The scream you heard yesterday was mine. I admit it. It seems
inconceivable that a technology so new can grip us completely by the
jugular. From our friends and co-workers daily lives to our business
communication, Twitter supplies an integral part of our daily lives.
SMS alone simply will not cut it. We must have all the third party apps
working like a well-oiled "chirp" in order to survive a day.
So what is one to do, when facing a computer screen that says "Locked out. Chillax a few minutes and try again"? Especially, when looking at the screen for over 30 hours with every effort unsuccessful.
I Twittered via SMS for help and received only two replies that ultimately were not the answer. It wasn't until sitting down to lunch with my friend and fellow Twitter addict @pwilson that I learned the answer. Pete had experienced the chilling "locked out" screen as well - and lived to Twitter another day.
If suddenly locked out because your password is not working (recently changed it, forgot it, or like me, it just quit working for no apparent reason), see below for 5 steps to relief from this interminable agony.
#1. Clean out all cookies in your browser. If possible try a different "clean" browser.
Clearing Cookies in FireFox: http://bit.ly/7C7z5
Clearing Cookies in Internet Explorer8: http://bit.ly/WjVLu
#2. Try to reset your password by entering user name or email address here:
https://twitter.com/account/resend_password
Information about resetting your password is here:
http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/14663
#3.For various reasons, Twitter has difficulty sending emails to smaller domains. If you do not receive the forgot password email, be sure to check your Spam or Junk folder. If you still don't receive the email, try requesting it one more time. If this doesn't work, reply to Twitter with a different email address that they can add to your account (it must be an email address that isn't already associated with another Twitter account). Twitter rarely has difficulty sending emails to gmail, yahoo, or hotmail addresses. When they've added the new address to your account, they'll let you know and you'll be able to request the forgot password email again.
Information about changing your email address is here:
http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/15356
#4. Scream Loudly!! Then gain your composure and please read the following:
http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/entries/69322
#5.
Whenever changing password on twitter.com, you need to remove and
re-add the account to Tweetdeck, Seesmic, People Browsr, Social Oomph,
iPhone Twitter apps (or ANY and ALL 3rd party applications you use to access Twitter).
If you don't, the application will continue to try logging in with your
old password and your IP address will be blocked for an hour because of
failed log-in attempts.
For more info, please read this help article: http://bit.ly/88FD1C
Please note that accounts with invalid email addresses will not be indexed in search for quality reasons:
http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/entries/27744
If you're trying to use an email address or user name that's already taken, please see:
http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/entries/15348
