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Twitter has a lot of these phantom accounts: accounts that look like real people (with profile pictures, cheery profile descriptions, “real”-seeming followers and “real”-seeming tweets) but aren’t. They are created by bot, using bits and pieces of actual people’s accounts, and these fake
accounts all follow each other, or lure in unsuspecting real followers. (It’s also possible they are idle Twitter accounts that have been hacked.) There are hundreds of them, if not thousands. They are probably some ploy to be used in a future spamming operation.

However, since they don’t (yet) post actual spam, Twitter is unlikely to take action against them if you report them. (Also, there are just too many of them to report, and blocking them doesn’t eliminate them from search results.)

Unfortunately, these bot accounts have seized on certain old Fringe-related tweets for their “material” (along with many other stale hashtags unrelated to Fringe, such as #liberalwesterns or #okc), which make their tweets clog up searches on the #Fringe hashtag. It looks as if Fringe-related tweets were picked up at random by the bots, probably back when it trended as the season finale aired. This is not only annoying, but keeps old and new Fringe fans from finding each other on Twitter.

Some of the fake accounts tweet stale #Fringe tweets such as these (and many more):

These phantom accounts can be easily recognized:

–They always have a person’s picture as the profile picture, although sometimes the profile pic doesn’t match the description (male pic with a female profile, etc).

–Most of the accounts were created in November 2012.

–They are often followed by other phantom accounts.

–They never engage in conversation with other Twitter members (like real people usually do).

–Their timelines consist of seemingly random tweets about things that have nothing to do with each other.

A sample phantom account can be found here.

If you are using a Twitter client that can create complex compound search terms, here is a list of terms you can exclude to cancel out many, if not most of the spammy tweets:

#wecrossedtheline
fatter
final
finale
hairstyle
happily
hosed
Hulu
nervous
premiere
weapon

A sample search string for #Fringe (for instance, on Hootsuite) would look like:

#Fringe -”weapon” -”premiere” -”nervous” -”#wecrossedtheline” -”finale” -”Hulu” -”formula” -”hairstyle” -”final” -”Happily” -”hosed” -”fatter”

We will add to this list of problem terms as we come across them. Hopefully the spammers out there will eventually leave the #Fringe tag alone.

It’s a sad day in Fringedom as Fringe has wrapped on production of its final episode! But here are some things coming up that fans may be able to look forward to!

“September’s Notebook”

If you haven’t already pre-ordered this official Fringe tie-in volume yet, what are you waiting for? The book will be published next month by Insight Editions, and will feature “a uniquely in-world collection that explores the intricate destinies of Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop, and Olivia Dunham” with concept art, exclusive photos, and more. You can follow the project on Twitter at @FringeNotebook, and buy it at Amazon.

Fringe Binge 2012

If you can’t wait to watch the ongoing Fringe reruns on Science Channel, take part in Fringe Binge, a semi-annual full rewatch marathon with a twist: everyone around the world will be watching the same episodes at the same time. The next edition — 97 hours’ worth of Fringe — will take place from Wednesday, December 26 through Sunday, December 30. Check the schedule here.

New shows from Joel Wyman and JJ Abrams?

Joel Wyman is already hard at work on his as-yet-unnamed new Bad Robot pilot for Fox. While we don’t yet know if the pilot will be picked up for a series order, we should be hearing more news about the title, concept and casting in the months ahead. You can read more of Wyman’s comments about the project here.

More episodes of “Dark Matters”

If you haven’t checked out the Science Channel series Dark Matters: Twisted But True, hosted by John Noble, give it a shot. Consisting of three delightfully dramatized (and occasionally gruesome) segments about questionable real-life science experiments of the past, the show may have Fringe fans flashing back to the “Monsters of the Week” of Season 1. The show’s third season is currently in progress, and episodes air every Wednesday night at 9:00.

An official Fringe fan club?

Hard to believe, but true: Fringe does not yet have an official fan club! We’re pretty confident that one will take shape soon, and hopefully Fringe fans all over the world will participate in its formation and make it a powerful presence in the sci-fi world and at Comic-Con.

Video interviews with John Noble, Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole and JJ Abrams