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Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

bbc.com

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Re: Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

#151

Post by sojmq »

flurdy wrote: post #145
wilg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like they could avoid this problem, keep old accounts, and still free up the namespace by just renaming all these accounts @_archived_originalname (or something better). Maybe with some kind of process to re-activate the account under the original name (or a new one if it has since been taken). And some kind of hands-on resolution process for people who accidentally got deactivated. Feels tractable.

Don't like that idea. There are a lot of direct links across the internet to tweets that would get broken if the handle was renamed.

As long as the id is okay the user name of a link does not matter

https://twitter.com/flurdy/status/1199290001143582721

Re: Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

#152

Post by flurdy »

mc3 wrote: post #56
codetrotter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If squatting Twitter names becomes even marginally profitable you can be sure that squatters will be setting up bots that will monitor the availability of deactivated usernames that were popular in the past and that as soon as these are released they will be taken. A delay of the kind you suggested will not stop the bot writers.

Yes better to put the account names up for auction and bring in some revenue.

Terrible idea.

Re: Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

#153

Post by sojmq »

rahuldottech wrote: post #10

I wonder what will happen to the twitter accounts of folks who have passed away? Eg. Aaron Swartz: https://twitter.com/aaronsw https://twitter.com/aaronsw_hv > The cull will include users who stopped posting to the site because they died - unless someone with that person's account details is able to log-in. Yeah, this is bad. EDIT ---- Archive Team is making an effort to archive twitter accounts of dead users. Please…

Why is it bad? Why should dead people take up usernames? What will happen in 50 years, half of good usernames will be taken by graveyard dwellers?

Re: Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

#154

Post by krapp »

lawlessone wrote: post #147

How about removing the nazis?

They can't remove the nazis, because apparently if they did, it would remove too many Republican accounts[0].

Also because the nazis are, unfortunately, quite active.

[0]https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3xgq5/why-wont-twitter-t...

Re: Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

#156

Post by flurdy »

fyfy18 wrote: post #150
flurdy wrote: post #143

This is awfull. 6 months is too short for any account. I can understand the need to cull some never really used accounts. There are a lot of never really logged on accounts filling up the space. So some weeding of those is understandable. But not ones that have been used but not that active any more. E.g. dead, seriously ill in hospital, backpacking for a year or travelling to Mars. Or simple just stopped tweeting fo…

I feel that you are over thinking this. The email I received (apparently I have a lot of accounts I registered for demos but no longer use) says this: "you need to log in and follow the on-screen prompts before Dec. 11, 2019, otherwise your account will be removed from Twitter." So they are sending the email to all inactive accounts, and leaving it up to the owner to perform an action if they want to continue to usin…

Yes, so far the emails I have received has been for account handles I don't mind if they get deleted.

But like Niemöller's prose, which are next?

I am hoping they are using sensible scoring as I suggested.

Otherwise, if they will keep sending these emails every 6 months, what happens if you miss one of these emails for an account that actually matters. Easily done even if you are not dead, ill, travelling.

Re: Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

#158

Post by gerikson »

sircastor wrote: post #73
rb808 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked with a guy who died of a heart attack. Every year LinkedIn asks me to congratulate him having worked X+N years at the company. You have to wonder when they'll give up.

I have a friend who passed away from cancer a few of years ago. I still get these notifications for him. I was trying to call someone recently and my phone suggested my dad who has been gone for a couple of years. We need a better mechanism to gracefully transition accounts of individuals.

I still get a reminder in Facebook to celebrate the birthday of a buddy who passed in 2007...

Re: Twitter prepares for cull of inactive users

#159

Post by flurdy »

sojmq wrote: post #151
flurdy wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't like that idea. There are a lot of direct links across the internet to tweets that would get broken if the handle was renamed.

As long as the id is okay the user name of a link does not matter https://twitter.com/flurdy/status/1199290001143582721

Wow, I did not know that! I was worried about which tweet of mine you had found! :)
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