Trick or tweet?

Sunday, 1st August 2010

For anyone who may have been taken in by an impersonator who is pretending that I am now on Twitter, let me make it clear – I am not on Twitter and have never uttered a single Tweet.

Despite the fact that Twitter offers to deal with impersonators, I have now twice followed its procedures to report an impersonation and asked them to block it – but so far, as far as I can see, nothing has happened.

I am underwhelmed.

Previous Back to Melanie Phillips Next

Blogs: Martin Bright | Susan Hill | Alex Massie | Coffee House | Faith Based

Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (5)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

ralph pattison

August 2nd, 2010 2:18am

Dear Melanie,
thanks for that. I was nearly fooled. I was sort of delighted in fact but I thought too highly of you to really believe it.
I actually replied to the impostor asking them to confirm it on your blog. You denied it Thank you.
Andrew Bolt had a fake twitter which fooled me for a long time until I smelled a rat and E mailed him. He denied having a Twitter account.
Why are we so pleased to be in sort of touch? What need does it satisfy? Why are these people doing this? They get bored after a while and have to say something outrageous that you would not say so they can go 'Ha,ha.'

GaryO

August 2nd, 2010 12:26pm

The only way to counter this is to open your own account and start Tweeting.

You can also let us, the legion of your fans, know what you're up to, or not, as the case may be.

Doktorb

August 2nd, 2010 7:31pm

I was "chastised" by your fake Twitter account for writing, tongue in cheek, not to mention Israel. When I was ticked off by "you/her/it", some of my followers suggested "being publically patronised by Melanie Phillips, there's something for the CV".

I am now, somehow, disappointed that it wasn't actually you...!

Walaa Idris

August 2nd, 2010 11:22pm

Thanks for that and I shall block her form my end so she can not follow me. Wish you all the luck with Twitter.

Peter

August 3rd, 2010 1:53pm

Gahhh, I KNEW it. Your impersonator had a somewhat weak attachment to grammar, and got to saying a bunch of really unpleasant things. In fact, a couple of times they referred to a fellow tweeter (is that the correct term?) as 'boy', like a kind of dominatrix. It was really, really strange, and yeah, I guess it became necessary for you to clear things up.

I'm not down with you when it comes to most things, since I'm a Guardian-reading leftist and all that, but I really like you and respect you, Melanie, and yeah, I dunno, maybe you're right about things and I'm the one that's got it wrong. Anyway, don't let the Twitter rubbish get you down, and keep writing. I think, in a certain way, you're needed.

Most read
Most commented on

1 The implications of today's border security report - Frank Monaco (76)

2 The green squeeze - James Forsyth (56)

3 Hague's ‘Cold War’ warning - edited by Graham Storey, Margaret Brown and Kathle (54)

4 Letts for DG - Quentin Letts (36)

5 50p tax rate is raising less than expected - James Forsyth (34)

Melanie Phillips is a Daily Mail columnist. She also writes for the Jewish Chronicle and is a panellist on BBC Radio Four's Moral Maze. Her most recent book is 'The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power', published by Encounter.

For a complete set of Melanie's articles click here