TweetSG – SMS to Update

Thanks to a new partner who is keen to help expand TweetSG, I was able to host the system at his premise and add a new number. This system still remains as a non-commercial & privately owned system. The old number still functions as per normal.

I have also added “re-trying” feature so that your Twitter updates won’t go missing in an event of internet link issue. I seek your understanding that we do not have resources yet to create a 100% up-time system. We will try to keep it real, fun, simple to use & hopefully good up-time.

To sign-up/change to your new number, click => http://sms.tweet.sg/authorize.php

A single modem can no longer handle the incoming updates. There is little incentive to operate this system. This experiment has proven to be more of a burden than anything else.

I am getting more of such questions. The URL removal through banner/html code will fail if:

1. You think you followed instructions but you didn’t…

One joker that literally pasted the example… http://sms.tweet.sg/linkback.php?id=jymster into his/her blog. Jymster is my ID by the way.

A few tried http://sms.tweet.sg/linkback.php?id=http://twitter.com/whatever… This is also quite amusing, maybe these users can only read up to 140 characters? So I shorten my instruction for the sake of such users.

2. Multiple numbers associated with one Twitter screen name

Some affluent users who like to carry a few phones may have assigned more than one mobile number to a Twitter screen name during TweetSG sign-up. You happily add the banner HTML code, realized it didn’t work or works partially & ask me “how ah?“. The answer is “Too bad lah!“  because the linkback URL will only affect one number, NOT all the mobile numbers. Again I will not entertain requests, you can use some other services, I don’t really care.

3. Users cannot make up their mind with their screen names

There are some who are fickle-minded with their Twitter profile URL, changing it every now & then and expect my system to keep up with their vanity. Sorry, it won’t work. It MUST be based on the initial screen name during your sign-up with TweetSG. I am not interested to create special exceptions for your fickle-mindedness.

How to ask for help

Here’s a crash course on how to get the best out of any tech support that you may subsequently encounter in your life.

1. Don’t write/talk like as if the world owes you an answer (especially when it is a free-service). Be polite & formal. Be nice to them, you get things solved way easily (The Law Of Reciprocity) v.s. “Customer is king shit mentality”.

2. Provide the right info so as to reduce the communication time/wait. Eg. your blog URL or which number to delete. This is not some commercial setup that has paid staff babysitting after your accounts.

3. When you want to use Direct Message to ask for help, follow @TweetSG else how the hell am I to reply you in private?

Why don’t you just remove the URL?

Well, screw you. Even with the web traffic generated from those URL, ads dollars merely brought in a miserable $20SGD so far. So unless you got some spare cash to give, you can Shutup & Sitdown.

- Jym -