OK, it’s been a while since I wrote anything on here, so what better way to come back with a peeve / rant or annoyance… So, as many of you know (or are about to find out) I love Twitter. Its sucked the life out of me for hours when I either should have been working or I was bored. Anyway, over the last few months it seems to me that Twitter has started going down hill. It’s server performance just sucks, Its slow, API timeouts or unavailable, Aarrghhh Its annoying.
OK, So the boffin’s at Twitter probably didn’t expect the popularity or the load that the seemingly minuscule servers or bandwidth can cope with (I bet when Twitter first started as an internal communication platform for Odeo (twttr, as it was known), they had no problems like this). The first Twitter message was sent on the 21st of March 2006, that’s 4 years ago!!! So why is Twitter still having problems?
Fail Whale
When any website cannot cope with excessive bandwidth, the server returns an error, usually a white screen with big black letters boasting ‘Server Error 503′. Twitter uses a custom error message for the same error using a Whale being saved by some red birds.
Twitters 503 Fail Whale error notice
So, out of complete Irony, I wanted to make my own version of the Fail Whale, and with the thing being so annoying using a mobile or the web interface its frustrating, just like the BP Oil Spill, so I combined them to make a new Twitter error screen:
The Twitter / BP Error Warning... Save the Whale (Not)
This time I have the Whale being saved by BP Logo’s…
Bots – These are another peeve. They scan for keywords then either tweet you or RT (Re-Tweet) your message. They are so annoying that I now just block them and report them as Spam. I hate them with a passion. Its as bad as walking through the City and some asshole jumps out on you asking ‘Are you interested in buying this 54 piece Britannia Encyclopaedia collection?’ – I’m Like Nooooo, If I wanted something like that I’d have come to you. Ever hear of the Internet, fool!
Auto DMs (Direct Messages) – If god gave out one thing that made people annoying, its Automated Replies on Twitter. OK, before you all moan at me and call me a hypocrite, I use something called True Twit. This actually stops spammers from following me, but it does send out an automated reply so anyone following me can authorise themselves, So it protects me. I then Auto Follow you back via True Twit. What you won’t get from me is a DM stating ‘Hey new friend, thanks for the follow, why not come on over and check my blog http://imboring.com‘ Or try to sell you something.
Last one… I use my own domain for email, and Twitter hates that. It never delivers my emails and I always get an error stating that my email address is incorrect. Twitter do know about this and are looking into it. So I’m glad I’m not alone with that.
On a good note, I don’t really get that much Twitter Spam any more, so that’s a good thing.
Anyone else have any Twitter Peeves? Let me know.
Till Next time. Happy Tweeting.
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