Twitter - Controlling Followers

Keeping Control of My Twitter Followers

Anyone who has a Twitter account will know that other Twitter users often show up in your Notifications feed with a notification informing you that they are Following your account. This is a very useful service provided by Twitter and one which you should make use of to keep control of accounts who Follow you. Twitter has another very useful facility called Block which you can use to block unwanted accounts from having access to your account and timeline. This is all very helpful to keep control of which Followers have access to your account.

One of the biggest issues for many Tweeters is keeping control of Followers made more difficult because you have to scroll through all your Notifications to find out who has Followed you and if you do this at random, occasional intervals it becomes a mammoth task. Thankfully internet technology offers many different opportunities to make life easier. I have tried a number of different methods of automating the control of my own Twitter timeline with varying degrees of success. I am now using a couple of technologies which seem to provide the easiest and most efficient methods to control my Twitter Followers. The methods I use are not fully automatic and may not be suitable or practical for other Twitter users but may be worth considering. Firstly I weed out unwanted Followers daily by using an automatic process to notify me of new Followers then I review each account manually and decide whether to apply the Twitter Block or not. Secondly I use the Twitter Block List to pass on to fellow Tweeters who usually block similar accounts so that they can automatically Block the same accounts as those blocked by me. I will now explain each of the two processes in detail for anyone who wishes to try the same methods.



A) Daily Control of Followers

Controlling Followers daily is the most efficient method I have found as it only takes a few minutes rather than occasionally trying to a marathon blocking session. There are essentially two components to this process, an automated notification component and a manual filtering component. The first component employs a free automated notification system called IFTTT.com sending a notification to your email address, then the second manual component requires you to check your emails and using the emails from IFTTT.com go to the Twitter account which has followed you and review it then decide if you want to block it or not. During the Block process I usually post a Tweet on my Timeline to notify other Followers that I have Blocked the specific account. Finally delete or archive the IFTTT.com email.

The Automated Component

1. Go to ifttt.com and register for a free account
2. Create a Recipe to send an email every time you have a new Follower
• Select the Channels page
• Find the Twitter Channel and register your Twitter account with the Twitter Channel
• Find the native IFTTT Email Channel and register your email address with the Email Channel
• Go to the My Recipes page and click Create a Recipe button
• On the Create a Recipe page click the blue word this 
• Search for and select Twitter (the Channel registered to your Twitter account)
• On the Choose a Trigger page (step 2 of 7) select the New Follower box
• On the Complete Trigger Fields (step 3 of 7) click Create Trigger button
• On the page click the blue word that 
• On the Choose Action Channel page (step 4 of 7) search and select the IFTTT Email Channel (registered to your email account)
• On the Choose an Action page (step 5 of 7) select Send me an email 
• On the Complete Action Fields (step 6 of 7) you can leave the default settings as they are, click on the Create Recipe button.
• You can review your Recipe and make changes if you so wish. If you make changes don't forget to click the Update button at the bottom of the last page of the Recipe 
3. You will now start receiving email notifications each time your Twitter account receives a new Follower

The Manual Component

1. When you check your emails, open the notification emails from ifttt.com
2. Click on the Twitter account link in the email
3. Review the Follower account and decide whether to Block the account
4. Go back to your emails and delete or archive the email you have just processed
5. Repeat the steps above for each notification received from ifttt.com

I personally find that I receive between 5 and 10 emails per day and by dealing with them every day the chore of keeping my timeline and Follower List free of unwanted accounts becomes quite manageable as it only takes a few minutes every day rather than a marathon weekly or monthly session. 

B) Sharing Twitter Block Lists

Twitter now has a facility to export the list of Twitter accounts which you have blocked so that you can share the list with other Twitter users of your choice so that they can import your list into their account to automatically block the same accounts.

I am not going to rewrite the process of exporting and importing Twitter Block Lists so to find out how to go about it take a look at Blocking accounts on Twitter
I usually share my own Blocked List with some of my Twitter Followers by providing them with a link to a shared location in the Cloud on the internet.  Some of my Followers also share their Block List with me therefore we both benefit by quickly blocking mutually unwanted accounts.



C) Conclusion

In conclusion, I am open to suggestions for better or alternative methods of controlling Twitter Followers from other Twitter users. Please leave feedback and or suggestions in the comments below.

An excellent post about one person's journey into their naturist lifestyle...

miyoungndst

I Think I’ve Been a Nudist at Heart All Along, Come to Think of It… (And I Never Realized It ‘til Now)

Hi friends,

Buck here. This morning I woke up real early because I just started thinking about being a nudist. As you guys probably already know, I “officially” came out as a nudist last November just before my 24^th birthday and was raised in a non-nudist family. But come to think of it, I think my love for being naked may actually have roots in the early stages of my life—and I think I’ve been a nudist at heart my entire life, but I never wanted to actually admit it.

While I was thinking about this, I started watching “The Puppy Episode” of Ellen DeGeneres’s 90s sitcom, Ellen, online, when she comes out as a lesbian. Even though I’m not gay, I thought about Ellen talking to her therapist (Oprah Winfrey) after coming out to a fellow lesbian she met, who worked with an old boyfriend of Ellen’s. While talking with her therapist, Ellen talked about times back in high school and junior high when she started having feelings for other women. So then, she and Oprah started discussing how Ellen had these feelings bottled up inside and never acted on them, and Ellen thought if she ignored those impulsions, over time the feeling would go away because she just wanted to live a normal life.

Well thinking about Ellen’s character on the show in this situation, I thought about how I’ve had an impulsion inside for years about not wanting to wear clothes. When I was little, about 5 or so, I used to like to walk or run around the yard naked. Sometimes in our swimming pool at home around the time I was about 10 or 12, I just wanted to take my bathing suit off and swim naked. It wasn’t any sexual tension or anything, I just wanted to feel what it was like to take off my clothes (but I was always afraid to act on it)—and I had no idea what a nudist was at that time. Then I first saw the movie “The Goonies” when I was in 8^th grade, I was 13, and inside Mikey Walsh (Sean Astin)’s home in the movie, there was a small statue of Michelangelo’s David on the living room table, which Chunk (Jeff Cohen), of course, knocked over and broke the genitals off (Mikey’s mom’s “favorite piece”)—I thought about the story of David in the bible about when he refused to wear the fancy battle uniform the king gave him to defeat Goliath, and how the statue depicts him with his sling and stone and him being completely naked, with nothing sexual about it—and I thought again of my obsession for casual non-sexual nudity. Afterwards, I noticed my mom had a big book all about Michelangelo hidden way back in my little brother’s closet, and I started looking at other artwork Michelangelo created which contained casual non-sexual nudity, including the vault of the Sistine Chapel, and the creation of Adam and Eve. One time I think I was 15, and I was up north with my mom for Labor Day weekend—we were at the beach, but I really wanted to get naked, so I went up to the beach house to use the bathroom and just walked around naked—but I was afraid to come outside without a bathing suit on, because I didn’t want to get into trouble.

For the longest time, I tried to forget these situations, and wanted to just move on and live a normal life—I thought something was wrong with me, but I wanted to forget it, thinking something was wrong with me or people would think I was a pervert. True, my sexual hormones did come up in my late teens and for a while I watched a lot of porn after I turned 18, but after a while, it just got old fast. I liked being naked, but the sexual aspect of it just got old fast and I didn’t want to think about porn anymore. And again, I just wanted to be naked just for the freedom of it, but again for the longest time I was afraid to act on it, thinking something was still wrong with me.

Finally, a couple years ago, I noticed the show “Naked and Afraid” browsing through the channel guide on TV—I started watching it, and found it was just a survival show where people are completely naked for 21 days without any standard essentials needed to survive in tough terrains. I came to like it, and actually got naked myself while watching these episodes. But things really took off around that same time because I also happened to be in college and I really needed a job to make some money. I saw this ad for an art model, and the description was about that this was a nude art model position. At first I took the job mainly for the money (or so I wanted to believe at the time), but after a while of doing it, that feeling of liking to be naked just came back and I really didn’t care anymore about people seeing me naked. I ended up doing the modeling gig for the rest of my time attending college—and after a year and a half of doing that, just before I turned 24, I figured this is who I truly am. I like being naked, and I don’t have to hide it anymore. I really am a nudist, and there’s no reason to be scared about taking my clothes off.

So come to think of it, I think I have been a nudist all along. It just took me the longest time to realize it.

Have you ever felt this way? You feel your nudist roots may have spread back way before you decided to become a nudist? I’d like to hear your story too!

Best to all, and stay nude!

Your pal,

Buck

Original post at http://miyoungndst.tumblr.com/post/121507125936/i-think-ive-been-a-nudist-at-heart-all-along

Clothes free Living: Nudefest

Clothes free Living: Nudefest: I promised several people I would write about Nudefest, the UK

Trying to Explain Naturism

To quote one of my followers on Twitter:

"Trying to explain nudism is like trying to describe a flavor,

it can be difficult if one hasn't experienced it."

I'm sure I don't need to explain to naturists what naturism is so I will try to put across my views on naturism for an audience who haven't experienced it. In a nutshell naturism is the earliest fashion known to man. Naturism is simply the fashion of wearing no additional outer body covering but rather being as free of garments as the moment we were born.

Why am I a naturist, well quite simply, to me it feels unnatural and uncomfortable to smoother the body with man-made apparel. We are all born naked and as young children we enjoy being without clothes because we are happy & contented with our bodies and we don't have any prejudices. As we grow up to become adults we have to be taught to be ashamed of our bodies and we become conditioned to believe that nudity is wrong and offensive. We fall into the mainstream thinking that nudity is synonymous with sex so we end up believing that naturism is sordid and wrong. Unfortunately most people do not question this idea not do they research into naturism to do find out for themselves what it is all about. People probably don't try to find out about naturism for fear of being ostracized by friends and family for dabbling in such a weird activity.

I believe that the human body is a miracle of Creation and no part is offensive or disgusting. Society often describe naked people as offensive or disgusting because that is the way they have been conditioned to think. If they are questioned and asked to explain what exactly is offensive or disgusting about nudity itself, they cannot come up with any sensible and logical explanation. They will often say, "It just is," but they can't explain why. The entire body is made up of skin, flesh and bone formed into different shaped components so how can one body part be offensive while others aren't? The only difference between different body parts is the shape, so is it the shape that is offensive? These are the short of questions that society cannot answer logically when asked to explain what is so offensive about a naked person. When a sensible discussion does take place about the offensiveness of nudity it usually transpires that the offence results from the unsavory thoughts conjured up in the mind of the person claiming to be offended by the naked body. The offence is created in the mind of the beholder not by the nakedness of the person. I once heard a woman arguing about how offensive the male penis is only to be asked, "If a penis is so offensive why do so many women put them into their mouths?" Needless to say that the conversation ended soon afterwards.

I first regained the appreciation of being naked when I was about 10 years old and as the years have passed I have found more and more opportunities to be naked in my daily life and I am always open and honest with people about my preference to be clothes free. I have found that in most cases people are not bothered about my lifestyle preferences. Some are more curious and ask a variety of questions about the clothes free lifestyle and social nudity. All my family, friends, neighbors and work colleagues know that I prefer to be naked whenever possible and they accept that it is my personal choice. In the same way that they respect my way of life, I also respect theirs so I would not be naked while in the company of someone who would be embarrassed or uncomfortable with nudity. I certainly haven't found that being a naturist has had any adverse effect on my friendships. I have found that most people are not concerned about nudity providing it is not "in your face" and does not involve sexual activity.

I am most comfortable and relaxed when free of clothing and the ambient temperature is not uncomfortably low. To me being naked is sensible, healthy and natural so that is my preferred state, dressing only when necessary to comply with the pressures of society or to combat uncomfortably cold temperatures.

God creates new born naturists every day,

Sinners create clothes to hide God's creations.

Naturists - The Next Generation

In a recent discussion on Twitter with a 21 year old mother of 2 from the USA it became clear that she & her husband have very sensible views on bringing up their children to accept nudity and their bodies as they are.  As a grandfather myself, I totally respect and admire these parents for their sensible decision to raise their children without the common hangups or prejudices about themselves.

One of the things she said during the conversation was, "Being a child is hard enough without being made ashamed of who you are." That statement hit me like a steel bolt because my attempt at parenthood flashed before my eyes and I realized that I had been guilty of having misguided my own kids. This wonderful mother then went on to say, "People are so worried about sexuality that they don't understand stripping away the mystery takes away the allure." Another statement which is so obvious that most people are not aware of its benefits. The young woman went on to say that most of the parents she knows in the 18 to 30 age bracket have similar open-minded views.

As the discussions continued it became obvious that the children of these two parents are so privileged to have a balanced and open-minded upbringing where they are taught the values of life and the beauty of the human body.

At the end of our brief conversation on Twitter, I was filled with admiration, respect, elation and hope for future generations because it appears that some of the current generation of parents are bringing up their children with a correct and balanced moral view of nudity and the natural naked body.

As far as I am aware, these parents I am referring to live in a country with a very outdated and narrow-minded outlook on nudity yet they have succeeded in sifting through all the old puritanical taboos to give their offspring a balanced understanding of themselves as human beings and of life itself. Let these parents be examples to young parents in other parts of the world that there is nothing offensive about the human body except the sordid thoughts invading peoples' minds at the sight of that nude body.

I leave you with another striking quote from this amazing mother:

It's sad how so many kids are taught insecurities because of someone else's comfort

* * * * * *

Nobody or Somebody Freedom

“I am not a naturist, a nudist, a streaker, nor an exhibitionist. Labels are for clothes. My unclothed appearance is also not motivated sexually nor out of any gratuitous need to seek attention. I believe that while society continues to have a fundamentally negative relationship with the human body and appearance, we can never be a free or mature society. It’s the 21st century. Time to evolve.”

Russell Higgs


------o0o------

Recently there has been an upsurge in body awareness and a drive towards body acceptance in the press, in advertising, on television and in the movies.  The trend  seems to be towards getting society to escape the shackles of the destructive and depressing negative notions associated with the appearance of our bodies.

Over the centuries societies have  developed the use of clothing as a mask to disguise the perceived imperfections of the human form and as a prop for the deficiencies of personality and character.  Clothing was originally designed to protect people from the heat and the cold, to stop themselves from getting burned or frozen.  Clothing was also used as an adornment to enhance attractiveness and for ritual and ceremonial reasons.  As the centuries passed people began to culturally depend on clothing.  Clothing has now become an outer layer which hides the perceived physical, emotional and cultural imperfections of the wearer.  People feel that by hiding behind clothing they can cover themselves and protect themselves from exposing these imperfections to the society around them.  It is usually people with low self-esteem who most feel the desperate need to hide behind this artificial outer shield.

The fashion industry along with the fashion media in their quest for financial gains, have promoted the idea that clothing is essential to the very existence of the human race.  Tragically most people think that clothing is on of the necessities of life rather than a practical auxiliary.  When people hide behind clothing they close down their body’s natural energy and nervous system along with the skin’s ability to breathe and function efficiently.  Suppressed body systems become rigid and inflexible which reflects in the rigid and inflexible attitudes in society.

Human beings are all born without clothes, covered only by skin.  Young children don’t care about clothes and are usually far happier, more comfortable and more contented without clothes.  As they grow older and begin to learn from those around them, they are taught to be ashamed of their bodies. Sadly it becomes instilled in them that their body without clothes is something to feel shame about showing in the company of others.  We are all born with natural body acceptance, then we are taught to be ashamed by those around us and especially by our very own family.  It is the parents own fears and prejudices that are taught and passed down to their children and it is that learnt behavior that the children exhibit for the rest of their lives.

As we grow older and become more exposed to the barrage of media propaganda about the necessity to cover ourselves because we are conditioned to believe that our bodies are so shameful and imperfect that they should not be visible to anyone else.  We mature into adults with such prude, distorted and prejudiced ideas about body image that we are unable to accept our own bodies for the natural wonders that they are.  Adults have grown up believing that their bodies are so sinful, offensive, repugnant and unclean that they should always be covered and hidden behind an outer shield of clothing and never be exposed to anyone else except during sexual encounters with partners.  

It is these prejudiced notions that are largely responsible for society’s inability to understand that nudity and sex are two totally separate things that at times do co-exist but are not in any way codependent.  It is quite possible to have sex without being naked similarly it is just as possible to be naked without having sex.  It has taken many centuries of erroneous teaching for society to be indoctrinated with the distorted and prejudiced ideas it has today.  It will take many more centuries to rectify the situation so that the human body can be appreciated for what it is and non-sexual nudity can be accepted as a natural dresscode choice.

Each one of us can begin our own individual revolution to open our minds so that we can recondition ourselves to appreciate the natural beauty of the human body despite its imperfections, blemishes and irregularities.  Is there truly anything immoral about showing our bodies when each of us has one and already knows what is under the clothes? What exactly is so shameful and evil about our bodies?  Many people have a mental block against the naked body stating that nudity is immoral and evil basing their argument on the fact that the majority of society has the same idea therefore it must be wrong. 
The only reason that the majority of people believe that nudity must be wrong is because that is the the way their minds were indoctrinated by their superiors and peers as they were growing up.  There is also the argument that nobody wants to see a wizened old person with no clothes on.  By the same argument are we then going to ban anyone who is perceived to be too ugly from appearing in public simply because the majority don’t want to see them?  My response to this argument is, “If you don’t like what you see then turn away and look elsewhere.  When looking at TV and you don't like what you see you turn away to a different channel, so why not do the same if you don’t want to see a naked body.”

For those who believe that nudity is bad and evil ask yourself this, “What is it exactly that is so bad about the human body that makes me believe that it should always be covered?”  Think carefully before you answer and don’t fall into the trap of blurting out the common cliches such as “immoral”, “evil”, “corrupt”, or “weird”, because that is just following the flock and not really thinking seriously about your answer.  

• Morality is defined as ‘conformity to the rules of right conduct’  The right conduct for humans is to be naturally naked because that is the way we are born.  The notion that we have to hide our bodies behind an extra outer mask stems from the way humans have been conditioned to think by religion and modern society.  Immorality lies in not respecting your own body or the bodies of others.
• Evil is defined as  ‘Profound immorality’  This is the same as immorality but carrying a greater emphasis so the explanation above applies here too.
• Corrupt is defined as  ‘Cause to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain’  Being naked is being true and natural, there is nothing dishonest about it.  In reality hiding the body under a mask of clothing is being dishonest and secretive.
• Weird is defined as  ‘fantastic; bizarre’  The human body is perfectly natural and certainly not bizarre nor is it odd or grotesque.  Humans make their bodies odd or bizarre by draping the body with foreign coverings and decorations.

For those who argue that the naked body is offensive, can they explain which parts are offensive and why or do they see the entire body as offensive?  Why are some body parts offensive yet others are not?  What is it that makes some parts offensive?  In almost all surveys where questions similar to these are raised the most common regions of the body that are reportedly offensive are the genitals and the breasts.  Both these areas of the body are made up of flesh, muscle, nerves, blood vessels and skin just the same as any other part of the body.  The only difference is the shape and colour of certain regions of these so called offensive parts, so are the shapes offensive or are is it the colours that are offensive?  No, it is our mental attitude towards the genitals and breasts. It is because we were indoctrinated from an early age into believing that sex is dirty and that these parts of the body are to be shamefully kept hidden from view.  In reality sex in its original and purest form is exquisitely beautiful and is the very mechanism that creates another human being.  Sex has become perverted and sordid because it has been misused and abused to the point where at times it has become dirty and perverted but that is not the case with the majority of good honest people.  For most people sex is pure and wholesome so the question remains, why should the sexual instruments be considered dirty and offensive?  The most common reason for this seems to be that religion has been the main instigator of the idea based on the Adam and Eve story describing the perils of partaking of the forbidden fruit.  The truth is that breasts and genitals are equally as clean and healthy as any other part of the human body therefore they should be treated with the same degree of acceptance as is afforded to any other part of the body.

People are not afraid to expose their arms, legs, face and torso they should be equally confident to expose any other part of their body because, as discussed, the entire body is composed of equally created components which are all equally clean and healthy.  It is only the conditioning we have been subjected to from birth that discriminates between the different body components.

Once we free our minds from the oppressive conditioning imposed upon us over the years we can begin to appreciate ourselves and our bodies in a whole new refreshing and enlightened way.  We can begin to enjoy life with a more enlightened outlook and enjoy body freedom as never before.  Once liberated from the perceptions of shame and guilt we begin to appreciate ourselves and our bodies as wholesome, vital entities that are free to embrace the fullness of life itself.

I leave you with this thought...

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

Marilyn Monroe

Natural Is Criminal

Clothes make the man, but nakedness makes the human being.

Kevin Kearney

Something is fundamentally wrong about natural ever being illegal. We were born with an outer protection of natural human skin.  We were not born with a layer of clothing over our bodies.  Society accepts that babies and very young children can be naked in public.  Why then is it unacceptable for slightly older children to appear naked in public and for anyone older than about 5 to 6 years of age it is against the law in many countries?  Children don't care about clothes until they're taught to be ashamed of their body; not until it is instilled in them that their body without clothes is something to feel shame about showing to other people.

Currently people who are nude in public can at any moment be arrested (and usually it happens more swiftly than somebody stealing your car or robbing your house) and be branded a criminal, all because they made a clothing choice.

We are all built with essentially the same components, with slight variations for the male and female of the species, yet we find it uncomfortable or offensive to see someone who is not wearing any clothing.  I'm not saying that everyone should be naked all the time but I don't understand why it is unacceptable to be as natural as the day we were born when we wish to be.  Naturists are people who reject the idea that body parts are more offensive than attitudes.

Why is it that as we grow older and supposedly wiser, we find nudity increasingly difficult to accept, to the point where it becomes illegal to be unclothed in the vicinity of other people?  Why should there be laws preventing us from continuing to be the way we were born?  Is it because as we grow older and become more interested in procreation and sex begins to have a greater influence on our lives that we find it increasingly difficult to comprehend that nudity and sex are two separate things.  It is quite feasible to have sex without being naked, likewise it is just as feasible to be naked without having sex.  Unfortunately society seems to experience great difficulty in accepting those facts.

It is only the human race that is so ashamed of their natural bodies that they feel the compelling need to cover and disguise themselves with artificial materials and coverings.  People who chose to accept their natural bodies and are comfortable in the company of others are discriminated against by society for simply being natural.  It is no shame to be naked, it is just such a shame that so many people cannot or will not experience  the benefits and pleasure of it.  Law makers, politicians and conservatives forget that the nude human body in itself is NOT the criminal act, but it is what you do with it that may be criminal.

It is against the law to discriminate against other ethnic, religious or minority groups practicing their beliefs.  In the case of naturists it is this minority group which is deemed to be illegal when they practice their beliefs.  Why should naturists be singled out as the exception to the general law against discrimination?  There are already laws in place which protect people from other people who want to be trouble makers. Simply being nude anywhere, is not being a nuisance, it is being human.  The very idea that my body in its most natural and  normal state as being criminal, is repugnant to me.