[UPDATE] Richard Barley, Community Manager for TweetDeck, was kind enough to stop by and clarify the issue last night, via comment. He made assurances that TweetDeck servers are secure, and suggested that the likely culprit here is in fact Brizzly. Apparently, in enacting their own list compatibility, Brizzly caused pre-existing groups to update back on Twitter’s servers. Now, I haven’t used Brizzly since it opened, but the first thing I did in testing the service was mirror my TweetDeck groups. All the pieces fall into place. That being said, the only thing missing is an explanation for why TweetDeck is so damn bad at syncing its groups and searches. That being said, TweetDeck is still the best client out there, because of its groups and search features.

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I awoke this morning to find that Twitter had altered lists to include TweetDeck groups I’ve saved over the past year. These lists are in name only, meaning that they showed up, marked private, bearing the names of lists that I’ve used in TweetDeck but containing no names. If there had been a direct import without my knowledge, I may not have been so annoyed; this is as pointless as it is inappropriate.

Zombie Groups become Zombie Lists.

Last night I had written about the uselessness of lists, and how they’re nothing more than half-assed mimicry of a standard feature that full-fledged clients like TweetDeck or Seesmic have enjoyed for quite some time now. I talked about the sole use of lists, as far as Twitter’s concerned, as being a way to add functionality to the terminally hopeless web interface. I said that Twitter was likely pushing to bring that interface to a level of prominence that it’s never known before, as part of their overall effort to monetize the free service.

What I never suspected was that Twitter would resurrect long-dead and buried groups from the tombs of TweetDeck’s mystery-servers. Seriously, we all know that TweetDeck’s “servers” are about as likely to be hamster-farms as rack-farms — the things are notoriously out of date. That being said, what the hell is Twitter doing grabbing groups off somebody else’s servers, let alone groups that were deleted months ago by the user?

If this isn’t ringing any alarm bells yet, think of it this way: This is the same as an email provider reaching into your email account while you’re asleep, grabbing info from other mail accounts you have forwarding there from outside companies, and then presenting you with a flashy new inbox the next morning that happens to include data gleaned from the intrusion. You never asked them for this, nor did you give permission for it. Not so innocent.

What Gives Them the Right?

The sudden appearance of my TweetDeck groups in my Twitter account’s lists this morning left me more than a little perturbed. Now, I may be wrong, and TweetDeck may have a much deeper connection to Twitter than either company has ever let on, but this feels wrong. This feels like Twitter reached into TweetDeck servers and used their control over our accounts to simply pluck our information out. Information they then use to bolster their lists in an attempt to lure naysayers who don’t know any better.

These new lists then show up alongside all your other lists as private, and count against the arbitrarily imposed 20 list cap.

You can DELETE them.

Another change that’s either brand new, or not widely known: Twitter’s now allowing users to both edit and delete lists. This change is likely due to the use of lists by media outlets like the New York Times during the recent Ft. Hood shootings. Either way, this most basic functionality is a welcome addition.