27 comments

• 

  jL

  11 months ago

  So lemme get this straight... It's the last straw... You're leaving... They've gone too far this time....... So you're gonna stick around and just make fewer posts. Now that's a steel pair! U show em.
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• 

  Jeremiah Owyang

  11 months ago

  Ill see you on Friendfeed
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• 

  Daniel Smith

  11 months ago

  Jesse, Thoughtful article. It's nice to see someone give thorough reasoning behind the decision rather than just saying "Twitter teh suck, Friendfeed FTW!" and leaving it at that. I do agree with you that changes are needed at Twitter (in fact I just wrote an article yesterday on the top ten features I think they need to implement to stay relevant) but for some reason I still love the experience overall. I think it is the community. I wish Friendfeed had, for example, the ability to @ someone like you can on Friendfeed, so that you can pull people into a conversation who might not otherwise join. That's a cool feature of Twitter.
  
  You also raise a good point about the community factor- it's difficult to leave Twitter, even if you want to, because you can't take your Tweeps with you (a point I made in my article yesterday as well.) I checked out Identi.ca and reserved by name, but I honestly can't see myself using it until it becomes a lot more mainstream. Along the same lines, I -want- to like Friendfeed as much as I do Twitter, but I just don't see them as the same. For me, Friendfeed is great for finding and commenting on new stuff online - Twitter is great for interacting with people in a meaningful way (in 140 characters or fewer ;)
  
  Anyway, I won't ramble any more! Great post, and I hope Twitter does what it has to do to win you back.
  I've followed you on FF btw
  
  Cheers,
  
  Daniel Smith
  Smithereens Blog
  reply
• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  Thanks Daniel - I agree. FriendFeed is not quite a messaging tool at the
  moment, perhaps it never will be (my hope is that it will). That's why I
  think identi.ca is a welcome site in the meantime. I think the two can
  compliment each other quite well if you can figure out a way that works for
  you.
  reply
• 

  Stupid Blogger

  11 months ago

  Jesse, I'm new to Twitter and have to say the experience has been far less than stellar. For anyone joining recently, experiencing service outages, eaten posts, missing follows, etc. results in not only a bad Twitter experience, but a lurking suspicion of all those biggies who've been singing the Twitter praises for so many months. That's not to say it's a valid suspicion, but the fact remains that there are influential people using and suggesting a tool that right now isn't always serving the purpose it was built for. Making that type of recommendation is always a risky choice.
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• 

  jay

  11 months ago

  Twitter is FREE to you. Go ahead and 'hiatus' or leave if you want. I find it funny that people (who most have never heard of) feel the need to 'announce' this to get attention for themselves. Please tell me why this is important in the grand scheme of life?
  
  While I have a twitter account, (no, no one has ever heard of me) I know i get what I pay for! If Twitter were a paid service perhaps it then is worthy of moaning and complaining about it based on its issues.
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• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  jay, see my response to goldmourn. I could care less if this gets any
  attention - I hope it doesn't. It was simply a response to those that had
  asked. True, Twitter is free to me, but so is identi.ca and so is
  FriendFeed, and for the reasons I stated I'll be over there much more now.
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• 

  Danny

  11 months ago

  Surely you mean you 'couldn't care less'?
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• 

  OwlBoy

  11 months ago

  No, secretly he cares a lot. That is why he made the post.
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• 

  bloggersblog

  11 months ago

  Just use ping.fm and update both Twitter and identi.ca and monitor both sites for responses. You should also take a look at Plurk.com and Kwippy.com.
  reply
• 

  @luomat

  11 months ago

  "Yesterday I announced I am permanently and officially on hiatus from Twitter."
  
  Is it a hiatus, or is it permanent?
  
  Figure that out and maybe I'll read more.
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• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  It's gradually permanent, unless Twitter does something profound to
  earn my trust back.
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• 

  Darren

  10 months ago

  Ah, I'm sorry to see you go. I read the comments just now and just wanted to say, 'Wow!' you handled the criticisms and the negativity very well and didn't lose your cool for any of them. It's good to see that there are people like you.
  reply
• 

  jessestay

  10 months ago

  Darren thanks for the kind compliment! It means a lot to me. I'm still
  listening on Twitter - I'm just posting mostly on Identi.ca and FriendFeed
  now. See my post on LouisGray.com at
  http://www.louisgray.com/live/2008/08/identica-...
  see why
  identi.ca is so powerful.
  reply
• 

  Darth Vader

  11 months ago

  Go ahead and go on permanent hiatus. Neither I nor any of my 10,000 devoted followers have ever heard of you before.
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• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  That's fine - I wasn't doing it to get you or your 10,000 devoted followers'
  attention. This is simply why I want to leave Twitter. You can do what you
  want. I hope you'll at least listen to my reasoning though.
  reply
• 

  punkassjim

  11 months ago

  I think what people are trying to say is that it didn't take a 1200-word essay with undertones of self-importance to get your message across to your followers. If they care, they're reading your twitter feed with rapt attention. 140 characters is plenty for saying (in whatever words you choose) "Screw this, twitter is proper fucked. Please join me on http://friendfeed.com/jessestay or http://identi.ca/jessestay"
  
  And, to be fair, I think the only reason the naysayers bothered to comment was because your resignation letter (of sorts) reeks of melodrama with phrases like "I endured such-and-such," and "they crossed the line." I, for one, was interested to read your essay—although I've never heard of you until now—but when I see such phrases all I can think is "oh, boo-hoo."
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• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  That's understandable, and you're the first constructive comment I've seen
  in criticism. Thank you. The post was originally intended for existing
  readers of my blog and existing followers on Twitter that understand where
  I'm coming from. What has happened is it has shown up on Techmeme now and
  those not used to previous posts of mine on my blog are reading it, and
  aren't used to the troubles and love-hate relationship I've had with Twitter
  in the past.
  I wrote this simply to share reasons, rather than just "I'm leaving, bye"
  (which I actually did on Twitter and Identi.ca and I had followers asking me
  why, and why I was still posting on and off). I also hope this can help
  others that might be wanting to find a way to do the same thing. I
  certainly wasn't looking for the attention it has clearly gotten - it was
  intended to be informative.
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• 

  Mark

  11 months ago

  Will it feel strange to become more famous for this tantrum than anything else you've ever done?
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• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  I certainly hope I don't become famous for this - it wasn't meant to get
  attention. Clearly I've offended some people for some reason though. I
  don't make any money from this blog - I have no reason to become famous for
  it, it's mostly a hobby.
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• 

  TwitHire

  11 months ago

  we're counting on twitter ;)
  
  http://twithire.com
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• 

  Christoph

  11 months ago

  If these comments are anything to go by I understand very well why you would want to go somewhere else where friendship and intellectual standards are held higher than on Twitter.
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• 

  Jack Holt

  11 months ago

  Don't be such a self-centered douche! Shit happens. Get over it.
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• 

  goldmourn

  11 months ago

  I wouldn't have worded it quite so (in response to Jack Holt) but I wonder why you think you're so important that twitter or anyone else who isn't your "devoted follower" should care whether you go on hiatus or not. By the way, the words "permanently" and "hiatus" conflict with each other. Just fyi.
  
  Good luck in your quest to overthrow something that gets more attention than you!
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• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  goldmourn, if you think I'm doing this to get attention, you're sorely
  mistaken. I actually stated it on Twitter and identi.ca yesterday and was
  avoiding writing a blog post about it, until I started getting people asking
  me why I was and wasn't posting on Twitter. This was my explanation to
  those asking, and my hope is that it can be an informative piece for others
  that want to do the same. If you don't want to do the same, so be it - I
  even said in the post I don't expect everyone to do it. I'm just taking a
  stand many other bloggers, despite their complaints, aren't taking.
  BTW, this isn't a "quest" - it's simply what I'm going to do, period. You
  can follow me if you want and do it too, or stay on Twitter, I don't care.
  I simply want you to know why I want to leave Twitter and why I don't think
  it's the best service to stick around with out there. I'd love some
  constructive criticism from people like "this is why you should stick
  around", rather than "you're a douchebag" if you don't agree with me.
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• 

  jessestay

  11 months ago

  Jack woah! Can you back that up with some data that supports what you're
  accusing me of? Those are some pretty bold personal attacks you're making.
  Did I do something to offend you?
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• 

  gsmaverick

  11 months ago

  Wow how uncalled for, if you don't like it don't comment. Scum like you shouldn't be commenting.
  reply