blaineFeb 2, 2023

Not going to lie, Twitter killing off free API access hits me in the feels. I remember with great affection the flood of creativity that happened after we opened up the API, and it's heartbreaking to see that unceremoniously strangled.

I'm relieved that we've got better alternatives, though. While this is perhaps the final straw for many bots on Twitter, it's been a long time coming and the API has long been hobbled compared to the early days. Open protocols or bust. ✊

Show threadblaineFeb 2, 2023
Meanwhile, has anyone built a Twitter API compatibility shim for Mastodon? 🤔
Show threadBoris MannFeb 2, 2023
@blaine I’m wondering most about Twitter logins. But since that does the login on the Twitter site, they wouldn’t be turning THAT off?
Show threadblaineFeb 2, 2023

@bmann I assume they're not going to be charging for *logins*. That'd be really dumb and I would laugh at their incompetence. 😂 Restricting access to eg the post API (or even any API access, eg for reader apps) makes marginally more sense.

My thought here is more: switch the "twitter.com" const to "birdbrainsformastodons.com" and all the old bots (and maybe even client apps) just work again?

Show threadRobin Berjon
@blaine @bmann I don't think that we are safe assuming anything resembling coherent thinking, lack of incompetence, or not being really dumb over there. I mean, there's precedent…
Feb 2, 2023 at 4:37pmElk
Show threadblaineFeb 2, 2023
@robin @bmann extremely fair. I look forward to having a good chuckle. 😂