• Is there a way to incorporate Google Notes with Google Reader? I’d love to include a note with why I shared an item in Reader. #
• anyone else getting spam from Doba again from the Guy presentation here in Utah? #
• @loiclemeur what is Patrick from Google’s Twitter ID? I’d love to get him out to Utah for one of our Social Media developers meetings #
• Fixing bugs in Net::Twitter (undocumented Twitter API features) – will send them to maintainer when done. #
• @al3x does the followers API call require a page number as well, or does it return all followers in one call? #
• Some things I learned about Twitter and how they treat spam today: http://snurl.com/1wfsw #
• GlobalNerdy thinks I’m funny: http://snurl.com/1wft5 #
• @scobleizer sorry to hear about your Facebook account – is Facebook stupid??? Sounds like they need to know who their customers are. #
• @jordanlee1 click on "profile", then copy the url. #
• @scobleizer it sounds like Facebook has an automated script that reads the logs, and sends out those notices if it detects someone scraping #
• Wishing I got up as early as @rodneyrumford, @scobleizer, and the others so I could have been in on the rush. Bloggin now… #
• @jasonalba, while not his intention, I bet his traffic is through the roof right now #
• Why Plaxo execs need a copy of our book: http://tinyurl.com/2cr2uk #
• My opinions of the whole @scobleizer Facebook controversy: http://snurl.com/1whfe #
• @windley interested to hear your reasons for why it’s not a replacement for traditional web hosting #
• Wow – my Perl blog post has people up in arms – I feel a follow up post coming #
• I feel privileged that Andy Lester corrected me though – he is one of the reasons I think Perl has a reason to step up with the Rails outcry #
• on the phone with a client, brainstorming some really cool ideas for their product #
• @jasonalba cognizant? #
• @jasonalba – having fun trying to understand? #
• @royblumenthal – I hope she feels better! That’s been going around our house as well. #
• @jasonalba do I get a pool or spa too since I wrote a book with you? #
• tempted to create the shirt, "I do it in 140 characters or less" #
• Trying to figure out this Twitter API – Net::Twitter for Perl doesn’t fully follow it #

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There’s a storm a brewin’ in the Bay Area today, and it’s not just those rain clouds coming their way! For those following the Twitter Storm, and Scoble’s blog, Scoble was banned from Facebook today due to some testing he was doing with an unreleased version of Plaxo Pulse. While Scoble is understandably upset, I think he is unfairly putting the blame on Facebook.

In the book, we quote a point in the Terms of Service which says that you “[can't] use automated scripts to collect information from or otherwise interact with the Service or the Site;” It would appear that Scoble might be better off blaming those at Plaxo that he trusted to have read that before giving him a script that explicitely violates the agreement. I think Scoble’s blame of Facebook is somewhat unfair. I hope Plaxo has apologized profusely to Scoble!

Here’s what I think Facebook should do in the future, now that another publicity nightmare is ensuing:

1. Of course, they should reinstate Scoble’s account – maybe a slap on the hand with an explanation for the rule if you still can’t allow that practice, but Scoble’s account should have never been disabled in the first place!
2. Whitelist Scoble, and any other A-list blogger from all your disable scripts! – Do this now! Scoble is not the first, and I guarantee won’t be the last if you keep doing this!
3. Work with Plaxo on an acceptable solution to the problem Scoble is trying to address – this could be an excellent opportunity to calm the waters, work with the two parties, and solve an issue of one of your biggest users and supporters
4. Disable the 5,000 limit for all those whitelisted above – Twitter has exceptions to their API and request limits, why can’t Facebook? All those generating serious traffic to Facebook should be treated as royalty IMO. Scoble deserves much better treatment.

What I think will come of all of this is I think something will finally be done to address some of the biggest issues facing Facebook today. I think finally some sort of Export method will be allowed for contacts (with privacy limits, I’m sure!). I also think the 5,000 friend limit will finally be lifted for Scoble, and the traffic on his site will more than double over today and as the situation unfolds.

I’ve been playing with a new site lately that will be doing some integration with Twitter (more about that later). I realized the other day that several people that were following me, but I wasn’t following, weren’t being added to my friends list with my Twitter auto follow script.

I researched the issue, and realized that while the API calls were being made, and Twitter was responding as though I was now following them, when I would go back to the Twitter UI it would show up as myself not following them still.

For those unaware, there is a Twitter Development Google group that you can subscribe to to discuss Twitter development. The Twitter devs follow this group and openly answer questions about Twitter development. I mentioned my problem there, and after some going back and forth to convince them there was a problem, they responded.

It turns out that Twitter actually has their own Blacklist internally. If you try to follow too many people within a short time you can easily, at least temporarily, get blacklisted from anyone following you, or you following anyone else. This is why my API calls were not working on some individuals – at the API level Twitter acts as though they are being followed, but in the end they aren’t. The Twitter devs said they are working on a better blacklisting system for the future, and will expose the API to that when it becomes available.

So, for those holding out for ability to blacklist spammers on Facebook, it could be coming soon! It also brings comfort that Twitter is also taking measures to combat spam.