4 ms·

Hey Twitter, Maybe It’s Better Not To Share Absolutely Everything

9 points by nickb 18y ago

aitoehigie 18y ago
Is this a case of being plain and frank or just plain ignorance? Revealing technical issues like this just seems to tell the whole world that they (twitter) are not too technically sound and things are spinning out of control. what twitter is experiencing now is part of the normal teething problems of any startup but they should be a little more discreet in these issues to save face. A statement like "a slight hitch, we will be right back" would have been more appropriate. It will make more sense to non technical users of twitter
reggplant 18y ago
Do all of arrington's rants on twitter have to be submitted here? We get it now, twitter is unstable and he is annoyed with that; nothing much they can do till it gets resolved (which takes time) so lets not sound all surprised when it does go down...
- josefresco 18y ago
  Instead of looking at it as an Arrington rant, let's discuss the idea of sharing potentially dangerous downtime data with your user base. Are they better off not knowing the details? Or should you drop your pants and share everything because it's the "Don't do Evil" approach to the extreme.
goodkarma 18y ago
Seems like a lose-lose situation for Twitter. Before they just had errors saying "oops, try again".. but they had so much downtime that people wanted more transparency. Now they have errors that say "we lost a database" and people are saying that's too much information. (I probably would not have made that an error message, but that's just me.) I think Twitter should stop caring what everyone (especially TechCrunch) thinks and just fix the technical issues. And please fix it soon, because users are getting tired of the same problems!
alaskamiller 18y ago
Is there really a joke to this? When someone says, "oh we lost the database" is the running gag suppose to be you better go find it? I also find it silly that everyone jumps in and claims this and that about twitter. If there's a lesson to be learned here it's that PR and spin control is equally as important as your engineers.
babul 18y ago
...there has been much written in the blogsphere regarding solutions that can solve most of twitter's problems. They should pick one and get one with it. With ~$15M they have no excuses now.
- josefresco 18y ago
  That would be like a professional football team taking the advice of all the 'armchair quarterbacks" and then deciding the best course of action for next Sunday. Uh bad idea.
  - babul 18y ago
    Sometimes it helps to have external perspective. Many of those 'armchair quarterbacks' are superstars in their own right and offer top advice for free. Free != bad.
    - alaskamiller 18y ago
      Top advice from an outside perspective. Would you listen to my advice about how to live your life?
      - iloveyouocean 18y ago
        The question is not 'would' but 'should'. If, as a person, you are 'crashing' routinely and 'bleeding profusely' (users) then, ignoring matters of pride or self efficacy, the answer begins to shift more to the, 'Yes, I should.' side.
      - babul 18y ago
        If you knew about my life, understood the problems I face and offered realistic and achievable solutions, and were someone I had respect for (even if I don't know you personally), then yes, I probably would. :)
extantproject 18y ago
Hey Tech Crunch, Maybe It's Better Not To Blog Absolutely Everything.
godofbiscuits 18y ago
First Twitter doesn't share enough. Now they share too much. Which is it, Mike? Or have you discovered that every time you blog the word "Twitter" you end up with a few thousand more ad views? ::sigh::

9 points by nickb 18y ago

Is this a case of being plain and frank or just plain ignorance? Revealing technical issues like this just seems to tell the whole world that they (twitter) are not too technically sound and things are spinning out of control. what twitter is experiencing now is part of the normal teething problems of any startup but they should be a little more discreet in these issues to save face. A statement like "a slight hitch, we will be right back" would have been more appropriate. It will make more sense to non technical users of twitter

reggplant 18y ago

Do all of arrington's rants on twitter have to be submitted here? We get it now, twitter is unstable and he is annoyed with that; nothing much they can do till it gets resolved (which takes time) so lets not sound all surprised when it does go down...

josefresco 18y ago
Instead of looking at it as an Arrington rant, let's discuss the idea of sharing potentially dangerous downtime data with your user base. Are they better off not knowing the details? Or should you drop your pants and share everything because it's the "Don't do Evil" approach to the extreme.

goodkarma 18y ago

Seems like a lose-lose situation for Twitter. Before they just had errors saying "oops, try again".. but they had so much downtime that people wanted more transparency. Now they have errors that say "we lost a database" and people are saying that's too much information. (I probably would not have made that an error message, but that's just me.) I think Twitter should stop caring what everyone (especially TechCrunch) thinks and just fix the technical issues. And please fix it soon, because users are getting tired of the same problems!

alaskamiller 18y ago

Is there really a joke to this? When someone says, "oh we lost the database" is the running gag suppose to be you better go find it? I also find it silly that everyone jumps in and claims this and that about twitter. If there's a lesson to be learned here it's that PR and spin control is equally as important as your engineers.

babul 18y ago

...there has been much written in the blogsphere regarding solutions that can solve most of twitter's problems. They should pick one and get one with it. With ~$15M they have no excuses now.

josefresco 18y ago
That would be like a professional football team taking the advice of all the 'armchair quarterbacks" and then deciding the best course of action for next Sunday. Uh bad idea.
- babul 18y ago
  Sometimes it helps to have external perspective. Many of those 'armchair quarterbacks' are superstars in their own right and offer top advice for free. Free != bad.
  - alaskamiller 18y ago
    Top advice from an outside perspective. Would you listen to my advice about how to live your life?
    - iloveyouocean 18y ago
      The question is not 'would' but 'should'. If, as a person, you are 'crashing' routinely and 'bleeding profusely' (users) then, ignoring matters of pride or self efficacy, the answer begins to shift more to the, 'Yes, I should.' side.
    - babul 18y ago
      If you knew about my life, understood the problems I face and offered realistic and achievable solutions, and were someone I had respect for (even if I don't know you personally), then yes, I probably would. :)

extantproject 18y ago

Hey Tech Crunch, Maybe It's Better Not To Blog Absolutely Everything.

godofbiscuits 18y ago

First Twitter doesn't share enough. Now they share too much. Which is it, Mike? Or have you discovered that every time you blog the word "Twitter" you end up with a few thousand more ad views? ::sigh::