Twitter Users: Please Make Sure You're Following the Right Feed

I have an official Twitter feed of my blog; it’s @schneierblog. There’s also an unofficial feed at @Bruce_Schneier. I have nothing to do with that one.

I wouldn’t mind the unofficial feed—if people are reading my blog, who cares—except that it isn’t working right, and hasn’t been for some time. It publishes some posts weeks late and skips others entirely. I’m only hoping that this one will show up there.

It’s also kind of annoying that @Bruce_Schneier keeps following people, who think it’s me. It’s not; I never log in to Twitter and I don’t follow anyone there.

So if you want to read my blog on Twitter, please make sure you’re following @schneierblog. And if you are the person who runs the @Bruce_Schneier account—if anyone is even running it anymore—please e-mail me at the address on my Contact page. I’d rather see it fixed than shut down, but better for it to be shut down than continue in its broken state.

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Posted on January 7, 2014 at 4:53 PM • 26 Comments

Comments

Bruce Schneier • January 7, 2014 8:20 PM

“Doot, tell Twitter to nuke the fake account.”

Problem is that there are 16,000 followers of that fake account, and I don’t want them to be collateral damage.

ToModerator • January 8, 2014 6:41 AM

@Levis Jeans Red Tab is a spam.

What is the recommended way to flag spam in comments to the Moderator ?

Lundgren • January 8, 2014 10:16 AM

But what if that persons real name is also Bruce Schneier? I mean that should not be any sort of probabilistic impossibility.

Should he not be allowed to have a twitter account with his own name?

Lundgren • January 8, 2014 10:19 AM

Sorry please ignore my previous opinion. I just took a look at Bruce Schneier twitter feed…

sobrado • January 8, 2014 10:43 AM

“Problem is that there are 16,000 followers of that fake account, and I don’t want them to be collateral damage.”

The damage has been done, and it is not your fault.

Is it not worse letting them follow a fake Bruce Schneier, and reading a mostly unmaintaned feed, than asking Twitter to close that fake account? Cannot speak for these 16,000 followers, but in my case I would appreciate knowing that I am following the wrong feed. It is just my opinion, but I would ask Twitter to close that account in case the person that runs that feed does not contact with you to get it fixed in a reasonable amount of time.

WhatIsHeDoing • January 8, 2014 11:04 AM

“Will the real Bruce Schneier please stand up? I repeat, will the Bruce Schneier please stand up?”

Verification might not be perfect – it still won’t stop PA’s/management/anyone else posting on your behalf, for example – but may at least help those who are sceptical whether the real Bruce is following them.

sobrado • January 8, 2014 1:04 PM

“What if ‘the person’ who runs the @Bruce_Schneier account were, indeed, the NSA ?”

Then we should carefully read the missing tweets. 😉

Louis • January 8, 2014 10:44 PM

The unofficial one asked to follow me a while back when I started to follow it and I refused but it kept on asking over and over so I finally gave in and let it follow me. Now that I know it’s the unofficial one, I’ve blocked it.

Alex • January 12, 2014 7:16 PM

No need to nuke it, just reclaim it. Lodge an “impersonation” ticket with twitter and they’ll give you control of it and then you can decide what to do with the 16,000. Hopefully they’ll give you a verified tick at the same time.

sk • January 13, 2014 2:44 AM

Definitely take it over. Two worst case scenarios come to mind: The guys sells the account, or the guy has a weak password and gets hacked. You wake up one morning to find reporters ringing your phone off the hook, wanting to know why you’re endorsing shady virus check sites and linking your fans to malware.

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