Apparently it ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. Rather than a crescendo it simply fizzles out. I received another e-mail which pretty much stuck the final nail in the coffin of the whole Octagon Global Recruiting business to morph the ARG into a teaser campaign for the upcoming Season.
The e-mail, from ‘ABC & Dharma Special Access’:
Dharma Initiative present Dharma Special Access with Damon and Carlton
Good morning guys,
This is the first of our weekly messages to you leading up to the premiere of the fifth season of LOST. As you may have heard, the current financial crisis has led to the demise of the newly reconstituted Dharma Initiative. Without going through all the details here, we now own the Dharma Initiative.
You’re thinking, “Great, what does this have to do with me?” We didn’t want to leave Dharma Recruits high and dry, so we decided to start something we’re calling Dharma Special Access (DSA).
Every week leading up to the premiere we’re going to e-mail you with exclusive LOST content, information about the upcoming season and details about what’s going on here at LOST behind the scenes.
This week we have a few things for you: a video message from us, the LOST starter kit and a behind-the-scenes video of the LOST Kubrick signing event held with all the LOST writers last week at Meltdown Comics here in Los Angeles. To check it out, click on the link below and enter the password.
This content is only going to Dharma Recruits first. It will be available to you guys exclusively for 48 hours before it’s officially posted anywhere else.
We hope you’ll enjoy your special DSA access (even though that’s doubly redundant). We think we have a lot of cool stuff for you guys right up until the show is back on Wednesday, January 21st. In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving. Talk to you soon.
Best,
Damon and Carlton
So.
Lost ARG 2008.
Dumped down the toilet. Flopped. Disregarded. Turned into nothing more than a promotion tool. Do we participants have the right to be disappointed? Yeah, sure. I mean, let’s not go overboard. I don’t expect to see Darlton’s heads on a stick over the matter – it was just a free game designed to keep us ticking over until Season 5 started. I’m not crying my eyes out or beating the ground in frustration over the matter!
But still, it’s a shame. Let’s just hope it’s not an indicator of how the show itself may go – with good ideas and plans being ditched at the drop of a hat when they don’t appear to be going too well, leaving people hanging.
So that’s that. What does this mean for me, here? Or you, reading? Well, it signals the end of the ‘Lost 2008 ARG’ series I’ve been running here. That’s died a death and there’s no sense keeping it propped up. In it’s place I’ll be running ‘Dharma Special Access’ updates, where I’ll check out the 'exciting' teasers and information, post the videos if I can, and discuss what the content may mean for the upcoming Season 5. If any of it appears redundant, boring or crap I won't report it here. Just the good stuff!
That’ll be up and running within a day or two. For here, for now: Lost ARG 2008 R.I.P.
Showing posts with label Lost ARG 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost ARG 2008. Show all posts
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 17
Well well. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything more from the Dharma Initative for a little under a month, as advertised on their website. And then this e-mail popped up in my inbox. It was from Hans Van Eeghen, informing me that my ‘results’ were now available, and also updating me on the latest developments with the Dharma Initative. It’s a long read, but there’s a jocular tone to it that I can’t say I ever picked up on in previous missives.
Namaste.
I am pleased to announce that registered recruits can now log in and download your personalized Volunteer Assessment Dossier outlining your full test results as well as your position within the Dharma Initiative.
I want to personally congratulate you on behalf of everyone at the Dharma Initiative for your hard work and diligence during our testing process.
We hope that you are happy with your results. We certainly are. The tests were extremely challenging and the aptitude and excellence displayed far exceeded our expectations.
Now that you are in possession of your results I am sure you are asking the obvious question: what's next?
Alas, I am a Black Swan, so I won’t be able to ask a question even if I wanted to. But is that what the whole White Swan/Black Swan thing boils down to? The right to ask Darlton a question!? For the first time in my life I am proud to be Black!
I headed over to http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ and logged in to see what my dossier would contain. I found that it was an Adobe document that I needed to downloaded, which I duly did. Within I found a certificate and a Test Results grid. The news was less than inspiring.
My Certificate of Completion apparently awarded me the position of ‘Brick Layer’.
Brick Layer!? Moi! Do they not know who I am!?
Slightly less ego-bruising, at the very nottom of my Test Results, was a field that stated Recommended Department: Infrastructure Program.
Admittedly, ‘infrastructure program’ sounds like a fancy way of a saying I’ll be working on a building site as part of the Dharma Initative. Still, we all have to start somewhere. . .
I did some cursory research, out of interest, to see what certificate awards and departments had been apportioned out to other people. This is by no means a complete list, but it’s just a few of what I learned of in the short time I bothered to look.
Proof Reader – Recommended Department: Communications Divisions
Research Assistant – Recommended Department: Human Interaction Analysis Program
Cook – Recommended Department: Human Services Division
So far so blah. As ever, I’ll let you know more when I know more.
Namaste.
I am pleased to announce that registered recruits can now log in and download your personalized Volunteer Assessment Dossier outlining your full test results as well as your position within the Dharma Initiative.
I want to personally congratulate you on behalf of everyone at the Dharma Initiative for your hard work and diligence during our testing process.
We hope that you are happy with your results. We certainly are. The tests were extremely challenging and the aptitude and excellence displayed far exceeded our expectations.
Now that you are in possession of your results I am sure you are asking the obvious question: what's next?
Our plan was that together we would commence a glorious adventure: the revival of the Dharma Initiative using the myriad talents of all our amazing new recruits. We imagined not just fulfilling long abandoned goals but taking the Dharma Initiative to a new level of greatness as an organization promoting the peaceful social and technological advancement of all humankind.
Then the financial crisis struck.
Sadly, our benefactors were not immune to this crisis. In fact, unconfirmed reports suggest that much of the money designated for the work of the new Dharma Initiative was tied up in highly leveraged mortgage derivatives. This, however, cannot be confirmed because, I am sorry to report, the principals representing the benefactors - my employers - have gone missing. Based on bills still coming into our office we believe they are somewhere in South America.
This stunning reversal of fortune has forced us to abandon our ambitious plans. In fact, absent this funding, the Dharma Initiative was forced to make the only sensible decision we had available: we sold the Dharma Initiative to the television show LOST.
While this might strike some of you as a shock, the reason for this was not simply that they were the only bidder. As the only remaining Dharma Initiative employee who had not fled the country, I felt that at the very least the show would be able to keep the spirit of the Dharma Initiative alive and in the public consciousness until such time as a reversal of the reversal of our economic fortunes occurs.
It is with a heavy heart that I must bid you farewell. Despite my fervent commitment to the mission of the Dharma Initiative, the realities of a broken marriage, heavy casino debt and some unfounded police charges have required that I change my present circumstances. It is with great excitement that I can inform you of my pending senior sales management job at a large multi-brand auto dealership in Dubai. I have enjoyed our brief association more than I can ever express, and if you are ever in the Middle East and need a car, please e-mail me for a special "Dharma rate".
In the meantime, you will hear shortly from LOST showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. They will explain to you their future plans for the Dharma Initiative and how these plans might affect you.
Thank you again, personally, for your unflagging commitment and support. I hope our paths will one day cross again. In the meantime may the spirit of the island guide you.
Namaste.
Hans Van Eeghen
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of Recruiting
The Dharma Initiative
So, the ARG has now explicitly dovetailed into the Lost show on an official level, and it would seem the next stage of things is going to come directly from Lindelof and Cuse (or ‘Darlton’ as we Losties affectionately like to call them). Frankly, this cynical Comet doesn’t reckon this was part of the original plan for this ARG – rather this is a swift U-turn over the way the thing was going and how long it was taking and the vocal disaffection with the whole thing.
Let’s hope things improve.
Before I get into my own personal results, one last piece of business. I went to the proper website that hosts this e-mail, like in the good old days of this ARG, and checked the source code to see if there were any hidden messages. Tucked away there was this:
!-- DSAqandaatgmaildotcom --
It’s an e-mail address. dsaqanda@gmail.com
Sending a mail to this produces an auto response from ‘DSA Headquarters’, as below.
So, the ARG has now explicitly dovetailed into the Lost show on an official level, and it would seem the next stage of things is going to come directly from Lindelof and Cuse (or ‘Darlton’ as we Losties affectionately like to call them). Frankly, this cynical Comet doesn’t reckon this was part of the original plan for this ARG – rather this is a swift U-turn over the way the thing was going and how long it was taking and the vocal disaffection with the whole thing.
Let’s hope things improve.
Before I get into my own personal results, one last piece of business. I went to the proper website that hosts this e-mail, like in the good old days of this ARG, and checked the source code to see if there were any hidden messages. Tucked away there was this:
!-- DSAqandaatgmaildotcom --
It’s an e-mail address. dsaqanda@gmail.com
Sending a mail to this produces an auto response from ‘DSA Headquarters’, as below.
Alas, I am a Black Swan, so I won’t be able to ask a question even if I wanted to. But is that what the whole White Swan/Black Swan thing boils down to? The right to ask Darlton a question!? For the first time in my life I am proud to be Black!
I headed over to http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ and logged in to see what my dossier would contain. I found that it was an Adobe document that I needed to downloaded, which I duly did. Within I found a certificate and a Test Results grid. The news was less than inspiring.
My Certificate of Completion apparently awarded me the position of ‘Brick Layer’.
Brick Layer!? Moi! Do they not know who I am!?
Slightly less ego-bruising, at the very nottom of my Test Results, was a field that stated Recommended Department: Infrastructure Program.
Admittedly, ‘infrastructure program’ sounds like a fancy way of a saying I’ll be working on a building site as part of the Dharma Initative. Still, we all have to start somewhere. . .
I did some cursory research, out of interest, to see what certificate awards and departments had been apportioned out to other people. This is by no means a complete list, but it’s just a few of what I learned of in the short time I bothered to look.
Proof Reader – Recommended Department: Communications Divisions
Research Assistant – Recommended Department: Human Interaction Analysis Program
Cook – Recommended Department: Human Services Division
So far so blah. As ever, I’ll let you know more when I know more.
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 16
The testing is over. Now the waiting begins. http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ has this message displayed on it site.
(Click to enlarge)
So, apparently nothing until Dec 15th. Don't know if that's the truth, but I like to think it is. Gives the ARG chance to re-group and plan out a more intriguing run-in to the airing of Season 5 this way. But, you know, fear not: I'll be keeping my eyes peeled on all my various sources to keep tabs on any potential changes or happenings and, as ever, as soon as I know the full details I'll relay it here for you.
In the meantime,I can get back to doing more regular non-ARG Lost posts. Namaste to that, motherfuckers!
(Click to enlarge)
So, apparently nothing until Dec 15th. Don't know if that's the truth, but I like to think it is. Gives the ARG chance to re-group and plan out a more intriguing run-in to the airing of Season 5 this way. But, you know, fear not: I'll be keeping my eyes peeled on all my various sources to keep tabs on any potential changes or happenings and, as ever, as soon as I know the full details I'll relay it here for you.
In the meantime,I can get back to doing more regular non-ARG Lost posts. Namaste to that, motherfuckers!
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 15
Test 7: The Honesty and Integrity Test
For those that don’t know the contents and outcomes of the latest test, I’ll let Hans himself explain what Test 7 is all about. . .
So what have we learned from this film?
Number One: The ‘cheats’ within the previous tests were all a part of Dharma’s testing procedure.
Number Two: Hans Van Eeghen was Black Swan all along.
Number Three: Those that cheated are in Dharma’s bad books, and those that didn’t are not.
As anyone who has been following my progress here knows already, I am one such cheating bastard and as such, when I went to check on ‘My Progress’ I found I had been lumped into the Black Swan group. I know that those who did not cheat have merrily found themselves in the White Swan group.
Personally it seems to me the non-cheats have been rewarded for their ignorance. That is the more casual ARG player has been told they are in the 'better' group, but the chances are that the only reason they did not cheat is because they paid no attention to the hidden Black Swan messages and the litany of clues and research that the web was pouring over.
Part of me wonders if this isn't another bluff along the way to reveal the cheating Black Swan group are actually the better candidates. Personally, I would hope so, as it would be a fairer reward for those that put more effort into tackling this game. And I would also hope so since, by default, it would then put me as one of the better candidates!
None-the-less I have rather enjoyed this latest twist. It’s easily the best surprise the game has produced so far and gives me a little more confidence about the next ‘phase’ of the game that will kick in soon. Quite what the fact that I am a Black Swan means for my progression, I don’t know, but I’ll keep it all logged down here. (And I’ll also be keeping my beady eye on tracking the progress of those pesky White Swans to record what they’re involved in that I’m not!)
Namaste, as the saying goes.
For those that don’t know the contents and outcomes of the latest test, I’ll let Hans himself explain what Test 7 is all about. . .
So what have we learned from this film?
Number One: The ‘cheats’ within the previous tests were all a part of Dharma’s testing procedure.
Number Two: Hans Van Eeghen was Black Swan all along.
Number Three: Those that cheated are in Dharma’s bad books, and those that didn’t are not.
As anyone who has been following my progress here knows already, I am one such cheating bastard and as such, when I went to check on ‘My Progress’ I found I had been lumped into the Black Swan group. I know that those who did not cheat have merrily found themselves in the White Swan group.
Personally it seems to me the non-cheats have been rewarded for their ignorance. That is the more casual ARG player has been told they are in the 'better' group, but the chances are that the only reason they did not cheat is because they paid no attention to the hidden Black Swan messages and the litany of clues and research that the web was pouring over.
Part of me wonders if this isn't another bluff along the way to reveal the cheating Black Swan group are actually the better candidates. Personally, I would hope so, as it would be a fairer reward for those that put more effort into tackling this game. And I would also hope so since, by default, it would then put me as one of the better candidates!
None-the-less I have rather enjoyed this latest twist. It’s easily the best surprise the game has produced so far and gives me a little more confidence about the next ‘phase’ of the game that will kick in soon. Quite what the fact that I am a Black Swan means for my progression, I don’t know, but I’ll keep it all logged down here. (And I’ll also be keeping my beady eye on tracking the progress of those pesky White Swans to record what they’re involved in that I’m not!)
Namaste, as the saying goes.
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 14
If you log on to the dharmawantsyou website, and crank the sound up, you might just hear some curious noises (amongst the usual semi-ambient weird ‘music’ of the site). It sounds like a male speaking words, intermittently. Luckily, someone out there has worked out that they are a jumble of words that, put together and re-arranged, state the ‘popular’ phrase: Nothing resembles an honest man more than a cheat.
It’s a particularly relevant phrase, given the level of cheating the Dharma games have been encouraging. Presumably this message has been ‘hacked’ in by the Black Swan guy – perhaps as a response to Hans Van Eeghen’s previous video message calling for the cheating to stop.
Also on the site is a new message that states: ‘Recruit Assessment Closes October 7 2008’. Amen! Hallelujah! Etc.
Anyway, that’s that. Now, it’s another week and another test is in the works. Step forth, ladies and gents, into the joy of Test 6.
Test 6 - Specialized Departmental Evaluation
It’s a particularly relevant phrase, given the level of cheating the Dharma games have been encouraging. Presumably this message has been ‘hacked’ in by the Black Swan guy – perhaps as a response to Hans Van Eeghen’s previous video message calling for the cheating to stop.
Also on the site is a new message that states: ‘Recruit Assessment Closes October 7 2008’. Amen! Hallelujah! Etc.
Anyway, that’s that. Now, it’s another week and another test is in the works. Step forth, ladies and gents, into the joy of Test 6.
Test 6 - Specialized Departmental Evaluation
The instructions above basically tell you that it’s a ten question, multiple choice exam to test for the likelihood of suitable role allocation. There didn’t appear to be much in the way of clues as to how I was supposed to cheat at this test. . . but luckily I had read around before I got started and found out the cheat beforehand. But I’ll get to that.
The test questions themselves were such bizarre ones like: The IEEE is the professional society for what branch of engineering?
The answer is Electrical Engineering.
Now maybe you knew that already, but I sure as hell didn’t. Luckily I had learned that the way to cheat on this test was to hold down the ‘C’ button, and then right-click. This brought up a standard-looking menu, but at the top of it was an option labelled Black Swan. You press that, then the correct answer from the four possibilities flashes, and you can select it and continue on your merry way through all ten questions.
Not unsurprisingly, I got 100%.
Checking my progress informed me that I had been lumped into a group called Ares. (A little too close to the word ‘arse’ for my anagram-fuzzled mind to be happy with, but it’s actually the name of the ultra-hard-sounding God Of War so I can live with it.) A little checking around informed me I could have been in any one of the following groups:
Demeter – Goddess of Fertility
Apollo – God of Light
Ares – God of War
Hestia – Goddess of Hearth (Stone Oven)
Poseidon – God of the Sea
Athena – Goddess of Heroic Endeavour
So there you go. By the looks of it there’s only likely to be one more test, two at most, before this first phase closes. . . This sure is a long game! As a last bit of a business, it came to my attention that certain people received a ‘promotion letter’ through their mailbox informing them that, due to their good performance with their created tests, they had been awarded ‘instructor’ status. Here’s the letter. Click it to read it properly.
Not sure what that means, what special privileges Instructor-status that may get them. Not that I am jealous or anything but I think Instructors are geeky-swots and it’s the cool kids like me that are keeping it real by being hardcore, down ‘n’ dirty Dharma grunts. Yeah, I’m not jealous one bit.
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 13
Firstly, let me say a quick thanks to whoever amongst you faceless, silent readers out there that went and did my Dharma Test as mentioned in the previous ARG post. I know it must have been some of you out there since I didn’t mention the test to anyone anywhere else and my score has increased. So, you know, thanks. Glad you took the trouble. Now, to business.
Everyone that’s been following this knows the drill by now. An e-mail pops up, informing people involved that there’s another test available. . . Here’s the latest:
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
Test 5 - Numeric Project Evaluation
Ostensibly this was a good old fashioned number sequence set of puzzles to rattle through within the five minute time frame. I’m not particularly great with numbers, if truth be told, so this wasn’t going to be one of my finest moments.
I did the test fair and square first time, and rattled through the first six questions with relative, pleasing ease. And then the number sequences started throwing minuses into the mix, and jumps that my poor brain could not understand and that was me done for. My official score was 60%. But, as with all the Dharma tests, as Hans is only too aware, there’s always a cheat. . .
From the video above the little flashing thing in the bottom right of the screen was something called a Conway Sequence. Whatever that is. But what it relates to is question 7 on the test – one that looks particularly bastard hard the first time you hit it. Now I went and looked at the cheat explanation, and even had a go at making the thing work. Maybe I was on a particularly stupid day but I couldn’t work out what the hell it was talking about. Something about clicking Button0 to ‘click’ out the question to get 100%. I didn’t have a clue.
If you want a go at the cheat, the explanation for it is (apparently) here:
http://www.spoilertv.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=3518
Knock yourself out. If I'm too dumb to even get the cheat to work that I evidently don't deserve to get the 100% score it rewards.
So as a result of my efforts I landed in the group Hemera. I could have ended up in one of the following groups that all kind of relate to space:
Aether – Mist/Upper Sky
Chaos – Dark Space
Chronos – Time
Oranos – Uranus, the “Father Sky”
Hemera – Goddess of the daytime
Nyx – Goddess of the night
I’ve ceased being interested in what deep connotations these names and references may hold, but as of Test 5 my current grouping category is as follows:
Ganymede-Brontes-Enceladus-Helios-Hemera
If there’s anyone else out there that happens to belong to the exact same sorting criteria I’d love to hear from you. Maybe when we eventually get into the Dharma Inititative we’ll be roomies!
Everyone that’s been following this knows the drill by now. An e-mail pops up, informing people involved that there’s another test available. . . Here’s the latest:
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: RELEASE OF TEST 5 AND
CLOSING DATE OF RECRUITMENT PROGRAM
Namaste.
I am pleased to announce the release of the fifth assessment in the Dharma Initiative's Volunteer Recruitment Program is now available at www.dharmawantsyou.com.
The latest test in the program is a Numeric Projection Evaluation. It will assess a recruit's ability to recognize a variety of patterns in numeric series.
In response to the impressive progress of a number of recruits I have devised a number of particularly challenging questions in this latest evaluation.
IMPORTANT: CLOSING DATE OF RECRUITMENT PROGRAM
Please be aware that the Volunteer Recruitment Program will officially close at 12:00PM PDT on October 7, 2008.
All testing procedures, including Recruit Created Assessments, will be inaccessible after this date.
All recruits are advised to complete their assessments by this time.
Following the completion of the program, the Recruit Evaluation Panel will collect all assessment data for processing and analysis in order to determine final volunteer roles and group allocations within the Dharma Initiative's latest research project. This information will be collated in a personalized Volunteer Assessment Dossier for each recruit.
Having supervised the recruitment program thus far, I am extremely optimistic that the ranks of the Dharma Initiative will soon be greatly enhanced by the new recruits.
Namaste.
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of Recruiting
The Dharma Initiative
Interesting that we have now, finally, been given a date when this whole thing – or at least this phase of it – ends. It needs to. Interesting though it was at the start it has begun to become something of a treadmill that needs to advance to retain interest. Let’s hope the ‘Volunteer Assessment Dossier’ heralds exciting things.
By the way, I went and checked the source code on the site version of the e-mail. For once there was something there to be seen. . .
“!-- 13237438573 - say Hi from BS --”
So this is a message from “BS”, a.k.a Black Swan (who appears to have taken over subterfuge duties from ‘Ruckus Guy’, though probably they are supposed to be the same purpose). The meaning of the message is actually simple: the number is a phone number. You call it, and you ring Hans Van Eeghen’s phone! I haven’t called it (since I’m not interested in lining the profit pockets of these people setting up the game!) but I have learned that you get to hear an answer machine recording and then a beep to leave your message. Quite what the purpose of that is, if any, I don’t know. The answer machine message is:
“Namaste. You have reached the voicemail of Hans Van Eeghen, the Dharma Initiative's head of recruiting. Unfortunately I am unable to take your call right now, but I do hope you leave a message so that I may address your inquiry at a later time. Thank you and Namaste.”
For those hankering after a bit of Hans the Man, here’s the latest video from him where he bangs on about how the Black Swan guy is a cheat within their midst and threatens to de-value the nature of the testing. Whilst you’re watching, may I draw your attention to the bottom right corner of the screen. . .
Interesting that we have now, finally, been given a date when this whole thing – or at least this phase of it – ends. It needs to. Interesting though it was at the start it has begun to become something of a treadmill that needs to advance to retain interest. Let’s hope the ‘Volunteer Assessment Dossier’ heralds exciting things.
By the way, I went and checked the source code on the site version of the e-mail. For once there was something there to be seen. . .
“!-- 13237438573 - say Hi from BS --”
So this is a message from “BS”, a.k.a Black Swan (who appears to have taken over subterfuge duties from ‘Ruckus Guy’, though probably they are supposed to be the same purpose). The meaning of the message is actually simple: the number is a phone number. You call it, and you ring Hans Van Eeghen’s phone! I haven’t called it (since I’m not interested in lining the profit pockets of these people setting up the game!) but I have learned that you get to hear an answer machine recording and then a beep to leave your message. Quite what the purpose of that is, if any, I don’t know. The answer machine message is:
“Namaste. You have reached the voicemail of Hans Van Eeghen, the Dharma Initiative's head of recruiting. Unfortunately I am unable to take your call right now, but I do hope you leave a message so that I may address your inquiry at a later time. Thank you and Namaste.”
For those hankering after a bit of Hans the Man, here’s the latest video from him where he bangs on about how the Black Swan guy is a cheat within their midst and threatens to de-value the nature of the testing. Whilst you’re watching, may I draw your attention to the bottom right corner of the screen. . .
Test 5 - Numeric Project Evaluation
Ostensibly this was a good old fashioned number sequence set of puzzles to rattle through within the five minute time frame. I’m not particularly great with numbers, if truth be told, so this wasn’t going to be one of my finest moments.
I did the test fair and square first time, and rattled through the first six questions with relative, pleasing ease. And then the number sequences started throwing minuses into the mix, and jumps that my poor brain could not understand and that was me done for. My official score was 60%. But, as with all the Dharma tests, as Hans is only too aware, there’s always a cheat. . .
From the video above the little flashing thing in the bottom right of the screen was something called a Conway Sequence. Whatever that is. But what it relates to is question 7 on the test – one that looks particularly bastard hard the first time you hit it. Now I went and looked at the cheat explanation, and even had a go at making the thing work. Maybe I was on a particularly stupid day but I couldn’t work out what the hell it was talking about. Something about clicking Button0 to ‘click’ out the question to get 100%. I didn’t have a clue.
If you want a go at the cheat, the explanation for it is (apparently) here:
http://www.spoilertv.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=3518
Knock yourself out. If I'm too dumb to even get the cheat to work that I evidently don't deserve to get the 100% score it rewards.
So as a result of my efforts I landed in the group Hemera. I could have ended up in one of the following groups that all kind of relate to space:
Aether – Mist/Upper Sky
Chaos – Dark Space
Chronos – Time
Oranos – Uranus, the “Father Sky”
Hemera – Goddess of the daytime
Nyx – Goddess of the night
I’ve ceased being interested in what deep connotations these names and references may hold, but as of Test 5 my current grouping category is as follows:
Ganymede-Brontes-Enceladus-Helios-Hemera
If there’s anyone else out there that happens to belong to the exact same sorting criteria I’d love to hear from you. Maybe when we eventually get into the Dharma Inititative we’ll be roomies!
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 12
So you hang around waiting for items of interest in a Lost ARG to happen, and then two come along at once. Firstly, Test 4 was announced via this e-mail.
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
Fundamentally this was a ten-question, multiple choice quiz. The questions were supposed to be logical, mathematical puzzles. Some of them were simpler than others (like working out the speed of travel when given a distance and the time it had taken to get there), but I have come to doubt that actual performance in the test matters much to the final outcome. As such, I just answered the ones I could answer and guessed at the ones I couldn’t and saw what was what.
The end question was the trick, where the cheat would come into play. Alas I didn’t know about the cheat when I started so I had to take a complete guess. Basically the last question asked which of the four options was the correct answer, despite all four answers being a, b, c or d.
Had I typed the word ‘Mittelwerk’ at this point the correct answer would have flickered a little for me and I would have known what it was. But since I didn’t know that I just guessed. Oh well.
When I checked my progress I discovered that I had been categorised in a group called Helios.
I could have found myself in one of the five following criteria: Oceanus, Helios, Crius, Cronus or Atlas. All of these are the names of Greek mythological titans, but I’m not that inclined to care about whatever, if any, deeper meaning lies to all of that.
So, you may be wondering, how was anyone supposed to know to type ‘Mittelwerk’ into the test to enable to the cheat? Well, the answer to that lies in this video.
You may have noticed the brief flash during the film. That brief flash showed a black and white matrix:
Apparently this is, and I quote, a “Data Matrix 2D barcode encoding “reiwtletmk”, which is an anagram of Mittelwerk. I’ll be honest, I struggle to see it but I’ll take the word of people that have worked it out and say it is so. Mostly I don’t care.
Anyway, to finish, I took heed of the advice in the video about being able to design my own test. It was nothing fancy, I just had to come up with ten questions and multiple choice answers. Given free reign over what I could do, I decided to pose the questions around some of the mysteries of Lost. As far as I am aware there are not, as yet, any correct answers to my questions – so the answers I designated as correct are the ones that I think are correct.
If you want, you can have a go of my Lost Mystery Test here:
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: TANGENTIAL JUDGMENT ANALYSIS IS NOW LIVE
Namaste.
I am pleased to announce the release of the fourth assessment in the Dharma Initiative's Volunteer Recruitment Program is now available at www.dharmawantsyou.com.
This new test will assess your ability to formulate imaginative solutions to a range of conundrums.
Many of you have already demonstrated your ability to think "outside the octagon", so to speak. I am sure you will find this activity suitably stimulating.
I am also happy to report that a great number of you have enthusiastically embraced the recently released "Recruit Created Assessments" (RCA). Industrious recruits are devising for their colleagues a dizzying array of examination topics that will, no doubt, significantly expand the knowledge base of the Dharma Initiative.
These talented recruits not only stand to significantly increase their Dharma Points but will also be eligible for promotion to the position of "Instructor" in the Volunteer Recruitment Program.
On behalf of the Dharma Initiative I would like to thank these conscientious recruits for their efforts.
On behalf of the Dharma Initiative I would like to thank these conscientious recruits for their efforts.
Keep up the good work.
Namaste.
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of Recruiting
As standard I went and checked the e-mail website address, to look at the Source Code to see if there were any hidden messages. (Funny how such a weird sentence has now become so commonplace!) Anyway, there wasn’t any, which left me to go and see what was what with Test 4.
Test 4 – Tangential Judgement Analysis
As standard I went and checked the e-mail website address, to look at the Source Code to see if there were any hidden messages. (Funny how such a weird sentence has now become so commonplace!) Anyway, there wasn’t any, which left me to go and see what was what with Test 4.
Test 4 – Tangential Judgement Analysis
Fundamentally this was a ten-question, multiple choice quiz. The questions were supposed to be logical, mathematical puzzles. Some of them were simpler than others (like working out the speed of travel when given a distance and the time it had taken to get there), but I have come to doubt that actual performance in the test matters much to the final outcome. As such, I just answered the ones I could answer and guessed at the ones I couldn’t and saw what was what.
The end question was the trick, where the cheat would come into play. Alas I didn’t know about the cheat when I started so I had to take a complete guess. Basically the last question asked which of the four options was the correct answer, despite all four answers being a, b, c or d.
Had I typed the word ‘Mittelwerk’ at this point the correct answer would have flickered a little for me and I would have known what it was. But since I didn’t know that I just guessed. Oh well.
When I checked my progress I discovered that I had been categorised in a group called Helios.
I could have found myself in one of the five following criteria: Oceanus, Helios, Crius, Cronus or Atlas. All of these are the names of Greek mythological titans, but I’m not that inclined to care about whatever, if any, deeper meaning lies to all of that.
So, you may be wondering, how was anyone supposed to know to type ‘Mittelwerk’ into the test to enable to the cheat? Well, the answer to that lies in this video.
You may have noticed the brief flash during the film. That brief flash showed a black and white matrix:
Apparently this is, and I quote, a “Data Matrix 2D barcode encoding “reiwtletmk”, which is an anagram of Mittelwerk. I’ll be honest, I struggle to see it but I’ll take the word of people that have worked it out and say it is so. Mostly I don’t care.
Anyway, to finish, I took heed of the advice in the video about being able to design my own test. It was nothing fancy, I just had to come up with ten questions and multiple choice answers. Given free reign over what I could do, I decided to pose the questions around some of the mysteries of Lost. As far as I am aware there are not, as yet, any correct answers to my questions – so the answers I designated as correct are the ones that I think are correct.
If you want, you can have a go of my Lost Mystery Test here:
It’s the best kind of fun you can have without taking your underwear off!
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 11
It starts with this video. . .
This video was really, I guess, a means of encouraging the gamers along but was really a vehicle for introducing the subversive elements. Mention of the "Black Swan" by Hans Van Eeghen in the video is particularly ironic given that the video itself appears to have been hacked. . . You may have noticed some of the little glitches and slips. Some of those images freeze-framed reveal some interesting things. Such as:
The Black Swan here, kind of like the signature of the hacker. I guess this is 'RuckusGuy', or maybe it's that Dan Bronson guy, or maybe it's neither of them. There's that many intangible mysteries being generated that I don't really have the energy to deal with it. Anyway, after this there are a couple of other glitches with information contained with. Such as:
In this image there is a number 40 on display, but subsequent images reveal the full list of images hidden in the film are:
Black Swan
40
60
The letter B
The letter P
The letter M
So that's that for now. 40-60 BPM. Beats per minute. This comes into play for Test 3.
Test 3
Dexterity and Attentiveness Evaluation
I'll get onto the clues and how they link into the cheat in a little while. The truth of the matter is I had to go and look them up anyway, so what happened for me was I just played the game as I saw it and took it as it came.
The game itself was basically me controlling a small Dharma symbol that I could move araound within a larger space using my mouse. Also within that space with my symbol where four spheres, bouncing around. The aim was simple: Don't touch the sides and don't let the spheres touch my symbol until the timer counted up to 1oo. Failure to do so ended something like this:
It was a reasonably amusing game, but not one that's going to have Nintendo losing sleep at nights. Anyway, as a result of lacklustre efforts at the game (the 9 is not my score, by the way - I did do better than THAT!) I then went and checked my progress and discovered I had been put into a group called Enceladus.
A little researching around the web has informed me that I could have found myself in one of the following groups: Antaeus, Enceladus, Tityos and Otus. These are all linked in to Greek Mythology for reasons that I, frankly, cannot be bothered relaying here. I'm unconvinced such knowledge will ever amount to anything.
So, what was the deal with the 40-60 BPM. Well, basically, it stems back from one of the sentences in the information for the game.
"To assess adroitness within an increasingly unpredictable environment."
Apparently the 'adroitness' is formed from the French phrase 'a droit' meaning 'to the right'. And this meant pressing right-click on the mouse opened up options that basically allowed you to pause the game, speed up the timer, stuff like that, to ensure you got the timer fully to 100.
I've not done it, by the way. Couldn't be bothered. I did the test. I got assigned a group. That's good enough. Bring on the next one, Mr. Eeghen!
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 10
Hurrah! Another day, another e-mail from Mr. Van Eeghen telling me that Test 2 is ready to go. Here’s the mail:
“The Dharma Initiatve – Guiding the World to a Bitter Tomorrow – BS”
Note the substitute of the letter ‘e’ for the letter ‘i’ in “Bitter”; that comes into play for the actual Test. As for the “BS” part, I can’t decide if it’s a comment from the author labelling the term as ‘bullshit’, or whether it’s the initials of the person that left the message.
If they are initials then I don’t know who they came from – unless BS are the real initials of the guy that calls himself Ruckus Guy?
Anyway, that being that I then went to http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ to go and have a run at Test 2: Broad Spectrum Knowledge Analysis. Here was the opening message:
I am proud to state that, on the lookout now for potential ‘cheats’ within the game, I noticed that the ‘i’ in the word ‘Analysis’ had been underlined.
So I started the test (basically a series of random, multiple choice questions to do with science and history and art) and kept pressing the letter ‘i’ to see if it did anything. Mostly, it didn’t. Until I got to the last question (which is apparently always the same no matter what set of questions you got previously).
QUESTION 10
A bit of digging around on the Internet has told me that there are three potential groups I could have been allocated into. Brontes, Polyphemus and Steropes. All of these are names of a Cyclops, or Cyclopes for the plural. I doubt it’s coincidental that a Cyclops has one eye (eye/’i’, geddit!?).
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: BROAD SPECTRUM KNOWLEDGE ANALYSIS IS NOW LIVE
Namaste.
I am pleased to announce the release of the second assessment in the Dharma Initiative's Volunteer Recruitment Program.This new test is a broad-spectrum knowledge analysis.It is a multiple-choice test covering a range of topics.
YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT AT THIS TEST WILL BE THE ONLY ONE THAT WILL BE RECORDED AGAINST YOUR OVERALL TEST RESULTS.THE TEST WILL BE TIMED - DURATION WILL BE FACTORED INTO THE FINAL RESULT.
Be prepared before embarking on this assessment - there will be NO SECOND CHANCES.
I would also like to encourage recruits to take the opportunity to earn extra "Dharma" points. These points WILL contribute to your overall test results and the eventual position you will be assigned within the Dharma Initiative.I trust you will find these new tasks sufficiently challenging and will embrace the opportunity to grow the Dharma Initiative.
I look forward to reviewing your results.
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of Recruiting
The Dharma Initiative
Standard procedure dictated that I go and check the online version of this e-mail and check the source code to see if Ruckus Guy, or anyone else, has embedded any hidden messages there. There was:
Standard procedure dictated that I go and check the online version of this e-mail and check the source code to see if Ruckus Guy, or anyone else, has embedded any hidden messages there. There was:
“The Dharma Initiatve – Guiding the World to a Bitter Tomorrow – BS”
Note the substitute of the letter ‘e’ for the letter ‘i’ in “Bitter”; that comes into play for the actual Test. As for the “BS” part, I can’t decide if it’s a comment from the author labelling the term as ‘bullshit’, or whether it’s the initials of the person that left the message.
If they are initials then I don’t know who they came from – unless BS are the real initials of the guy that calls himself Ruckus Guy?
Anyway, that being that I then went to http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ to go and have a run at Test 2: Broad Spectrum Knowledge Analysis. Here was the opening message:
I am proud to state that, on the lookout now for potential ‘cheats’ within the game, I noticed that the ‘i’ in the word ‘Analysis’ had been underlined.
So I started the test (basically a series of random, multiple choice questions to do with science and history and art) and kept pressing the letter ‘i’ to see if it did anything. Mostly, it didn’t. Until I got to the last question (which is apparently always the same no matter what set of questions you got previously).
QUESTION 10
What is the answer to this question?
A: A
B: B
C: C
D: D
Pressing ‘i’ on this screen caused, for me, Option C to flicker a little. So that was the one I went for. I have since learned that Option C also flashes for everyone. Whether that means cheating was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do I don’t know! Anyway, as a result of all of that, I then checked my progress and found I had been assigned into a group called ‘Brontes’ for Test 2.
A bit of digging around on the Internet has told me that there are three potential groups I could have been allocated into. Brontes, Polyphemus and Steropes. All of these are names of a Cyclops, or Cyclopes for the plural. I doubt it’s coincidental that a Cyclops has one eye (eye/’i’, geddit!?).
Indeed, I now think back to the previous test and the group allocations being based around moons. Where are moons found? Space. And the cheat for Test 1 involved pressing the space bar! There's more rhyme and reason to this whole thing than perhaps first perceived. Though I still get the feeling the group allocation was probably random because, from the results I have seen from polls online, there seems to be an even three-way split between who has been put where. So whilst I’m not altogether bowled over, I am intrigued where this is all headed.
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 9
The results are in! I logged onto http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ to check how my progress was doing – and found that I had been put into a group called ‘Ganymede’.
There are apparently two groups that people have found themselves in. Ganymede and Pandora. Both have Greek mythological roots, and are also the names of satellites in our solar system. (Not the kind that broadcast T.V.! Moons!)
I have seen some discussion about what kind of rationale may have dictated the group selections. Personally I am of the view that it’s entirely random, mainly because I am a little cynical about how much thought would have gone into it. . .
Like, some people thought that Ganymede was a group consisting of people that had cheated. Well I know I didn’t cheat, so I don’t think that’s the way of it. Interestingly, though, there are some clues that suggest cheating is what 'Dharma' wanted people to do!
During Test One, apparently if you pressed the space bar it froze the counter and enabled you to complete the puzzle without losing any time. So what? Well, the test states that it is a ‘Pressurized Spatial Judgment Evaluation’.
Pressurized Spatial?
Press Space?
I think I’ll keep my eye on that. . . Potentially it might be something about the nature of the Dharma selection, or potentially it might have just been a little clue to help people who were struggling.
There is also a Leader Board up and running. I am not on it, by the way. But here’s the way things were when I just looked.
There is some blurb on the ‘What is This?’ option that explains what this Leader Board is all about.
‘This leader board shows the top 10 recruits with the most Dharma Points.
To earn Dharma Points, recruit a friend into the Volunteer Recruitment Program and take part in any extra tasks set by Head of Recruiting, Hans Van Eeghen.
The flags on the right hand side indicate the nationality of our top 10 recruits.
The leader board is updated every 24 hours.’
So basically if you go around promoting the game to other people you get on the Leader Board. Again, like cheating, this all feels like something that takes too much time and effort. I mean, I enjoy taking part but I am hoping that it will add extra meaning to Lost or at least give me something more engaging. So far it’s a little flat. But I’ll stick with it.
There are apparently two groups that people have found themselves in. Ganymede and Pandora. Both have Greek mythological roots, and are also the names of satellites in our solar system. (Not the kind that broadcast T.V.! Moons!)
I have seen some discussion about what kind of rationale may have dictated the group selections. Personally I am of the view that it’s entirely random, mainly because I am a little cynical about how much thought would have gone into it. . .
Like, some people thought that Ganymede was a group consisting of people that had cheated. Well I know I didn’t cheat, so I don’t think that’s the way of it. Interestingly, though, there are some clues that suggest cheating is what 'Dharma' wanted people to do!
During Test One, apparently if you pressed the space bar it froze the counter and enabled you to complete the puzzle without losing any time. So what? Well, the test states that it is a ‘Pressurized Spatial Judgment Evaluation’.
Pressurized Spatial?
Press Space?
I think I’ll keep my eye on that. . . Potentially it might be something about the nature of the Dharma selection, or potentially it might have just been a little clue to help people who were struggling.
There is also a Leader Board up and running. I am not on it, by the way. But here’s the way things were when I just looked.
There is some blurb on the ‘What is This?’ option that explains what this Leader Board is all about.
‘This leader board shows the top 10 recruits with the most Dharma Points.
To earn Dharma Points, recruit a friend into the Volunteer Recruitment Program and take part in any extra tasks set by Head of Recruiting, Hans Van Eeghen.
The flags on the right hand side indicate the nationality of our top 10 recruits.
The leader board is updated every 24 hours.’
So basically if you go around promoting the game to other people you get on the Leader Board. Again, like cheating, this all feels like something that takes too much time and effort. I mean, I enjoy taking part but I am hoping that it will add extra meaning to Lost or at least give me something more engaging. So far it’s a little flat. But I’ll stick with it.
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 8
So I finally managed to log on at http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ to begin my testing procedure for the first time. So. . .
Test 1
The test was very straight forward. Basically you clicked into the screen and there was an empty square in front of you. Around the square were various shapes of all different sizes. The task was to fill the square perfectly using the shapes provided. Generally, at least two of the shapes were not required to complete the puzzle.
The clock started at 100 seconds, and began counting backwards the moment you began. Once you completed the puzzle the timer was stopped, and this then became your percentage rating.
I can admit that, my first go, I managed a measly 18%. But I didn’t quit there and gave it another ten minutes, learning how using the shapes with the flat sides first was the easiest starting point and soon managing to rack up a much faster time. After about ten minutes I decided enough was enough and quit. My finished score was 71%.
I have read since about ways to cheat, by using photoshop to get a first glimpse of the image and work the puzzle out whilst the timer doesn’t move and. . . etc. Well, it’s a computer – and people will always learn how to cheat computers. So being the best cheat isn’t what interests me. 71% was as good as I got in ten minutes. Maybe ten minutes more I’d have been 75% but, really, I figured I’d wasted enough time as it was, and I was getting hungry.
So, that’s Test 1 done. Soon the leaderboard (of cheats!) will be updated and perhaps then I’ll learn what sort of ranking I have achieved and perhaps what role within the Dharma Initiative I have placed myself in! Namaste, as they say.
Test 1
The test was very straight forward. Basically you clicked into the screen and there was an empty square in front of you. Around the square were various shapes of all different sizes. The task was to fill the square perfectly using the shapes provided. Generally, at least two of the shapes were not required to complete the puzzle.
The clock started at 100 seconds, and began counting backwards the moment you began. Once you completed the puzzle the timer was stopped, and this then became your percentage rating.
I can admit that, my first go, I managed a measly 18%. But I didn’t quit there and gave it another ten minutes, learning how using the shapes with the flat sides first was the easiest starting point and soon managing to rack up a much faster time. After about ten minutes I decided enough was enough and quit. My finished score was 71%.
I have read since about ways to cheat, by using photoshop to get a first glimpse of the image and work the puzzle out whilst the timer doesn’t move and. . . etc. Well, it’s a computer – and people will always learn how to cheat computers. So being the best cheat isn’t what interests me. 71% was as good as I got in ten minutes. Maybe ten minutes more I’d have been 75% but, really, I figured I’d wasted enough time as it was, and I was getting hungry.
So, that’s Test 1 done. Soon the leaderboard (of cheats!) will be updated and perhaps then I’ll learn what sort of ranking I have achieved and perhaps what role within the Dharma Initiative I have placed myself in! Namaste, as they say.
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 7
It seems we finally have lift-off. Today (20/08/2008) I received this e-mail:
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF TESTING
Namaste.
Today is the most wonderful of days.
It marks the launch of the Dharma Initiative's Volunteer Recruitment Program.
Having completed the eligibility test you can now download your official Dharma Initiative ID card. Simply go to My Profile and download your card. Carry it with pride.
Today you will also be able to commence our extensive testing program that will assess your suitability for a range of research roles within the Dharma Initiative.
Many years ago I was asked to help rebuild this noble community of scientific inquiry. With its genuinely altruistic vision, I understood that a vibrant volunteer cohort would be a fundamental part of this effort.
Together, with my dedicated recruiting team, I have searched the globe for the best and brightest to join us, to form the foundations of the newly reconstituted Dharma Initiative.
Today we lay that foundation. So that together we can guide the world to a better tomorrow.
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of Recruiting
The Dharma Initiative
First things first, I went and checked the official site this e-mail exists on to see if Ruckus Guy had embedded any messages in the Source Code. There was something odd there. ‘Batteries Ice Pint’. Didn’t look like a message from Ruckus Guy to me. Someone, somewhere online anagrammed this word and came back with ‘Patience Is Bitter’.
That seems to me a cheeky remark left by the creators of the ARG who have probably come under fire for the time its taken to get this thing underway. The irony of this joke won’t be lost on me by the end of this piece. . .
I downloaded my Dharma Card by the way. It’s not as grand as it sounds, being an Adobe document with front and back pictures of a credit-card sized image. The idea is you cut it out, stick to the two together and, I guess, laminate the thing together and “carry it with pride”. Pardon me, but I won’t be bothering. I’m into this game, but I’m not THAT into it! Here’s my card all the same.
But what of the game itself? Well, hearing that the testing was ready to begin, I went to http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ and decided to go and see what was what. . . And found that I could not log on.
I waited and I waited. . .
And I wondered if something had perhaps happened to the servers of the ARG. . .
And then I decided I had had enough of waiting. . .
I guess I’ll just have to try again at a later date, when the mass influx of people trying to play the game has died down or the servers’ capability has increased.
(My thanks to the people at DarkUFO for the amusing pictures above as other people like me found humour in their plight at waiting for this blasted ARG. Patience IS bitterness indeed!)
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF TESTING
Namaste.
Today is the most wonderful of days.
It marks the launch of the Dharma Initiative's Volunteer Recruitment Program.
Having completed the eligibility test you can now download your official Dharma Initiative ID card. Simply go to My Profile and download your card. Carry it with pride.
Today you will also be able to commence our extensive testing program that will assess your suitability for a range of research roles within the Dharma Initiative.
Many years ago I was asked to help rebuild this noble community of scientific inquiry. With its genuinely altruistic vision, I understood that a vibrant volunteer cohort would be a fundamental part of this effort.
Together, with my dedicated recruiting team, I have searched the globe for the best and brightest to join us, to form the foundations of the newly reconstituted Dharma Initiative.
Today we lay that foundation. So that together we can guide the world to a better tomorrow.
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of Recruiting
The Dharma Initiative
First things first, I went and checked the official site this e-mail exists on to see if Ruckus Guy had embedded any messages in the Source Code. There was something odd there. ‘Batteries Ice Pint’. Didn’t look like a message from Ruckus Guy to me. Someone, somewhere online anagrammed this word and came back with ‘Patience Is Bitter’.
That seems to me a cheeky remark left by the creators of the ARG who have probably come under fire for the time its taken to get this thing underway. The irony of this joke won’t be lost on me by the end of this piece. . .
I downloaded my Dharma Card by the way. It’s not as grand as it sounds, being an Adobe document with front and back pictures of a credit-card sized image. The idea is you cut it out, stick to the two together and, I guess, laminate the thing together and “carry it with pride”. Pardon me, but I won’t be bothering. I’m into this game, but I’m not THAT into it! Here’s my card all the same.
But what of the game itself? Well, hearing that the testing was ready to begin, I went to http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ and decided to go and see what was what. . . And found that I could not log on.
I waited and I waited. . .
And I wondered if something had perhaps happened to the servers of the ARG. . .
And then I decided I had had enough of waiting. . .
I guess I’ll just have to try again at a later date, when the mass influx of people trying to play the game has died down or the servers’ capability has increased.
(My thanks to the people at DarkUFO for the amusing pictures above as other people like me found humour in their plight at waiting for this blasted ARG. Patience IS bitterness indeed!)
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 6
Another e-mail from Hans Van Eeghen continues the ‘holding pattern’ this ARG has us eager beavers locked into. We just want to get on and play the game and here we get a mail that tells us the game is not ready yet but it will be! It’s a good date for it, though (15th August (Month 8) being a nice 815 tie-in). Here’s the mail:
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: CONFIRMATION OF LAUNCH DATE FOR VOLUNTEER TESTING
I am pleased to announce that, following an extensive security audit of all departments within the Dharma Initiative, I am totally satisfied that DharmaWantsYou.com is now secure. As a result I am able to confirm a date for the commencement of our latest volunteer testing program.
Visit http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ to confirm the launch date.
I have heard from many of you in recent weeks via email asking what will be assessed in the program and what the nature of our latest research is. I have found your enthusiasm and relentless curiosity extremely endearing. However, in the interests of maintaining the integrity of the testing process, I cannot be forthcoming on these enquiries.
Despite this, I would like to affirm to you all that I am extremely optimistic about these upcoming evaluations and believe that they will yield recruits of the highest caliber.
Good luck to all applicants.
Together we can guide the world to a better tomorrow.
Namaste,
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of RecruitingThe Dharma Initiative
So having received and read this mail I proceeded directly to the website to see what this official date was. . . And it was the 19th. So just a few days wait more then.
As has become standard, I went and checked the official site address for this e-mail that I had received so I could view the source code and see if Ruckus Guy had left any hidden messages there.
There wasn’t any.
This does feel like the most pointless instalment of this ARG to date. Things, surely, can only get better.
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: CONFIRMATION OF LAUNCH DATE FOR VOLUNTEER TESTING
I am pleased to announce that, following an extensive security audit of all departments within the Dharma Initiative, I am totally satisfied that DharmaWantsYou.com is now secure. As a result I am able to confirm a date for the commencement of our latest volunteer testing program.
Visit http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ to confirm the launch date.
I have heard from many of you in recent weeks via email asking what will be assessed in the program and what the nature of our latest research is. I have found your enthusiasm and relentless curiosity extremely endearing. However, in the interests of maintaining the integrity of the testing process, I cannot be forthcoming on these enquiries.
Despite this, I would like to affirm to you all that I am extremely optimistic about these upcoming evaluations and believe that they will yield recruits of the highest caliber.
Good luck to all applicants.
Together we can guide the world to a better tomorrow.
Namaste,
Hans Van Eeghen
Head of RecruitingThe Dharma Initiative
So having received and read this mail I proceeded directly to the website to see what this official date was. . . And it was the 19th. So just a few days wait more then.
As has become standard, I went and checked the official site address for this e-mail that I had received so I could view the source code and see if Ruckus Guy had left any hidden messages there.
There wasn’t any.
This does feel like the most pointless instalment of this ARG to date. Things, surely, can only get better.
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 5
Hans Van Eeghen sent out an e-mail entitled ‘Security Breach at Comic-Con'. Below is the content of the e-mail I received.
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: SECURITY BREACH AT COMIC-CON 2008
As many of you may be aware there have been a number of security breaches in recent days related to the nature of the Dharma Initiative's latest research.
Apart from the leak of a sensitive internal communication there was also the unauthorized release of confidential video documentation during a sponsored panel discussion with the makers of the TV show "LOST" at Comic-Con 2008 in San Diego. Consequently, the person responsible for this breach, a promising recruit by the name of Dan Bronson, has been expelled from the volunteer program and had his Dharma Initiative membership permanently revoked.
Furthermore, the Dharma Initiative has withdrawn their sponsorship from "LOST".
The Dharma Initiative must stress that the video material leaked at Comic-Con 2008 was viewed entirely out of context. Furthermore, the way in which the material was presented utterly distorted its significance and credibility as scientific data.
The Dharma Initiative is extremely disappointed with this outcome and has ordered a security audit of all departments. As part of this audit the DharmaWantsYou recruiting website will undergo a security upgrade in the next few days.
Upon completion of this upgrade a date will be announced for the official commencement of Volunteer Assessments.
All recruits are reminded that the unauthorized release of confidential information pertaining to the details of your activities within the Dharma Initiative will result in instant dismissal from the volunteer program.
Namaste.
Hans Van EeghenHead of RecruitingThe Dharma Initiative
- - -
Makes me wonder what became of Dan Bronson! As ever, if you go to the main website version of the e-mail and view the source code, there’s a little message tucked away in there.
!-- Good luck my old friend Hans –
Not much of a message really, with no clue as to who sent it. I would have to assume it was Ruckus Guy. Is Ruckus Guy and Dan Bronson the same person? It seems likely, but is not yet confirmed.
I’m looking forward to when the test dates get announced and I can get cracking with my recruitment process. . .
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
RE: SECURITY BREACH AT COMIC-CON 2008
As many of you may be aware there have been a number of security breaches in recent days related to the nature of the Dharma Initiative's latest research.
Apart from the leak of a sensitive internal communication there was also the unauthorized release of confidential video documentation during a sponsored panel discussion with the makers of the TV show "LOST" at Comic-Con 2008 in San Diego. Consequently, the person responsible for this breach, a promising recruit by the name of Dan Bronson, has been expelled from the volunteer program and had his Dharma Initiative membership permanently revoked.
Furthermore, the Dharma Initiative has withdrawn their sponsorship from "LOST".
The Dharma Initiative must stress that the video material leaked at Comic-Con 2008 was viewed entirely out of context. Furthermore, the way in which the material was presented utterly distorted its significance and credibility as scientific data.
The Dharma Initiative is extremely disappointed with this outcome and has ordered a security audit of all departments. As part of this audit the DharmaWantsYou recruiting website will undergo a security upgrade in the next few days.
Upon completion of this upgrade a date will be announced for the official commencement of Volunteer Assessments.
All recruits are reminded that the unauthorized release of confidential information pertaining to the details of your activities within the Dharma Initiative will result in instant dismissal from the volunteer program.
Namaste.
Hans Van EeghenHead of RecruitingThe Dharma Initiative
- - -
Makes me wonder what became of Dan Bronson! As ever, if you go to the main website version of the e-mail and view the source code, there’s a little message tucked away in there.
!-- Good luck my old friend Hans –
Not much of a message really, with no clue as to who sent it. I would have to assume it was Ruckus Guy. Is Ruckus Guy and Dan Bronson the same person? It seems likely, but is not yet confirmed.
I’m looking forward to when the test dates get announced and I can get cracking with my recruitment process. . .
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 4
So good old Hans Van Eeghen has been in touch via e-mail once again! On 29th July I received an e-mail entitled ‘Recruiting Volunteers NOW’ which contained the following information.
THE DHARMA INITIATIVE WANTS YOU!
THE DHARMA INITIATIVE WANTS YOU!
Recruiting Volunteers NOW.Join the Dharma Initiative's latest groundbreaking research project.
Visit www.dharmawantsyou.com and complete an 'Eligibility Test'.
Visit www.dharmawantsyou.com and complete an 'Eligibility Test'.
Our innovative research has brought together someof the brightest minds on the planet.And we'd like you to join us.
APPLY TODAY.
HELP GUIDE THE WORLD TO A BETTER TOMORROW.
So, this was what I had been waiting for, and I went to http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ to see what it was all about. . .
If you stick around when the site first loads you will see various slogans swirl around the screen. If you're impatient and press 'Skip Intro' you will miss the following:
Does the world fill you with wonder?
Marvel at human ingenuity
A better tomorrow for everyone?
Join us
Then I was presented with the main page that asked me if I was new, already registered, or registered at Comic-Con. Alas for me I was not yet registered, so I clicked on: ‘Are you a new recruit?’ I was informed that I was to be tested to check for my eligibility and that I would have to answer 17 questions.
I clicked on Commence Test and went through it. Basically the test was in two sections: a Visual Test (where various images were presented with four optional words that you had to select one of in accordance with what you thought was most appropriate) – such as below.
And there was a Perspective Test (where various statements – like you are running down an unfamiliar street – were posted with four options for you select one of in accordance with which seemed right to you) – such as below.
Once the test was complete my results were processed and I was informed that I had passed. To be honest, I suspect it’s impossible to ‘fail’ the test. It’s just a weird, sometimes creepy, kind of test just designed to make you feel like you’re getting involved in something. To that end, it’s quite slick.
Anyway, I registered my details and it now appears that I have been recruited by the Dharma Initiative! Exciting stuff! Back on the site the main page has options to view ‘My Progress’ and a leaderboard – but all of these are so far awaiting me to complete my volunteer assessment, something that should be headed my way over the next few weeks. Maybe my performance there will dictate what kind of ‘level’ I get to. . .
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Last bit of business about this. If you check out the site address http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/site/emails/0729.php, which shows the e-mailed content, and as with previous mails view the source code, our good friend ‘Ruckus Guy’ has embedded a message there.
meta name="Alert1" content="Banks Claw" /
meta name="Alert2" content="DOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOTyoutubeDOTcom
Last bit of business about this. If you check out the site address http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/site/emails/0729.php, which shows the e-mailed content, and as with previous mails view the source code, our good friend ‘Ruckus Guy’ has embedded a message there.
meta name="Alert1" content="Banks Claw" /
meta name="Alert2" content="DOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOTyoutubeDOTcom
FORWARDSLASHwatchQUESTIONMARKvEQUALScW6xkv9vwos" /
!-- Banks Claw --
!-- DOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOTyoutubeDOTcomFORWARDSLASH
!-- Banks Claw --
!-- DOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOUBLEYOUDOTyoutubeDOTcomFORWARDSLASH
watchQUESTIONMARKvEQUALScW6xkv9vwos –
Phew! Let’s pick the bones out of this one.
Firstly, “Banks Claw” is an anagram of ‘Black Swan’. In reality, a Black Swan is a metaphorical term for something that ought not to exist. Like all swans are white, so a black swan showing up is a random, atypical event. Perhaps this is how Ruckus Guy sees himself, or is a comment about the new Dharma Initiative.
So the spelled out website address (they are both the same) is as follows:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW6xkv9vwos
The link takes you to youtube where you can watch a video of the new Dharma Inititive’s promo video that was playing at Comic-Con. Alternatively, you can see it below!
Ruckus Guy also left a message next to the video on youtube saying: “Here it is! Told you I’d get it. More to come. . .”
Phew! Let’s pick the bones out of this one.
Firstly, “Banks Claw” is an anagram of ‘Black Swan’. In reality, a Black Swan is a metaphorical term for something that ought not to exist. Like all swans are white, so a black swan showing up is a random, atypical event. Perhaps this is how Ruckus Guy sees himself, or is a comment about the new Dharma Initiative.
So the spelled out website address (they are both the same) is as follows:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW6xkv9vwos
The link takes you to youtube where you can watch a video of the new Dharma Inititive’s promo video that was playing at Comic-Con. Alternatively, you can see it below!
Ruckus Guy also left a message next to the video on youtube saying: “Here it is! Told you I’d get it. More to come. . .”
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 3
Octagon Global Recruiting got back in touch with me (and the thousands of others who signed up to their recruitment drive!) via e-mail.
The full e-mail content can be seen here: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/site/emails/0716.php
And for those that can’t be bothered to click, here’s what the e-mail and the site states:
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
The full e-mail content can be seen here: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/site/emails/0716.php
And for those that can’t be bothered to click, here’s what the e-mail and the site states:
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH
Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008.
"My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country," said Mr. Van Eeghen. "As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us."
The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.
If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.
The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/
The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/
So before I get into some of the juicier aspects from this latest development, I’ll just review what this piece of information tells us. The important aspects are that Mr. Hans Van Eeghen now has a job title: Head Of Recruiting at Dharma.
There’s also the strong suggestion that he will be making an appearance at Comic-Con. How far they’re going to take that remains to be seen. But it seems clear Octagon Global Recruiting will be a presence there. I expect there will be a ‘proper’ recruitment thing for people to try, and then a version of it - whatever it is - will be available online for the rest of us to have a go at.
I wish I was going to Comic-Con! But I am not. So I am one of these people that has to wait until July 28th when the online assessment will be available. (Incidentally, http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ current has a message:
So before I get into some of the juicier aspects from this latest development, I’ll just review what this piece of information tells us. The important aspects are that Mr. Hans Van Eeghen now has a job title: Head Of Recruiting at Dharma.
There’s also the strong suggestion that he will be making an appearance at Comic-Con. How far they’re going to take that remains to be seen. But it seems clear Octagon Global Recruiting will be a presence there. I expect there will be a ‘proper’ recruitment thing for people to try, and then a version of it - whatever it is - will be available online for the rest of us to have a go at.
I wish I was going to Comic-Con! But I am not. So I am one of these people that has to wait until July 28th when the online assessment will be available. (Incidentally, http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/ current has a message:
We can expect this site to develop a lot more over the coming weeks. . .!
Now, onto a little bit more juice (and a potential ‘star’ character for this ARG) back at the site http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/site/emails/0716.php. At this site, if you view the source code, there’s a message contained within. Full transcription below:
!--
…If you’re reading this, wanna hear something cool?
I’ve got intel about his little “recruitment drive.”
They’re doing some kind’ve personality/IQ testing or something down in SD for ComicCon.
Buddy of mine works down there and has the approvals for their “booth,” he says once you go in no one knows what happens inside and you need an appointment to get in. He also said to make sure you’ve got your Bluetooth on and visible – he’s rigged up a little something.
--
!--
The whole thing sounds like elitist B.S., doesn’t it?
Well, I’m getting in that booth and taking the test.
As many times as I have to before I “pass” (whatever that means?)
And then…
If I can?
I’m gonna tape it so EVERYONE can see what these idiots are up to.
Should be fun, right?
See ya in SD. RuckusGuy OUT.
--
So we appear to have someone leading us through this game and he goes by the name of RuckusGuy. (I’ll have a play with some anagrams of that and see what pops up, but nothing jumps out at the moment.) Potentially the story of the ARG may involve this RuckusGuy getting recruited by Dharma and reporting what is happening like a mole. That would be cool, but is total guesswork by me.
What he should certainly be providing is taped evidence of the recruitment process. It does all sound very interesting. Let’s just hope there’s a lot of thought and effort gone into this to make it bear out the intrigue. So, until Comic-Con, or any other unforeseen correspondence, I guess this puts us up to date. I’ll deliver more when I got more to deliver. . .
Lost ARG 2008 - Part 2
http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/site/emails/0618.html
This is a link to a website version of the e-mail sent out to people who have registered their e-mail address at Octagon Global Recruiting. The interesting aspect to this site is if you view the source code (by clicking in to the View Menu and selecting Source) you can see the following line:
meta name="Alert" content="March has 32 days" /
March has 32 days
This is the title to a story in a comic book. But not just any comic book. It’s the comic book Mystery Tales #40 – which just so happens to be one of the items that Richard Alpert presented to Young Locke during the episode Cabin Fever.
You can read the actual comic book story (it’s 4 pages long, and this link will take you directly to good quality scans of the pages for you to look at) here: http://www.mysterytales40.com/march-has-32-days-last-story-from-the-mystery-tales-40-comic-book-96555
For those that can’t be bothered to look, the story is this:
A man, John Billing, wakes up. He goes to work where, today, he has a bridge to inspect before it is opened. However, his woman calls and says she wants to see him before she leaves at the airport, so John doesn’t inspect the bridge and goes to meet his woman. The bridge then collapses. Pained with guilt, John wishes he could go back but hears a voice in his head telling him that even he did re-live his time over he would do the exact same thing.
Then John wakes up again, confused, because it’s apparently the same day and he thinks it must be a dream. So he goes to work, set on checking the bridge, but his colleagues inform him that they have checked it thoroughly and there’s no problem. So John once again goes to meet his woman. . . but at the last minute he realises he is doing what the voice said he would so and so he quickly goes to the bridge, checks it, and prevents the collapse.
At the end, shocked and confused, he assumes the whole event must have been a dream. Meanwhile, elsewhere, a bunch of scientist stand around puzzled by the fact that according to their calculations March had an extra day in it and they’ll never know why. . .
Evidently there’s some Lost-related ideas in this story; most notably linking to Desmond and the idea of course correction – of being given a second chance to do something differently. I’m not particularly willing to run with this notion, and this story, too far as it may prove to be just one of those curious sidetracks Lost and its creators like to lead us down every now and then to pique our interest.
But, yeah, it’s interesting all the same. Not sure how, if at all, it will feed into this ARG though.
This is a link to a website version of the e-mail sent out to people who have registered their e-mail address at Octagon Global Recruiting. The interesting aspect to this site is if you view the source code (by clicking in to the View Menu and selecting Source) you can see the following line:
meta name="Alert" content="March has 32 days" /
March has 32 days
This is the title to a story in a comic book. But not just any comic book. It’s the comic book Mystery Tales #40 – which just so happens to be one of the items that Richard Alpert presented to Young Locke during the episode Cabin Fever.
You can read the actual comic book story (it’s 4 pages long, and this link will take you directly to good quality scans of the pages for you to look at) here: http://www.mysterytales40.com/march-has-32-days-last-story-from-the-mystery-tales-40-comic-book-96555
For those that can’t be bothered to look, the story is this:
A man, John Billing, wakes up. He goes to work where, today, he has a bridge to inspect before it is opened. However, his woman calls and says she wants to see him before she leaves at the airport, so John doesn’t inspect the bridge and goes to meet his woman. The bridge then collapses. Pained with guilt, John wishes he could go back but hears a voice in his head telling him that even he did re-live his time over he would do the exact same thing.
Then John wakes up again, confused, because it’s apparently the same day and he thinks it must be a dream. So he goes to work, set on checking the bridge, but his colleagues inform him that they have checked it thoroughly and there’s no problem. So John once again goes to meet his woman. . . but at the last minute he realises he is doing what the voice said he would so and so he quickly goes to the bridge, checks it, and prevents the collapse.
At the end, shocked and confused, he assumes the whole event must have been a dream. Meanwhile, elsewhere, a bunch of scientist stand around puzzled by the fact that according to their calculations March had an extra day in it and they’ll never know why. . .
Evidently there’s some Lost-related ideas in this story; most notably linking to Desmond and the idea of course correction – of being given a second chance to do something differently. I’m not particularly willing to run with this notion, and this story, too far as it may prove to be just one of those curious sidetracks Lost and its creators like to lead us down every now and then to pique our interest.
But, yeah, it’s interesting all the same. Not sure how, if at all, it will feed into this ARG though.
Lost ARG 2008 – Part 1
As most Lost fans ought to be aware, it’s become tradition in between seasons for an online game, or ARG (Alternate Reality Game) as they are better known, to be run for us to get involved in during the break. This season is no exception, and the first ‘announcement’ about the new ARG came during an advertisement break during the Season 4 finale.
You can see the advert here.
The advert pointed towards this website: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/
If you haven’t registered there yet, and wish to get involved in the game, I would advise registering your e-mail address. For those that can’t be bothered, but are still interested in what events and information the game throws up, I’ll be reporting my progress here as fully as I can, documenting as much as I can find of value.
So the first stage, having registered at the website, was the receipt of the following e-mail acknowledging my ‘application’:
‘Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, would like to thank you for registering your expression of interest in our latest volunteer recruitment drive.
We will be launching in San Diego on July 24th at Comic-Con International offering select registrants the opportunity to take an exciting aptitude test that will give applicants the chance to demonstrate their unique talents.
The Dharma Initiative hopes you will be able to join us to find out more about their ground-breaking new research project. We will contact you closer to the date with more information.
For those not able to join us in San Diego, Dharma's full recruitment program will be made available online to registered recruits after July 27th.
In the meantime, the Dharma Initiative urges you to spread the word. Invite your colleagues to join the team at http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/ and take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity.
If you can't view the images in this email please click here
THIS IS AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE DHARMA INITIATIVE:This message and its attachments are confidential and may contain information which is protected by copyright. It is intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the authorised recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to the authorised recipient), you must not use, disclose, print, copy or deliver this message or its attachments to anyone. If you receive this email in error, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete this message and its attachments from your system. Any content of this message and its attachments that does not relate to the official business of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries must be taken not to have been sent or endorsed by any of them. No representation is made that this email or its attachments are without defect or that the contents express views other than those of the sender.’
The interesting aspect of this e-mail was that a person named Hans Van Eeghen had been carbon copied (cc) into the e-mail. I sent an e-mail directly to this Hans Van Eeghen and received the following reply:
‘Thank you for your email. I am currently on assignment in the field. I will contact you as soon as I am back in the office.
Sincerely,
Hans
###########################
Note:
Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries unless specifically stated. This email and any files transmitted are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed.
###########################’
I expect we’ll be hearing more from this guy. I’ll let you know more when I know more.
You can see the advert here.
The advert pointed towards this website: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/
If you haven’t registered there yet, and wish to get involved in the game, I would advise registering your e-mail address. For those that can’t be bothered, but are still interested in what events and information the game throws up, I’ll be reporting my progress here as fully as I can, documenting as much as I can find of value.
So the first stage, having registered at the website, was the receipt of the following e-mail acknowledging my ‘application’:
‘Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, would like to thank you for registering your expression of interest in our latest volunteer recruitment drive.
We will be launching in San Diego on July 24th at Comic-Con International offering select registrants the opportunity to take an exciting aptitude test that will give applicants the chance to demonstrate their unique talents.
The Dharma Initiative hopes you will be able to join us to find out more about their ground-breaking new research project. We will contact you closer to the date with more information.
For those not able to join us in San Diego, Dharma's full recruitment program will be made available online to registered recruits after July 27th.
In the meantime, the Dharma Initiative urges you to spread the word. Invite your colleagues to join the team at http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com/ and take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity.
If you can't view the images in this email please click here
THIS IS AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE DHARMA INITIATIVE:This message and its attachments are confidential and may contain information which is protected by copyright. It is intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the authorised recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to the authorised recipient), you must not use, disclose, print, copy or deliver this message or its attachments to anyone. If you receive this email in error, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete this message and its attachments from your system. Any content of this message and its attachments that does not relate to the official business of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries must be taken not to have been sent or endorsed by any of them. No representation is made that this email or its attachments are without defect or that the contents express views other than those of the sender.’
The interesting aspect of this e-mail was that a person named Hans Van Eeghen had been carbon copied (cc) into the e-mail. I sent an e-mail directly to this Hans Van Eeghen and received the following reply:
‘Thank you for your email. I am currently on assignment in the field. I will contact you as soon as I am back in the office.
Sincerely,
Hans
###########################
Note:
Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries unless specifically stated. This email and any files transmitted are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed.
###########################’
I expect we’ll be hearing more from this guy. I’ll let you know more when I know more.
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