Been some drama on the old twitter machine lately.  People fighting, arguing, unfollowing, blocking, and being called the “Wrong Crowd”.   When I decided to come back to twitter I made My Twitter Ten Commandments that I’ve been trying to follow.  Sure I stray from them like anyone, but I always come back to them during times of strife on the net.

1. Thou Shalt Not Retweet Compliments

Don’t do this.  All your friends will DM behind your back saying “what an arrogant asshole.” or “we get it someone liked Southbound”.  But I’ve yet to meet anyone who likes when a public handicapper RT’s people telling them nice pick.

2.  Thou Shalt Not Tell Others who to follow or not follow

It’s nobody’s business who you follow other than yours.  If you like someone who everyone else thinks is an asshole, so what.  You find something interesting about them.  If I hate seeing someone pop up in my timeline cause my friend is talking to them, just block the person I don’t want to see.  But don’t ever let someone tell me what I should have on my timeline.  Ever.

3.  Thou Shalt Not Get Mad When Someone Unfollows

I used to use one of those Unfollow tracker services and all it did was bum me out.  Then I realized, it shouldn’t.  That doesn’t mean they hate me.  It means they didn’t want to read my stuff at that point in their life.  And that’s just fine.  So followers, please come and go as you wish.  I have times when I have to take a break from people who I genuinely like, but they are tweeting about annoying shit.

4.  Thou Shalt Not ask “Follow me so I can DM you”

My email address is on my website in the contact section.  And if you don’t want to look there it’s jballscalls@aol.com   I’m just not a big fan of this move cause then when I unfollow a couple hours later you’re going to think I’m a dick.  Which I probably am.  So don’t make me have to do that.

5.  Thou Shalt Not Say “THIS” and nothing else when posting a RT

I just don’t like it so I don’t do it.  You can keep doing it but just know I hate you a tiny bit when you do.

6.  Thou Shalt Not Answer Jokes

I still do this and it’s the hardest one for me on the list.  When someone says something funny I should just laugh, tell them it’s funny, fave it, RT it or just nod my head in approval.  Not try to add to it and make it about me.  I hate when people do it to my jokes so why do I step on theirs?

7.  Thou Shalt Not Say “I/We gave out that trifecta”

No you didn’t.  You picked 4 horses and 3 of them hit the board.  You didn’t give out shit unless you specifically said box the 4 horses in the trifecta for $24.  Also…..nobody is gonna box your 4 horses in a tri box.

8.  Thou Shalt Not try to take away anyone’s livelihood

This one really pisses me off.  Because I don’t like someone on twitter doesn’t mean I should @ mention their company and say they’re bad just cause I don’t like them.  That person is trying to eat and feed their family and make a living.  Never do that.

9.  Thou Shalt Not Out anyone

If someone has their account on private or posts under a pseudonym, they must be wanting the privacy for a reason.  So I shall let them have that.  And if they are rude or mean or whatever, I shall simply unfollow them and move on.

10.  Thou Shalt Not insult people whose politics are different than me

Seriously, nobody likes political twitter person.  But if I’m gonna make political posts I should never put someone else down or insult them cause they don’t agree with me.  We all have different pasts that have led us to our present.