If yes, hit the link.
If no, well, then you’re welcome for not blowing up your dashboard.
The other day I tried to change a setting on my Twitter account.
At which point Twitter refused to make the change because my email address was invalid.
Did I change my email address? Nope. It’s the same one that has been there for many months.
Did I confirm my email address to Twitter when I set it to what it is? Yes I did.
So why was Twitter checking the validity of my email address which it has already confirmed and which wasn’t changed? Good question.
Presumably some developer at Twitter has recently implemented some sort of rudimentary check on email addresses, to make sure that people don’t enter obviously incorrect information in the email address field.
Like many good intentioned ideas, this one fails in the implementation. Turns out that it’s difficult to do this well. Lots of places will tell you that an address such as example+foo@gmail.com is an invalid email address. It isn’t. It will be delivered to example@gmail.com but that user can use the +foo part to filter if s/he wants to.
But Twitter’s filter is (apparently) going even further than that. It’s trying to determine whether or not email addresses are valid by checking against a list of known Top Level Domains (or TLDs). Some TLDs are very well-known: .com and .org and .net … but there are lots more… .co.uk and .gov and .edu and way more than anyone is going to list.
My domain name ends with “.ma” which is a perfectly valid TLD. But Twitter doesn’t realize that. Why? Who knows?
Someone pointed out that the domain isn’t the problem. I’m not sure what the problem is.
The point is that my email address is valid and is confirmed with Twitter, and the net result of them telling me that my email address is invalid is that I can’t change the setting that I want to change but my email address remains.
~So I emailed Twitter support…~
It is not easy to send an email to Twitter support. They would much prefer that you find the answer to your question yourself, so they put up as many road blocks as possible to show you answers they think might be the answer to your question before letting you send an email to support. I think I went through about 4-5 screens before I finally was able to send a message to support.
Now I have learned from my previous experiences with Tumblr and Twitter “support” that it does not help to give them too much information, because they are easily distracted and will often get sidetracked from the actual issue with some superfluous detail.
So I was very brief :
Description of problem: I have been using my tj@luo.ma email address with twitter for quite some time, but now you’re telling me that my email isn’t valid:
[screenshot]
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
You’re wrong. It is. Please fix.
Thanks.
A little while later I received this reply:
Hi, luomat!
We’re sorry you’re having issues with your profile or settings. Are any of your issues related to the problems listed below? If not, please reply to this email and let us know where you are stuck.
Many users are able to quickly resolve their issue by using these help articles:
Profile & Settings problems:
Trouble updating specific settings on your Twitter account? This article should walk you through some troubleshooting steps when this happens to you:
https://support.twitter.com/articles/20169616
Username Changes
Did you know Twitter allows you to change your unique username at any time? Be aware, however, that changing your username will forfeit your old username and that Twitter is currently unable to field public requests for claiming inactive usernames. More on those issues here:
How to Change Your Username: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14609
I’m Having Trouble With My Username: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14608
Trademark Policy on Usernames: https://support.twitter.com/articles/18367
Public vs. Protected Accounts:
Every Twitter user has the option to make their Tweets protected so they’re able to curate who follows their updates. Looking to make your timeline protected or wondering how to request to follow someone with a protected account?
About Public and Protected Accounts: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14016
Email!
Email can be tricky. Maybe you haven’t confirmed your email address on your Twitter account yet. Perhaps you need some guidance changing your email preferences because you’re not receiving enough or are getting too much email from Twitter. Need to change your email address? All of the above issues can be found in the links below, please have a look.
How to Confirm Your Email Address: https://support.twitter.com/articles/97942
How to Change Email Preferences: https://support.twitter.com/articles/127860
How to Change Your Email Address: https://support.twitter.com/articles/15356
Password Issues:
Believe it or not, we receive most of our email about Password related issues. Please read the articles below to best troubleshoot your password woes.
I Can’t Login: https://support.twitter.com/articles/15365
How to Recover Your Password: https://support.twitter.com/articles/14663
My Account Has Been Compromised: https://support.twitter.com/articles/31796
Facebook
Having trouble sending your Tweets to Facebook? We’ve got you covered in the following Help Center articles.
How To Use Twitter With Facebook: https://support.twitter.com/articles/31113
I’m Having Trouble Using Twitter With Facebook: https://support.twitter.com/articles/200773
——
If the above links help resolve your issue, no need to reply.
Best,
The Twitter Support Team
Follow us: http://twitter.com/#!/support
———————————————
Help us improve! How well did this email answer your question(s)?
https://twitter.zendesk.com/requests/6921371/satisfaction/new/wih7GGPd85rQSsopMTXAN3rSg?locale=1
A few things to note:
I’m not sure where they pulled ‘luomat’ from as that’s not the account I emailed them about.
Clearly this email was automatically generated by scanning my original email for keywords, because it does not even come close to addressing my actual email
This reply is meant for idiots: “Email can be tricky” Yeah.
So here was my reply.
Note again the brevity:
No, none of those articles have anything to do with the question I wrote, but thanks for wasting my time with what I assume is a keyword generated auto response.
It’s not as if I had to click through about 7 different links before I could actually send a support request anyway.
And I’m not sure where you pulled ‘luomat’ from, it wasn’t from the message I sent you.
~Then someone from Twitter wrote back~
Here’s the email I received back:
Duckface, Dec 19 08:32 am (PST):
Hi luomat,
Are you still experiencing this issue? Please update us on the situation and we’ll do our best to help.
If this is resolved, then have an awesome day. Happy Tweeting!
Duckface
Twitter Support
support.twitter.com
@support
‘Duckface’? Are you fucking kidding me with this shit? You work for a company as a customer service person and your name is ‘Duckface’? And I’m supposed to take you seriously?
I don’t know if this NSFW image which theorizes about the origin of ‘duckface’ is correct, but I don’t think I would use it as my customer service name. Well, unless your job involves referring to most of your customers by the name “John.” (Consider also the iPhone autocorrect annoyance commonly referred to as ducking iPhone.)
This email was sent about 15 hours after my reply. So it’s not as if days or weeks went by between me emailing Twitter support and their reply.
Apparently all that ‘Duckface’ did was select my message, hit ‘reply’ and type the “Hey is this still a problem?” because she (or, I guess, possibly “he”… could “Duckface” be a “he”? Sure, why not.) obviously didn’t read my message because if s/he had then s/he wouldn’t have used luomat
So I replied again:
Are you kidding me?
Duckface?
FFS this is absurd.
YES I am still having the problem.
How about you have someone THERE look at the problem rather than sending me an auto-reply that doesn’t address the problem and then just asking me if I’m still having the problem?
~Another Reply From Twitter Just Arrived~
Hi luomat,
From our end, it looks like your email address has been confirmed on the account in question and has therefore been recognized as a valid email address.
If you’re still experiencing this issue, it would be really helpful to see a screenshot of the problem you’re experiencing. That way, we can see exactly what’s happening and either help you resolve it or escalate the issue to an engineer. Below is some information about how to take and upload a screenshot.
Once you’ve got your screenshot, please upload it to an image host and reply with a link so we can take a look. We can’t accept attachments, sorry!
If you’re not sure how to take a screenshot, here’s some info to guide you:
Mac: http://guides.macrumors.com/Taking_Screenshots_in_Mac_OS_X
Windows: http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/general/ht/winscreenshot.htm
iPhone: http://imore.com/how-to-take-a-screenshot-with-the-iphone
Here are some suggestions for free image hosting sites where you can upload a screenshot:
http://tinypic.com
http://postimage.org
http://imageshack.us
We hope you’ll respond with a link to your screenshot! Please let us know if you run into any further trouble.
Thanks,
n_s
So I assume they’re just trolling me now.
I do not [EXPLETIVE DELETED] believe this.
I INCLUDED A SCREENSHOT IN THE FIRST [EXPLETIVE DELETED] EMAIL I SENT YOU.
Since it is apparently too much to ask of you to actually GO BACK AND READ WHAT I WROTE BEFORE YOU WASTE MY TIME WITH ANOTHER REPLY here it is again:
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
http://share.luo.ma/private/twitter-email-is-invalid.jpg
When I try to change any setting on that page (such as unchecking the box that says ‘let people find me by this address’), I have to enter my password.
When I enter my password, it tells me that my email address is invalid.
SEND THIS MESSAGE TO WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CODE THAT VERIFIES EMAIL ADDRESSES.
TELL THEM TO LOOK AT MY EMAIL ADDRESS.
SHOW THEM THE LINK TO THE SCREENSHOT.
GIVE HIM OR HER THE INFORMATION ABOVE.
TjL
Yes, I actually wrote ‘[EXPLETIVE DELETED]’ in the email. I was going to go with HOLYFUCKINGSHITBALLS but I didn’t want to seem rude.
~Really, these are the best people you can get to handle support?~
After this and my experience with Tumblr “support” last month, I posted the above message to Twitter earlier today.
I do not understand how both companies can employ customer service people who are so very obviously not even bothering to read the messages they are responding to.
There is extremely high unemployment in the USA right now, including many people with not just college degrees, but advanced degrees.
To do a better job than your current customer support, all they have to do is be able to read and comprehend basic English.
Let me be clear: while the solution to the problems I reported might take someone with programming skills, understanding them does not. These are very straight-forward issues which I could explain to my 10 year old.
The first-tier customer support people don’t need to be able to fix the problem, they just need to be able to direct the message to someone who can fix the problem.
But that’s not what they’re doing.
They seem to be doing little more than copy & pasting replies from some Big File Of Standard Answers based on scanning the email for keywords and then just responding with whatever seems like it might possibly be an answer.
The only question is Why?
It seems to be that they are either doing this because they don’t really have a clue what they are doing (in which case they shouldn’t be doing it until they’re either better trained or replaced by someone more qualified) or because you’re too cheap to hire enough of them to answer the emails which come in, and so they are left with no option but to give as many answers as fast as possible because they can’t keep up.
Or maybe it’s a bit of both.
I mean, imagine you are Twitter/Tumblr… You’ve got so many support requests coming in that you just need them to shovel out as many answers as possible. Not only that, but you hired your brother’s girlfriend’s cousin for the job because they needed the work and your brother kept pressuring you to give them a job at your innernet thingy business.
The problem is that they’re experiencing so much growth right now that they don’t really have to care about customer service, because they’ve got so many users that say that everything is going great.
Of course, I’m guessing that was true at CompuServe once too.
~”Why are you so angry about this?”~
I understand that shit happens and mistakes get made. That’s frustrating, but it doesn’t make me angry.
What makes me angry is when someone makes a mistake and I try to tell them about it, and they:
a) Make it as hard as possible for me to contact them because they are so totally busy.
b) Assume that I am an idiot.
c) Don’t actually read what I wrote.
(At least Tumblr will still accept support email directly, but I assume that they will eventually force everyone to use the same kind of web form that Twitter uses.)
I know that they must get a lot of ‘dumb questions’ including a lot of questions which are answered already if people bothered the check. I get that. I’ve been giving people tech support for 20 years, including 6 years in college and seminary working in the computer labs, I’ve heard plenty of ‘dumb questions’.
So I can understand A & B.
But C?
If you worked for me doing customer support via email and couldn’t be bothered to read what people had written? Your ass would be fired. Because reading those emails is your job. That’s it. That’s what you get paid to do.
By that criteria, every customer support person I’ve dealt with recently at Twitter and Tumblr should be fired.
Twitter support used to be better. They used to have people who at least seemed to have a clue what was going on. That ended a long time ago, though.
Tumblr support used to be great. Back when it was actually just Marc you could email support@tumblr and get an answer in one email. I’m sure the job is way too big for one person to do now, but holy hell has it fallen way down.