Thanks for all of your help! At some point, the 401 error for User Not Found should be changed to a 404. The fix would make this type of fetch much more efficient, and save on the number of API calls.
I adapted my code for what you suggested above, but I had to check for User Not Found which required another URL fetch, which required another check for HTTP errors. Thanks! Ryan On Oct 20, 11:08 pm, Chad Etzel <c...@twitter.com> wrote: > If you try to pull a protected users' timeline w/o authentication then > it will throw a 401. > > You can confirm whether a user id is valid by trying to > call:http://twitter.com/users/show.xml?id={insert_id_here} > > users/show will throw a 404 on a non existent user. > > -Chad > > > > On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 1:43 AM, Ryan Rosario <uclamath...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > *bangs head on desk...again* > > > Now that I know what what my Twitter ID is, and I know that I am a > > valid user, I tried it and it worked. > > It's gone way past 15 users now without a problem (without error > > checking). > > > I see what is happening now. After 15 users or so, I hit a > > user that no longer exists. On a 404, I skip the user, but on a 401, > > for the time being, I am retrying, and then quickly maxing out my > > hourly > > limit. > > > The other part was my overworked mind. I was pulling numbers that > > looked like Twitter IDs from the site HTML that actually weren't. > > And...then testing over and over with those bad numbers. Sigh. > > > I suppose it is safe to treat 401 as a 404? I don't think it would be > > used for anything else in the REST API, right? > > Is an HTTP error thrown if I try to pull a protected user's timeline? > > > To make a long story short, it does appear that invalid users are > > returning 401 instead of 404. > > > Thanks, > > Ryan > > > On Oct 20, 9:10 pm, Chad Etzel <c...@twitter.com> wrote: > >> Hi Ryan, > > >> I think part of the problem is that user id 1255997062 does not exist, > >> so it should really be returning a 404 instead of a 401. Do you get > >> the same 401 result with a known valid user id? > > >> -Chad > > >> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Ryan Rosario <uclamath...@gmail.com> > >> wrote: > > >> > Correct. I thought that was weird, but didn't know what to make of it. > >> > Same IP. > >> > The unauthenticated call was from an IP that is not whitelisted, so > >> > 150/hr. > >> > The second call was from the same IP, but authenticated as a > >> > whitelisted account, so should be 20000/hr. > > >> > I usually only work from the whitelisted IPs, but wanted to check an > >> > IP that had never been used before for data mining. > > >> > On Oct 20, 11:36 am, Dewald Pretorius <dpr...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> >> Apart from the 401 issue, the following is also very weird: > > >> >> < X-experimental-RLS-remaining: 0 > >> >> < X-experimental-RLS-maxvalue: 150 > >> >> < X-RateLimit-Limit: 20000 > > >> >> This is on the second authenticated call. On the unauthenticated call > >> >> X-RateLimit-Limit was 150. I assume both calls were made from the same > >> >> IP address? > > >> >> Dewald > > >> >> On Oct 20, 3:10 pm, Ryan Rosario <uclamath...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> >> > Below are the responses. I tried various combinations of - > >> >> > uusername:pass -u=username:pass -u username:pass and each time got an > >> >> > authentication error. > > >> >> > Without authentication > >> >> > [madhatter:~/Desktop] ryan% curl > >> >> > -vvvhttp://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline.json\?user_id=1255997062\&count=100 > >> >> > * About to connect() to twitter.com port 80 (#0) > >> >> > * Trying 168.143.162.100... connected > >> >> > * Connected to twitter.com (168.143.162.100) port 80 (#0)> GET > >> >> > /statuses/user_timeline.json?user_id=1255997062&count=100 HTTP/1.1 > >> >> > > User-Agent: curl/7.19.4 (universal-apple-darwin10.0) libcurl/7.19.4 > >> >> > > OpenSSL/0.9.8k zlib/1.2.3 > >> >> > > Host: twitter.com > >> >> > > Accept: */* > > >> >> > < HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-remaining: 132 > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-maxvalue: 150 > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-reset: 1256065275 > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-th: notreq > >> >> > < X-RLS-id: sjc1c032 > >> >> > < Via: Cachet/0.91 > >> >> > < Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:03:41 GMT > >> >> > < Server: hi > >> >> > < X-RateLimit-Limit: 150 > >> >> > < X-Transaction: 1256061824-5820-4214 > >> >> > < WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Twitter API" > >> >> > < Status: 401 Unauthorized > >> >> > < Last-Modified: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:03:44 GMT > >> >> > < X-RateLimit-Remaining: 133 > >> >> > < X-Runtime: 0.05350 > >> >> > < Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 > >> >> > < Pragma: no-cache > >> >> > < Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, pre-check=0, > >> >> > post-check=0 > >> >> > < Expires: Tue, 31 Mar 1981 05:00:00 GMT > >> >> > < X-Revision: 726d1f10cbe49a923e837d8c3fca3a3993a0f964 > >> >> > < X-RateLimit-Reset: 1256065275 > >> >> > < Set-Cookie: lang=en; path=/ > >> >> > < Set-Cookie: > >> >> > _twitter_sess=BAh7CDoRdHJhbnNfcHJvbXB0MDoHaWQiJWM5OTU5MWNkNmE5MjMwNzU0Nzhh > >> >> > %250AMzdkMTA3NzE2Zjk5IgpmbGFzaElDOidBY3Rpb25Db250cm9sbGVyOjpGbGFz > >> >> > %250AaDo6Rmxhc2hIYXNoewAGOgpAdXNlZHsA--73f950f824e3e048d3691a3eeec8a8fbbab2 > >> >> > 1743; > >> >> > domain=.twitter.com; path=/ > >> >> > < Vary: Accept-Encoding > >> >> > < Content-Length: 118 > >> >> > < Connection: close > >> >> > < > >> >> > * Closing connection #0 > >> >> > {"request":"/statuses/user_timeline.json? > >> >> > user_id=1255997062&count=100","error":"This method requires > >> >> > authentication."} > > >> >> > With authentication: > >> >> > [madhatter:~/Desktop] ryan% curl -vvv > >> >> > -uusername:passhttp://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline.json\?user_id=1255997062\&count=100 > >> >> > * About to connect() to twitter.com port 80 (#0) > >> >> > * Trying 168.143.162.68... connected > >> >> > * Connected to twitter.com (168.143.162.68) port 80 (#0) > >> >> > * Server auth using Basic with user ' '> GET > >> >> > /statuses/user_timeline.json?user_id=1255997062&count=100 HTTP/1.1 > >> >> > > Authorization: Basic *redacted* > >> >> > > User-Agent: curl/7.19.4 (universal-apple-darwin10.0) libcurl/7.19.4 > >> >> > > OpenSSL/0.9.8k zlib/1.2.3 > >> >> > > Host: twitter.com > >> >> > > Accept: */* > > >> >> > < HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-remaining: 0 > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-maxvalue: 150 > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-reset: 1256064142 > >> >> > < X-experimental-RLS-th: succ > >> >> > < X-RLS-id: sjc1c032 > >> >> > < Via: Cachet/0.91 > >> >> > < Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:04:33 GMT > >> >> > < Server: hi > >> >> > < X-RateLimit-Limit: 20000 > >> >> > < X-Transaction: 1256061882-45021-11545 > >> >> > * Authentication problem. Ignoring this. > >> >> > < WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Twitter API" > >> >> > < Status: 401 Unauthorized > >> >> > < Last-Modified: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:04:42 GMT > >> >> > < X-RateLimit-Remaining: 19823 > >> >> > < X-Runtime: 0.11979 > >> >> > < Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8 > >> >> > < Pragma: no-cache > >> >> > < Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate, pre-check=0, > >> >> > post-check=0 > >> >> > < Expires: Tue, 31 Mar 1981 05:00:00 GMT > >> >> > < X-Revision: 726d1f10cbe49a923e837d8c3fca3a3993a0f964 > >> >> > < X-RateLimit-Reset: 1256064139 > >> >> > < Set-Cookie: lang=en; path=/ > >> >> > < Set-Cookie: lang=en; path=/ > >> >> > < Set-Cookie: > >> >> > _twitter_sess=BAh7CjoTcGFzc3dvcmRfdG9rZW4iLTg1ZTQ4OTU0ZjdmM2MyOGQzMjFhOGIy > >> >> > %250ANjEyYjBhZDAzZjYzZjY3M2Y6EXRyYW5zX3Byb21wdDA6CXVzZXJpA57usDoH > >> >> > %250AaWQiJTgxZTNhMGNlYmE0YjRlNWI2NWRlZjdhZjU3ZDk3MmM2IgpmbGFzaElD > >> >> > %250AOidBY3Rpb25Db250cm9sbGVyOjpGbGFzaDo6Rmxhc2hIYXNoewAGOgpAdXNl > >> >> > %250AZHsA--26052e0c4f20f2f852537f173106f426be9df437; > >> >> > domain=.twitter.com; path=/ > >> >> > < Vary: Accept-Encoding > >> >> > < Content-Length: 118 > >> >> > < Connection: close > >> >> > < > >> >> > * Closing connection #0 > > >> >> > On Oct 20, 10:25 am, Chad Etzel <c...@twitter.com> wrote: > > >> >> > > Hi Ryan, > > >> >> > > This sounds like a bug. Can you provide full HTTP request/response > >> >> > > headers+body traces for some of these requests? (be sure to obscure > >> >> > > the authentication header). Using curl -vvv would be good. > > >> >> > > -Chad > > >> >> > > On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 1:10 PM, Ryan Rosario > >> >> > > <uclamath...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> >> > > > I have been running into a recurring problem that I have been > >> >> > > > facing > >> >> > > > for the past couple of days, on numerous machines. > > >> >> > > > I am extracting 200 tweets for a large number of users, using the > >> >> > > > numeric user ID (user_id). After a small number of requests > >> >> > > > (between > >> >> > > > 10 and 50) I receive nothing but "This method requires > >> >> > > > authentication". Authenticating with my username and password > >> >> > > > does not > >> >> > > > make the message go away. I have verified that the users I am > >> >> > > > trying > >> >> > > > to pull are not protected users. I have also verified that I am > >> >> > > > not > >> >> > > > hitting the rate limit. > > >> >> > > > On my latest attempt, I used an IP I have not used in the past. I > >> >> > > > was > >> >> > > > able to extract the first 200 tweets for *12* users, then I > >> >> > > > started > >> >> > > > receiving 401s ("This method requires authentication") on every > >> >> > > > single > >> >> > > > request of this type. > > >> >> > > > After about 10 minutes, I tried again and it worked for about > >> >> > > > another > >> >> > > > 15 users, then I started getting the same message as well as other > >> >> > > > messages including 502. > > >> >> > > > Is this behavior expected? Does this 401 message possibly mean > >> >> > > > something else?
