6 ms·

Bots are crawling new domain registrations and namesquatting Twitter handles

66 points by duggan 15y ago

Hisoka 15y ago
Thanks for reminding me to register a Twitter handle for my new site.. Glad noone squatted it.
deleted 15y ago
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deleted 15y ago
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- ra 15y ago
  You registered your twitter handle 11 years ago!
blatherard 15y ago
According to a commenter on the linked page, you can file an impersonation report and will likely get it resolved.
- duggan 15y ago
  Spotted that, fingers crossed! Still worth being aware of if your case isn't quite open-and-shut, or you're planning a quick launch. I feel quite an eejit for letting it happen.
- icebraining 15y ago
  Am I the only one slightly worried about this? I mean, they aren't really impersonating anyone, since the Twitter handle was created before the website was even online. First come, first served may suck sometimes, but at least it's a clear, well-defined and fair way of allocating handles. Before registering your personal handle, have you checked if someone had the domain?
  - duggan 15y ago
    I agree in principle, but I think there's scope for leeway (at least I hope there is in this case!). Case-by-case can be painful/time-consuming - I know, it's baked into the ethos of the company I work for - but it has its rewards. People have more time for a company that has more time for them.
- moe 15y ago
  I tried to have a twitter handle released recently and no, they don't process individual requests anymore unless you have a trademark or other legal title.
glimcat 15y ago
Is it just me that always registers Twitter at the same time as the domain?
- user-id 15y ago
  /me squats @glimcat
highace 15y ago
As well as Twitter are there any other services that should be signed up for ASAP to avoid problems like this? Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr?
- corin_ 15y ago
  My (perhaps inaccurate) feeling is that it is most important for Twitter. In my experience most people (except perhaps those both very familiar with the website and pretty techy) are unlikely to try and go directly to a URL for most services based on a name, e.g. typing in www.facebook.com/ycombinator, or whatever the youtube/tumblr/etc equivilents are. Whereas for twitter, if you think you know the name, or even if you just think you have a good guess, lots of people will type it right into the address bar. Maybe this is because Twitter, right from launch, had a very clear link between "if this is their username, it's also their display name, and also their URL", whereas other services, while they might have done the same thing (often as a post-launch change), it was sold more as a "this makes links look nicer" rather than as a "go straight to an account easily" feature.
  - olefoo 15y ago
    This shows the importance of good URL design upfront. Twitter did an amazing job of having well defined REST-ful URLs from the beginning and it was one of the factors responsible for their early success. The more rational, guessable and legible your URL's the easier it is for people to use your web service.
    - corin_ 15y ago
      Well, does Twitter's success show the importance of it, or does the success of all those other sites show that it isn't actually important?
      - olefoo 15y ago
        It's _a_ factor. Not _the_ factor solely responsible for their success. It's like having well designed tables and chairs in a restaurant; it makes a difference, but if the food sucks or it's in a bad location the restaurant will still fail.
paulca 15y ago
Registered a new domain today that I'd like the Twitter name for ... good heads up Ross, thanks!
gyardley 15y ago
What a great opportunity for a registrar to differentiate themselves! They could tell you if your handle is available on popular social media services before you register your domain, and then help you sign up for your handle simultaneously with your registration.
- slouch 15y ago
  Godaddy already tells me to get twitter when I buy a domain.
  - mtogo 15y ago
    The downside there is you have to use godaddy.
    - RyanKearney 15y ago
      There's no downside to GoDaddy for domain names, you're just jumping on the "fuck GoDaddy" bandwagon. I have dozens of domain names through GoDaddy and have never had an issue. Just set your DNS servers to something else and you never have to visit GoDaddy again.
      - jamesbritt 15y ago
        That's been my experience as well. I still hate the freaking Maze Of Offers you have to navigate in order to checkout, but after that, no hassles. And their admin tools have gotten pretty slick. But I try to scope out the availability of the usual suspects before committing to a name. But I don;t recall seeing any Twitter reminders, and I bought a domain just the other day. Maybe I'm immune to the noise on the site.
      - djb_hackernews 15y ago
        I own about 20 domains through Godaddy and they've been great. Customer support has been awesome too. I've never understood the hate for Godaddy as far as domain registrars go.
riffic 15y ago
Twitter's namespace problem is inherent to a single party controlling a centralized service. If you want to truly own and control your own namespace, you should support services that are distributed, like the rest of the Internet.
cletus 15y ago
I haven't seen anyone ask the obvious question: just how many of Twitter's ~175 million accounts [1] are simply bots for this and other reasons? I haven't used my Twitter handle in the better part of a year (I tried it; sorry but for me it's just a glorified link aggregator and not a particularly interesting one at that) but somehow I still get people following me. Number of users for a site like Twitter is no doubt an important metric. It probably comes up in funding rounds. Those funding rounds will probably have goals/targets for Twitter to reach. Twitter has, to my knowledge, only ever stated the number of accounts, rather than the 7 or 30 day actives. This all begs the question: does Twitter have a vested interest in inflating their own numbers such that they like bot auto-registration and, well, anything that increases the account total? [1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-how-many-users-does-twitter-really-have-2011-3 http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-how-many-use...
- retube 15y ago
  > Twitter has, to my knowledge, only ever stated the number of accounts, rather than the 7 or 30 day actives. I can't believe a VC sticking $100m into a social network like twitter doesn't demand very detailed breakdowns on user metrics.
  - mcpherrinm 15y ago
    What Twitter tells a VC with millions of dollars is quite likely different from what they tell the general public for issues like this.
- pyre 15y ago
  s/begs the question/raises the question/g note: this is only an attempt to be informative, not sarcastic or a smart ass.
DomainNoob 15y ago
I'd like to see a HN discussion of what people think Twitter should do about all the unused Twitter handles or those that were obviously abandoned after a few tweets back in 2009. -Should Twitter charge a nominal fee, say $1 a year for an account? -Should a domain name 'trump' an unused Twitter handle, ie. a way for domain owners to acquire unused Twitter handles?
duggan 15y ago
Just to bring some resolution to this, I received a response from Twitter today and, as I suspected, the namesquatting policy does not apply in my situation. Disappointing (since I have a small group of useless domains now, .com, .net and .org) but a useful lesson.

66 points by duggan 15y ago

Hisoka 15y ago

Thanks for reminding me to register a Twitter handle for my new site.. Glad noone squatted it.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

ra 15y ago
You registered your twitter handle 11 years ago!

blatherard 15y ago

According to a commenter on the linked page, you can file an impersonation report and will likely get it resolved.

duggan 15y ago
Spotted that, fingers crossed! Still worth being aware of if your case isn't quite open-and-shut, or you're planning a quick launch. I feel quite an eejit for letting it happen.
icebraining 15y ago
Am I the only one slightly worried about this? I mean, they aren't really impersonating anyone, since the Twitter handle was created before the website was even online. First come, first served may suck sometimes, but at least it's a clear, well-defined and fair way of allocating handles. Before registering your personal handle, have you checked if someone had the domain?
- duggan 15y ago
  I agree in principle, but I think there's scope for leeway (at least I hope there is in this case!). Case-by-case can be painful/time-consuming - I know, it's baked into the ethos of the company I work for - but it has its rewards. People have more time for a company that has more time for them.
moe 15y ago
I tried to have a twitter handle released recently and no, they don't process individual requests anymore unless you have a trademark or other legal title.

glimcat 15y ago

Is it just me that always registers Twitter at the same time as the domain?

user-id 15y ago
/me squats @glimcat

highace 15y ago

As well as Twitter are there any other services that should be signed up for ASAP to avoid problems like this? Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr?

corin_ 15y ago
My (perhaps inaccurate) feeling is that it is most important for Twitter. In my experience most people (except perhaps those both very familiar with the website and pretty techy) are unlikely to try and go directly to a URL for most services based on a name, e.g. typing in www.facebook.com/ycombinator, or whatever the youtube/tumblr/etc equivilents are. Whereas for twitter, if you think you know the name, or even if you just think you have a good guess, lots of people will type it right into the address bar. Maybe this is because Twitter, right from launch, had a very clear link between "if this is their username, it's also their display name, and also their URL", whereas other services, while they might have done the same thing (often as a post-launch change), it was sold more as a "this makes links look nicer" rather than as a "go straight to an account easily" feature.
- olefoo 15y ago
  This shows the importance of good URL design upfront. Twitter did an amazing job of having well defined REST-ful URLs from the beginning and it was one of the factors responsible for their early success. The more rational, guessable and legible your URL's the easier it is for people to use your web service.
  - corin_ 15y ago
    Well, does Twitter's success show the importance of it, or does the success of all those other sites show that it isn't actually important?
    - olefoo 15y ago
      It's _a_ factor. Not _the_ factor solely responsible for their success. It's like having well designed tables and chairs in a restaurant; it makes a difference, but if the food sucks or it's in a bad location the restaurant will still fail.

paulca 15y ago

Registered a new domain today that I'd like the Twitter name for ... good heads up Ross, thanks!

gyardley 15y ago

What a great opportunity for a registrar to differentiate themselves! They could tell you if your handle is available on popular social media services before you register your domain, and then help you sign up for your handle simultaneously with your registration.

slouch 15y ago
Godaddy already tells me to get twitter when I buy a domain.
- mtogo 15y ago
  The downside there is you have to use godaddy.
  - RyanKearney 15y ago
    There's no downside to GoDaddy for domain names, you're just jumping on the "fuck GoDaddy" bandwagon. I have dozens of domain names through GoDaddy and have never had an issue. Just set your DNS servers to something else and you never have to visit GoDaddy again.
    - jamesbritt 15y ago
      That's been my experience as well. I still hate the freaking Maze Of Offers you have to navigate in order to checkout, but after that, no hassles. And their admin tools have gotten pretty slick. But I try to scope out the availability of the usual suspects before committing to a name. But I don;t recall seeing any Twitter reminders, and I bought a domain just the other day. Maybe I'm immune to the noise on the site.
    - djb_hackernews 15y ago
      I own about 20 domains through Godaddy and they've been great. Customer support has been awesome too. I've never understood the hate for Godaddy as far as domain registrars go.

riffic 15y ago

Twitter's namespace problem is inherent to a single party controlling a centralized service. If you want to truly own and control your own namespace, you should support services that are distributed, like the rest of the Internet.

cletus 15y ago

I haven't seen anyone ask the obvious question: just how many of Twitter's ~175 million accounts [1] are simply bots for this and other reasons? I haven't used my Twitter handle in the better part of a year (I tried it; sorry but for me it's just a glorified link aggregator and not a particularly interesting one at that) but somehow I still get people following me. Number of users for a site like Twitter is no doubt an important metric. It probably comes up in funding rounds. Those funding rounds will probably have goals/targets for Twitter to reach. Twitter has, to my knowledge, only ever stated the number of accounts, rather than the 7 or 30 day actives. This all begs the question: does Twitter have a vested interest in inflating their own numbers such that they like bot auto-registration and, well, anything that increases the account total? [1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-how-many-users-does-twitter-really-have-2011-3 http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-how-many-use...

retube 15y ago
> Twitter has, to my knowledge, only ever stated the number of accounts, rather than the 7 or 30 day actives. I can't believe a VC sticking $100m into a social network like twitter doesn't demand very detailed breakdowns on user metrics.
- mcpherrinm 15y ago
  What Twitter tells a VC with millions of dollars is quite likely different from what they tell the general public for issues like this.
pyre 15y ago
s/begs the question/raises the question/g note: this is only an attempt to be informative, not sarcastic or a smart ass.

DomainNoob 15y ago

I'd like to see a HN discussion of what people think Twitter should do about all the unused Twitter handles or those that were obviously abandoned after a few tweets back in 2009. -Should Twitter charge a nominal fee, say $1 a year for an account? -Should a domain name 'trump' an unused Twitter handle, ie. a way for domain owners to acquire unused Twitter handles?

duggan 15y ago

Just to bring some resolution to this, I received a response from Twitter today and, as I suspected, the namesquatting policy does not apply in my situation. Disappointing (since I have a small group of useless domains now, .com, .net and .org) but a useful lesson.