothing of value in 98% of them. 3 contained links – the rest was useless “love you guys oxoxoxo” and 14 @ signs, and then RT’ing THAT.
Twitter is about conversation. I will steer people to my Photography site – which averages about one in 30 tweets. The rest is a conversation I’m enjoying, LISTENING to what others have to say.
Verwon – I’d try and track a phone number for someone at Corporate (I read most of above but may have missed it if you did) – and clear this up. No one should have to get an alternative “while I’m in jail account,” for sending a tweet every 3 minutes. Complete nonsense when there are people out there I’m UNFOLLOWING (and hell with it if they unfollow me) – because they really post NOTHING, day after day.
Cheers and all the best to you
Thanks, Paul. I do agree with you, I see a lot of people posting way more than I do and they are clearly getting away with it. I am not the only one this is happening to, though, there are quite a lot of people popping up with complaints now.
Since I will be off traveling, however, I am not sure when I will be able to try to hunt up other contact information. I won’t have a regular internet connection for my laptop, so will be on my phone most of the time.
You are a great guy, thanks, again!
When I first discovered twitter,not too long ago,I’ll admit I did it because I was curious about Ashton Kutcher’s “race” with CNN to get to a million followers.I was amused by it,so I decided to follow him and some other celebrities.That got old really fast because they don’t follow you back nor interact with you.
When I started following regular “people”, I realized that it’s a lot more fun to interact with somebody than to listen to some movie star going on all day about crap I don’t care about.
People who are actually on twitter to interact with others are getting punished for doing too much “interacting”. How stupid is that?
I don’t do a lot of updates,so I’ve never been put in twitter jail but I find it ridiculous that others are being punished because they do.
It makes you really wonder whether its all worth it. One last thing..Why can’t they focus their energy on eliminating things like the Brittney porn garbage and media “experts”trying to shove shit down your throat.
HERE HERE!!! I’ve gotten so much of that Britney Porn I’ve had to block it’s ridiculous and you know it’s all coming from the same people, so blocking a few IPs is all it would take to get rid of them.
This morning I was talking to 2 people, none of us posted a whole lot, but all 3 of us ended up twitjailed at the same time. Now, you know there is something funny with that.
Right now, I am in again and I was not tweeting a lot.
It’s been a really long time since I (@arbenting) have shown up in any of the searches. I contacted them a few weeks ago and they told me they had taken care of the problem. I showed up in search for about 2 days then disappeared again. It gets really frustrating when I want to participate in something like DCTH and can’t because I’m not showing up in twitter chat.
I’ve only been on Twitter for a month (tomorrow) and jailed three times. Both times, I tweeted more than normal…but it was during heavy tweet-times (during special events like NBA Finals). At other times, I have tweeted almost as much with no “jail” time. Seems to me it’s a way to kick people off to make more room for other twitterers…
It’s stupid how there’s no set rule for how many tweets = jail time. How are we supposed to follow the rules if there are no rules?
Oops, I meant to write 2 of the 3 times I have been jailed, I was tweeting more than normal (but not by much). 3rd time it came out of the blue.
Yeah- got another limit story for you- apparently you can only DM one user 3 times a day. Tried to sent spam report to @spam and got told “We know you have alot to say, but you are over your DM limit to this user”. Really??? 3 is the limit? I rarely send DM’s and am nowhere even close to the limit on that, so WTF? So the username Twitter set up to report spam only lets you report spam 3 times a day? And it’s only 3am here in Pittsburgh, so I have to wait until tomorrow to report spam? GRRRRRRRR!!! @BattyJanice
I got cut off the other night after less than 50 tweets in one hour and I had to wait an hour and 45 minutes before posting again. At first I thought it was tweetdeck, but I couldn’t tweet from the site either. This is complete bullshit and Twitter needs to do something about it.
@OneLuvGurl has spoken.
Got jailed three times today – once in the morning, twice at night. Fortunately, the jailing did not happen at vital points in the RP that I was participating in… but it’s still damn frustrating. Another one of our RPers got jailed, and she and I kept chatting through DMs without too much trouble…
Too late to grumble any further… this jailing coincides well with my bedtime. Please keep updating this post, Verwon! Any visible progress is heartening.
They sent me to my cell again just now. 2 today and 8 times already. What did I do?! I only @reply and Rt some tweet, promoting and giving comment about the One Piece 404 from hhtp://www.animeseason.com and promoting this blog. It was less than 100 updates. I didn’t even use DM! All this happened after 1H++ I login to my twitter account. Guess I still can’t run away from them. Better luck next time! Wish me luck People!!! Keep on #SMILING!
Not really affected as I tweet less than 50 a day but I can imagine the chaos faced by power Twitter users.
Thank you for this.
I’ve been wondering what’s been going on! I know I tweet A LOT, but getting locked out after 50-60 tweets is killing my game.
You guys realize that 100 API calls != 100 updates, right? If you are using a 3rd party client, looking at profiles, reading DMs, even searches can cost you an API call.
Twitter is not an IM client, it’s not email, and it’s not a bookmarking service. Limit your RTs, say original things and you probably won’t run into this problem as much.
Forgive me for saying, but it’s clear from many of the previous posts that the issue isn’t API.
As for your advice on the content… “say original things”? My friends and I are on Twitter to tell stories for an audience, and we’ve been doing it for months. Almost everything we say is “original”. And even if it wasn’t – I don’t think the content of the tweets are the issue. Whether it’s a new thought or an RT, it shouldn’t matter.
And I am back in twit jail as of 11:03 est after 13 tweets. This is becoming very frustrating, I have sent a tech request to let them know I am aware of the issue .. lets see if that helps. I have seen several have done the same and gotten no replies . I can only hope .
I was freed after @ 12:16 est
This is seriously impacting a group of about 100 RPers who are tweeting True Blood in real time. I did get an @ Reply from @ev saying he didn’t think anything had changed since the 6/5 maintenance window. The True Blood RPers noticed it Friday night after Twitter came back up from their maintenance window. Here’s the short list of characters, there are many more since this post. http://sookiebontemps.posterous.com/true-blood-on-twitter-character-list
I just found this blog after being blocked TWICE today with this stupid limit. I am currently in twitterjail right now, and I counted my updates for this hour and its 44.
I was Twitterjailed last night during a Twitter Party where there were prizes up for grabs. I had posted 30+ tweets in an hour and even those TweetDeck said my API reset – Twitter would not let me post. It was well after an hour from Twitter jailing me that I was allowed to post again. Meanwhile, I watched another user comment non-stop on the Tony Awards (literally every minute) and never have an issue.
[...] Twitter Limits Getting Ridiculous! « Verwon's Blog Hopefully twitter raises the tweet per hour limit! (tags: twitter socialmedia) [...]
Isn’t this the kind of petty shit that killed Yappoo
Posted 26 times in an hour. Sent some DMs but not loads. Not happy. I don’t overtweet!
I was blocked for a full hour… and I only posted 29 tweets in the hour prior to them blocking me.
In realms unseen lives are governed by zeros and ones
~Gotta watch who you piss off folks
Good post, but I have to disagree with the statement “…People who have gained a lot of followers in a short amount of time. In other words…the people that ’social media’ should be all about.” I’m sure you would agree that if someone is on twitter for the right reasons, to engage and interact, then it does not matter that that person has a lot of followers in a short amount of time. Social media is about all the people that want to make a connection.
I’m really not a heavy user. Maybe 2 DMs a day, anywhere from 5 – 50 updates a DAY. About half RT, half conversations or links to things.
Have tried to be a good Twitizen. I always follow back unless it’s an obvious spammer or bot. I try to help people when I can, and post links I think the people I’ve met will find interesting.
and
I’ve been in Twitterjail for almost two weeks, can’t get an answer as to WHY, and am so sad about it. Submitted a request for help, got the emailed FAQ, and a snarky answer redirecting me to the “missing from searches” topic on the help forum. Where I left a comment, along with thousands of other people in the same position.
Have really, really loved connecting with people with similar interests, but it’s difficult to participate in discussions when you include a hashtag and don’t show up in the stream, because you’re Twitterlocked. And I didn’t join Twitter just to read other people’s tweets.
Am very close to ditching Twitter altogether. If you can’t connect with people, it kinda takes the point out of it.
Twitter is broke – that’s to say, it just doesn’t work the way it should.
Twitter’s tech support is non-existent and seldom even replies to issues.
I used to use Twitter a lot, but moved to the massively more reliable and useful FriendFeed.
I’m telling my contacts to do the same.
Jim,
Sorry to say, but my contacts at Twitter (mainly Doug) are pretty damn responsive. People that i’ve know to deal with them for business also find them remarkably responsive.
What grounds do you have to believe that friendfeed would fair better with similar user loads and growth?
I was Twitterjailed today after 13 posts within 1 hour. 3rd time this week after never hitting the limit EVER. My account was also suspended for over 24 hours the same day/rime as @JasonPollock, for no reason & without explanation before, during or after it was restored.
I have gained almost 3000 followers in less than 2 months, but it has been without any automation at all (just content & interaction), so I am not a typical “fast growing” Twitter account spammer…
Very frustrating past 2 weeks on Twitter, to say the least.
@alexistai reporting again. I was locked out again after only 22 tweets into the hour . And was kept for two hours .
I was suspended for 4 days for no reason. I actually asked Twitter and was given the cookie cutter response. After agressive blogging and getting the word out, Twitter re-instated. However, I am finding that I am having troubles seeing my twitter streams go through on Tweetgrid or even Tweetchat where I respond to certain hashtags like #wordpress or #wp or evne participate at #gno. This is my next grievance I will be putting toward them.
(@blondishnet)
@alexistai- Just a thought, I wonder if it has to do anything with the type of client you’re generally updating from and/or your account age (Thu Nov 13 05:27:10 +0000 2008). You have had an inordinate amount of updates in that time (nearly 20,000 in 7 months, or around 100 tweets/day on average), but that shouldn’t trigger any issues.
Do you generally update from a client, the web or SMS?
I have been put in twitterjail and taken from the search function, on 2 accounts within a week of each other! With @GADbaby the account was fine until I participated in a chat 8 days ago. I did a lot of tweets in a short amount of time with the hashtag #clothdiapers. The account then stopped updating in search and hasn’t been up since then.
I also have an account @topmomma, and that was working just fine yesterday. I then participated in a chat last night using the hashtag #clothdiapers again and the account locked me out a couple times that night for too many tweets in a hour times. After the second time, it stopped showing up on searches and is no longer working.
so at this time, neither one are showing up in searches and it because of too many tweets and use of the hashtag I believe.
And I have no answers. I have about 3,000 followers on each account and don’t want to have to start over..
Thank you for this. I’ve been locked out three times, thankfully all at times where I could use a nap. Others in the Portugal community have been locked out, randomly. After some talk, I’m trying to get us organized into sending current tweet count, time, info on help requests, to @twitter @jack @biz @ev tag #nolimits, so we can keep track of how things are happening. I’ve also sent an indivdual tweet for each help request – I opened one Jun 7, and it’s still waiting assignment to an operator…
Does anyone have a problem with posts in topics?
I can’t post in any topic with or without #. I was in Twitter Jail, and after that more than 24 hours and still can’t see any of my posts. Is there any place that tells us we have a problem? and we are going to prison? I am lost!
Just noticed I too have been taken off Search. No idea when it happened.
For the first time ever I seem to be in twitjail..! i posted Good Morning Tweeps… and it didn’t go through! – wow, what a nightmare… I know I’ve posted a lot in the last month… but nothing for 4 days… and I’m in Jail..! – nothing posted for the last 2 hours, but still can’t post!
Twitter has the worst support I’ve experienced. Read about my ordeal with them: http://statsheet.com/blog/thanks-to-twitter-im-creating-my-own-twitter
I just hit my tweet limit, again, it has happened a few times now. I can understand why they have it, to stop most of the spam right.
I have been a big supporter of this movement to stop Twit limits. I have also made the point that when there is a continual exchance between these 2 girls they should consider e Mail or a messenger service. I like Twitter to be a free social network without a lot of spamming and advertising. But, when you just are wanting to talk back and forth with a friend all day long consider the other options…
There is no formal tweet limit. I tweeted a TON this week (maybe ~100 tweets/day) while I was attending the #140conf. I wasn’t even the person who was tweeting the most. Many people tweeted significantly more and not a single person there hit limits.
If anyone is actually getting limited, I have to wonder if its because a lot of people have blocked your accounts (twitter tracks this and might internally hold it against you), if you’re following/unfollowing a lot (something spammers often do), if your account is really new (mine is from 2007), or if you’re just misinterepting some errors that are naturally occurring.
On the API mailing list people mention nearly any problem that could happen, and I have yet to hear anyone mention these issues.
Hello and thanks for the comments, ideas and suggestions, everyone. I am away traveling and without regular net access, so I haven’t been able to respond to each like I usually do.
I haven’t been seeing as many complaints about this as I had been, so I am hoping things have improved.
I just may not be experiencing it, since I am not tweeting as much as I usually do, since I am only using my phone most of the time.
If it’s still going on, please keep passing this link and leaving your comments, they are all appreciated, unless you act like a jerk and insult everyone, then they will be deleted, as this is unacceptable.
Hi, yeah I just started using twitter. I’m using an app for the iPod
Called “Twitted Deck”. I had not posted anything in the last 24 hours. My first tweet that I sent today had to do with what’s going on in Iran. At first, it showed up. Minutes later, my message was removed and then I started getting the Api limit reached message. I don’t understand it.
Eric- Posting a tweet does NOT count toward your API limit. Correlation != Causation
Yeah, I know. I am just posting to the fact that there are problems with Twitter. I know that posting a tweet does not count towards my API limit however, I am still getting the “API Limit Reached” message for obviously no reason.
So I get on twitter, and about 40 tweets later, I CANT TWEET ANYMORE. Its supposed to be an hour, but I have been waiting 2 full hours and its NOT WORKING! F*** TWITTER!
You are right about the total ineptitude of twitter dealing with wrongfully suspended accounts.
I know, it happened to me and I wrote about the whole process here:
http://thezargon.org/2009/07/the-ultimate-fail-whale/
Wow! You people make me afraid of tweeting again LOL! Today I ecceeded API limit for the 1st time! Funny thing is it happened after 15 tweets in an hour. But I could do it from web though! I had to stop using Destroy Twitter for 55 minutes… I hope I don’t get jailed again because I really enjoy connecting with my twitter friends, and no I’m not a celebrity, just a nobody!
[...] A Twitter user who ends up in “Twitter jail” must tweet over 100+ times per hour, or hit a daily quota of 1,000 tweets. One thing is for certain: that is a lot of tweeting. (Update: Some users have experienced Twitter jail updating under 100 times/hour.) [...]