

Mark Suster to Twitter on behalf of users - travisfischer
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/02/18/twitter-i-love-you-but/

======
corin_
I hate when people write letters like this, trying to be more reader-friendly
by dumbing down language with garbage like "Twitter, I’m a friend. I love you,
man."

Write your views, don't pretend you're a nine year old writing to your dad.

~~~
msuster
It was called irony. It was meant with humor. My views were already publicly
expressed & known on Quora.

See: [http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Twitter-suspend-
UberTwitter/ans...](http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Twitter-suspend-
UberTwitter/answer/Mark-Suster)

~~~
corin_
Yeah, I get that you're not actually a moron who thinks writing in that style
will make Twitter more likely to listen to, and perhaps my original complaint
was worded slightly too harsh.

What I meant by "dumbed down" wasn't that you were trying to make it easier
for people to understand, just that you were dumbing it down for that comic
effect.

More and more people are writing blog posts in that style, and I just happen
to find it annoying.

edit: Thanks for linking to the Quora version of your thoughts, now those I
100% agree with (as a UberTwitter user).

------
maxbrown
I believe this is the quote from Twitter - "We’ve had conversations with
UberMedia, the developer of these applications, about policy violations since
April 2010, when they first launched under the name TweetUp – a term commonly
used by Twitter users and a trademark violation. We continue to be in contact
with UberMedia and hope that they will bring the suspended applications into
compliance with our policies soon."

I agree with you entirely Mark that they can handle something like this
better, but I think that a company like Twitter that is still figuring out the
best way to monetize has a right to enforce their trademarks to reel in other
people trying to make money off of their product.

Then again, at a $4-10bn valuation, they probably can afford to not cut off
things that make their users happy.

~~~
msuster
You're totally right that Twitter "has a right to enforce their trademarks to
reel in other people trying to make money off of their product."

That isn't in question.

My argument: \- today they affected millions of users \- they should have
first issued a public statement to major media outlets that service would be
cut unless UberMedia fixed problems in 72 hours. Users would then have a
chance to migrate if they wanted \- I also think it's bad policy to cut off
3rd-party developers. Even mildly competitive ones. My view: let the ecosystem
innovate on their dime. Then you either buy them or tax them.

My reaction today was as a user of UberTwitter who felt caught in the
crossfire. And as such it felt like Goliath attacking David.

~~~
maxbrown
That all makes sense to me, and like I said, it seems really an issue of how
they're handling it. If they were to tax them, what would it look like?
Facebook and Apple both seem to be implementing ways to take a cut of the
money going through 3rd-party apps... I don't know enough about Twitter
myself. Is it possible for them?

------
Luyt
_I use you every day. I use you more than email now. I hate email, by the
way._

Amazing how someone can use short emaciated 140-letter shoutings as a
replacement for something as deep as email.

~~~
msuster
I didn't say I don't use email. I just use it much less than previously. It's
funny but the opposite is also true. The fact that people can write really
long, verbose emails can be as much of a productivity drain as anything else
inside of companies.

It's why I'm a big proponent of these guys <http://three.sentenc.es/>

~~~
bhrgunatha
In that vein, then.

Why was your post more than 3 sentences?

Perhaps, the message is more important than the style?

~~~
brudgers
Replace a period of your choosing with a semicolon and it's three sentences -
but it will cost you the irony.

------
dmix
_Facebook? That’s for my mom._

Oh, how times have changed. I share this sentiment.

------
brown9-2
_I love that you are social & democratic._

What does this mean?

~~~
Groxx
social: I'm assuming you got that part.

democratic: level playing field. ie, "one vote per person" - you have as much
influence as you have, nobody's granted a super-tweeter account that can @
everyone at once simply by being, say, Bill Gates. It's a stretch, but I've
seen it used this way before for Internet things.

------
aditya
And Dick Costolo responds:

 _@msuster your post is a misinformed and contrary to what I'm certain you
would counsel as an investor._

[1] <https://twitter.com/dickc/status/38853714320166912>

~~~
msuster
I'm not sure which bit was misinformed. If I learn that some bit was I will
correct it.

My premise holds: \- issue a public warning to UberMedia & its users and allow
72 hours \- if not resolved take action then \- don't issue an advertisement
for your mobile product the exact same day you block a large mobile client. It
is in poor taste and this is evidenced by the majority of the Tweetstream that
trashed Twitter on this issue

I'm all for fair & hard competition. But if I were an investor this is what I
would have counseled. And if Twitter or its investors know something I don't
(which I concede is possible) I would suggest that they have a marketing
offensive to make more information available.

~~~
aditya
So, what do you think is going on at Twitter?

It's an experienced set of investors and entrepreneurs, but they seem to be
making rookie mistakes, over and over again (first with scaling the
tech+business and now with the way the API/ecosystem, which was instrumental
to their success, is being handled). Have you seen this before? What the hell
is up at Twitter HQ?

------
twidlit
maybe UberMedia really has plans to jumpstart a Twitter-like service off of
the Twitter clients soon and somehow Twitter got wind of this and moved to
cripple the trojan horses it bought / is buying.

~~~
msuster
I accept that this is possible.

If I were Twitter in this case then at worst I would issue a public statement
of why they don't support UberTwitter's moves and I would encourage users to
migrate over 72 hours if they saw fit.

Then at least the user community would be more on Twitter's side. What they
did today is block us from using their product on our mobile devices. I'm not
sure that's sound policy.

------
OoTheNigerian
Seems you HN peeps are just being unnecessarily hostile to Mark. He has
written a part 2 no "Never hire Job hoppers" move on.

There is nothing wrong with how the mail was written. I was expecting a
discussion about Twitters approach with UberTwitter (which I think is
frightening). Not nitpicking at the way/method Mark had decided to express his
views.

