Account Suspended

This account is currently suspended and is being investigated due to strange activity.

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I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this message from Twitter!

Me, Charles Stone, who loves puppies, drives the speed limit, and secretly wants to be a Wal-Mart security guard to catch people really doing bad stuff… had my account suspended for STRANGE ACTIVITY.

Over the next several days I went through the process of grief that included …

• denial (this can’t be happening to me, I’m a pastor) to
• guilt (what did I do wrong, I’m a pastor) to
• anger (how dare they, did I say I’m a pastor) to
• depression (how can I make it without reading about the mundane details of total strangers) to
• loneliness (how can my several thousand followers whom I’ve never met and never will make it through a day without hearing about important details of MY life like, ‘I’m eating an Asiago cheese bagel in the third booth on the left at Panera Bread restaurant”) to
• acceptance (I will live; I can always post on Facebook) to
• hope (my social networking guru friend John Zimmerman with eRocketFuel assured me that Twitter would restore my account after a few days).

So, my life is now back to normal since I’m back on Twitter.

I’m sure all you Twitterers in Twitterland have been agonizing since I’ve been gone. Have no fear … I am here. I’m ok. You’re ok.

Here’s what I learned.

• Life does go on without Twitter.
• Getting suspended is not a venial nor a mortal sin.
• I should be grateful for the free service Twitter offers.
• I must be careful about churning–added and unadding followers too quickly
• The suspension helped me realize I was hooked to Twitter
• When I get hooked, I waste precious time that should be spent on other more important things.

If you’ve been ever been suspended, I’d love to hear what you learned.