This is a reasonable response, and I'm not trying to give you personally a hard time. I'm hoping that Dick, Ev, Ryan, and other managers will see this and realize that they are turning away developers by not devoting enough resources to this issue. I'm sure if they were asked, they'd say they devote huge resources to developers, which they do. Do they really know that developers who ask to build an app on Twitter aren't even responded to? Do they really believe that will work in their favor over the long run?
Let's flip it around a minute and view this from the developer's perspective. Every whitelist request comes from a developer who might have a client. Do you really want developers telling clients that "Twitter is so busy they won't even reply if I ask to build you an app. Don't bother trying to integrate Twitter with your site. Let me build something for you with Facebook instead." Maybe linking to a page with an explanation like you just gave would be better than just replying with "we can't respond to all requests." Although the real solution is for Twitter to make the whitelisting criteria more transparent, and reasons for rejection more clear. At a minimum every developer who cares enough to ask to create a Twitter app deserves a response. I believe it is possible to write code that will do this for you. You keep plugging away at that backlog, Taylor, and I'll keep lobbying for more resources. I have an active interest in seeing Twitter succeed as a developer ecosystem. On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 1:09 PM, Taylor Singletary <taylorsinglet...@twitter.com> wrote: > Hi Adam, > The lack of response to some requests is due more to them going unread than > being explicitly denied. I make a best effort to keep up with the volume of > requests and approve or deny each that I process (balanced with my other > responsibilities). These produce an email response. > To be honest, the volume of requests is so high that we have to take a > "divide & conquer" approach, processing recent and dated requests alike. > Obviously, this is suboptimal, which is why I welcome direct inquiries to > help focus attention. I can't really disclose the volume of requests, but it > is more than you probably imagine and the vast majority of them are not > actionable due to an insufficient amount of information. > We're actively working on a better model for whitelisting as a concept & > execution, as well as providing a more actionable funnel to ensure that the > current situation of developers falling through the cracks is minified. > Thanks, > Taylor > > On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 9:50 AM, Adam Green <140...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> "We're almost always behind in processing whitelisting requests. Due >> to volume, we can't respond to all requests." >> >> Really? Is not responding at all to whitelisting requests an official >> policy? If you mean you can't respond quickly, that makes sense. If >> you mean you can't approve all requests, I agree. But is no response >> at all a smart, polite, or even efficient way to deal with requests >> from developers? It seems like a guaranteed way to create discouraged >> developers. I know you try hard to be responsive, Taylor, and the fact >> that you will discuss this off-list proves this. So I'm guessing this >> is a policy you are just repeating. Maybe you can go back to >> management and point out the flaws in this approach? >> >> If a decision is made to deny a whitelist request, and at least a few >> minutes are spent on that decision, wouldn't it make more sense to >> reply with a denial? Otherwise the developer is left to repeat the >> request, which must use up more time for Twitter HQ than sending a >> denial in the first place. Repeated requests with no response leaves >> the developer with the opinion that Twitter doesn't want a third-party >> ecosystem, which clearly isn't the case. It also fills this list with >> messages from annoyed developers, which doesn't send a good message to >> new developers. >> >> Why can't someone reply with "Sorry, we can't approve this request >> right now due to insufficient resources, but we appreciate your >> interest in Twitter development. Please try again in the future, as we >> may have more resources available at that time." How many seconds >> does it take to send this type of email? >> >> >> On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Taylor Singletary >> <taylorsinglet...@twitter.com> wrote: >> > Hi Cassie, >> > We're almost always behind in processing whitelisting requests. Due to >> > volume, we can't respond to all requests. If the nature of your project >> > has >> > changed, you should feel free to re-apply -- even if you were already >> > granted whitelisted status, as the nature of a project is certainly >> > taken >> > into account in the decision making process. Feel free to follow up with >> > me >> > privately at list with the username you've filed a whitelisting request >> > under for expanded discussion. >> > Thanks, >> > Taylor >> > On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 4:12 PM, Cassie Lynn >> > <cassie.schwendi...@gmail.com> >> > wrote: >> >> >> >> Hello! >> >> >> >> How often should you send a request to be whitelisted? I am finding >> >> that in the span of time while I'm waiting for an answer, the nature >> >> of my project has changed drastically. So I then resend a request. >> >> Does this affect whether you will be whitelisted or not? And should I >> >> wait for a rejection before rerequesting in the future? >> >> >> >> Thank you, >> >> - Cassie >> >> >> >> -- >> >> Twitter developer documentation and resources: >> >> http://dev.twitter.com/doc >> >> API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi >> >> Issues/Enhancements Tracker: >> >> http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list >> >> Change your membership to this group: >> >> http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk >> > >> > -- >> > Twitter developer documentation and resources: >> > http://dev.twitter.com/doc >> > API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi >> > Issues/Enhancements Tracker: >> > http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list >> > Change your membership to this group: >> > http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> Adam Green >> Twitter API Consultant and Trainer >> http://140dev.com >> @140dev >> >> -- >> Twitter developer documentation and resources: http://dev.twitter.com/doc >> API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi >> Issues/Enhancements Tracker: >> http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list >> Change your membership to this group: >> http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk > > -- > Twitter developer documentation and resources: http://dev.twitter.com/doc > API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi > Issues/Enhancements Tracker: > http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list > Change your membership to this group: > http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk > -- Adam Green Twitter API Consultant and Trainer http://140dev.com @140dev -- Twitter developer documentation and resources: http://dev.twitter.com/doc API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi Issues/Enhancements Tracker: http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list Change your membership to this group: http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk
