Judge Bean
Senior Member
How to Prepare for your Hoax
Once again we have cut to the root of the problem, this time via a Swiftian satire. But do we seriously anticipate an endless round of debunked claimants, some to limp back and rejoin the column as chastened walking wounded?
Not a peep from Padraic; not a single mooning yelp from Coyote. If anyone remembers the most extravagant hoaxter, Boris from the other forum, it should be obvious to him what happens when one is encouraged to spin the yarn out into other dimensions and timelines; eventually, even the hoaxter himself can't remember the line between his fiction and reality.
For those who weren't there: Boris claimed to have been from 2,000 years in the future, and another planet, and came to Florida and to us on a device using his voicebox as an engine. He based his story on a novel he wrote, which according to when you talked to him, was either based on a true story or was the story itself. Many, many members of the other board apparently believed him, including the managing staff.
Eventually, his thread had to be restarted because of the amount of attention he received, and it all finally toppled from its own weight. It seems that the final judgment on him was that he was making it all up (what a revelation!) but that he meant well and spread a good "message" of love and goodwill.
The reason I bring this up is that this is what you will get sooner or later if you encourage these characters: a huge, grotesque, fantastic hoax, that can take over the board-- that, at the very least, can absorb the attentions of many members.
The "game" that many seem to enjoy is probably now pretty much exhausted. Only someone with no familiarity with the site would try to foist another future-boy tall tale on us; in fact, he would gain immediate credibility just by virtue of the fact that he would be brash enough to try it after so many have fallen. It would make him look rather innocent-- which is what August's protocols recommend, I think.
Once again we have cut to the root of the problem, this time via a Swiftian satire. But do we seriously anticipate an endless round of debunked claimants, some to limp back and rejoin the column as chastened walking wounded?
Not a peep from Padraic; not a single mooning yelp from Coyote. If anyone remembers the most extravagant hoaxter, Boris from the other forum, it should be obvious to him what happens when one is encouraged to spin the yarn out into other dimensions and timelines; eventually, even the hoaxter himself can't remember the line between his fiction and reality.
For those who weren't there: Boris claimed to have been from 2,000 years in the future, and another planet, and came to Florida and to us on a device using his voicebox as an engine. He based his story on a novel he wrote, which according to when you talked to him, was either based on a true story or was the story itself. Many, many members of the other board apparently believed him, including the managing staff.
Eventually, his thread had to be restarted because of the amount of attention he received, and it all finally toppled from its own weight. It seems that the final judgment on him was that he was making it all up (what a revelation!) but that he meant well and spread a good "message" of love and goodwill.
The reason I bring this up is that this is what you will get sooner or later if you encourage these characters: a huge, grotesque, fantastic hoax, that can take over the board-- that, at the very least, can absorb the attentions of many members.
The "game" that many seem to enjoy is probably now pretty much exhausted. Only someone with no familiarity with the site would try to foist another future-boy tall tale on us; in fact, he would gain immediate credibility just by virtue of the fact that he would be brash enough to try it after so many have fallen. It would make him look rather innocent-- which is what August's protocols recommend, I think.
