I don’t use Twitter much — mostly I’m on it because I was urged by my online advisors to “establish my platform” on social media, so when I blog about my writing project I also tweet it. (More specifically, my blog is set up to autotweet new entries, something Twitter is theoretically cool with).
Twice in less than a year my account has been hacked and some asshole spewed the tweetysphere with spam, or poisoned birdseed or something of that ilk.
Initial password: something on the order of “9raven1”
Password after 1st time: more like this: “Gb9#hochoLa!5”
Password after day before yesterday: akin to: “Damm1t my p@sswor∂ is Gb9#hochoLa!5 @nd you can go fuck yourself”
That’s not what I’m ranting about. This shit happens. Twitter locks down my account until I verify my identity and change my password, which is entirely reasonable and I’m glad they don’t just let the damn spammer keep spitting crap out from my account. No, it’s their reset process…
——— STEP ONE —————————————————————————————————
https://twitter.com/account/begin_password_reset
Password Reset
Find your Twitter Account. Enter your email, phone number, or username. (I do, I click Search, it finds my account)
——— STEP TWO —————————————————————————————————
How do you want to reset your password? We found the following information associated with your account.
[•] Email a link to ah******@e*****.***
It is indeed my correct email address, so I do that. No email, however, is forthcoming. Not in inbox, not in spammy box, not in Trash can, not trapped in Suspect Email on the email provider’s server. Retry, same result. Wait. Retry, same result.
——— STEP THREE —————————————————————————————————
They have a link to debug their process. “Don’t panic, we can help”, they promise.
Does the form recognize your email address?
[•] Yes, it says it sent me an email at that address
Please check your spam filters, blah blah…
[•] I checked; there was no email
Please provide more information…
Where are you experiencing this issue? My desktop web browser
Your email? This is the email we’ll use to contact you. Enter your current address
(OK, that’s cool, I think…)
——— STEP FOUR —————————————————————————————————
I receive the email sent to my other email address. I open it and it says:
Thanks for writing in. Twitter believes that your account @****** may be compromised by a user or a service not associated with Twitter. To secure your account and continue safely using Twitter, please follow these instructions:
Use this link to change your password:
https://twitter.com/account/begin_password_reset
——— STEP ONE, aka YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME ————————————————
Password Reset
Find your Twitter Account. Enter your email, phone number, or username…