DISQUS

Stop Twitter Spam: The Story Of The Tit-for-Tat Spammer

  • TheBusyBrain · 1 year ago
    First of all, thank you for quoting things appropriately and expressing the situation as a whole instead of simply as "This guy is a Spammer... Hate him!"

    The fact is, I am not a spammer. I despise spam with a passion, and practice many tactics which prevent spam from ever getting to my email inbox. That being said, the results of the "Tit-Tat-Tweet Experiment" may have had the unintended result of spam-like tweets by followers within the Twitter community.

    Most of this so-called spam was simply Auto-Response Direct Messages from new followers thanking them for the follow, and to visit their site if interested. Trust me, I know! By the very nature of the design of this experiment I saw ALL the tweets except for other peoples Direct Messages. But I did get those same direct messages because they are automated when you follow them! Many people would consider these direct messages spam upon first glimpse... but to me, that is a great way to get to know your new followers... right? Isn't THAT what Twitter is for? Getting to know new people, network, and let them know what you are doing?

    Currently I am following nearly 1500 people, and read a lot of the tweets by them. They aren't spammy! Only a couple people were overly heavy on self-promotion, but that was easily resolved by a 1-click "unfollow". Done! Never again will I have to deal with them!

    Call it spam
    Call it a way of cheating the system
    Call it a false sense of caring followers
    Call it whatever you want! I've probably gotten an email, blog comment, or tweet with your same thoughts already! The simple fact is I don't regret the result! I have met a great deal of interesting and positive contacts from this situation that I would have NEVER met had I never done it!

    Mike J
    TheBusyBrain
    http://Blog.TheBusyBrain.com
  • TheBusyBrain · 1 year ago
    By the way,

    DISQUS (which this blog is using) is the best commenting service for blogs! For Wordpress Bloggers I HIGHLY recommend that everyone use it for their comment threads in place of the standard protocol! I have no affiliation with them, I simply love it!
  • Stop Twitter Spam · 1 year ago
    I agree - DISQUS rocks.
  • Stop Twitter Spam · 1 year ago
    Mike J - thanks for your comments. First off, I apologize for the slightly sensationalist headline. It's clear from how you have handled this situation that you are not a spammer. As I mentioned in the post, your experiment generated some very healthy discussion about this.
  • George_Gayl · 11 months ago
    Thanks for the hat props :)
  • Char (PSI Tutor) · 10 months ago
    Gee~ maybe I should take myself more seriously. I am aware that people Follow me to get their numbers up~ but I so do not mind. Others cannot "take" from me, I don't feel "used" or that someone is trying to "trick" me.

    The pure marketing Followers of mine do sometimes interact with others. If they don't, Following me may expose what I have to say/services I have to provide or recommend me to others. It's not like every second person is one.

    I myself have been accused of SPAMing, and even now I am undergoing a Turing Test for a fellow Tweeter's peace of mind; and I'm like- get a grip!

    And this was a minority, on or two from 20 people, who incidentally did NOT all get the same message.

    Maybe I need to cultivate my self-importance so I can relate to the reactions I have seen myself and for others.

    Just block person's your not interested in~ so hard...?

    Storm in a teacup is what I see