Summize… I think you mean “Twitter acquired Summize.”

LOL, thanks Jim. Fixed.

I feel forced to use 3rd party apps - I'm flipping back and forth between Tweetdeck and http://tweetchat.com to get through it.

I also think you mean “they're”, not “their.”

I could see being upset if it didn't include the “If you believe you are using Twitter search normally…” message.
They're just trying to protect the service. It's not like it's ironclad or a personal attack on SXSW. It's a generalized rule across all accounts.

I love crowdsourcing my proofreading

I understand that but it's not like SXSW snuck up on them. It's not like they couldn't predict a huge surge in use this week from Austin. Instead of prepping for it hundreds of their loyalist fans will get this instead.

“the very even that launched Twitter” should be “the very event

Thanks, this is why I don't live blog

But this is a reaction to someone hitting the search button too much. It has nothing to do with SXSW or what search terms you are using. If you sat there searching for “Kitty Cats” constantly from the same IP address you would get the same message.
Don't see how this is an indictment against Twitter. It's just them protecting their servers from Spammers and Bots that constantly search for terms and clog up the system.

Yes and in the process they're giving their customers a bad experience. My point is that they are smart people and could have anticipated the huge demand they're going to have in Austin this week.

Number 1- It's not SXSW yet.
Number 2- I don't see how stopping Spammers is giving people a bad experience. I'd rather someone have issues with constantly searching for a hashtag then having my feed flooded with spam replies or bizarre followers.
Number 3- I have to use the search functions quite a lot, and I'm curious just how often you have to be hitting that button before it comes up. I have never seen that before.
Number 4- It just seems like the article was trying to be inflammatory for no real reason. It's like writing how your house's builders hated you because you have to open a door whenever you want to leave the house. It's not there to inconvenience you. It's there to protect you.

It actually is SXSW right now (the film part is happening now). It's not SXSWi until tomorrow and it's already having problems. It's not just me, like I said in my post, I'm at the Social Business Summit and there are about 75 people here experiencing the rate restrictions. And it's giving people a bad experience because we're not spammers we're legitimate users who can't use a core functionality of the site.

And just out of curiosity, how is that protecting me? They're restricting the search rate limit not the posting rate limit.

Yeah, I actually had to use my phone and Google's update search functionality. I didn't think about tweetchat. Thanks for the tip.

The Spammers are not able to post or send messages to people if they don't know who to send them to, right?
Let's say you mention the word Bagel and get followed and spammed by the evil Bagel cartel. If they limit the amount of people that the evil Bagel people can search for and hunt down, they'll limit the usefulness of that approach.
If you are up in arms about something like search functions being restricted, how much more would you be angered by a post rate limit? After all, that's the major reason behind Twitter. Posting little blurbs. The social “What's going on over here?” aspect is secondary.

[...] Twitter to SXSW: You’re Using Our Product Too Much. – New Comm Biz Revenge of the Cable Guys – BusinessWeek [...]

Blair, you're awesome! Thanks for the comments and the passion. Seriously, thanks for taking the time to comment. I hope I wasn't too big of an annoyance. My post was not meant to be as inflammatory as I apparently came off.

Honestly I was just in shock, not angry. To limit any IP in Austin this week of all weeks, seemed irrational from a PR/Marketing perspective. It obviously makes perfect sense from a technical perspective. But as someone who has to deal with big events for really big companies like T-Mobile, Bing & Microsoft I couldn't imagine anything worse than doing this to customers. For my clients it would be a PR nightmare. For Twitter I guess we've just come to accept it.

It says “i you believe you are using twitter normally, let us know” have you tried that?

It's twitter, you know it's a shoddy appalling mess that no one can leave because of community.