7 ms·

There was a "Ask HN:" post about Twitter bots the other day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13497235 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13497235 Strang

by sjs382 10y ago

There was a "Ask HN:" post about Twitter bots the other day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13497235 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13497235 Strange that these bots aren't spammy but are posting every minute or two. I wonder what they're for... https://twitter.com/superpolice001 https://twitter.com/superpolice001 https://twitter.com/superpolice002 https://twitter.com/superpolice002 https://twitter.com/superpolice003 https://twitter.com/superpolice003

dceddia 10y ago
Almost like one of those RSA/Google Authenticator/etc rotating numbers... always 6 characters, seemingly random, somewhat pronounceable. Weird.
- andai 10y ago
  What does it remind you of? I haven't used GA. They're following the format 'bababa', where 'b' is a random consonant and 'a' is a random vowel.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Or like a numbers station. Twitter would make a lot of sense for that, actually.
  - sjs382 10y ago
    Indeed! That was my first thought and was the reason that Ask HN post stuck with me. See also: https://theawl.com/the-real-weird-twitter-is-espionage-twitter-3eb3e07abc04#.swwu8dl4l https://theawl.com/the-real-weird-twitter-is-espionage-twitt...
- acqq 10y ago
  As it is twitted exactly every 2 minutes it can actually be a kind of current confirmation or authentication code.
  - funnyfacts365 10y ago
    Dead man's switch?
throwanem 10y ago
There appear to be at least 19 of these - possibly more, but I haven't explored the number space save by manual URL editing, and -021 was the first to 404. -019 also 404s; -017 has been suspended. I haven't explored much further because to do so efficiently would almost certainly require the creation of a Twitter account, and I'm not interested enough in this to bother. Interestingly, #20 hasn't been updated since 26 August last year, and its timeline contains only the two entries "temato" and "mecagoentusmuertos", which are Spanish phrases translating respectively to "I kill you" and "I shit on your dead". Beyond simple unneighborliness, whether they have any significance and what that might be I have to leave as an exercise for the reader, because I have no idea.
zump 10y ago
Modern Numbers Station.

by sjs382 10y ago

dceddia 10y ago

Almost like one of those RSA/Google Authenticator/etc rotating numbers... always 6 characters, seemingly random, somewhat pronounceable. Weird.

andai 10y ago
What does it remind you of? I haven't used GA. They're following the format 'bababa', where 'b' is a random consonant and 'a' is a random vowel.
throwanem 10y ago
Or like a numbers station. Twitter would make a lot of sense for that, actually.
- sjs382 10y ago
  Indeed! That was my first thought and was the reason that Ask HN post stuck with me. See also: https://theawl.com/the-real-weird-twitter-is-espionage-twitter-3eb3e07abc04#.swwu8dl4l https://theawl.com/the-real-weird-twitter-is-espionage-twitt...
acqq 10y ago
As it is twitted exactly every 2 minutes it can actually be a kind of current confirmation or authentication code.
- funnyfacts365 10y ago
  Dead man's switch?

throwanem 10y ago

There appear to be at least 19 of these - possibly more, but I haven't explored the number space save by manual URL editing, and -021 was the first to 404. -019 also 404s; -017 has been suspended. I haven't explored much further because to do so efficiently would almost certainly require the creation of a Twitter account, and I'm not interested enough in this to bother. Interestingly, #20 hasn't been updated since 26 August last year, and its timeline contains only the two entries "temato" and "mecagoentusmuertos", which are Spanish phrases translating respectively to "I kill you" and "I shit on your dead". Beyond simple unneighborliness, whether they have any significance and what that might be I have to leave as an exercise for the reader, because I have no idea.

zump 10y ago

Modern Numbers Station.