So I have to ask the question... in what capacity does Alex work for you? I only ask that because it would seem that no matter what condition anything is in at his place of employment or whether you even use his company's services he would have no personal accountability to you at all. Twitter has some amount of accountability to their end users. I think we can all agree on that. But a single developer of theirs has no accountability to anyone outside the walls of his company as it relates to anything he does for his company. What he does outside of his company time is completely up to him. If he never did another thing on the Twitter API it should make no difference to you or anyone. He works for Twitter, not you. Just saying. - Robert Gonzalez

@Robert Gonzalez That single developer does have accountability "outside the walls" if that's his job. I saw Alex, Biz and Jack speak at #bearhugcamp to a roomful of Microblog developers, what Alex told the entire room was: "just e-mail me" and we'll give you all the Twitter API access you need. Jesse has written an O'Reilly book himself and also has programmed extensively against the Twitter API, his concerns are legit. - Brian Hendrickson

Let the guy have a life. Unbelievable. - Todd Hoff

Thanks Brian - I guess it only makes sense if you've written a book before and you're a Twitter developer having seen the problems the API has. I wish Alex well on his book - I'm happy to see that. I'm just concerned that now isn't the time, for the sake of all us other API developers. I'm surprised Twitter hasn't come up with a statement about this. - Jesse Stay from twhirl

@todd Microblogging (and the developer ecosystem which created the bustling "tools" market for Twitter users) is a big deal. just look at today's Wall Street Journal (which by the way mis-identifies the Twitter-founders in the photo caption) http://is.gd/4Tdb The funny thing, to me, is all of the Twitter fans (not gonna say 'fanboys') who rush around defending it and writing silly blog posts like "let's all team up and help find a business plan for twitter!". People LOVE Twitter. It's a terrific service. - Brian Hendrickson

I program using Twitter APIs and Alex has helped me numerous times. I just hope he can carve out a fun and meaningful life amongst all the craziness. - Todd Hoff

Someone at the WSJ must be listening, the photo caption is now correct. - Brian Hendrickson

@todd Don't worry about Alex and Twitter! They are revolutionizing communication, I think they'll be OK - Brian Hendrickson