Slashdot Mirror
After Domain Squatting, Twitter Squatting
carusoj writes "Squatting on domain names is nothing new, but Twitter has created a new opportunity for squatters, in the form of Twitter IDs. Writes Richard Stiennon: 'Is there evidence of Twitter squatting (squitting?) Let's check. Yup, every single-letter TwitID is taken ... How about common words? Garage, wow, war, warcraft, Crisco, Coke, Pepsi, Nike, and Chevrolet are all taken. My guess is that Twitter squatters have grabbed all of these in the hopes that they will be worth selling in the not too distant future. Of course the legitimate holders of brands can sue for them and Twitter can just turn them over if asked. But, because the investment and risk for the squatter is zero, you are going to see the rapid evaporation of available Twitter IDs.'"
So this is pretty much like every other social networking site where you have to pick a username?
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Wow, that's really important news. Fuck.
I don't use twitter at the moment or have any plans to, but I grabbed a few for myself that I may use in the future just to have them. I can't see anyone actually squatting them to stop me or asking me to pay up, but this way I avoid the situation all together.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
Don't some sites implement an IP log to combat multi-account users? I've seen used extensively in games like Tribal Wars & Ikariam which are just browser based games because the implications are severe. They will ban you. You would think that Twitter would be able to spot accounts being created on the same IP. If the squatter uses an onion router or Tor to start the account, one would think those IP ranges would be easy to spot & block also.
... but if you're that worried about that kind of account squatting, why not? Also, this would eliminate people who might be spamming with twitter or using multiple accounts to game twitter. I don't know if those are serious problems but I would be surprised if they weren't.
Yes, it is sacrificing a simple hands off policy for a complicated enforced one
My work here is dung.
How many sock puppets does that guy need?!?!
See also. Lore Sjoberg rips Twitter a new one, but it's only common sense; who frankly gives a damn?
Dog is my co-pilot.
Who the hell uses Twitter? You web programming monkeys are soon to be out of jobs.
I heard that Twitter squatted around 100 kazillion accounts on Slashdot including some with prime numbers. If we don't watch out all prime numbers are going to be taken!
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
If this really takes off and becomes as popular as these speculators think, I hope twitter has a better, more fair resolution method than does ICANN.
THOSE TWITS don't know SQUAT and need to have their power kept in check. (couldn't help it)
lumenistan
this is why my entire retirement plan consists of the thousands of facebook and myspace accounts that I have created.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Hear that? That's the sound of 4294967296 pots and 4294967296 kettles all crashing into each other simultaneously.
This is yet another reason that in-place liquidation value, rather than economic activity, should be the basis for taxation.
Seastead this.
Why is twitter squatting squitting and not twatting?
What's pretty funny, is that this is the same on Slashdot. For instance I tried a few car brands and these all exist and have extremely low UIDs:
http://slashdot.org/~mercedes
http://slashdot.org/~ferrari
http://slashdot.org/~ford
http://slashdot.org/~fiat
But also :-)
http://slashdot.org/~tefal
http://slashdot.org/~aga
http://slashdot.org/~farber
exists so we have a few happy chef-cooks here as well
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
move along.
... for huge businesses to give a damn about some username on a social networking site that isn't even that popular.
No idea. In other news, all the good Yahoo! email addresses are already taken. Film at 11.
to use the term "twatter" or "twating" which I find much more hilarious than "squitting"
well after that rigorous test of the alphabet and 9 words i am sure that we can safely assume that all usernames are taken. a "rapid evaporation of twitter ids" indeed...time to move on to some other 'micro-blogging' (or internet-based mass text-messaging) service provider. i would imagine that if one was actually trying to tell if these accounts were being squatted one could see if they were posting anything. maybe they just would set the squatted accounts to private. i don't know, i don't tweet or twit or whatever.
Chrysler recently announced they were on Twitter, but the name was ChryslerCom or something like that. Squatters beat them to their own name. That's the problem with unique usernames, though. I mean, say your name (because your parents are insensitive clods) actually *is* Chevy... Should you be prevented from being "Chevy" online because a car company holds a trademark on that name? Is it really fair for the courts to just take something away from you and give it to a rich corporation?
Nothing to see here. Move along.
How is this comparable to domain name squatting? Is a Twitter ID really as important as a domain name?
Kickass Cheap Web Hosting
All your UIDs are belong to us...
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore."
What a wonderful "study." Check a bunch of names that you randomly presume would be desirable, find they are taken, and then assume their use isn't legit.
I'm trying to find a way to tie my hatred of the very concept of twitter in to this but I can't, so I'll just make it a seperate statement.
Whale
I love how TFA suggests you go out and shot-gun register anything associated with your brand.
in short.. he's saying you should fight squatting by squatting it first.
Gotta love that.
----- The internet has given everyone the ability to have their voice heard equally as loud.. even if they shouldn't be
Twitter has problems with downtime. Aas the number of users has grown (approximately exponentially, until approaching saturation), so has downtime.
In 2011, twitter downtime will surpass 365 days per year.
What the fuck is a twitter? Can I spend it?
Yeah, like all of those multimillionaires who made a fortune selling usernames on Friendster, and MySpace, and Facebook, and ... oh, wait ...
Free to squat, but with no potential returns. How valuable is your time, is my question.
http://twitter.com/darrenkopp/status/955017981 proof.
Twitter is useless. Get an RSS reader for your phone.
I like the whocares tag..
This is the 3rd piece of viral marketing from the Twitter jerks in as many days.
Twitter jerks, we all know you are desperate. But understand this: your train has sailed. We know you are desperate to be bought out by some large company like Myspace was. It is NOT going to happen for you. The credit crunch makes that certain. Plus your crappy site never stays up more than 24 hours in a row. It's time to give up. Or at least SHUT UP, and stop spamming this site with marketing crap disguised as articles.
...because the investment and risk for the squatter is zero, you are going to see the rapid evaporation of available Twitter IDs.
The investment is only zero if your time has absolutely no value. Anybody who considers it worth their while to register hundreds of usernames seriously needs to think about getting a life!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
...The 'Net itself has become far too viral to pin any long-term plans on service-oriented sites like this. It's far too fashionable and will come and go in favor of the next big thing.
Smaller sites like this, I give it 4-8 months and no one will care because the masses will have found a shiny new e-penny to go ADD over.
Larger sites like MySpace, Facebook, I give it 48 months and no one will care because the masses will have found a shiny new e-penny to go ADD over.
If you're going to make up words like "squitting", make sure someone else hasn't used them first. Squitting is an activity often associated with a bad fish curry.
Then again, given the average Twitterer's output...
Nissan Computer Corp
Nissan Car Company
what the hell is a twitter, and why should anyone care?
this internet thing is really starting to get stupid. every day there's some new stupid myspace thing or livejournal or whatever. every day people are being set up on blind dates by a damn computer. every day companies are taking over stupid people's computers with advertising crap, that then spew more advertising crap on the net slowing everything down, requiring constant upgrades and maintenance.
you can spend your ENTIRE life on the internet and not learn a damn thing. best yet, you'll like it, 'cause you don't know any better.
stupid. just stupid.
This concept is pervasive across the net. Each site represents a namespace that could potentially have value. So squatting seems like a reasonable thing to do, like it or not.
I even toyed with the idea of creating a marketplace to trade these items. Then I quickly realized that would probably be violating the terms of service of most of these sites.
if your using the name in a way that can damage the business and use the confusion of your ownership of it to further this goal then I say they should have the right to challenge your use. Now if you are using it to demonstrate how you were personally experienced bad service or a product and document it in a mature manner I think they can go take a hike.
I have no problem with companynamesucks sites but I do have problems with companyname sites masquerading as a legitimate outlet of said company.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
My strategy is to lock up the very short passwords. Think about it, every site needs passwords. I'm going to be rich.
You might as well say that every single website that lets users choose their user names, has created a new opportunity for squatters. I think I'll register "CmdrTaco" at a triticale threshing enthusiast discussion forum. By the time Rob gets there, he'll have to pay me big bucks for the name. Or maybe I'll just trade him for the "Sloppy" user he created at the Yeti Photo of the Day website.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Eventually ICANN will need to solicit proposals for new Twitters with a $185,000 submission fee, to provide more twitname space.
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
Now legal in 12 states, between consenting adults!
Maybe yours is next?
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
I have found Obama's and Palin's twitter accounts.
I can't find the McCain twitter account, or at least couldn't a few weeks ago with so many fakes.
I'm a political consultant.
I should have figured. I've been following Super Mario's twitter all week and he's done nothing but rave about the PS3.
At least I still have Coca Cola Classic's twitter to fall back on. That guy drinks so much Pepsi.
I have nothing compelling to say
Because in fact you're right - naming is one of the things the Internet has difficulty with, and twitter's not doing significantly better than anybody else (except that it's much easier for them to take away my twitter name "SomebodyElsesTrademark" and give it to a more legitimate user of that name, though there are still obvious name collisions (like "acme" and "aaa" and "joesdiner" which have multiple users in different physical or logical spaces), so it's not like the problem is solved there either.)
That's one problem ICQ didn't have - a few user-id-numbers might be slightly cool, like 31337 or 12345678 or something that was a phonespell of something cool, but basically the namespace was lame enough that nobody fought over it.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Any half-geek can get a Amateur Radio call sign that is unique worldwide. It's 4-6 characters long and most nations have a vanity sign program. All you have to do is study a bit and take a test. In the US if you take an advanced test you can get a 4 character sign. No Morse code testing in needed in the US and some other countries. Oh, you also then get the privilege to use bits of the RF spectrum to talk with other geeks. Most US states will give you special vehicle plates at a reduced cost with your call sign on them.
73 de w7com
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/
Relax. Have a muffin. Enjoy the show. --Slick, Sept 13th, 2007.
Twitter sucks.
Of course the legitimate holders of brands can sue for them
Will someone please explain to me how Pepsi has a legal right to the username "pepsi" on every single website in the world?
I hear about new services and usually sign up fairly quickly to make sure that I get my ID. It doesn't matter that much, but it is handy to have the same handle across the Internet.
I did that with Twitter, signed up, then didn't use the account for a couple of months. Now I use it a couple of times a day. It's handy, but I still can't figure out what their business case is.
Oh well -- not my problem. ;)
I don't know why, but the name "Twitter Squatting" sounds like it describes an action that is illegal 48 states. Maybe there's something better they could call it?
And since I, and I gather a heck of a lot of other people, couldn't care less, big deal.
Actually, this almost smacks of a marketing ploy by Twitter to try and make people think that Twitter is actually worth something.
Haven't you watched the video?
Can I do some minimal research on an inconsequential subject, whap on a great big slab of unfounded speculation, and then get my own article on slashdot too?
Who cares squat away.
Well at least the names apt as it's clearly a site/service for twits who witter a lot.
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
Why don't we use a shorter term, a portmanteau if you will? I suggest 'twatting'. It's both reminiscent of both original terms, and surprisingly accurate as well.
I thought I was the only person who didn't give a flying fuck about twitter.