To Follow or Not to Follow...

That is the question, Twitter.

I've had my account for a few months now, and I've come to a better understanding of the Twitterverse.

I also ran across a few different people who had posted "Rules" and things regarding who they would or would not follow, who they would block, etc. It seemed like a weird way to make connections, new friends, whoever.

Then I started to see it. Occasionally on my Notifications page, I'll get a follower who has no picture, no bio, a weird user name, and their only tweet is a link. They also follow 1900 people and only 34 followers.

The first few of these, I actually went ahead and followed, thinking perhaps it was just someone getting started on the site. I'm a pretty nice person. Or at least I think I am? Anyway, I attempted to converse with these "Egg" accounts, welcoming them, thanking them for the follow, the usual.

That's when the spam started.

I have since learned my lesson and I now try to only connect with real people. I avoid p0rn bots and weird accounts. But I occasionally still get a follower who seems somehow... iffy.
So with that in mind, I give you my personal:

Twitter Standards and Practices Doctrine

1. I will follow anyone who follows me and is a real person, company or interest. I like lots of things and people and places and I'm all for making new friends! /big welcoming smile

2. I will not follow any account that is spam, p-rn, bigoted, violent, abusive, etc. If you have to ask if your account falls under these no-no's, you're probably fine. It's like being crazy: the ones who are never ask. /suspicious glare

3. If you unfollow me, I may unfollow you back. There are a few accounts I follow without any reciprocity, but that's usually limited to businesses, i.e. HyVee. If you don't want to follow me anymore, that's ok, but don't follow, inflate your numbers from people following back, and then drop everyone you follow to look cool. I don't understand and I don't approve. /stern look

4. Languages are funny things. If you tweet in a language other than English, I may not follow you back because I can't understand what you're saying. If Twitter can't translate, neither can I. Thank you for following me, and thank you for understanding. /apologetic grimace

5. Retweets and Favorites are just my own personal taste. I never expect anything in return. If I favorite something you did, it's because I genuinely like it. If I retweet something it's because I think people would like to know. I hope you'll like some things I post, but I understand not everyone can like everything. /big hugs

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being good Tweeps!

Following Mutely

What's up with Twitter?

Has anyone else noticed that getting followers on Twitter is getting more expensive every day?
Every other thing I see is how to gain followers fast, buy followers, automatic tweets and follows and unfollows and promoted tweets and... I just don't know.

Back in my day...

When I first found Twitter, back in mid-2009, everything was so pure and honest. No one "bought followers", you just made friends, connections. If people liked your content, you had lots of followers. If you were just so-so, you didn't have as many.

I see accounts that have thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of followers. How many of those accounts are bots? Do the people with those follower numbers even care? Is their brand or message even reaching real people? Does that eve matter - if you have enough followers to start a small city? These are questions I care about!

I didn't really have anyone on separate lists, beyond maybe really funny people getting their own list, or really scary Tweeps, or pretty or cool, etc. But those were mostly lists that other people followed. Those lists were curated to direct attention to people based on their strengths or personalities.

When I logged in last week, I saw someone had added me to a list. Well, that's nice, I thought! I noticed the list had several thousand members and was followed by maybe 12. I'm extremely grateful, obviously. I love when people interact, however they choose to do so. I began to think about the point of the list. Was it just to organize and collect names? Were people actually seriously interested in whatever the list was for and it was just a small group? I still don't know what I did to earn my place. On Twitter, I even asked "is putting me on a list but not following me" was some sort of commitment phobia. I still don't know. But I care about the answer.

How would you feel if you found out you were Muted or on a list people never checked?

I would think, probably weird right? Shouldn't the goal be to write things that people ultimately want to read? Or at least to find the people who want to read what you write?

Link Discrimination on Twitter! *Updated*

How I wish this was a post about the whole Link/Zelda thing, but sadly not this time.

I use Twitter.

I also blog,  write, and create, and post things in other places occasionally. When that happens I like to share those things with people on Twitter. Given the complete lack of space, I often use link shortening websites to conserve characters. Lately, I've noticed a trend...

"This request looks like it might be automated. To protect our users from spam and other malicious activity, we can't complete this action right now. Please try again later." - Message from Twitter that miraculously goes away if you just delete the Bit.do link from your tweet... hmmm...

Now, I use several different websites based on what I'm looking for in a link shortening experience. If I want to be able to track the clicks, I'll use bit.do. If I'm having a cute day, I'll use Ow.ly. Sometimes I'll be in the mood for something weird and I'll grab goo.gl. Once and a while, nostalgia will get the better of me and I'll throw in a tinyURL!

The point is, depending on what service I choose, Twitter seems to react very poorly whenever I use something it thinks is "automated" or "spammy". My concern is that I should be able to use whatever link shortening service I want, provided it is not malicious. All of these links redirect back to my blog or Tumblr or a fun picture. It's hardly like I'm spamming objectionable material, unless you hate cuteness and humor. But seriously Twitter, why the discrimination? Why do you seem to accept some links without a problem and others you exile like they are trying to beat you up and steal your lunch money?

Currently, I have no issues posting from Ow.ly but every single time I try to use Bit.do Twitter pops up and tells me I'm being potentially malicious! I can then turn around and post the exact same shortened link from Ow.ly with no issues at all! Clearly, the redirect isn't the problem, nor is the end page. This must mean that Twitter just hates Bit.do for some inexplicable reason? I would love to know what that reason is!

After clicking around, I haven't found any serious answers. Twitter says if this happens you can submit a ticket, or change your password, and neither of those have helped. I don't see any blog posts about why this happens or anyone else having the problem so maybe it's just me.

My current fear is that Ow.ly is associated with a particular Twitter client, whom we will call "TootSweet". That client has a paid service providing link tracking and SEO services. Perhaps they have some sort of exclusive agreement with Twitter to always accept their links.

I'm not saying it's a conspiracy. I just hate discriminatory policies. It seems to me that Bit.do is being unfairly spammed out.

Does this happen to anyone else? Anybody have any actual tips on why it happens? Are there other link shortening services that are free and provide non-invasive click tracking without signing up for some sort of plan? Let me know in the comments.

To test this for yourself, I've created a link to this post on Ow.ly and one on Bit.do and posted them at the bottom. Try posting them individually into Twitter and see if it will let you post! I already tried and got the very same error message. Shameful.


*Update*

Apparently I am not alone in this! Several other people report the same issues whenever they try to link something from Bit.do, even this post! Please let me know in the comments or on Twitter @nonsteader if you are experiencing this as well.

Equal links for all! Link discrimination is real!


http://ow.ly/UfRWG
http://bit.do/Discrimination_on_Twitter

#JewelryP*rn

Stuff Girls Like for Girl Week

Now, this is not what some of you think it is. If you are male, this may be the only type of porn you won't find interesting. Feel free to leave, I understand.

For those of you who are still here... do we agree this is totally a thing?

I love looking at jewelry. I'm not getting married or buying anything really fancy. I won't apologize. I like looking. I don't know if it's more common among brides-to-be or maybe those shopping for anniversary presents or just really rich people who can buy whatever they want. I'm none of those things and I still can't resist it.

I'm not even window shopping. I'm just... admiring? Peeping sounds bad. Can you be voyeuristic about luster and sparkle?

I really enjoy just combing through random listings on Etsy, eBay, Google Images, I'm a sucker for glitter and gleam. I have some nice jewelry and I don't have anything that I'm really envious over. I'm not looking through and thinking, "I hate my life because I don't have that!" I just enjoy seeing all of those necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pins, hairclips, rings, all of it. The colors, the textures, the radiance.

There's Tumblrs and Pins and Twitter Feeds and Facebook and Instagram and Forums and just a whole bunch of awesome stuff.

So is this just me? Am I alone in my lust for pretty gems?

My own personal kink, my favorite thing?

#RingPorn

Tentative Book Promotion Ideas

Kindle eBook

Everyone has told me that one of the best ways to get your writing out there is promotion. Whether it's giving your book away for free or newsletters or buying advertising, you really have to promote the hell out of your book.

There's only one problem with that. I'm terrible at asking people to buy things. I would much rather you decide on your own, independently, that you would like to purchase something I wrote, or read something I posted or what have you. I don't think I've mentioned the fact that I wrote a book since like the second day of this blog. I started this blog to tell people about my writing. And I did. I told them once, politely, at the beginning. Is it wrong that I feel like that should be enough?

Given that type of mentality, I've asked for suggestions and assistance. A few of my good friends on Twitter, Tumblr, etc. have agreed to help out. I think I'm going to try one of those newfangled promotional deals that KDP offers: the free book.

From what I understand it's essentially you giving away a copy of your book for roughly 24 hours. You make no money from it, but it's supposed to generate word of mouth buzz interest readership penetration. So, we're going to give that a shot. Probably some day this week, I'll make my book free for a day and we'll see how that goes. I will try to find a reason to be excited about it. Really, what I'm hoping will happen is reviews.

I still don't have any reviews as far as I know on my Amazon ebook. I don't know if that's because no one has purchased it... or because no one has read it... or what's going on there. But I'm pretty sure I said I wanted an email if I had a review posted and there have been no emails. So, I'll have to check that out. What about you, my blog reading friends... if I gave away my book for free would you rate it on Amazon and perhaps post a few kind words? Am I even allowed to ask that?


http://ow.ly/ThkbR

Ye Olde Cascade d'Cinema Part Deux: The Case of Netflix and the Old Releases

Warning/Spoiler Alert:

This is a personal rant. Feel free to skip this rant. You are probably not the person I am ranting about. This is not personal. This is just the Internet. Thank you.

Yesterday, I had some things I needed to say about Netflix. As a result of that post, I began talking with some of my Tweeps and such and I realized I had skipped a very important piece of this rant. I will now fill you in on what we discovered.

So a friend from Twitter had posted some memes, and they were funny. At least, I believed them to be funny. I think she's pretty hilarious with the meme thing.

They were funny on their own, but they made more sense when you put them together. They got posted (separately) to Imgur. That's where the communication begins to breakdown.

They didn't get it. Well, one guy in the comments apparently got it, and high five for that guy.

Sincerely, high five.

I know this isn't some catastrophic thing, but it's such an easy fix! A simple adjustment to their criteria! A cut off for when a movie or show can be considered "new"! But this problem bugs me, and I really felt like it should have been included in my long-winded piece from yesterday. It wasn't, so now it goes here!

You can clearly see that both of these images are referencing a phenomenon anyone on Netflix has seen before. There are often movies and TV shows that appear in "New Releases" that are older, sometimes years older. The appropriate place, categorically, for those items, which may be "New to Netflix" but have a release date from 2013 or even 1974 (in one case I personally witnessed) should be more properly classified as "Recently Added".

"Recently Added" is a category that denotes a particular show or movie as being "New to Netflix" but not actually newly released. "New Releases" should be limited to things that are newly released, whether that means newly released from theaters, newly released on DVD, newly created, etc. But I think we can all agree that "New" should not extend backward infinitely. Otherwise, we would still be talking about the "New Shoes I got 50 years ago but you haven't seen" or the "New Civil War", which makes sense if you're a Marvel fan, but not much beyond that.

This is something that often happens at video stores, as well. Since Netflix has become the replacement for such things as Blockbuster, they seem to have picked up some bad habits from their ancestors. For example, if I went into my local video rental place, They are still giving you "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7" on the "New Release" wall. Redbox will also offer you something from 2011 under their New section.

Anyway, the point here is simple. We are nearly at the end of 2015. If a movie came out in December 2014, ok, fine. But stuff from 2013? 2011? I think we can all agree those are "New to Netflix" and belong in "Recently Added". New Releases should be limited to things that came out within the last 12 months or so, 18 months at a stretch. Just my opinion.

ow.ly/Tdpgz 

My 2nd Graphic

I love these things! Please check out @SouthernBelleGaming on Tumblr and Twitter, as a thank you for making this!