Unrelated very short LJ question:

[msagara]

Can anyone tell me what a serial adder is? And, if it's what the name implies, what the point of being one is?

Comments

[chibipoe.livejournal.com]

Someone who goes around adding people to their friends list indiscriminately, usually if they share a common interest.

And...the point is that they're trolls and do it(most of the time) to annoy others.

[blow-saidjulian.livejournal.com]

They're usually an intentionally offensive LJ or a joke one (like the 'Krispy Kreme' adder from a while back). It's usually just to get a rise out a few people but it can be incredibly annoying.

Oh yeah, and I added you ;)

[waywardpixie.livejournal.com]

Like trolls, serial adders just like to get a rise out of people.

I added you because of the writing :)

[bobafet.livejournal.com]

If you recall a few months ago when I was pressuring you into starting an LJ, I warned you that there were people out there with tiny little lives who took things entirely too seriously... ?

This is one of those cases. Some people, for reasons unfathomable to me, *care* about who shows up on their "friend of" list.

As you must know, some people are just nature's button pushers and if you care that much about who's on your 'friend of' list you have some pretty big, easy-to-push buttons...

[domynoe.livejournal.com]

I added you a bit back because I was (and am) learning so much! I tend to add journals (either here at LJ or on my kinja or both) I enjoy at the moment, but my reading list changes a lot. Sometimes I wish I could keep everybody I add, but if i did that, I would never have time to write! ;)

[phantom_wolfboy]

I assume you don't mean "cereal adder", a kind of small snake whose natural home is breakfast food boxes. Highly poisonous, but not dangerous unless you accidentally try to eat them.

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

There some more info here. (http://www.livejournal.com/community/lj_biz/220241.html) Sometimes the friends-of drama is just that, but sometimes people choose to ban serial adders or hide their friends-of list (http://www.livejournal.com/users/news/76866.html) to avoid exes, would-be stalkers or idiots who want to make you a member of a community you're offended by (there was something wrt a white supremacy group a while back, I think). It's part of the unfortunate LJ nomenclature "friend," I think -- I don't think people would get as upset about it if it were "reader" or "linker" or some other neutral term.

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you asked. I had wondered that same thing. It still doesn't make sense to me - I mean - when I post something not filtered I just ASSUME that anyone can read it and if I'm really worried about the content remaining more private I'll post it friends only to some degree or other.

Dunno - maybe I should be more paranoid.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

Check out this one (http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=lj_serialadder). It was an LJ April Fool's joke, and people got all freaked out about it. And yeah, he did add every single user on LJ.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

Serial adders don't necessarily need to be trolls. I've added, for example, quite a few writers to my Friends List over the past couple of weeks. I don't necessarily expect people to add me back; but this way all the journals I enjoy reading all line up on my Friends page rather than me hitting each of them one by one to see if they've added anything lately.

[amyirene-40.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you asked this one - I'd never heard the term before. I assume I'd have run into it sooner or later so it is good to know exactly what it means.

I am confused about why it is considered such a bad thing. If the serial adder is doing something like spewing obnoxious and/or off topic posts to all the LJs that were friended, that would be annoying and troll-like. But the impression I've gotten from reading these responses is that all the person does is add names to their friends list.

I don't understand the harm in someone randomly friending me - shoot, it would be kind of flattering: "Look! I'm interesting enough to have attracted a serial adder! At last my life has meaning."