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Big Brother Australia Contestant Quits After Family Tragedy

Popular Australian Big Brother contestant Josh Moore has quit the reality series after the sudden death of his brother. Josh was called to the captains quarters where he met with his parents who informed him of the sudden passing of his older brother Toby 32.  It’s being reported that Toby has died from a sudden heart attack.

“Josh then spent the night outside the house with his family where he made the decision to leave the Big Brother competition and go home to support his family at this sad time.

“The Southern Star production team and the Nine Network wish to express their sympathy to the family and ask the fans of Big Brother and the media to allow them privacy at this time.”

Josh a 28-year-old musician was a real contender to win Big Brother and take home the $250,000 prize as he was very popular among housemates, in the house for two months Josh has never been nominated for eviction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4OSFJBWE3g

If you’re a fan of Big Brother Australia, you can send messages of support to Josh and his family via email: bigbrother@sstar.com.au

You can watch full episodes of Big Brother Australia by clicking the link.

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Op-Ed: Big Brother 14’s Shane and Danielle Fans Have Twitter Users Suspended

If you’re a Big Brother 14 fan (like this very writer) who has recently received the below letter from Twitter, you may have fallen victim to a crusade by the fans of Danielle Murphee and Shane Meaney.

Hello,

This account was suspended for sending multiple unsolicited messages using the @reply and/or mention feature. These features are intended to make communication between people on Twitter easier.

Twitter monitors the use of these features to make sure they are used as intended and not for abuse. Using either feature to post messages to a bunch of users in an unsolicited or egregious manner is considered an abuse of its use, which results in account suspension.

For more information about these features, please visit our @Replies and Mentions help page:  http://support.twitter.com/articles/14023

Based on tweets (see below), it appears that Danielle and Shane’s fans are leaping to their rescue by reporting Twitter users who not only directly tweet negative comments to Shane and Danielle, but also users who make negative comments about the Big Brother 14 couple in general.

@AndrewWang26, @Shanielle_Army, @ShanilleFan and  @ShaneDaniMeaney appear to be the biggest culprits searching out anyone and everyone on Twitter who make negative comments, once found not only do they block the person and report them to Twitter for the alleged abuse, but they also notify one another to block and report the Tweeter to Twitter as well.  Depending on how old the Twitter account is, it only takes a few blocks and reports to have an account suspended.

Big-Brother-14s-Shane-and-Danielle-Have-Twitter-Users-Suspended

ShaneDaniMeaney

As you can see from the screen-cap below of an expanded conversation it appears that @Shanielle_Army is deleting tweets, tweets that were there minutes ago are now gone.

Shanielle_Army

In fairness they claim to only be reporting those accounts that were specifically created to harass and terrorize Shane and Danielle, this I agree with one hundred percent.  However, the person who brought this to my attention has been on twitter since February 2010 and their tweets about Danielle and Shane were between them and another user, neither Shane nor Danielle were tagged in the tweets.  In my humble opinion, it’s one thing to report those newly created accounts and another thing to report users who have obviously been around for sometime.  Reporting seasoned Tweeters and having their accounts shutdown because you don’t like what they have to say is infringing on their rights to free speech and that I disagree with.

Once you’ve contacted Twitter and promised to be a good boy or girl you should receive the following e-mail:

Hi,

I have now un-suspended your account.  Please note that it may take an hour or so for your follower and following numbers to return to normal.

Be sure to review the Twitter Rules, as repeat violations may result in permanent suspension:  http://twitter.com/rules

This is what I have to say to the people of Twitter – once the season of your favorite reality show is over, the participants are off limits.  Allow them to fade away into the darkness; by continuing to spew your dislike for them you’re only expanding their 15 minutes of fame.

What are your thoughts on the matter? We wanna hear your opinions? Sound off below!