Reports are pouring in tonight from people who have hit the new limits for posting Twitter updates.

The limits came today as part of Twitter’s updates to its service. It’s uncertain why Twitter imposed the limits. Blocking spam bots seems the most logical reason. In the meantime, legitimate users are reporting they can’t use Twitter to make updates.

Sam Johnston is a well-known influencer in the cloud community. He said he essentially got cut off in mid-sentence during an exchange on Twitter. He received a message that said: “You are over the daily limit for sending tweets. Please wait a few hours and try again. ”

The message included a link to a Twitter page with tips for avoiding being cut off.

Under the new Twitter guidelines,  people are limited to 1,000 tweets per day. Limits are also set on an hourly basis. It’s unclear how many tweets will trigger Twitter to block an account.

Here is a classic example of what I am seeing tonight:

It’s striking how much of an impact this could have. People engage in conversations that can often run up to 20 to 40 updates per hour. This is especially true at conferences and live events. Updates to hashtags keep people current about news around the world.

But why such stringent limits now? It may be what we are seeing on the world stage as detailed in this post by Brian Krebs about the Twitter bots unleashed to drown out anti-Kremlin tweets.

That does not explain why individuals are now the casualties. Why can’t Twitter differentiate between the bots and legitimate users?

Jack Dorsey and Dick Costolo stated today that its goal is to bring Twitter to the world’s seven billion humans. It’s a lofty goal. We just hope in the meantime they don’t forget that its greatest strength is in the conversation Twitter lights and not in arbitrary rate limits it imposes.