More than three years since its first official tweet, Twitter remains a polarizing service.

For every person who swears by the social networking tool as a means to keep in touch with friends through brevity, there are seemingly two more who despise such an inane waste of time. That is, until they give it a whirl.

The fascination of limiting a message to 140 characters while still maintaining its point has the power to win over its strongest detractors.

Heck, I should know. It happened to me.

Judging by the wide variety of users from all walks of life -- celebrities, athletes, newscasters -- Twitter obviously has appeal not just for the boring, navel-gazing set.

Names preceded by an @ symbol are just as pervasive as one's email address and professionals are starting to mention the service in the same breath as Facebook and LinkedIn. And application support for Twitter has produced an overwhelming amount of programs for Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), and mobile phones.

The recent revelation of Twitter's $1 billion valuation certainly seemed to quell the notion that the service is meaningless tripe -- especially for a company that's never announced a business model or revenue strategy.

Then again, some analysts are doubtful of its high-priced worth, and the valuation for a non-public website could have its ups and downs after a couple years: Very few analysts would peg Facebook as still being worth $15 billion.

And WebProNews recently noted that traffic for Twitter has slowed in recent months, underscoring the fact that many people have signed up for an account out of curiosity and realized it wasn't for them.

Just how far and how quickly Twitter will fall out of fashion remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, there's no denying the no-cost, ad-free service has earned much excitement and inspired countless methods of relaying a 140-character message, allowing for some very unusual accounts. There's something to be said for a user who's able to out-weird Shaquille O'Neal and a profane, questionably senile old man.

Minyanville takes a look at eight users that have made Twitter a stranger place to visit.