kathryn's dashboard

I just stopped following someone with protected posts. Now this message appears in my timeline constantly as well. Usually when i stop following someone, their posts disappear from my timeline, but in this case, when I stopped, their posts were all replaced with the "only giving updates to friends" message.

Will it disappear after a couple days? It's very annoying.

You could always click on the ":(" icon 3 times to add three exclamation marks to how you feel. Not quite as entertaining as an angry faced icon, but it's as close as you'll get. :) – Chris Thomson, on July 28, 2008 07:28

Also, we're working on a way for users to delete their accounts on the web without needing to log in. Sorry for the trouble. – Nick Sivo, on July 27, 2008 10:37

Hi Pooky, the messages you're talking about aren't an attempt to increase usage of the application, but rather a way to notify the owner of the phone that their location is being sent to Loopt. It's not always true that the person who installed Loopt is the owner of the phone. We care about the privacy and safety of our users, and are simply trying to do our best to offer a useful and safe service. – Nick Sivo, on July 27, 2008 10:35

...oh yeah - you are gonna need an angry faced icon on this site if you go on like this...

I'm completely and utterly pissed off at receiving txt messages from Loopt itself saying "hey just checking in" ..Well, stop it !! I'll use it if and when i want to ..Stop texting! .. I even uninstalled the damn app as it got so annoying .. Now I have no app and STILL get the damn text messages... last time ..STOP!

(and yes Sending Stop to the text messages gets you ANOTHER text message saying go to the web site - something about their privacy policy but nothing about canceling anything) _ then when you go you must have logged in to loopt on your phone or you cant get access to cancel anything .. Sheesh!!!

STOP STOP STOP..

Geddit?

You may STOP all SMS messages from Loopt by replying to any SMS with STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, or QUIT. If you receive SMS invites from people you do not know or otherwise do not like, then replying to any invitation with these words will cease all future Loopt messages.

Loopt does not store users' address book information or use it to initiate messages itself. Messages relayed by Loopt are initiated by Loopt users who already have the recipients' contact information and never initiated by Loopt.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with further questions at support@loopt.com

For the love of God, can you give Loopt a chance to fix the issues before slamming the crap out of them again? If I have you right, then Loopt are a bunch of idiots if they have a problem, idiots if they state the problem and idiots if they fix the problem. I get your frustration, but don't get beating the crap out of them while they fix it.

Until our first iPhone application update comes out that's exactly what we've done, just more efficiently: if(true) { return; } See blog.loopt.com. – Nick Sivo, on July 17, 2008 05:12

Loopt - can you just add a regex that if a contact's mobile number matches ((\(\d{3}\)?)|(\d{3}))([\s-./]?)(\d{3})([\s-./]?)(\d{4}) your service won't contact them ?

Hi All. It’s Loopt. Kathryn, thank you for such a thorough response – really appreciated. The following should cover the items you mentioned. If it does not, then just let us know and we’ll keep working at it. Thanks again.

1. Yes, Loopt does convey SMS Loopt friend invitations from User A to User B.

2. Yes, friend invitations and broadcasts are sent from Loopt subscribers to their contacts. These messages are never initiated by Loopt. These same people of course could send you SMSs from their phone, without using Loopt.

3. Yes, people may STOP all SMS messages from Loopt by replying to any SMS with STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, or QUIT. If folks receive SMS invites from people they do not know, or otherwise do not like, then replying to any invitation with these words will cease all future Loopt messages.

4. If someone you don’t know has your mobile phone number, then this situation is unfortunate, but not related to our service.

5. Loopt does not store users' address book information or use it to initiate messages itself. Again, messages relayed by Loopt are initiated by Loopt users who already have the recipients' contact information and never initiated by Loopt.

6. Great suggestions re: user education copy for our Website. Point taken, and we’ve emailed new text copy to our Web development team to post as soon as possible. – LooptChris, on July 17, 2008 01:28

Seconded. – cwb, on July 16, 2008 22:36

What I'd *like* to see, and haven't seen so far from Loopt's postings on their UI changes, is a very large "Are you sure you wish to send an invitation via SMS to the following people?" with a list of the addressees *and the number that will be used* confirmation dialog.

FWIW: I'm not sure where you guys picked it up, but in my circle, "my/our bad" is usually associated with someone not actually caring that they've done wrong (IE - Lindsay Lohan rear-ending you then continuing on to get her double venti latte). Might I suggest future missives use a more undeniably sincere phrasing? – chrisweiss, on July 16, 2008 20:56

Has anyone had this kind of experience with any other mobile social networks? For example I signed up with Loopt, Whrrl, and a few others with my blackberry but I haven't added any friends yet due to this kind of horror.

Wow, Kathryn. That's some awesome due diligence on your part! Thanks so much for testing this stuff out and reporting the results. I appreciate that Loopt is finally making an effort to address concerns; I hope they will respond to your latest update. – Groovymarlin, on July 16, 2008 17:44

Stunning. Good detective work, K. – Merlin Mann, on July 16, 2008 16:57