Very funny and poignant post over at Scott Leslie’s place detailing his “Twitter cycle,” one that I suspect describes a lot of us after Twitter‘s hairball-after-hairball performance over the last week-plus.

The practical consequences of his goodbye, however, are hard to contemplate, so I’m hoping Scott will reconsider. I remember a former colleague (and continuing colleague in the larger sense) being so frustrated with Second Life that he tipped his hat in similar fashion and Just Rode Away. Alan called “come back.” Today that colleague is the proud owner of land and elegant housing in SL. And we can all play in his happy world.

So here’s my open letter to Scott Leslie. Not calling you out, Scott, but trying to enlarge the recent UMW lovefest to say “hey, come be one of the Augmenters! Come tweet some more!” Chris is getting into powerpop, Jim is preparing a culture war (I hate the term but I’m curious about the response, ’cause who doesn’t like reading Jim’s stuff?), Serena’s starting a new job after being locked out of her apartment overnight, and that’s just since 4 a.m. I need a Scott Leslie update!

I know you’re not fishing for folks to say “please oh please come back,” but please oh please come back. I fixed the problem of my messed-up friend/follower database (what did Twitter do to me?) by putting all my updates on the public timeline again. Why not? I’ll not be arranging choreographed illicitness on Twitter, anyway. And I’m digging Twitter for all the reasons you cited–and being very frustrated for all the reasons you cited–but digging it less with you not in the mix.

Second Life used to make me gnash my teeth. Still does at times. Catch SL at the wrong moment and the colleague I’m encouraging to try it out will run screaming from the room. The same things have happened with just about every bootstrapped, cash-poor startup I’ve encountered. If Twitter is still behaving this way in a month, I’ll say adios too. But right now, it’s the best thing going and has the best chance of mattering to me for at least the short term. Jaiku is like a poorly mastered CD played too loud. Twitter is a shambling wreck sometimes, but it has a homespun charm and looks much less money-centered (sure, that may be why the servers lack sysops).

But my main argument here is that Twitter would be much cooler for me if you were still around, so I could get to know you better and tap into your expertise, sensibilities, and wonderfully apt surname. A Hammond B-3 is a finicky, heavy beast, but there’s no substitute for that sound through a Leslie….