Twitter Blocking: "Sorry, you can’t follow the user (because they’re blocking you)"

So, if you’ve followed the saga thus far you’ll know who I am referring to when I say "my Twitter Sniper ™" but you might be interested in the damage I have suffered, both physically and emotionally [Tongue firmly in cheek for this one.] as a result of my own irrational outburst. ;-{  

First the fallout.

This local luminary, who will remain partially covered to protect the ignorant, was early to chime in on the TS’s behavior. In what appeared to be a like-minded DM this person also expressed frustration at the TS’s sniping.  BUT…

On Wednesday, this Wednesday, July 15, a mere 14 days later, everything changed.

So I was curious and I tried to go to the newly unsupportive Tweeter. And golly by golly they had blocked me too. So an unfollow and a block seemingly unrelated to any direct activity connecting myself and this person to @omarg, but there it was. [see update at end of post for more info on this]

Okay, so now I’m really curious and I can’t DM this person now, cause they’ve nuked our connection. But let’s see over here… Facebook, yep there they are still a friend of Facebook. So I sent this person a direct message that simply asked, "You unfollowed and blocked me on Twitter today. Did something happen? Just curious." That’s it, the complete message. And I bet you already know the response.

Now this person has "unfriended me" on Facebook as well. OH SNAP, I wonder if they got LinkedIN too. Yep, seems like all ties have been severed between me and this social media leader in Austin. No longer curious now, I’m just disappointed in this person’s response to my question.

Nothing? So you’re going to ignore my question and take more actions, so perhaps I cannot find or message you in the future? Wow, that’s ODD. And a little childish. Who knows perhaps @omarg is on a campaign to destroy me. The @MoneyTweets unfollow I was grateful for. But if I start losing really high-value tweeps, I guess I’m heading in the wrong direction.

But it really is OKAY to unfollow me. I have no bones about you unsubscribing. In fact, here’s a tip, if you are UFM you might as well check all your networks to make sure you get all of our connections. DOH! Looks like I’m a day late on this post cause the TS has found our LinkedIN connection and removed it. Purty sure I saw it yesterday and I almost alerted him to the ISSUE myself, but perhaps the above "social media standout, real estate leader, and corporate social media trainer" hipped him to the problem. Shame on both of them.

I guess our shared connects are going to go down as well. Gosh, I hope he doesn’t start messaging my LinkedIN networks calling for a jihad.

Well, I tell you what. I’m not leavin the Austin Top Guns group. Say/do what you like OmarG, this town is big enough for both of us. The social media global network can contain us both. I’m almost positive of it.

@jmacofearth

permalink: http://bit.ly/sniper-fallout

There’s a whole lot more Twitter stuff on The Twitter Way page.

Update: The TS might have some empire problems of his own to deal with.

But I think the 3-month trending is more telling.

Update 7-21-09: This morning Mr. Omar stops by for a snipe. [See Mr. Omar’s comment from 7-21-09.] But he’s gonna bring the attention back to the flap. Oh well…

So today after Mr. Omar’s drop by, I browsed his blog to learn that he wrote a nasty little post revealing his edited version of the Facebook dialogue between us without revealing the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say. I’d like to quote the entire thing here, but I think I’ll let the curious-types visit Mr. Omar’s "Bloggystyle" page themselves and see what passes for the personal journalism of a professional journalist. I present to you Mr. Omar’s Terribly-Happy blog about Keyboard cat and creepy followers who keep telling him what they think. [Seems he’s got another “friend” who he can’t stand either. I kinda like what the guy says to him.]

I guess when Omar reported me to the Facebook authorities [which he reveals in on his blog] that’s when they shut down my ability to reply to what I thought was a fun and engaging wrestling match. The last word does seem to be quite important to Mr. Omar, so I guess he shut-er-down. But the entire post is still up on Facebook. I’d like to share it as well, in it’s entirety, but I won’t. In fact that’s the "threat" I made to Omar. "I’d rather publish this entire dialogue on the web, rather than continue to deal with your unsubstantiated rants."

And that’s what I did with my initial post regarding Omar’s sniping me. And when he continued to shoot out sparks on a daily basis, not really criticizing but merely poking his blunt wit at me, I took aim with revealing screenshots and what I consider to be my own biased opinion of the situation. So he became my DEAR TWITTER SNIPER poster child. And I guess that makes him furious.

Here’s the back story if you are interested:

The initial post where I tried to point out how Sniping on Twitter was a bad idea over a month ago on June 17. Mr. Omar Gallaga and JMacofearth Flap Their Tweets At Each Other – 6-17-09

The defining post now over two weeks old. Dear Twitter Sniper: Shooting Sparks, Blanks, Hollow Points, Warm Fuzzies, Nerf Darts

Update 7-23-09: So why after all his ranting, using dirty words to describe me, accusing me of online stalking and reporting me to the Facebook authorities does Mr. Omar Gallaga feel it is then worthwhile to continue sniping at me?

I’m like an extracted tooth or something. It’s painful for a while, but you can’t help but keep sticking your tongue in the place where the missing tooth was. So he has nothing better to do, no interesting pieces to write about Mommy Bloggers or the "Yo quiero Taco Bell" dog passing?

Perhaps if the effect is more like poking a fork in an electrical wall outlet he will shut-er-down for good. We’ll see I guess.

Either this is his warped sense of humor or he’s still going for the last word? Whatever the motivation, I’m sure the Statesman editors would think it somewhat unprofessional behavior for a professional writer, well let’s say journalist. Maybe all of this is building towards a NPR All Tech Considered Showdown Show that he has in the works. Nah, probably not. Just warped.

Tags: @omarg, all tech considered, austin american statesman, austin top guns, blocking, comparing notes, dear twitter sniper, jmacofearth, linkedin, npr, oh snap, omar gallaga, twitter empire, twitter lessons, twitter metrics, twitter sniper, twittercounter, unfollow me, unfollowing, unfollowing and blocking