Consoleation Update: Tweet Ya Later!

Twitter decided to suspend my account early this morning with no warning or explanation. After thinking about trying to stay the course and wait for an explanation, I’ve decided to delete my Twitter presence altogether.

It’s unfortunate, as I spent over 4 years and 70,000 tweets getting to know people, publicizing myself and others, and getting my thoughts out into open space in quick bursts. The thing is that being suspended with no just cause or provocation– and being suspended with zero explanation– is unacceptable to me, as a user. I understand that Twitter is a free service and that the company is well within its rights to suspend and terminate accounts as it sees fit. I also know that I’ve not once in my time there been warned or worse in my time using the service. I thought that I was “doing it right”, or, at least, doing it within acceptable guidelines.

The damage to my online reputation has already been done, regardless of how Twitter decides to address my suspension.. .which it must do before I can delete my account permanently, which is pretty ironic. When you have followers asking why you’re suspended and you have to take to a secondary account to explain that you have no idea, there’s no way to put a positive spin on it. Every day lost is a day of lost thought-sharing, and it makes more sense to devote my time to other social networks and try to rebuild.

The most important message here is not the suspension, but instead the fact that Twitter refused to explain what rule or term of service was broken. I could live with a message stating, “Due to (insert reason), your Twitter account has been suspended. If you feel that you’ve been wrongly flagged, please contact us.” Instead, I wake up this morning to notes from friends that my account was suspended. No e-mail. No message. No attempt at contact. Nothing. Imagine showing up to work or school and being sent home for the day without any explanation. I know that I’d want one. Did I break the dress code? Am I being accused of a broken rule, like cheating or impropriety? Have I been late too many times? What can I do to correct my behavior?

Nope. Not here. Silence, followed by an automated “wait a few days for an appeal” when I took the initiative and inquired. Yeah, no thanks. If it’s left up to me to sit and think about what I did wrong, then I don’t have the time or need for it. Twitter isn’t a part of my job and it’s not a daily requirement. I’ll post elsewhere if the desire strikes me, or I’ll write more posts that have more than 140 characters to them.

I had a fun and enjoyable run on Twitter, and I have my close to 3,000 followers and more to thank for that. I rose up from nothing to earn a following spot from so many people. I appreciate the support that everyone there gave to me. I hope that some of them will keep reading my thoughts here and elsewhere, but I can understand if they don’t. I do humbly request that this post can be picked up by some of you and shared with others, so that there’s some idea of why I’ve left and where I am now.

Thanks, everybody.

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