Over the last couple of days I've started seeing something interesting in Twitter: trolls, likely automated ones. I've gotten a few "friend" requests from users with enormous numbers of friends and followers - but their stream of "messages" is just utter crap - things like "now smoking crack", for instance.

Looking at the signup and API for Twitter, I don't think it would be very hard for a jerk with time on his hands to create a "friend-bot". Just pick a well known user, scan their friend list (available on their Twitter page), and start friending. As you get new ones, add to your list, repeat.

You don't have to accept these requests, but they end up as "followers" no matter what you do.

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