
Twitter Reacts to the #Dickbar Uproar - atularora
http://newsgrange.com/twitter-reacts-to-the-dickbar-uproar-not-killing-it-just-making-a-little-bit-less-annoying/
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jokermatt999
_argued that giving users the option to turn this feature off would be an
“inelegant implementation.”_

This is a good recipe for making me hate you as a designer. You don't always
know better than the user. Options reflect that there multiple ways people
prefer to do things. Eliminating options may be more "elegant", but elegance
means nothing if I hate using you interface.

~~~
moxiemk1
I'm a developer, but I find this kind of criticism (that usually is in the
designer's/PM's domain) exasperating.

People write frustrated and angry posts saying things like "you don't always
know better than the user." You're decrying the method, not the choices, but
its the choices you hate.

When people make "opinionated software" we end up with much more useful tools,
better experiences, and innovative ideas. Without designers forcing things on
you that you don't necessarily want, and not giving you an option to turn it
off, you end up with animated Myspace backgrounds, skinable MP3 players, and
corporate portals. With that attitude, we get clean, informational, useful
Facebook profiles, elderly and technophobic people using music software
instead of carrying CDs, and Basecamp/Emacs org-mode/appropriate organization
tools for the right job.

I agree - the trending topics bar is not only buggy, it's freaking annoying. I
personally haven't started looking to switch clients because I'm assuming it
wont be long before it gets nixed. But I applaud the gall that goes behind
pushing it out. I want people developing the software I use to try and enable
(and push us along towards) greater things. If something happens I don't like,
the world is a large place. I can go find someone else who hasn't gone crazy
who writes competing software. But I'm not going to trash Twitter for taking
that risk. Should they have thought it through more? I think so. Should they
keep doing things in a similar spirit? Yes.

~~~
jokermatt999
_but its the choices you hate_

Indeed. However, the poor choice would not matter if there was option to fix
that.

 _we end up with much more useful tools, better experiences, and innovative
ideas._

I definitely agree with the 2nd and 3rd points, but how is a piece of software
more useful or a better experience because I cannot customize it to be more
useful to myself?

 _you end up with animated Myspace backgrounds, skinable MP3 players, and
corporate portals._

Actually, two of these are examples of designers not giving an option to
change things. Backgrounds should be able to be turned off (see how most IM
clients will allow you to disable font styles to make things readable when
talking to that friend who uses dark purple text on a black background).
Corporate portals are example where there's no choice, assuming I'm reading
that right. As for "skinnable MP3 players", I absolutely love foobar2000
specifically for that feature. I'm truly not getting how that's a bad thing,
at all.

 _But I'm not going to trash Twitter for taking that risk. Should they have
thought it through more? I think so. Should they keep doing things in a
similar spirit? Yes._

This is where I think we simply disagree in philosophy. I can see how, as a
designer, forcing new and interesting interfaces on a user can sometimes lead
to innovation and change for the better. But as a user, I've found that I
really dislike 99% of the time that's attempted, and I'd rather have the
ability to overwrite what a bad designer decided was brilliant. There are good
designs out there that I'm fine with and have never had to change, but most of
the time, one interface does not fit everyone. Giving the user choice to
tailor the interface to their preference and their use reflects that.

Edit: to expand further, I strongly agree with statement "good design should
be transparent". The user should not have to think about the UI; it should
enable them to do what they'd like painlessly. If a user goes looking for an
option to change something that annoys them in the interface, then the
interface is getting in the way of the user.

As a side note, this philosophy can be seen at the root of people who love
Apple/hate Apple. Those who love Apple tend to admire them for their excellent
sense of design and wonderfully made products. Those who hate Apple tend to
dislike the idea that Apple tends to make decisions for its users, and have
run up against that lack of choice one too many times. At least, that's my
perspective as someone on the "generally disliking" side.

~~~
moxiemk1
As you said, I am sure we do differ in philosophy - I feel like your dislike
of things you can't customize to make them more useful to yourself and the
idea that "if a user goes looking for an option to change something that
annoys them in the interface, then the interface is getting in the way of the
user" (in addition to the other arguments; I won't bore you by quoting all of
them :) to be missing the forest for the trees.

The motivation that I admire behind this feature (and I presume that you do
not) is making a choice that makes some (most? all?) users uncomfortable
(surprised? annoyed?) because they believe it will make the service better (in
the most broad sense possible).

People being aware of what is trending has the potential to keep people
abreast of up-to-the-second current affairs, thoughts that are permeating the
community, and ideas that similar people have that you may find intriguing.

The community also has a prevailing interest in Twitter making money, since if
it folds, the community ceases to exist (this is for values of community
contained in "people currently using Twitter") and any good Twitter Co. can
provide ceases to increase.

Are these good enough reasons to introduce a truly hateful piece of UI? I
don't think so. I'm glad they're willing to make decisions for reasons like
the ones above, even if I think this one was not a good one. I personally am
unconvinced trending topics _can_ be introduced well, but I don't think
introducing unpopular things is bad, especially when it's unpopular for the
reasons you've stated.

------
thwarted
From <http://twitter.com/dickc/status/44221580028547072>

_If an alerting mechanism is in your face_ all the time _, it's not a good
alerting function._

Doesn't the iPhone still pop-up a modal dialog that you have to dismiss (and
may accidentally interact with) for SMS alerts? (I personally can't believe
anyone puts up with that -- you have to jailbreak your phone to get a better
interface on that?) People stopped complaining about that a while ago, they'll
stop complaining about this functionality of the twitter app soon enough.

Although, I like the suggestion in the OP to "[give] users a way to pay for
the app to make it go away." That's a valid solution, and acknowledges that
what shows up in the #dickbar is income related.

~~~
upinsmoke
The SMS alert is not in your face all the time though. You can't dismiss the
dickbar, you can, however, dismiss the SMS alert.

------
sambeau
If it was up to me I'd slip it in at the top between the search and the
tweets. Conceptually it is also where it belongs: the list of tweets is
arrange chronologically with the latest at the top. Trending topics are all
about the moment. They belong at the top.

When you're in the middle of your tweets you are focused on moving upwards in
the list and forwards in time towards the latest events. It is distracting to
have the here-and-now intrude - you are still in the past. However if you make
your way to the top you have read all the tweets and are conceptually right-
up-to-date - what better time to see what else is happening in the world in
the here-and now. Plus if you've run out of tweets you'd be much more likely
to have a look at what else is going on.

------
eps
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Echofon.

The issue with Quickbar is not that it is an annoying overlay, but the fact it
was added. It is clearly something designed to stuff promoted posts down
people's throat, and it looks like Twitter is going to keep doing it even with
the new version (it just won't be an overlay). _This_ is how you kill an
established goodwill - a major strategic mistake that creates huge opportunity
for the competing apps.

Twitter now faces a choice between (a) backing off and making Quickbar
optional and (b) modifying their API T&C to force other apps prioritize
trending/ported content differently. It'd be interesting to see what they do.

------
tomwans
My question is, when will they force other clients to begin to use the
Quickbar/#Dickbar? Or do you think this is just testing the waters?

P.S. I wouldn't mind them having it there if it wasn't so much darker and more
distracting than the rest of the interface. I know it's supposed to catch your
attention, but still.

------
supermauerbros
I was pretty amazed to discover there's already a workaround for Jailbroken
devices: <https://twitter.com/chpwn/status/43493433217789952>

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mise
If a company pays for a promoted hashtag, do people just start using it, or
does Twitter need to.seed the hashtag with lots of related tweets first?

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minalecs
<http://mobile.twitter.com> ... better than the client IMO.

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jsavimbi
After suffering with the #dickbar for a couple of days now, it's become
apparent to me that Twitter refuses to acknowledge that they're a protocol,
not a service, and by implementing lightweight annoyances to monetize the
userbase, inelegantly as DickC puts it, pushes users to find alternatives
where they can still use the protocol as a communication device without the
hassles of the hamfisted business approach.

Ask yourself, would ATT interrupt your calls to alert you of popular
conversations from other users, even if they were sponsored? I highly doubt
that.

~~~
nickbp
AT&T might not be the best choice as an example of a non-hamfisted company.

------
aaronbrethorst
Named after Dick Costello? Yeah right.

