MN's dashboard

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

Hi Tom. You'll need to submit a request through http://twitter.com/help or send an email request to support AT twitter DOT com – mdy, on September 06, 2008 09:44

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

Hi, there's a username "Tommy" that haven't update for over 9 month. I would like to use it. Could you please release it ? – Tom, on September 06, 2008 09:16

mdy replied on September 04, 2008 03:44 to the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Looks like we can now officially report spammers by sending an @reply to the @spam account on Twitter.

At least, that's what a recent update from Crystal in another thread says.

The recommended syntax seems to be:
@spam @spammerusername OptionalMsg

Just Works replied on September 04, 2008 02:32 to the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Yikes! This is a long thread. It is a good one though.

My suggestion is along the lines of many others here, but the details may be different:

Add the "Flag as" link to the profile pages. I suggest a generic "abuse" label, where flagging it would bring the end user to a form asking to select the type of abuse and allowing an explanation/comment. These would be tallied and the results sent to an employee tasked with investigating. The employee would work on the highest tally first and would have the option of clearing the abuse flags, suspending the account, or taking other appropriate action.

dsheets replied on September 04, 2008 00:06 to the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

I like the @spam method, but it feels that a "Flag as Spam" button would be easier.

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

Mine is 313339. Haven't heard anything on it. It was started August 12 2008, 04:48 PM, a few days after I first shot an email to Twitter. I did a follow up myself on it on August 13 2008, 05:28 AM, just giving an update that there was no activity yet for the username I was requesting. – srizvi1, on September 02, 2008 15:19

peedy replied on September 01, 2008 10:57 to the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

I just requested a name, I hope I can get it!

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

Mine is 315485. Its been only 10 days but I haven't heard a single word yet... Thanks. – Nils, on August 29, 2008 18:19

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

Dear crystal, Mine ticket is 315969 and 310332(this didn't have any reply and has been removed), Thanks! – Rilee, on August 29, 2008 01:07

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

313900 or 313807... just about the same. Thanks for your time. – gocubsgo, on August 29, 2008 00:22

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

what is the 6 digit ticket number (don't include the letters please) or the user name in question? – crystal, on August 29, 2008 00:15

A comment on the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

I hate to tell you this but it's probably going to take longer than two weeks for your ticket to get a response! – ciotog, on August 28, 2008 20:06

gocubsgo replied on August 28, 2008 19:59 to the question "Can an inactive Twitter page/username be removed by request? Or even a request be sent to the current inactive owner?" in Twitter:

i put in a request on august 12th but my tickets don't have any replies or resolve... can anyone in twitterland help?

mdy replied on August 22, 2008 01:11 to the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Also, there's a new Suspended Accounts help page (had not seen that one before today) that lists the various reasons why an account may be suspended, spam being one of them.

---- start of excerpt ----

What is Spam on Twitter?

Commercial or promotional use of Twitter is allowed. There are many companies who create valuable, opt-in relationships with users on Twitter who want to keep up to date with them.

However, if you are following other accounts in order to gain attention to your account or links therein, you may be considered spam.

If you are creating a series of accounts in order to promote the same thing, you may be considered spam.

If you are sending large numbers of @reply messages that are not genuine replies, you may be considered spam.

If you are creating updates in order to show up in search results, you may be considered spam.

If you are disguising links (i.e., writing about one thing but linking to another), you may be considered spam.

If a large number of users have blocked you (relative to those following you), you may be considered spam.

---- end of excerpt ----

mdy replied on August 22, 2008 00:27 to the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Twitter just posted a new blogpost regarding their efforts to combat spam.

See "Turning up the heat on spam" on the Twitter blog

A comment on the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Actually, Kee, in this case it would - because the spam isn't spoofed headers, it's a spam account, created manually with the user signin process. So yes, you could ban the IP - because a) that would stop them from using that IP to sign up accounts, b) if they are using a compromised machine to manually register, the owner of that machine would be blocked unless he/she requested to be unblocked, in which case the answer is "secure your frickin' machine first" and c) the particular folks we're talking about here aren't exactly internet savvy - as they are simply initiating the account the same way time and again manually - if they had automated it or scripted it somehow, they'd be able to generate many more than the 3 dozen a day they manage to come up with.
So yeah, different form of spam and IP banning would impact the situation. – GeekMommy, on August 21, 2008 19:30

Kee Hinckley replied on August 21, 2008 19:05 to the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Too many of these suggestions pay no attention to how spam actually works.

You can't ban IPs, registrations almost certainly come from compromised user machines, of which there are literally millions to choose from.

A comment on the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Easy - ban the IPs that the lame spam accounts are registering from wholesale. If someone comes and complains because they're DHCP? You inform ISP of the abuse and unblock them only if they do something about it. – GeekMommy, on August 21, 2008 07:02

A comment on the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Ah, but they've gotten smarter! All the recent "6FigTm" (don't want to honor them w/ the ability to search & find me talking about them!) accounts I've blocked actually DON'T put the URL in their profile. They avoid putting almost any info in the profile & simply make 1 tweet mentioning their URL. I had the same thought as you, but once I noticed that it made me realize we can't put an auto-spam trigger on anyone that even TWEETS that URL. Hence, my suggestion... I agree with you completely- if there were any way to shut them down & not let those 6Fig folks register another Twitter account ever again, I would kiss the Twitter staffer who figured that one out! (Hope it's Crystal & not a guy, tho. hehe) Hey, what is a geekMOMMY doing up at this hour, anyway? ;D – @ggroovin, on August 21, 2008 06:48

A comment on the discussion "How would you prefer to report Twitter spam?" in Twitter:

Can't we just automatically count any profile that puts the6figureteam.com in it's url as spam? Seriously - I blocked over 2 dozen of those yesterday alone... this is annoying:
http://tinyurl.com/5cklaz how many accounts do they have to spam with before their IPs are banned? – GeekMommy, on August 21, 2008 06:39