discuss Let @x be a cautionary tale

[Nick]

This is exactly why businesses shouldn't be run solely on social media handles. A domain name should be the FIRST destination for customers.

 

[Jv1999]

Exqueeze me?

What do you think I do for a living? You think food magically falls onto my table?

I got a letter from my HOA that my deck is in bad shape and they are going to fine me if it is not fixed. Now, when I bought my place, I was told that the deck is part of the outside fixtures that the community maintains. Well, gee, they changed that on me somewhere along the line.

So, I've been calling around trying to get someone out here in the middle of the g-d-mmed summer to see if I can get my deck fixed and NOT ONE of them cares about the great injustice done to me. They just want to get paid to fix my deck. I had a guy quote me $3000 a while back, I agreed, and he's been a no-show ever since.

Well, s--t, I guess he found something that pays better than solving my problem.

I have NEVER had an auto mechanic, plumber, or any other service provider do a thing for me because, gosh, I deserved to have it done for me. Every damn one of them wants to make sure they get paid first. It was really unfair that my car broke down when it did, or my pipes burst, or whatever.

Back in 1989, I was sitting out on the side of a snow-covered road in the middle of the night in Indiana with an engine that quit on me. I'd finished by doctoral work and was on my way to my first job clean across the country from Delaware to Utah in a 1972 VW bus that gave out in Indiana. I was alone in the cold in the middle of the night. My first son was born two weeks earlier, my wife was recovering from the C-section, I had maybe $500 to my name, and my first paycheck after years of graduate school was another three weeks away, but I needed to get to that job. Tow truck showed up and the guy wanted CASH before he'd back it up to my front end. Can you imagine? If I didn't have money, he'd have left me out there to freeze.

Hell, I was wheeled into an ER with a heart attack five years ago and the first thing THEY wanted to know how they were going to get paid.

I'm supposed to be up in arms about this guy losing his Twitter handle, and give two s--ts of my time so that HE can get paid?

YOU said you'd "even contribute money to this guys case" - that's how the subject of money came up.

I don't know what you do for a living but how about this. Quit doing whatever it is you do, go around helping other people make money for free, and let me know how that works out for you.

This is the United States of America. If I want to give away services for free - like Twitter does - then I can make any danged rules I want. Any business has the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason or no reason at all - provided it is not among a short list of prohibited reasons (i.e. public accommodations based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, advanced age, or disability). If I don't want to do business with you because your name is "Kevin" and I don't like people named "Kevin", then I'm free to do that. Maybe next week, I won't do business with anyone named "Bryan" and I can do that too.

If I don't like your attitude, I can kick you out of my bar, my shop, my club or whatever else I'm running that you're using. If walk into my restaurant and I want to use your table for something else, I'll re-seat you somewhere else or you can leave. It's my restaurant and I'll run it my way.

I mean, can you imagine?

How about if I give everyone a free picnic out on my deck every Saturday, if I ever find someone I can afford who feels like actually showing up to fix it. Now, one of my deck chairs rocks and the rest of them just stay in one position, so that chair is more comfortable than the others. Every weekend you show up and you sit in that chair that I provide you for free. One weekend, I decide, you know what, I'd like to sit in that chair instead. You get all worked up at me and say you're going to sue me because I'm not going to let you use the chair that I provide you, for free, on my damned deck? GTFO of here.

I've done a lot of work for people who couldn't pay, and quite a bit for people who didn't pay. But nobody is entitled to freebies - including their Twitter handles.

Oh, yeah, I forgot, one thing you ARE entitled to get for free in the US is a lawyer if you are criminally charged and can't afford one. You can't get a doctor, a plumber, an optometrist, or a chicken dinner for free, but you can get a lawyer.

Anyone who wants to pitch in to get my deck fixed, please DM.

LOL. He's basically saying to Keith that the case is not at all interesting to him that he'd give free legal advice on nP that @x3252525254245322930 user could potentially see and then utilize.

Atty Hill is usually top notch and very generous on nP and he's known to help out and give advice when the passion is there -- Epik, Lambo case. Etc.

For this one, the legal matter is really very easy that saying something would be enough Mr. Hwang to take action and easily win or... it's really difficult and painstaking and Atty. Hill just couldn't give af.

Imho, there is some fudge language in the contract where they promised not to take twitter handles sans good faith -- that's enough for a lawsuit, imho. Breach of contract, gg.

Problem is, Mr. Hwang had breached the contract himself by attempting to sell the handle... unless he can hide that evidence/delete it now. Then suddenly everone saying he tried to sell it = rumors w/o actual proof.

Unless he was dumb enough to tweet an ad for the sale of @x... then his case gets harder.

But there's a difference between "attempting to sell" a handle and selling a handle. I'm not sure attempting to sell = violation. So there's the fudge room there.

Either way, if it's prohibited to sell a handle, then exactly what kind of cash value does a handle provide that a judge/jury could find a fair market value of? Yet another factor.

Either way, he should lawyer up, but it sounds like he's dumb and won't because it sounds like he simply moved on.

Most people don't think of getting a lawyer. Because they don't see legal issues.

 

[MadAboutDomains]

I’m not sure what you are trying to say there. In the US, you must continue to use the mark in order to maintain rights in the mark. While there is what is called “excusable non-use” such as a pause in use with an intent to continue use in the future, what we have here is an intentional abandonment of the mark.

If someone stops using a mark and it is not clear if they intend to resume use, the mark will be presumed abandoned after three years of non-use. But again, here we have an intentional, announced abandonment of the mark.

The example I’ve used countless times on this forum is a dog license. Your dog license might say it is valid for five years. But if your dog dies in three years, no, you do not have a valid dog license after that.

That is fair, but they may continue to use the name even in a limited capacity. It's not abandoned until it's abandoned.

 

[Jv1999]

Wouldn't *that* set a precedent, given that twitter's terms forbid selling and buying handles?
"Attempts to sell, buy, or solicit other forms of payment in exchange for usernames are also violations and may result in permanent account suspension."
Imagine Elon attempting to buy @x and getting his account suspended.

Anyway, I think @x would have had a better chance at retaining his name and/or getting some reasonable compensation if he was actually using it. From what was said, the account was set to private and he only waited for offers. While it might not be a bad thing by itself, it made it awfully easy for twitter/X to reappropriate it.

no, it's different.

If the company was going to take it, either way, then it's akin to "adverse possession" / "eminent domain"

If you have no choice but to forfeit your handle, it's no longer a "sale" but rather an adversarial action that needs fair compensation.

Look up eminent domain lol. And how it's a legal thing to compensate fairly when the gov takes your shit.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

I agree it sucks to have a @handle seized, but it was expected.
On the flip side, everything related to this X.com rebrand has increased value of dotCom domains this week.

1. X.com has the entire world talking about dotCom.
2. Brands should be rethinking their prioritization of their own dotCom.
3.Brands may start to wean themselves off their dependency to third party platforms.

Some claim owner of @ X was offering the handle for $1M and as much as I hate to see the handle seized, it was in violation of Twitter TOS. They can check your DMs and history anytime they please, private or not.

Sure, people have been selling Twitter handles for years, even employees were taking money under the table during the prior regime in violation.

Elon will make a lot of money next year when they start dropping unused handles and auction them to brands and the public.

If you are a brand, the time to focus on your own domain development is now.

@o was sold to overstock I believe

 

[HotKey]

Site owner can't take over account from user without permission. Because site owner is not the owner of user accounts. That's similar to bank accounts. Bank owner can't take over a bank account of his clients even if the bank account has zero balance. As a finance expert I am sure on this. Bank owner can disable usage of a bank account only if clients breach some rules. Bank account is highly relevant example to understand what's user accounts at user generated content websites.

How do you equate a private bank account number to a public social media username?

 

[marijuanadomain]

Never use twitter or other social media...waste of time and gets suck into it

Twitter or whatever sh**&it is called will be gone ..like aol , myspace or others...
You keep changing the rules and making it harder to use...people will just go away.

 

[poweredbyme]

How do you equate a private bank account number to a public social media username?

bank account numbers are public. You couldn't receive and send funds if bank account numbers were private.

 

[Nick]

Never use twitter or other social media...waste of time and gets suck into it

Twitter or whatever sh**&it is called will be gone ..like aol , myspace or others...
You keep changing the rules and making it harder to use...people will just go away.

I’ll agree with your point about getting sucked into it, but Twitter is a great platform for news you’re not going to find on media outlets with specific agendas.

 

[HotKey]

bank account numbers are public. You couldn't receive and send funds if bank account numbers were private.

Oh ok my bad. I'll have to have a little chat with my bank.

 

[Maggie Mae]

Wouldn't *that* set a precedent, given that twitter's terms forbid selling and buying handles?
"Attempts to sell, buy, or solicit other forms of payment in exchange for usernames are also violations and may result in permanent account suspension."
Imagine Elon attempting to buy @x and getting his account suspended.

Anyway, I think @x would have had a better chance at retaining his name and/or getting some reasonable compensation if he was actually using it. From what was said, the account was set to private and he only waited for offers. While it might not be a bad thing by itself, it made it awfully easy for twitter/X to reappropriate it.

Thank you, you shared some info I was unaware of

 

[poweredbyme]

Oh ok my bad. I'll have to have a little chat with my bank.

Credit and debit card numbers are also public. You may want to include those when you have chat

 

[HotKey]

Dang. Just had a chat with them, they told me they are taking over my bank account number AND renaming their bank after it.

 

[pb]

Credit and debit card numbers are also public. You may want to include those when you have chat

There's even a public list of all cc PIN numbers.

 

[poweredbyme]

There's even a public list of all cc PIN numbers.

LoL I didn't know

 

[poweredbyme]

Dang. Just had a chat with them, they told me they are taking over my bank account number AND renaming their bank after it.

You would be unable to make payments if those numbers were private. Senders and receivers know their numbers. Phone numbers are public for similar reason. Private property part is protected by password. The rest has to be public in order to be functional.

 

[HotKey]

You would be unable to make payments if those numbers were private. Senders and receivers know their numbers. Phone numbers are public for similar reason. Private property part is protected by password. The rest has to be public in order to be functional.

Oh you were one of the lucky ones, got bank account books delivered to your house alongside phone books back in the day.

 

[marijuanadomain]

I’ll agree with your point about getting sucked into it, but Twitter is a great platform for news you’re not going to find on media outlets with specific agendas.

when he twited about lebron's kid and it was because of the vaccine.....it losses credibilty and he is using his own platform for his own agend, so what good is that?
There are no checks and balances on twitter anymore.

what happens if the Saudis buys twitter ?

 

[poweredbyme]

Oh you were one of the lucky ones, got bank account books delivered to your house alongside phone books back in the day.

what's the definition of "private" in your book?

 

[HotKey]

what's the definition of "private" in your book?

Can't tell you, it's confidential.

 

[pb]

Can't tell you, it's confidential.

The lost art of keeping a secret

 

[poweredbyme]

Can't tell you, it's confidential.

but you tell me your bank account number when you want me to pay you. You tell me your phone number when you want me to call you. You tell me your email address when you want an email from me. You also know my bank account number when you receive payment from me, my phone number when I call you, my email address when I send you the email you want from me. All of those are public. As your phone provider can't take over your phone number from you, websites can't take over your username. Username, bank account number, email address, domain name of a website, phone number, card number, full address of building/house/office, are public "integral part" of property which complete property, hence can not be separated from property. Username is an integral part.

 

[Nick]

when he twited about lebron's kid and it was because of the vaccine.....it losses credibilty and he is using his own platform for his own agend, so what good is that?
There are no checks and balances on twitter anymore.

what happens if the Saudis buys twitter ?

I’m just assuming “he” is Elon.

Not sure where you’re from, but here in the US we have a 1st Amendment protected right to free speech.

So, your issue is with him having an opinion and speaking his mind. And what you’re asking for with “checks and balances” is censorship.

Yeah, stick to Meta platforms buddy.

 

[jberryhill]

For this one, the legal matter is really very easy that saying something would be enough Mr. Hwang to take action and easily win or... it's really difficult and painstaking and Atty. Hill just couldn't give af.

Actually, I thought I was pretty clear. He has no claim, and I’m not going down the rabbit hole of crazy things people believe about it.

If you listen, very carefully, that deafening silence you hear is the non-existent stampede of lawyers trying to represent this guy on contingency, to reap millions of dollars in non-existent money.

But, I certainly respect anyone’s right to believe nonsense.

Incidentally, my name isn’t “Hill.”

We now return you to bad analogy theater…

 

[MadAboutDomains]

I’ll agree with your point about getting sucked into it, but Twitter is a great platform for news you’re not going to find on media outlets with specific agendas.

Imagine thinking that about it a year ago haha. How things have changed. Thank God it was taken over from the previous incumbent left leaning nut jobs.

I no longer receive a daily dose in my email inbox about the LGB issues of the day from Twitter or telling me to vote for another party.

 

[silentg]

Have you seen the slogan on the Apple Appstore for X?