text } from "Images May Disturb You", the blog of Georgia Mason, entry #005

[choosetruth]

I'm not the first person to wonder who sent these mystery texts. But I'd like to pose a new question: why? And why, specifically, were they sent in this format?

It's not a secure way to communicate a secret. It's become quickly apparent that there are several different codes and you need all of them to solve the message, which means working together, which means making a lot of noise. While it's possible that non-imPorts would miss the network chatter, the fact remains that far too many people know to keep this anything resembling a secret, even if there had been any indication that the sender wanted that.

So are they trying just to communicate with us? Why use the cipher at all then? It certainly would have been easier to read if they just sent us a clear message. Is this all just a game? And that's not getting into how unsettling it is that this individual has access to everyone's contact information.

Keep your eyes open. I may not know the ulterior motives behind this move, but I guarantee it exists.

I don't have answers yet. Just more questions. Be careful, everyone.

Comments

text; un: Julian Delphiki | Bean

[justlittle]

By sending out 8 separate pieces of a puzzle, the implication is that they wanted us to work together. No one imPort had the whole picture. It required teamwork to solve.

But why?

text; un: gmason

[choosetruth]

The government would have the capability to message each of us individually. Think they're looking to form a team? Still seems like an extremely roundabout way of doing things.

[justlittle]

I think we've formed enough teams of our own. They wanted our attention, now they have it. The question is: for what?

[choosetruth]

I guess that depends a lot on the content of the message. If the content is even important.

We still don't know who "they" are.

[mysterioisthetruth]

I'd guess they wanted the intigue and the chatter. Get everybody talking about it. It's perfect viral advertising.

[choosetruth]

Sure, besides the part where they forgot to name a product.

[mysterioisthetruth]

But that's the beauty of it. Everybody tries to decipher the cryptic clues and then the answer is the product. Genius marketing!

[choosetruth]

Only if we successfully decipher it.

Private | Text

[privatepurchases]

[Someone feels vindicated He has nothing to feel vindicated about he's just finally feeling like himself again after arriving]

What do you know about the government here? I'll trade information for it.

Private | Text

[choosetruth]

What information do you have?

[Jokes on him: if he'd just asked, she'd have told him anything he wanted to know. But now she's gonna barter.]

Private | Text

[privatepurchases]

[The downside to paranoia is you miss out on free stuff.]

It might be known OTO has a vendetta against imPORTs. Could be that but I continue my research. The name however.

Private | Text

[choosetruth]

So you have nothing that isn't already common knowledge.

[anormie]

I think you're probably right about someone wanting to get us all on the same page. Do you think that they're like definitely doing it to incite some sort of paranoia or something? Because you know chaos and all of that?

[choosetruth]

I don't think anything definitely at this point. The content of the message may clear things up some.

[anormie]

I don't know, it sounds like you have a pretty clear suspicion though...

[choosetruth]

Not exactly. [Georgia frowns.] It doesn't make sense. It's so inefficient for passing on a message. The consensus so far is that they wanted us to work together, but why?

I don't think it's meant to spread paranoia. More likely, it's to galvanize us.

Text;

[heliophilic]

To get us to work together. You can tell people to play nice all you want, but nothing brings people together quicker than giving them a piece of a puzzle they can't solve on their own.

People like closure.

Text;

[choosetruth]

So you think that whoever sent the message has postitive intentions, as far as imPorts are concerned.

[heliophilic]

I wouldn't go that far.

It could be conveniently getting us all together for a nice trap.

text - ID: The Annoying Wizard

[iminthebook]

Maybe it was, instead, designed to make people think and talk about it.

text - ID: gmason

[choosetruth]

A reasonable assessment, but doesn't answer the question of why. What's to be gained?

text - ID: The Annoying Wizard

[iminthebook]

I have an idea, but it's a weird one.

It feels... different.

It feels like... deliberate planning to gather a resource.

text;

[eloquentness]

That's what I was wondering too.

As others have guessed, the point was probably for widespread collaboration. If the senders used the same technology as what's provided to us, they probably got our contact info that way. That said: I'm not sure if the sender is representing the government so much as someone who might be affiliated with them.

[ call it a hunch, but Iris isn't willing to bet the whole government is coordinated on this one. ]

text;

[choosetruth]

Certainly I'd doubt it was anything officially sanctioned. But, yeah, I've seen enough to know that doesn't mean we can count out government affiliation.

It's just such an inefficient way of reaching everyone.

text;

[eloquentness]

Agreed. If communication were really the goal, like you said, there would've been no need for a cipher.

So I'm guessing that whoever sent it wanted it to be a secret from non-imPorts, and presumably anyone else with similar clearance. If they WERE an imPort, they would know a better way than our inboxes.

[ read: the mirror network. ]