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It simply isn’t possible for any third party client to offer that kind of guarantee. Doesn’t matter what agreements you negotiated. Any large enough platform wi

by _djo_ 4y ago

It simply isn’t possible for any third party client to offer that kind of guarantee. Doesn’t matter what agreements you negotiated. Any large enough platform will just do it anyway and deal with the litigation. It was blatantly obvious to any buyer that these clients could only work so long as Twitter allowed it. This wasn’t a hidden risk, so anyone buying a subscription was implicitly accepting that risk as part of their purchase.

esskay 4y ago
The customer was accepting that risk. Just as the developer was accepting the risk that they'd be expected to provide a refund on a subscription that isn't going to work anymore.
- _djo_ 4y ago
  Sure, and if those happen then the developer will eat the cost. They've only asked people politely not to, given the extraordinary circumstances, not said that people cannot. The companies providing third party clients had already renegotiated their relationship with Twitter over the past few years, achieving a more stable baseline, API changes, defined escalation routes, etc. Musk's buying of the company and capricious shutting down of third parties without even having the option of having them do things like incorporate adverts is hardly something it was possible to plan for over the long term.
kelnos 4y ago
> It simply isn’t possible for any third party client to offer that kind of guarantee. And that's exactly my point! Twitterific should have known that Twitter could pull the rug out from under them at any time, and had a plan to make their customers whole in that eventuality. Look, I'm not saying a company in their position should have to refund a one-time purchase cost of the app itself (for companies that do that sort of thing). But if you are charging an ongoing subscription for continuing service, and then that service terminates before the end of the subscription period, I think a pro-rated refund is more than fair. Hell, if Twitter themselves charged a subscription fee for having a Twitter account, I would expect them to give pro-rated refunds to customers if they decided to wind down their business or pivot to something else. Twitterific should be no different here.
- _djo_ 4y ago
  iOS App Store developers cannot issue a pro-rated refund. Apple has not provided any mechanism for them to do that, despite requests. This has been stated again and again but you’re choosing to ignore it in your attempt to make the app developers the bad guys in this situation.

by _djo_ 4y ago

esskay 4y ago

The customer was accepting that risk. Just as the developer was accepting the risk that they'd be expected to provide a refund on a subscription that isn't going to work anymore.

_djo_ 4y ago
Sure, and if those happen then the developer will eat the cost. They've only asked people politely not to, given the extraordinary circumstances, not said that people cannot. The companies providing third party clients had already renegotiated their relationship with Twitter over the past few years, achieving a more stable baseline, API changes, defined escalation routes, etc. Musk's buying of the company and capricious shutting down of third parties without even having the option of having them do things like incorporate adverts is hardly something it was possible to plan for over the long term.

kelnos 4y ago

> It simply isn’t possible for any third party client to offer that kind of guarantee. And that's exactly my point! Twitterific should have known that Twitter could pull the rug out from under them at any time, and had a plan to make their customers whole in that eventuality. Look, I'm not saying a company in their position should have to refund a one-time purchase cost of the app itself (for companies that do that sort of thing). But if you are charging an ongoing subscription for continuing service, and then that service terminates before the end of the subscription period, I think a pro-rated refund is more than fair. Hell, if Twitter themselves charged a subscription fee for having a Twitter account, I would expect them to give pro-rated refunds to customers if they decided to wind down their business or pivot to something else. Twitterific should be no different here.

_djo_ 4y ago
iOS App Store developers cannot issue a pro-rated refund. Apple has not provided any mechanism for them to do that, despite requests. This has been stated again and again but you’re choosing to ignore it in your attempt to make the app developers the bad guys in this situation.