Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets • Hacker News Board

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#11

Post by philh » Mon, May 04, 2009, 3:39 PM UTC

Hates_ wrote: post #2

As a side note this is reason I've always believed building an business/app of any importance on-top of another site is just crazy. You're at their mercy and there's nothing you can ever do to stop them shutting you out.

At the same time, that site might be creating business opportunities that wouldn't otherwise exist.

And almost any business will be dependant, to some extent, on others. It's a question of how many of your dependencies are irreplaceable, and how likely they are to shut you out.

See for example http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/outage-10-08.html - they went down and lost all their data because the hosting company had a fight with the people who owned the building where the servers were kept. (Including backups, which made the host irreplaceable - with offsite backups, that wouldn't have been the case.)

Building on a site like twitter might increase the risk of being cut off on a whim, but it probably decreases the risk of competitors.

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#12

Post by ivankirigin » Mon, May 04, 2009, 3:44 PM UTC

Twitter is very open with how they like and don't like their system to be used. They are the most open company I can think of with their API. I can guarantee this wouldn't come as a surprise to the service maker. This is coming from someone who makes an application that heavily uses twitter.

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#13

Post by shabda » Mon, May 04, 2009, 3:52 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #6

Without warning Twitter shuts down... 650 accounts controlled by the same people. You don't say.

Imo, There is a valid reason for 650 accounts. Plus twitter is interesting because of 3rd party apps, so they should be responsive with support emails.

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#14

Post by silencio » Mon, May 04, 2009, 3:54 PM UTC

I'm curious: did you at any point contact Twitter for their blessing (of your 650 accounts for this particular use)? I meant, before they started suspending your accounts? Or even before you created the accounts?

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#15

Post by shabda » Mon, May 04, 2009, 3:55 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #9

RobbieStats wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because an account is some precious commodity?

If it weren't, would we be having this discussion? Seems that you want it both ways, depending on whether you're discussing Twitter's obligations to you or your obligations to Twitter.

Account is a precious commodity, account name generally not, unless the intent is to squat.

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#16

Post by brm » Mon, May 04, 2009, 4:02 PM UTC

And that my friends is why a business should never have all its eggs in one basket or platform if you will

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#17

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 04, 2009, 4:32 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#18

Post by coglethorpe » Mon, May 04, 2009, 4:35 PM UTC

patio11 wrote: post #6

Without warning Twitter shuts down... 650 accounts controlled by the same people. You don't say.

"Mass account creation - Ok, they got me on this one."

Yes, they did have you on that one. Thanks for playing.

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#19

Post by dryicerx » Mon, May 04, 2009, 4:38 PM UTC

jfarmer wrote: post #10

Hates_ wrote: post #2

As a side note this is reason I've always believed building an business/app of any importance on-top of another site is just crazy. You're at their mercy and there's nothing you can ever do to stop them shutting you out.

Every business is built on other businesses. In the 1800s if you wanted distribution you had to play ball with the railroad barons. This is just the 21st century equivalent. Likewise, if you're building a destination website you're dependent on Google, email spam lists (don't get blacklisted!), browser vendors (MSFT and ESPN once conspired to make espn.com for IE-only), and even ISPs (see: Net Neutrality). The risks…

There is a difference between those early dependence and Twitter. Twitter is still young, it's uncertain, and worst it's future is really unpredictable because it doesn't even have a business model to generate revenue yet.

Building on top of a business is sensible when you are depending on something that's been there for a while, know it's dependable and have a reputation. This twitter does not have.

If the same service as Twitter was provided by Google, Amazon or even Microsoft, you know it's backed by something solid.

Re: Without Warning, Twitter Kills StatTweets

#20

Post by dryicerx » Mon, May 04, 2009, 4:40 PM UTC

RobbieStats wrote: post #3

Hates_ wrote: post #2

As a side note this is reason I've always believed building an business/app of any importance on-top of another site is just crazy. You're at their mercy and there's nothing you can ever do to stop them shutting you out.

I agree. That's what sucks about our dependency on Google too. Most Internet businesses are dependent on them and they can decide to remove you from the index as quickly as Twitter disabled the StatTweet accounts. Twitter effectively removed me from their index.

There is a difference between depending on Google and depending on Twitter.

Google is a multi faceted business, they have a good revenue model, have money, and are a proven company. Depending on them isn't crazy.

What's crazy is depending on Twitter, it's new, still have no solid revenue model to make money and sustain, in simple it's a single egg in the basket.