An Opportunity to Help

I had my Twitter account suspended a little over a month ago. If you have been reading my blog you will know that.

If you did not see it, the issue was that I was told I violated their terms of service about making “violent threats” with this tweet:

I had someone ask about the tweet I was replying to. Here it is:

You will notice that “AP Fact Check” claimed people were “misrepresenting” the IRS job posting. All we were doing was responding to what was posted on their website. Here is a screenshot:

At the time I made the comment, it was a trending topic, with over 10,000 tweets. Clearly, I was not the only one who was alarmed by this job posting.

I think it’s likely I was flagged and suspended by a bot for the words “shoot you”, which out of context sound like a violent threat.

I have sent two appeals to reinstate my account. The first, sent on the day it happened, August 19th, appears to have been ignored as I never received any reply. The second, sent on September 13th, received a reply stating that they had “reviewed” my tweet and stood by their decision. That’s right, folx: that tweet above is me, an apparent employee of the IRS, actually threatening people with violence. (end sarcasm)

I replied to this email from Twitter explaining that I was using satire. And that the meaning of satire is to point out human folly, so the meaning is often the opposite of what is stated. In other words: I wasn’t making a violent threat, I was mocking one.

Over the past 5 weeks, I have asked for help from my subs and community to help me get my account reinstated and only ONE PERSON has indicated they have helped me. Today, he shared with me this tweet:

As you can see, he tweeted to @TwitterSupport and asked them to review the situation. And they replied that they will.

I would appreciate if more of you could do the same but IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Please DO NOT COPY Geeky Sub 70 above. If you type out the same tweet or even copy a sentence they may think this is a bot campaign and ALL the help I get will be written off. Also, he got it a little wrong. I wasn’t quoting IRS job requirements as much as I was mocking their implied violence.

Your help is valuable to me because the more people they hear from, they more chance I have at getting my account back.

For those who are on Twitter but don’t know how to do this, I can explain:

1. Log into your account and find the blue circle icon with a pen in it. You should be able to see it when you’re looking at your profile or your feed, and it should be on the left-hand side. You’ll know it’s the correct button when you click it and a blank window pops up asking you to write something.
2. Type out a message and tag Twitter Support AND me in it. To tag someone you simply include their account name, which is always preceded by the at (@) symbol. In this case it’s @TwitterSupport and @MistressTissa, respectively. Including the name of the account(s) in your tweet will ensure those accounts are notified when you post your tweet. (Note: unlike a direct message, or DM, the tweet will be public.)
3. Explain what happened: I was flagged as having violated their terms of service (TOS) which I did not actually do. I was told I made violent threats when what I did was use satire/was being satirical/was mocking violence/however you want to word it, and then ask them to please reinstate my account the way it was before I was suspended in error, with all my followers, tweets, etc. You can also include your personal feelings on me and my tweets, such as appreciating my years of educational information, helping people avoid scammers, that you think I’m neat and miss me on Twitter, whatever. Please be polite and include a “thank you”. Being rude will not help me.
4. Click send. The people who are maintaining the Twitter Support account will be notified because you tagged them in your tweet. I would have been notified, too, but because my account is suspended I will not. Still, Twitter Support needs to know what account you’re talking about, which is why you need to tag me.

You can comment here to let me know you have sent a tweet. Or, if you have my email, you can send me a message as well. If you attach a screenshot that is terrific.

Thank you, in advance, for your help!