“Feature Darkmode” is Twitter’s term for turning off or hiding features on the Twitter website and/or on the API (which affects Twitter apps, meaning programs such as TweetDeck, HootSuite, etc).
Why would Twitter turn things off?
Some of the main reasons are:
- When Twitter is running slow, turning a few things off can keep the main part of the service running faster.
- When engineers are troubleshooting problems, it can help isolate issues, and let the engineers work on parts of the interface without impacting the entire service.
- When engineers are adding new features, it can give them more control to stabilize and test the system as the feature is rolled out.
So basically, this is an (admittedly annoying for users) method Twitter uses to keep things running.
What can be turned off?
Whether to stabilize the service, for testing, or to help engineers control the service when adding or fixing features, Twitter has 90+ features that can be disabled temporarily (known as feature “darkmode”). Twitter can also leave a feature turned on, but not display that feature.
A feature that is commonly limited are some kinds of advanced searches or viewing additional search pages. But Twitter can turn off or hide almost anything you can think of, including:
- Preventing usernames and hashtags from being shown as links.
- Hiding interface buttons and links, such as the retweet or delete icons.
- Hiding the “Update your profile pic” settings.
- Turning off the ability to edit Twitter Lists.
Etc., etc.
When is a Feature “Off” vs. “Broken?”
First check to see if the issue is noted on @Support. But you can’t always tell. And that’s very frustrating, particularly since Twitter would like you to report problems so they can fix them. They often rely on information from users to know when things are broken. However, there are a number of places you can check, and things you can do when you encounter a Twitter problem. The best place to start is this article on how to troubleshoot Twitter problems.
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Why are some users impossible to block? Every time I try to block annoying tweeters who like to harrass me, I get a message saying “Cannot be blocked at this time, try later”. I try many times to block but keep getting same message for the same users. Please help and please respond to my email acct. Thanks in advance.
i appreciate your info. good stuff. question for ya–any idea why my direct messages number (actual= 900 or so) keeps going back and forth betweetn 19 and 20? once in a LONG while, it returns to the actual number. that lasts for a day or two then back to 19/20. thanks for any help you can offer!
It’s one of Twitter’s longest running known issues. My DM count, for example, hasn’t been correct in years. It seems they need new infrastructure to fix that completely, and it isn’t enough of a problem for most folks for Twitter to implement a workaround that makes it work for most people.
Thank you Dave:
Link broken at present but tweeted to @support. Hopefully that will work.
DD
Nope. You need to use the link. The full URL is http://support.twitter.com/forms/general …which should be working again.
I would like to know if it would be possible for New Twitter to incorporate the one feature of Old Twitter that I love & use. Under followers/following, you can see what list each tweep is on in your lists?
I would also like to know why tweeps keep getting moved around from list to list without my input?
Thank you so much,
DD
Great idea! You should propose it to Twitter via http://bit.ly/TWICKET
Hi,
Why my twitter profile are blocked for your´s ?
Thanks
@mateus_iveteiro
They’re not.
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