arthurblake
arthurblake was the first and, as far as I know, only fake internet person I have believed to be real. "He" added me to his friends list in 2002 after finding me through the invertebrates community I created, and we occasionally talked roaches. Roaches turned out to be a big part of the spooky stuff surrounding his "disappearance". Two other online journals were also a part of the story: http://minty4resh.blogspot.com and http://stephenpeterson.home.mindspring.com (Stephen's journal is no longer available, and unfortunately I neglected to save a copy of it).
Both Arthur and Minty's journals were created/first updated within days of each other. (This would set off Faker Alarm bells for me now, but I didn't notice it then.) Arthur and Stephen were supposed to have been roommates in college, and Stephen later became friends with Minty. They all live in Boston. Arthur and Minty meet each other sometime soon after the journals are created. Eventually Weird Shit goes down and gets more and more frequent. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who wishes to read the archives, but themes include: spooky mystery cult guys who make ominous and incomprehensible speeches! swarms of cockroaches! old occult woodprints! mysterious languages and incantations! insanity! eventual disappearance! unhelpful police! independant sleuthing!
arthurblake seems to me to be more refined than most LJ fakery, and is more of a work of fiction than a drama factory or attention generator. The author/s did get a little heavy handed at the end, and it is this that (finally) tipped me off that none of it was real. Stephen's last entry contained a laughably bad "secret message" to Minty: random letters that were capitalized throughout the paragraph spelled out the phrase "MINTY DON'T STOP LOOKING". After this last entry in Stephen's journal, the story just died off.
Anyway, I occasionally go back and read the archives and laugh at myself for having believed any of it. It's a fun story. If you have a little time to spare, check it out.
Edit:
I just found this and haven't finished reading it, but it's (!!!!!!!!!!!) the documentation for the entire storyline.
http://www.barbelith.com/topic/6778
Sweet.
--
Edit II!
LJ users in on the plot, though not necessarily authors of any of the journals:
damabupuk (primary author of Arthur Blake)
grantb (primary author of Minty)
squirmelia
theapplepicker
toddius
more?
(There were several different authors over the course of the story, so I don't really know who wrote what.)
Both Arthur and Minty's journals were created/first updated within days of each other. (This would set off Faker Alarm bells for me now, but I didn't notice it then.) Arthur and Stephen were supposed to have been roommates in college, and Stephen later became friends with Minty. They all live in Boston. Arthur and Minty meet each other sometime soon after the journals are created. Eventually Weird Shit goes down and gets more and more frequent. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who wishes to read the archives, but themes include: spooky mystery cult guys who make ominous and incomprehensible speeches! swarms of cockroaches! old occult woodprints! mysterious languages and incantations! insanity! eventual disappearance! unhelpful police! independant sleuthing!
arthurblake seems to me to be more refined than most LJ fakery, and is more of a work of fiction than a drama factory or attention generator. The author/s did get a little heavy handed at the end, and it is this that (finally) tipped me off that none of it was real. Stephen's last entry contained a laughably bad "secret message" to Minty: random letters that were capitalized throughout the paragraph spelled out the phrase "MINTY DON'T STOP LOOKING". After this last entry in Stephen's journal, the story just died off.
Anyway, I occasionally go back and read the archives and laugh at myself for having believed any of it. It's a fun story. If you have a little time to spare, check it out.
Edit:
I just found this and haven't finished reading it, but it's (!!!!!!!!!!!) the documentation for the entire storyline.
http://www.barbelith.com/topic/6778
Sweet.
--
Edit II!
LJ users in on the plot, though not necessarily authors of any of the journals:
damabupuk (primary author of Arthur Blake)
grantb (primary author of Minty)
squirmelia
theapplepicker
toddius
more?
(There were several different authors over the course of the story, so I don't really know who wrote what.)