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Twitter Follow And Unfollow, List/table Logic?


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I am in need of some help here, big-time! I am utterly lost and bewildered, and I don't have a clue as to why this is so hard for me to grasp...

 

I am having a huge problem in trying to figure out the logic, of how I should handle the list comparing behind a seemingly simple Twitter follow and unfollow structure. Please allow me to explain, and perhaps someone with experience can enlighten me to what I am doing wrong?

 

I want to create a bot that goes to twitter, scrapes users to follow, follows them, then checks after a day or two who followed back, and unfollow those that don't follow back. This is a seemingly simple procedure that I know I can code, but I am having trouble figuring out how to store and handle the data lists.

 

The program should work something like this:

  1. Search users and add them to a list.
  2. Follow users from that list.
  3. Make a new list of those we have followed.
  4. Wait, then build a list of those who have followed back.
  5. Make a list of those who have not followed back, from comparing the list of followed users against the list of followers built in step 4.
  6. Unfollow those that have not followed back.

Now, this all seems simple enough right? But my issue is that I cant, for the life of me, figure out how to get this all working in a system. I want to create the simplest solution to keeping track of who to follow, and who not to follow, each time the program is run. A solution that is simple, fast, and effective. I know there are probably many ways to achieve this, but I am totally lost! I need an outside prospective on this, or someone who knows the logic, because I am so caught up in this, that I am utterly confused and incapable of figuring out how this should flow. Perhaps because I am too focused inside to see the big picture?

 

Anyway:

My ultimate confusion is: What is the simplest and easiest way to compare the lists and enact the logic needed to not keep following people who I have already followed and who have not followed me back?

 

Do I start with a huge list, keep adding searches to that list, and then cut chunks from it to follow... Save a list of those who followed back, and those who did not, and then subtract them all from the follow pool?

 

Or do I just build a big list of followed users, a big list of unfollowed users, and compare those lists against any future search results?

 

This is all so confusing and seemingly epic! I bet someone will come along and offer something fresh and simplistic, and I will be kicking myself for not seeing it!

 

 

Some other tough questions that I have to consider are:

  • Do I just generate a small list of followers each time the program is run (with a new search term for example), and then work from the followed and following lists?
  • Do I save a database of users I am following and those I have unfollowed? If so, how do I use these long lists to avoid following the same users?
  • Should I store the main search list and build it up as a huge pool of users to draw from? If so, I complicate things further, as to how to utilize and compare this list with the rest of the needed lists of users (blacklisted people to never follow, followers to whitelist, etc).
  • I want to use the SQLite plugin to store all of the data, but it only complicates adding and removing from each list in use.

 

Any help on this matter is GREATLY appreciated! I am really messed up over this issue and feel like a complete idiot, I know that something simple is just staring me right in the face, but I am totally missing it! :(

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Crickets... Nobody able to help huh? Sad :angry:

 

 I am sure we can help but you need to find a way to ask a simple question if you want to get a response. That is a big post which will put most people off. I think you could have made this the entire post:

 

 

I want to create a bot that goes to twitter, scrapes users to follow, follows them, then checks after a day or two who followed back, and unfollow those that don't follow back. This is a seemingly simple procedure that I know I can code, but I am having trouble figuring out how to store and handle the data lists.

 

The program should work something like this:

  1. Search users and add them to a list.
  2. Follow users from that list.
  3. Make a new list of those we have followed.
  4. Wait, then build a list of those who have followed back.
  5. Make a list of those who have not followed back, from comparing the list of followed users against the list of followers built in step 4.
  6. Unfollow those that have not followed back.

Now, this all seems simple enough right? But my issue is that I cant, for the life of me, figure out how to get this all working in a system. I want to create the simplest solution to keeping track of who to follow, and who not to follow, each time the program is run. A solution that is simple, fast, and effective. I know there are probably many ways to achieve this, but I am totally lost! I need an outside prospective on this, or someone who knows the logic, because I am so caught up in this, that I am utterly confused and incapable of figuring out how this should flow. Perhaps because I am too focused inside to see the big picture?

 

And to try and answer your questions I think that you should make a database and scrape new users into a table to be followed. Move them from that table to a pending table once followed and include a date. Every day check for those you followed x days ago and move the follow backs to a new table and the non follows to another, also add them both to a global blacklist table because you have already interacted with them.

 

It's not the only way to do it but its a way that could easily work.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks Helloinsomnia, as usual it is you, and just a handful of others who are helpful here. Hence why I buy yours and their products, and my obvious frustration with so small a support group that the official forums offer. I am indeed admittedly a tad bitter over such a lack of real community here, but that's another story. You, and those few other guys (you guys know who you are!!!), are a great help, and you have no idea how much I truly appreciate it. My purchasing of your fine products is the least I could do to show that.

 

Indeed, that was an overly detailed post, but it was also helpful to myself in the thinking process behind the logic, as a documented starting point. Hopefully it serves to help anyone else who may go through that thought process and get stuck, as I have.

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