Read to the end for a hungry Prince.
I hate to devote more of my and your time to Twitter but alas, I have to because once again there has been another unthinkable action this company has taken. And while it may not have even been on the radar of many, it's still an important development.
Let's get the obvious out of the way: Elon Musk has no care about anyone who his decisions affect. Not you, not me, not anyone. Over the weekend it came to light that nearly all 3rd party Twitter apps such as Tweetbot or Twitterific stopped working. Just dead in the water. If you're a long-time user of Twitter, it's likely you use one of these over Twitter's official app. Why? Because their app is pretty bad and has been for a long time.
In the early days of the service, there was no official app, and when they did 'make' one it was the acquisition of a beloved app called Tweetie. This is why Twitter owns the patent on Pull to Refresh. This genius gesture was first put into that app and after being bought by Twitter, there was a general promise put out that anyone could use it. Hence why it's everywhere. Anyway, I digress...
Many people have relied on these not-made-by-Twitter apps for over a decade. They're fast, they have features not on Twitter Proper, and you don't see any ads. Tweetbot has been one of the best out there since it debuted on the App Store so long ago.
With all the apps suddenly not working here at the beginning of 2023, it became a question of "is this the long-awaited breaking of something?" or "was this an arbitrary decision made by Elon Musk?" Because Twitter has fired anyone who could do any sort of PR, it's been radio silence. After nearly 48 hours though we have the answer. Paul Haddad of TapBots (maker of Tweetbot) changed their API key to an unused one. This essentially was the app trying to access twitter looking like a "new" app that was rarely used. Sure enough, the app began working again... for a short time before they were cut off again.
And that's the answer: this is deliberate. And it's effing cruel. The Tapbots crew, Icon Factory (makers of Twitterific), and ALL the users of these various apps were all basically told to take a hike. The very people who Elon is desperately trying to get to shell out $8 for a meaningless checkmark are told they aren't welcome. Others who live on the income generated from these apps are told they should no longer build for Twitter.
As someone who's been on Twitter for over a decade, it would've been the tipping point to leave the service... if I already hadn't left Twitter last month. For a company to flip a switch to cut off such a wide swath of their users & developers and then be silent about it is the stuff that only a person of Elon Musk's unhinged behavior could achieve.
We all knew Twitter wouldn't be Twitter anymore once Elon came calling. If there was ever a reason to leave (like we needed more?) then cutting users off is an effective way to make that happen.
-Aaron
PS: I'm trying hard to grow TimeMachiner. If you enjoy my work, please tell a friend. Thank you. 😊
TODAY'S RANDOM FACTOID
There was a proposed Amendment to the US Constitution in 1916 that would put all acts of war to a national vote, and anyone voting yes would have to register as a volunteer for service in the United States Army. Source
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