When retweeting and then replying to a tweet at the same time, where should one write their response? Before or after the RT? This is an age-old debate that has raged for some time. In fact it has not even raged, it’s been completely ignored. People are doing their own thing. They’ve turned this into a digital jungle, a lawless outback. Well, that must stop.
I believe that we need a standardised approach. I’m tired of not knowing where to read. Some people enclose their responses with brackets, others with stars and bullets points, all these people do this after the RT. I don’t like it. Not one bit.
Since no one is willing to go balls to the wall and say what should be done, I’ll do it. No, I’m not asking, I’m saying this is how it should be done. They lied to you and said there is democracy on the internet. It’s a dictatorship. Do you think Google, Apple and Facebook ask you first what they should do first? No! They just do whatever the hell they want. Steve Jobs never asked if we wanted copy and paste and forwarding on the original iPhone. He just did it. Like Nike. Then when Facebook wants to make changes they just make them. Welcome to Khaya the dic(k)tatorship people! In fact, just a few days ago Apple made Ellen apologise for making a spoof ad about the iPhone.
I must admit that I am not prone to dictator tendencies, which explains why I am not yet a billionaire. I am in the process of developing and enhancing this skill. As a learner dictator I went on Twitter and asked the following question: “What should a standardised reply to an RT be? Before or after the RT?”
The responses were an overwhelming “Before the RT”. Over 75% agreed. I am an advocate of the response before the RT as well. I will now give you my reasons (See? This is why I am not a dictator, I’m busy giving you reasons when I should just tell you what to do).
I will give you an example of the oldest form of electronic correspondence, email. When you respond to email, the response is never below the original email. We all know this. If your friend (provided you have friends) sends you an email correspondence he or she had with someone else, you read from bottom up. I know some smarty-pants, or to paraphrase Julius Malema, some smarty-trousers will say no but that’s different. Well it’s not. And that’s that.
Let me demonstrate a couple of responses I got after asking the question:
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KailzLubelwana Definately b4. Makes more sense when reading … RT @khayadlanga: What should a standardised reply to an RT be? Before or after the RT?
@Sentletse Twitter protocol dictates that it’s before “RT” @khayadlanga: What should a standardised reply to an RT be? Before or after the RT?
Besides, the brackets, the stars and dots waste precious characters. I have spoken.
Now follow me and retweet this article! http://twitter.com/khayadlanga
Hopefully, this comment will then appear above your article.
What the hell is “RT”?
Twitter is so banal.
Khaya you have been using Outlook too long. A decent client puts the reply to an email below the original mail. One long running web design mailing that I receive will excommunicate you if you dare to top post.
Agreed.
Now follow – http://twitter.com/wanoned
Sheesh. very confusing. When I see all of those symbols I just skip and read the next tweet.
Judging from the response or lack thereof, maybe those on twitter do not read you blogs.Could be a concetration span issue.Just saying…
Agreed Khaya, those stars, brackets and bullets get very confuse. And one never knows where to start reading those tweets…That dic(K)tatorship is absolutely necessary.
U know u shouldnt talk about what u dont know.
i see u tryng to think positive about yourself by not writing that you didnt earn that but you just joined somebodys views stream. Of course what else to do for a pathetic man then call that as his own earned views. 
All whitch u have mentioned have tryd best ways and implemented them.
Most iditotic articles you have
And why theres written u have 6.5 milion ego boosting views? Couse they u got not becouse of what u started. U were a funny uneducated mad sociopath clown with no true points to other videos.
jip you’re so right. Responses after an RT are so annoying. You never know who wrote what…
Tjo @elsa19 are you being tjatjarag or being for real right now coz im confused?…Back to the topic-I agree.Done.
There can be no hard and fast rule here, sometimes I want to pre-empt a thought, in which case I want you to see my comment before. Other times I want you to have read the tweet before seeing my comment.
Context is everything.
While we’re on the topic though, nothing irritates me more than using an RT where an @reply would be sufficient. The only reason to do this is to show your network how witty your reply was i.e. lame….!