Should we reply before or after the RT on Twitter?

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:

@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