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Twitter users are up in arms today about the removal of a key feature on the service. As we wrote earlier, Twitter has determined that the options for whose replies you see on the service were too confusing. Rather than simply hide this advanced feature for the 2% of users who utilize it, Twitter has decided to turn it off completely.
A reply, of course, is any Tweet sent between two users that starts with @username. By default you only see replies in your stream if you're following both the Twitter users in the conversation. This saves you from hearing half conversations. However, you could also change the settings to view all of these person-to-person conversations...or none at all. This was a great way to discover interesting new Twitter users.
Twitter's previous reply options
But Twitter is all about simplicity, and they've determined that rather than maintain an advanced feature for the 2% of Twitter-addicts who want to see everything, it's easier to disable it completely. After all, how much of a fuss could 2% of the user base kick up? Quite a lot, as it happens.
At its heart, this is a control issue: Twitter has determined that it knows what's best for you. And that feels a little patronizing.