I noticed that nutcakes posted something to recipe requests as soon as they came in and I adapted her text. Maybe if we all respond in kind as soon as we see those requests, it will mitigate the deluge until the admin team can get the auto-response going. Here's what I wrote:

Hi there. Foodpickle isn't a recipe data base. Just a cooks' resource for emergencies and issues that crop up during cooking or meal planning. Use food sites to search for recipes. The host site here has member recipes you can search:
http://www.food52.com

Thanks so much Amanda for explaining the root of the problem - it really helps to understand what happened. And I love that there are some good potential solutions presented here including the auto-message (great idea)! I also vote that we should collectively make an extra effort to answer the twitters that may be coming from this new group of people for questions that support what foodpickle is about - and what we're ultimately about, which is to provide a venue to express our cooking and to learn from each other. I'm all for embracing new people coming in, no matter how they enter, but I just honestly wasn't sure if these were for real or pranksters.

Phyllis, I think it's simply that it grew in the wrong direction! If the new people sent by the show had known the true purpose of foodpickle, all would have been fine. But they were told it could be a recipe source -- a little misinformation goes a long way, I guess! We're working to create auto-messages for anyone coming from Twitter so they get a quick explanation as soon as they send their first question. Hopefully this will help.

Thanks, Amanda. I think many of us are trying to be patient, but as I'm sure you know, the fun and spontaneity have disappeared. I'm sure we'll get them back. Sites like this have to expand.

Thanks, Amanda! I don't want foodpickle to be removed from Twitter. It's a wonderful resource both on the web and via Twitter/txt. I learn so much just reading the answers from other food52'ers. The responses amaze me - so detailed and thoughtful. Hang in there too. Thanks again, A&M!

Not gonna lie, sifting through the tweets is getting tiresome. I haven't hardly pickled in the last week or so, and I'm usually very active.

Is there a way to cut the incoming twitter traffic and only have out-bound so folks like phyllis can still receive via twitter? Or, could in-bound tweets be restricted to only those who've taken the time to register at food52.com? A small hurtle, but probably enough of one to put off the worst of the twits.

Please make it better...this place has too much going for it to be ruined by this!

Hi all -- thanks for your thoughts. We're working to resolve this. What happened was: we got some unsolicited publicity by a British TV show. The show producers seem to have misunderstood the purpose of foodpickle, so we have a bunch of new users who are, for the most part, innocently asking cooking how-to questions -- not realizing that this is not the intended purpose of foodpickle. We don't control who asks questions, so we're trying to figure out how to get the word out to let new users know how to use foodpickle. Thanks for your incredible patience -- we hope to have this resolved soon, especially because Thanksgiving is upon us and there's a great need for the *real* foodpickle!

It is painful. I like seeing the questions (not from the gadget people) on twitter, because it forces me to come to the site. Otherwise, days and days would go by. I'm hoping if we all ignore them, they'll leave. I do feel badly, because sometimes questions I would usually respond to are lost in the mix. I can say, for me, anyway, this isn't fun or interesting anymore. I'm a little sad because it's a good community.

I'm with you! Remove Twitter!!!

My advice to fellow picklers is this: ignore all posts where the address begins with @.

Just scroll past those. We shouldn't just be talking to each other because this is still a resource for the casual visitor who needs help. But at least you would be filtering the tweet wanks.

To those who were offended, sincere apologies. The situation is nearly out of control, though it's gotten really easy to skip over the inane ones. There has to be a relatively easy fix since this has happened before at other sites (just ask Sarah P). The questions will die down eventually - they do have 'the Google' on Albion's fair shores.

Don't remove it!!!!! It's those blokes over at gadget show that messed it all up. First off, they should apologize to A&M for misrepresenting their product.

There has got to be a solution. Let's all put our thinking caps on. Any techno geeks out there??

I feel like forwarding ALL the foodpickle tweets back at @TheGadgetShow. But I know, I'm not in high school, so that's probably not the most mature thing to do. Seriously, can they post a message or something on their site to tell people to stop? It's painful, almost.

Well, I don't twitter so... my "vote" is to remove it.

What do I think? I think Twitter is voluntary ADD. So there!

No, the Genie is out of the bottle. Twitter is evil.

I had posted a question on vinegar that pretty much got lost in the onslaught, maybe if there were a tweet to the gadget show, explaining the essence of foodpickle, things would calm down a bit?

I agree - the tweets are squashing the magic pickle