Corvida

@Corvida ... could you ping me on GTalk when you havea minute please - Steven Hodson

I really hope your post is some sort of joke. Here is what I see: 1/ it doesn't matter that me and others got screwed, as long as they have $12mil in their account, 2/ it is ok to start it from scratch over and over again 3/ you don't care that me and others lost all our connections, as long as you still have thousands. Conclusion: it is a VERY BIG DEAL, as they have lost my data. If they would have lost their own data, I would have said nothing. But for the moment, it is my data they screwed. Have good traffic! - Alex Popescu

I rarely joke on my site Alex. It's just another perspective and far from a joke. I don't have thousands and you should be backing up those connections elsewhere anyways! That's not Twitter's fault that you didn't take the opportunity to move those connections off of Twitter and on to somewhere like your damn phone let alone your email contact book. Twitter didn't screw anyone. This is a possible price to pay for putting all you eggs in one basket that's been having issues since its inception. - Corvida

Corvida, I like the take in your post. I like your comment above even more : ) I'd understand Alex's rage if he was paying $20/mo. for the service, but he isn't. Disappointment and frustration with a free service, sure, ok. Rage? Not so much. - Robert Seidman

Twitter is a free service. You get what you pay for... especially if you didn't export your connections to Plurk, FriendFeed, or another service. - Bill Sodeman

Your exactly right Robert. It's a free service and that changes the rules a bunch. It's frustrating yes, but I don't believe it's something that can be thrown entirely on Twitter. - Corvida

But don't forget to factor in that because of the "free" users, funding is able to be obtained and the service can be adapted for paid models. Many services are free now because users won't pay for something that doesn't work if there's a free alternative, so who's going to be the first to charge and take that chance? The idea that hey, it's free, don't complain could be the downfall of an otherwise promising company. - Ro (Lilyhill)

You can't really be angry at Twitter just because it's unstable and ate your followers. They made you no promises and took none of your money (that I am aware of). What you CAN do is either stop using it, or protect yourself from future mishaps by backing up your contacts. - Rah™

The fact that the service is free is not the point. Sites that collect data and provide a service have an implied responsibility to it's users. If Google was to suddenly lose peoples emails would folks have the right to feel pissed? Of course they would. If you can't provide the service intended then you shouldn't be providing it, no matter how cheaply. I'm good. I got my 3 followers back. And I am glad that the folks who run Twitter got things back in order in a reasonable amount of time. Kudos! - chartreuse

You say that because it's free it promises you nothing, but what if Gmail suddenly obliterated 1/2 of everyone's e-mails, including yours? Would you be singing the same tune? While there is not an explicit promise that comes with an exchange of money, there is, I think, an implicit promise that, in exchange for your attention and data, this free service will not totally make your life difficult. Letting companies that do this off the hook because they are free is not what good consumer behavior is about. - Dan Kaplan

Continued. The good news is that this was a temporary thing, but if it hadn't been...damn. - Dan Kaplan

Dan, G-Mail is at least monetized with advertising so it's a little different. Plus, by the time it launched in beta all those years ago Google was already a very profitable, stable and big company. If G-Mail went out for even half a day, there'd probably be little else on TechMeme. But for now, e-mail remains a much bigger deal than Twitter (perhaps not with you, but with the world) - Robert Seidman

When this happened yesterday, I was hoping it was a temporary glitch from which they would recover. There's a big difference between losing contacts for a few hours and losing them forever. - Ontario Emperor via fftogo

Just in case I was confusing, I do not agree that they are free to screw you over because the service is free. I'm just saying there is no point in being angry about it. If a free service/company burns you, all you can really do is move on. It's not like you can get a refund or credit for service. I have ditched Twitter completely. - Rah™

I didn't think it was that big of a deal when it happened. Twitter communicated what was going on and now all of my followers are back. - Albert Willis