twitter.co.uk A thorn in the side of American Imperialism Update: 23 April 2010 (St. George's Day) This domain is for sale at offers over £30k. This valuation is based on the fact that I devoted 9 months of my life working on my own t.w.i.t.t.e.r. project in 2005. I have offered the domain to Twitter Inc, giving them "first refusal", and as they turned me down I am now offering it to anyone else who may be interested. Obviously there are limits as to what you would be allowed to do with the domain and you should familiarise yourself with Nominet's policies and, in particular, its Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). - Steve (webmaster@twitter.co.uk) What are you doing? Typing in the wrong address, probably. But don't worry because thousands of people are doing exactly the same thing every day. So here's the deal: Publicise your business on twitter.co.uk by sponsoring an event for charity. See below for details. Note: Twitter Inc have made some changes in their software to address the problems I had with them intially, which have been largely resolved. The following information, therefore, serves as a chronological record (ie blog). Friday, 1 May 2009 About twitter.co.uk I registered this site in March 2005 - a full year earlier than the .com people began - to promote a piece of software I had developed to help blind people use computers. The name is an accronym - Talking Wordprocessor, Internet, Typing Tutor, Email Resource (the idea was to have an all-in-one programme for the basic tasks a blind person encountering a computer for the first time would require). I finished the product but only managed to sell a handful before my savings ran out and so I moved on to the next project. However, I kept the domain name because I had always hoped to return to the project and make a success of it ... and I also felt it was a great name! The problem with Twitter.com The problem I have with Twitter.com is that it accepts new subscribers without them having to confirm their email address (ie by clicking on a link in an email from Twitter.com). This means that anyone can create a new account and give a fake email address - either one that doesn't exist or one that belongs to someone else. (This seems odd to me - for if a person can create as many accounts as they wish, I don't see how Twitter.com are able to tell how many actual people use their service.) Anyway, lately, quite a few people have, perhaps mistakenly, registered with Twitter.com and given out an email address with the domain name @twitter.co.uk. I don't have a problem with the individuals concerned because mistakes happen, but as time goes on some of these members become more "popular" - and every time they get a new "follower", Twitter.com sends me an email to this effect. So here's the bottom line: Twitter.com are sending me emails which I did not request or agree to receive (ie SPAM) and do not provide me with a means to "opt out" of receiving them. As I understand it, they are breaking both UK and US anti-spam laws. I have contacted Twitter.com to try to resolve the problem but they have not responded to any of my emails. (If anyone is interested in looking this up, they have given me Ticket #100140 but I haven't managed to communicate with a real person there yet.) Let's be clear - I am blaming Twitter.com for allowing this to happen, not the individuals who have mistakenly typed in the wrong email address. Twitter.com are sending out the emails, they are responsible for the content of them and it is only Twitter.com who can fix the problem. It is unfortunate that I do not have any means to contact the individuals concerned. The only way I can see would be to click the "forgot password" option and get Twitter.com to change it, but this could be misconstrued as an act of sabotage, as the individuals concerned would no longer be able to access their account. Publicity This page gets quite a lot of traffic each day, so as well as letting people know about the problem with Twitter.com I'm using the opportunity to promote other websites and raise money for charity. There is a list of websites on the right-hand side of this page and you can advertise your business in this space in return for making a donation to one of the charity e'ents featured on this site. Here's how it works:- Step 1 Choose one of the charity events on the right and make a donation to it via Justgiving. It's quick and easy - and you can give as little as £2 and it will still make a difference. When you make a donation be sure to mention that you found them on twitter.co.uk, as I'll be able to track it and it may encourage others to follow suit. Step 2 Send me an email to let me know you've made a donation. As long as your website is age-appropriate and unlikely to cause offense (email me first if you are unsure) I'll create a link and add it to the top of the list of sites on this page. The site is updated several times a day and it is usually just a matter of hours before your link is added and appears at the top of the list. New sites are always added to the top of the list, which is rotated and the site at the bottom of the list is discarded. However, every time you make a donation to one of the charity events listed I will move your website to the top of the list again - even if you haven't been in the list for a while and irrespective of the size of the donation. If you are planning to do an event for charity and have a page for accepting donations online (such as "justgiving"), please let me know and I'll add you to the list. I'm also happy to promote a few blogs and personal websites in exactly the same manner (no donation required). webmaster@twitter.co.uk Frequently Asked Questions: How long will the advert be live? - I don't know, maybe a week or maybe a day - but for a small donation, which goes to charity, it must be the best advertising deal on the internet. More than 3000 people view this page every day so it must be worth a punt. Can I buy a permanent advert? - No, please don't ask. Why don't you just switch off the email catchall? - Two reasons. First, the application I am designing requires this feature to be enabled. Second, why should I have to modify my configuration? It's like living in a quiet neighbourhood until a really noisy person moves next door - and when you complain to them about the noise they suggest you wear earplugs. Update: 4 May 2009 - I have finally heard back from Twitter, within 4 hours of The Guardian publishing Twitter.co.uk - the tale of a forgotten domain. I am now hopeful that they may fix the problem described above. Update: 5 May 2009 - Twitter.com have disabled automated emails being sent to my domain, so I guess that means the problem is solved! Not sure what to do with this site now ... but I'll think of something. Update: 14 May 2009 - Twitter.com problem NOT fixed Soon after the tale of this domain was told by The Guardian, the problem was fixed. And it stayed fixed for a couple of days. But now the problem has returned once more and this time it's in Technicolour (html rather than plain text)! Update: 17 September 2009 Just when I was about to declare a successful conclusion to my campaign against Twitter sending me spam, Biz Stone goes and sends out a generic email about their new terms of service to everyone and floods my mailbox with over 200 messages! That's how many people have registered with Twitter and given them an email address @twitter.co.uk. And, once again, there is no "opt out" option at the end of the emails. Thank goodness I got them to remove my domain from all their automatic "follower" updates! Twitter is the only social-networking site I know where you don't have to supply a verified email address in order to subscribe. Update: 6 March 2010 Over the past 4 days my mailbox has been inundated with messages from Biz Stone entitled, "Twitter Newsletter 2010 - Edition #1". I counted 174. However, unlike the previous newsletter this one actually contains an "opt out" option and so I've managed to unsubscribe these email addresses without having to delete the accounts. Success! I think Twitter Inc are finally starting to listen to me. Now, if they would just add email verification when people subscribe I'll stop complaining. Update: 14 April 2010 More messages from Biz Stone, this time entitled, "Twitter Newsletter 2010 - Edition #2". However, this time I only counted 49 so the "opt out" option obviously works and this figure must represent the number of new subscribers who (for whatever reason) gave an email address "@twitter.co.uk" when they subscribed to Twitter.		This site has no affiliation with the social networking micro-blogging twitter.com You can find them at www.twitter.com Visits since 29/4/09 (and we've also helped to raise over £ 1086 for charity) bdws.co.uk irpens.co.uk ready-up.net vitaldetox.com doodledogsderby.co.uk mymarketinggenie.com lesslettuce.co.uk southbourne.com editioncanvas.co.uk waxyclean.co.uk Charity Events October 2010 Johnathon Ratcliffe Raising money for the British Red Cross - 8/10/10 Spencer Greenings Kilamanjaro Trek for Home-Start UK - 15/10/10 Sara Rees Tri-Jordan (charity horse ride) for Marie Curie Cancer Care - 30/10/10 November 2010 James Harper Growing a moustache for Movember April 2011 Catherine Ewins Raising money for Raleigh International Trust - 14/4/11 Ongoing Steven Ireland's Fundraising page - raising money for SANDS The 2Simple Trust Fundraising page - raising money for treatment for Jamie Inglis Jayne Starkie's Fundraising page - raising money for Leukaemia Research Andy's Angels Charity Race Series - raising money for Bone Cancer Research Gregory Beere's Fundraising page - raising money for SANDS Katherine Brown's Million Pounds Challenge - raising money for Cancer Research UK Miles of Smiles - raising money for youngsters Oliver Nash - raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Past Events Russell Trafford #1 Douglas Waddell Andy King Jon Lambert Stacey Clarkin Carly McGhee Zoe Fletcher Russell Trafford #2 Simon Prockter Charlott' Winn-Morgan Mel Stelfox Lynn Tulip Henry Ulmann Clare Isbitt Ian Bartlett Josh Forwood Peter Hanson Zac Cornish Shona Pennock Simon Buckley Falguni Patel Alastair Ruffman Helen Burdess Hove YMCA Lee Simpson Clare Isbitt Katrina King Tess Milligan Steven Low Anna Duff Russell Trafford #3 Leon Davis Barry Barber Lucy Winter Mike Cooke Emma Gale Donna Longhurst Ben Coggan Eddie Czestochowski Madeleine Readings James Mead Henry McLean Simon Rogers & Co Victoria Prince Peter Howe & Co Simon Buckley Deborah Price If you're planning an event for charity please let me know and I'll promote it here.
Humour: For those who may have missed it - my April Fools' Day prank Bandwidth donated by: www.azabat.co.uk Hosted at 34sp.com Rhinoplasty performed by: www.newnose-europe.com