Twitter Prepares For Huge Cull of Inactive Users (bbc.com) 47
Twitter will begin deleting accounts that have been inactive for more than six months, unless they log in before an 11 December deadline. From a report: The cull will include users who stopped posting to the site because they died -- unless someone with that person's account details is able to log-in. It is the first time Twitter has removed inactive accounts on such a large scale. The site said it was because users who do not log-in were unable to agree to its updated privacy policies. A spokeswoman also said it would improve credibility by removing dormant accounts from people's follower counts, something which may give a user an undue sense of importance. The first batch of deleted accounts will involve those registered outside of the US. The firm bases inactivity on whether or not a person has logged in at least once in the past six months. Twitter said the effort is not, as had been suggested by some users on the network, an attempt to free up usernames.
That said, previously unavailable usernames will start coming up for grabs after the 11 December cut-off -- though Twitter said it would be a gradual process, beginning with users outside of the US. In future, the firm said it would also look at accounts where people have logged in but don't "do anything" on the platform. A spokeswoman would not elaborate, other to say that the firm uses many signals to determine genuine human users -- not just whether they interact with, or post, tweets. Further reading: You can take my Dad's tweets over my dead body.
UPDATE (11/29/2019): "Twitter said Wednesday it is putting the brakes, for now, on a plan to start deleting inactive accounts that was set to begin next month," reports SiliconValley.com.
"Twitter said it would hold back on the plan to clear out accounts that had been inactive for at least six months after hearing from multiple users about whether or not they would be able to access the accounts of deceased family members after the Dec. 11 deadline Twitter had established...."
That said, previously unavailable usernames will start coming up for grabs after the 11 December cut-off -- though Twitter said it would be a gradual process, beginning with users outside of the US. In future, the firm said it would also look at accounts where people have logged in but don't "do anything" on the platform. A spokeswoman would not elaborate, other to say that the firm uses many signals to determine genuine human users -- not just whether they interact with, or post, tweets. Further reading: You can take my Dad's tweets over my dead body.
UPDATE (11/29/2019): "Twitter said Wednesday it is putting the brakes, for now, on a plan to start deleting inactive accounts that was set to begin next month," reports SiliconValley.com.
"Twitter said it would hold back on the plan to clear out accounts that had been inactive for at least six months after hearing from multiple users about whether or not they would be able to access the accounts of deceased family members after the Dec. 11 deadline Twitter had established...."
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Except all the money and effort setting up hundreds and hundreds of bot/sock puppet sleeper accounts...
=Smidge=
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Twitter could solve this whole problem if they didn’t post follower numbers or other metrics that beg for this type of gaming. I wonder how much money they end up blowing on trying to counteract all of those problems.
Re: And nothing of value... (Score:1)
This is in preparation for the 2020 elections. If, say, Bernie gets a lot of popular support the way he or Ron Paul did in previous elections, they'll wholesale delete "Russian p
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If the accounts are truly bots, wouldn't it be trivial to have them log in once a month?
I started one a couple of years ago. I never really used it much. I suspect it's on the chopping block, but like you said I don't really care much about it.
Re: And nothing of value... (Score:2)
Yup. I have an ancient Twitter account. From like the second year they were in business. One of the first things I every tweeted - a link to some WikiLeaks doc - was censored by Twitter. So I haven't used it since.
Definitely a real account. Definitely targeted by the Twitter Nazis for deletion.
But as others have said: nothing of value will be lost.
Hundrets? (Score:2)
More like hundrets of thousands!
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And nothing of value will be lost. Life will go on.
Obi-Wan: I felt a great disturbance in Twitter, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
President Tom Beck: [puts hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder] Now, I can promise you this, Obi-Wan, all of you, everyone in this room and everyone listening to my voice, that at some point over the next month, all of us will entertain out worst fears and concerns. But I can also promise you this. Life will go on. We will prevail.
Requiescat In Pace (Score:1)
Deactivation should be done in stages (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Mark the account as dormant and mark its activity as by an inactive user. This includes making it unable to receive communication from normal users.
2) Mark all activity by the account as private, removing it from public view. For all intents and purposes, nobody will be able to tell the account ever existed if they only search the site in question.
3) Optionally back up the user data and delete it from online servers.
4) Delete all account data except perhaps some meta-data visible to site administrators that show that the account once existed and when it was deleted.
5) Optionally, make account name available again.
Put suitable gaps between each step. The gap between step 2 and 5 should be at least a year.
If "name-recycling" is the only goal, take the Wikipedia approach and make some inactive accounts eligible for "involuntary renaming" to make the original name available again.
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1) Don't announce that you are going to delete inactive accounts (it isn't fair to troll farm employees who will now need to put in 80 hour weeks for the same pay)
2) Hit the fucking delete button.
3) Realize the Earth is still spinning.
Next Headline (Score:5, Funny)
After the bots and PR accounts? (Score:2)
Only a few lonely souls that also do nothing more than retweet, and technically, can be considered bots too.
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There are way more than 14 bots. I know, I run one.
I have a home-made IoT device that periodically posts some climate information to Twitter. It was a fun little project back in the day, and it also sends data to Weather Underground.
I guess it's going to stop working unless I remember to log in every 6 months. Oh well.
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Maybe... They have an API for this which lets apps post, but of course the app doesn't accept the new T&Cs on the user's behalf.
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I was joking too.
But there are definitely more than 14 people on Twitter, I mean the Internet Research Agency employs over 1000 people.
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and 5 of then are from trump for him to agree with himself !! :D
Paging willyhill (Score:2)
Twitter realizes it has only 14 active accounts.
Are any of these Twitter accounts [slashdot.org] active? It was over a decade ago, but I remember when they were promoting GNU/Linux and bashing "M$".
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Both true and not true.
I mean.. I feel like I almost have 14 accounts myself alone .. Then again are they active? No. I don't even know which ones I have! .. But on the other hand I guess now I have to find out.
There goes my account (Score:2)
Digital dark age ... (Score:2)
What will historians do, when all the literature from an era is "deleted" to make space.
Oh, wait!
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Look upon my works ye mighty and despair!
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What will historians do, when all the "literature" from an era is deleted to make space.
FTFY :D
There go account sales. (Score:2)
What will the account resellers do now? https://buyaccs.com/en/buy-bul... [buyaccs.com]
That is a miserable idea (Score:3)
Imagine all the disappointed data archaeologists in the future studying what is obviously going to be called "The Dawn of the Stupid Age" having all this raw information purged.
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What about the TOS? (Score:2)
Would " -- unless someone with that person's account details is able to log-in." not violate their TOS?
Can a third party agree to new privacy policies on the behalf of the deceased?
The "further reading" link gives good context here (Score:4)
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Twitter is in reality a company, and this is what companies consider "trimming the fat" so to speak. They're making a logic move to clean up accounts verified as dormant/dead to de-clutter the platform. Unfortunately empathy doesn't play a part in these decisions.
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From this site [feedough.com]
So there's a trade-off to "de-clutter[ing]". I suppose they decided they could no longer hide declining engagement (same link) and decided to be up front about it.
Fuck no (Score:2)
twitter is a cancer and causing nothing but social unrest. The sooner it goes offline the better.
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That is the exercise which has to be done: what kind of sleeping accounts are there? ..
Accounts which have been locked and which Twitter was in no hurry to unlock?
Accounts of people who died but their relatives like the account to stay as it is
Accounts of people who were killed in ongoing conflicts
Accounts of people who just want to reserve their name
Accounts of people who just want to follow other accounts but don't consider themselves to have anything to say
Measure too small (Score:2)
Delete the whole of Twitter. Nothing of importance will be lost.
Stargate Atlantis (Score:2)
Good start (Score:4, Insightful)
Obligatory... (Score:2)