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Twitter's API is down?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Twitter's API is down?

#61

Post by samwillis »

dstaley wrote: post #28
wildpeaks wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish Twitterific made a Mastodon client, its great UX compared to the official Twitter app is one of the major reasons I was still using Twitter. And events like this shows they shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket.

The makers of Tweetbot are making a Mastodon client! https://www.macrumors.com/2022/11/29/tapbots-ivory-mastodon-...

That is a very sensible proactive move on the part of the team, they must have both been concerned about the future viability of third party twitter clients, and the potential of Mastodon as a new market. From what I've heard the Mastodon client they are building is very good, it's in closed beta right now.

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#62

Post by ipaddr »

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #49
philliphaydon wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, the day he took over twitter people were saying "it wont be up this weekend" "it will be down in a week" "it will be offline in 2 weeks"... yet the reality is, its up and running well. The system is running as good as before. The only thing I've noticed is theres more ad's than usual. ---- Edit: Currently there isn't any outage of Twitter as far as anyone knows. It looks like 3rd party apps have been kick…

It’s running well because the old guard built it so well. Musk threw them all out, so it will slowly but surely degrade. There was a reason Twitter had such a large workforce.

Is this the same twitter who almost died trying to scale when they started? They have been in worse spots. They will be fine and much of the old guard still works there.

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#63

Post by lexandstuff »

philliphaydon wrote: post #30
minimaxir wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hard part for Twitter is figuring out who's left that can fix it.

I disagree, the day he took over twitter people were saying "it wont be up this weekend" "it will be down in a week" "it will be offline in 2 weeks"... yet the reality is, its up and running well. The system is running as good as before. The only thing I've noticed is theres more ad's than usual. ---- Edit: Currently there isn't any outage of Twitter as far as anyone knows. It looks like 3rd party apps have been kick…

This comment feels a bit out of place on a post about part of Twitter being down.

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#64

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

mnd999 wrote: post #51
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that his entire [claimed] rationale is “restoring free speech in America” you can scratch countries 2-6 off that list.

The rationale is to control the narrative and align Twitter’s politics with his own. It’s just like the hundred other rich dudes who bought newspapers over the years.

Sure. I should have said “claimed rationale”.

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#65

Post by veidr »

scraplab wrote: post #56
veidr wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't post to Twitter, but I still sometimes use Twitterrific to read it since not everybody I enjoy there has successfully moved to Mastodon. (Although tbh it is only William Gibson, David Frum, and Grady Booch that keep me reading Twitter.) I too thought the 'garch might have abruptly pulled the plug on the API. But then, I installed the Twitter iOS app and tried that, and it emitted a cascade of error screens, t…

FWIW, William Gibson is on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@GreatDismal

I know, but (like a lot of people) he didn't end up posting there after signing up. Although Mastodon ended up being "about as good" for me (who just reads it when e.g. waiting in a line or something) as Twitter, there are these few people like him who made my Twitter feed something special who aren't really active on Mastodon.

(BTW indie dev world, I've paid money for years for Twitterrific and would definitely pay money for a client that did a reasonable job of showing me people I follow on various social brainfart networks, all in one place).

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#66

Post by manholio »

input_sh wrote: post #43
philliphaydon wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, the day he took over twitter people were saying "it wont be up this weekend" "it will be down in a week" "it will be offline in 2 weeks"... yet the reality is, its up and running well. The system is running as good as before. The only thing I've noticed is theres more ad's than usual. ---- Edit: Currently there isn't any outage of Twitter as far as anyone knows. It looks like 3rd party apps have been kick…

Australia and NZ experienced a 16h outage last week. Was there someone to fix it eventually? Sure. Is 16h of downtime acceptable for a $44b business? I'm going with no. https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2023/01/twitter-down-australia/

> Is 16h of downtime acceptable for a $44b business?

After a 70% reduction in headcount, is a 16 hour downtime acceptable in a 5% market? I'm going with yes, executives from all major corporations are itching to press that button if only they could get away with it.

The problem with Twitter is not, was not, and will never be a technical one. It's a simple site with a simple tech stack, using standard technology to scale.

The problem with Twitter, and what Musk doesn't seem to understand, is a sociological and political one. Social networks are the crack cocaine of tabloid media, left to the whims of bad actors they can destroy democracies, incite lynchings, distribute hate and misinformation on scales without historical precedent. "Free speech" just doesn't cut it, social networks are publications not mediums, they chose what people get to see and react to, and the fact that the choice is made by an algorithm does not absolve them of responsibility for the consequences, especially if the algorithm is tuned for revenue maximization and easily gamed by bad actors to spread their content.

By firing the watchers, Musk is setting Twitter up as an menace to stable democracies around the world.

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#67

Post by samwillis »

It would not surprise me if this is the end of third party clients and the new owner has removed access. Very disappointing if he has, particularly if he's done it with zero notice too.

He has been making significant noise of feature changes in the official client coming in the next couple of weeks. Removing the third party client access would align with that, along with removing the little "posted by ..." note on each tweet a couple of months ago.

I wander if the new policy is that you can't have an app that's main feature is replicating the existing functionality of twitters main app. That seems to be the rumour over there.

Publishing apps like Buffer and Typefully are still working.

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#68

Post by drstewart »

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #49
philliphaydon wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, the day he took over twitter people were saying "it wont be up this weekend" "it will be down in a week" "it will be offline in 2 weeks"... yet the reality is, its up and running well. The system is running as good as before. The only thing I've noticed is theres more ad's than usual. ---- Edit: Currently there isn't any outage of Twitter as far as anyone knows. It looks like 3rd party apps have been kick…

It’s running well because the old guard built it so well. Musk threw them all out, so it will slowly but surely degrade. There was a reason Twitter had such a large workforce.

So under what conditions would you consider a company overstaffed?

Re: Twitter's API is down?

#70

Post by Groxx »

sho wrote: post #18

This might be the last straw. I flat out refuse to use their horrible app with its nonsense algorithmic timeline. Give it a few hours to see if it's permanent but if it is, I expect a huge wave of new mastodon users..

Talon is the only reason I used Twitter for over a year, yeah. I can't stand the site.

(Talon is also not loading any tweets at the moment)

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