Inviting VH aka v88 to this forum

[mettle]

Hi All,

I thought a little note to Virginia from us might be nice, alerting her to the existence of this new, hopefully improved, board.

It probably makes sense if it were sent from Milo or Terry with a "thanks for the mention" too.

We could all sign it as well.
Something like:

Dear Virginia,

Thank you ever so much for your continued interest in our little researching community. We did get a little frustrated, however, by the structure of the old forum, so many of us ventured off to create our own. We'd love it if you dropped by every now and then to crib new info. Hopefully, the more organized format will make it easier to keep up. Plus, we will also have a zero-tolerance policy on potty-mouths.

Thank you and good luck on cracking the case,
alissa, john, mettle, jay, milo, dd, terry

add your name if you'd like to add your name (and if you're milo or terry and would volunteer to send it to her.)

[milowent]

sure, i'll be happy to send it to her.

[dd]

I'm in.

-dd

[Terryfic]

Ummm… I actually was sending her a message this morning and already let her know about this place. But a formal invite would never hurt.

[Virginia]

Thanks very much for the invitation. This is great. I hope we really can solve this now, without distraction. Right? One day it will be solved, won't it?! (I have some new discoveries that I'll post in another forum.)

But just so you all know--and this may take a few paragraphs to explain--my plan is to keep recording developments on the Screens blog until either (1) someone takes credible credit/blame for LG15 OR (2) there's just a critical mass of stuff to write about LG15, YouTube and her interpretive community (i.e. you--or, us!).

At that point, I'm going to write about it at length, along the lines of the funtwo/Internet guitar gods story, which (damn) is behind the Times firewall, but I can post the whole thing--or the lead--here, if anyone's interested in getting a sense a prototype for the LG story.

I don't intend to be proprietary about my discoveries, even though there are other reporters working on this. It's just not Watergate, and it's more interesting as a wiki project than an old MSM gotta-beat-everyone-to-the-scoop story. Done that way, it would be months of gathering string in silence and then a big reveal story a month or two from now. That does not seem true to the serialized, community spirit of the LG15 story (when it's at its best).

That brings me to the question of the discoveries of the board. If anyone does NOT want me to publish his or her insight in Screens, or wants to be sure it's properly attributed to a real or screen name, please let me know on here or on email: [e-mail].

I have been (as I say) taking this as a committee project, but I really, really want you astoundingly bright sleuths to get your due. Not to mention that readers are increasingly fascinated by WHO has the skills to penetrate this. So if you'd like me to say, "A fan with the screen name of Alissa Brooke has suggested that X," I'll do it. Or if you'd like me to say, "A 44-year-old ironworker in Pennsylvania has proposed X," I'll do that. If you want a real-life ID, though, please give me a reporter's way to double-check it. It doesn't have to be anything too complex--I'm a trusting person--but enough so that I don't print something inaccurate in the New York Times. A phone call or company email address is usually enough to dispel doubts. Make sense?

I hope this is all clear. I'm SO glad we have this forum now. Other possible people to invite who might make good contributions include Brian Flemming, if we believe his denial of involvement; David Pogue, my Times colleague in technology who is helping me with the tech components of this story; John Green, the young-adult writer, who has posted under his own name on lonelygirl15; Jonathan Zittrain, who heads the cyberlaw center at the Harvard Law School, and who is just wicked smart and obsessed with LG; and others from media, politics and publishing who have contacted me to curse me for getting them interested.

Please advise on that, and let me know if this all sounds good to you. I can also move this post to another forum, if that works better.

Thanks again.

Virginia

[Alissa Brooke]

John Green was the first to sign up, Virginia. Great to have you here! I'm hoping I can shape this up to be an excellent resource within a few days.

[dd]

Excellent! VH is in. Yes! I think it would be great to invite her colleagues Pogue and Zittrain. They sound like they've got the skill/clout/talent/resources, etc. to get the job done. Especially the web technical expert and the legal eagle. Those two directions seem to be the only really avenues that lead to hard evidence. Plus, they get paid, in part, to spend chunks of time on somehing like this [which is getting pretty hard for me to justify to (hide from)my superiors!]

Don't get me wrong, I love to use screen clues to try to second guess the plot, but, those leads are in total control of the Troupe doing this. The internet trails and legal documentation trail are the ones that will solve the "who" of this riddle.

And my main reason for doing this is for the hunt of who, and not so much for the story line. It's not THAT engaging, and, in the end, I think it's just there to get the real ball rolling.

VH, don't make us play another waiting game...what's your other post with your "new discoveries"? Inquiring minds wanna...ooh, sorry, other paper.

-dd

[mettle]

Virginia,
I'm glad you've joined as well.

I'm particularly happy you see this as "a serialized, community spirit [...]". It's been my hope, all along, that this aspect of the story's unfolding would get attention. To me, this project represents a wonderful microcosm of a group coming together and accomplishing more than what could have been accomplished alone.

Honestly, my ultimate motivation is political. Here, we have an example of people contributing to an common effort to a degree that they are each able. There is no expectation of individual reward based on that effort, rather we all get the same satisfaction in the end. We also see it in our best interest that newcomers are brought up to speed and not left to fall behind. This way of thinking is precisely what I believe my party stands for and what I've been advocating for with my time. Just my $.02 on *that* (dry) subject.

Please feel free to invite the folks you've mentioned. I've always enjoyed Pogue's articles, myself.

Thanks,
mettle

[hyemew]

Welcome Virginia! As the longest running poster, I've found some stuff in the past and certainly the future! By all means mention me if a reason comes up, I'll give you more details on me by e-mail if the time comes.
Your Watergate reference reminded me of a name you bestowed on the LG series at the very beginning, The Dreyfus Affair of our time! Hahaha I loved it!

[curiousgeorge]

Hi Virginia.

Any news on the Joss Whedon denial I suggested?

This does seem like something he would like and it would be really cool if we could get him in on this....