For this demonstration, we’ll use @jX, @shadytrees, and @Tom. Because that’s what happened.

Tom and jX are reciprocal. Tom follows shadytrees and jX follows shadytrees. shadytrees does not follow tom nor does he follow jx, so regardless of his @reply settings, he would not see a tweet addressed in this format:

@Tom @shadytrees text

However, because Tom follows shadytrees and sees replies to people he’s following from people he’s following, both shadytrees and Tom will see a tweet addressed in this format:

@shadytrees @Tom text

I seek a smarter twitter client that allows multiperson replies (well, two is simple here, but doing it for more people that don’t have a follow network is technically impossible in a single tweet), and figures out when a person such as jX wants to reply to both shadytrees and Tom to address shadytrees first so that Tom will also see it.

So, this is the third Gawker post in a row, but it’s just so frustrating when they’re laying people off and shuttering websites when they pass up BLATANT opportunities for revenue like this:

Notice there is no referral code there. For every click though that leads to a purchase of anything in that session, Gawker Media will receive ZERO PERCENT. They do this all the time, either their sites copy a link from someone else and that person gets a bunch of referral purchases, or like this, there’s no referral code at all. They could be making anywhere from 4 to 8.5 percent of the purchase price of books, magazines, TV and movies that they link to. That’s potentially thousands of dollars, maybe tens of thousands for sites like IO9 and Kotaku. But no, no referral codes, and that’s a lot of missed money. This is why Gawker is failing, huge opportunities left lying on the ground.

Gawker, a company that’s had to fire about half their staff due to the ‘economic downturn’, has given Cheap College Gamers quite a hefty sum of money! Owen Good posted sunday coupons deals today, and linked to an xbox 360 with the Amazon referrer tag “mmbevigaotst-20″. Do a little googling and you’ll find a page on Cheap College Gamers (page linked to above) filled with links to amazon using that referrer tag.

Kotaku, a Gawker subsidiary, could be making quite a sum from Amazon commissions. Instead, some guy is making $16 (or more) per person that buys an Xbox via his link, and also cash from OTHER things people buy as long as it’s during the same visit to Amazon (which, usually, is quite a surprising amount).

I’m sure Goldenchild is very happy for the free money that you gave him, Owen Good. Nick Denton, you are a failure. (Valleywag won’t pick this failure up, for Owen writes there too)