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If you're not a twitter user, you can go ahead and drift to the left where you'll find my pride and joy, my flickr photostream. Off with ye.

Ok, it's just us now. So let's talk twitter @replies.

Twitter has evolved into a client/server model. Twitter itself is the server. The web page and the various other AIR, mobile, and OS native apps are the clients.

The twitter server is a firehose of information. Each user chooses the best application based on his or her needs in order to consume that massive load. oh yeah.

But when twitter decides that the server needs to apply filtering logic past the basic "is following" screening, that ruins the whole game. Now we don't have control over the entire stream of information. Those who want the complete data cannot have it, and those who had figured out how to filter it based on their needs are now confused by arbitrary rules.

The solution to this is actually very simple: the rules for any filtering need to be restricted to the client in use. If you use twitter primarily through the web, then have those options applied there: but if you use it otherwise, let that client attempt to sell you on its use by providing whatever options its clever designers think up.

Everybody uses Twitter in different ways, and they will find the client that allows them to develop the best information consumption strategy. If new users stick to the web, then just apply these changes there. If people have moved on to twhirl, tweetdeck, or seesmic, then there is a reason they have done so.