old school method 4 destroying a newsgroup

And old school bbs runs for years.
Say there is a circle of primary posters.
One day one of them introduces the riddle.

Someone eventually guesses it, or worse quickly.

The OP is then revealed by the test to be a sociopath.

The effect is like that of an atomic bomb going off.
The entire community immediately and irrevers-
ibly distrust the one who guessed it right.

In all my years of being trolled this
is the worst one I have ever seen.
And that includes some of the
psycic abuse I've seen which
is just ghastly.

So here is
the riddle.

This is a genuine psychological test. It is a story about a girl.

While at the funeral of her own mother, she met a guy who she did not know.

She thought this guy was amazing, so much her dream guy she believed him to be, that she fell in love with him there and then...

A few days later, the girl killed her own sister.

Question: what is her motive in killing her sister?

DON'T scroll down till you have thought what your own answer is to the question.

Answer: She was hoping that the guy would appear at the funeral again.

By the time people figured out it was a weaponized version of an internet meme, it was too late. Countless newsgroups had been devastated. There are probably a lot of people out there who think they may be a sociopath.

Anyway, I hope this helps the one or two people who didn't know about it to be innoculated against this kind of trap. It's almost like passive aggressive sabbotage when deployed in the right way.


David Grouchy

what? how does guessing an amusing riddle correctly make you a sociopath?

it is a riddle, it is meant to be solved. this would not effect an entire community on a forum.

reply to post by davidgrouchy


If that one gets you then how about this one:

A man wakes up to find his house in flames. There are two other people in the house as well, his wife and his infant child. The child is screaming and the wife is unconscious due to smoke inhalation.
There is only enough time to save one person. Who does the man save?

The emotional answer is, of course, he saves the infant.

But the rational answer is that he saves his wife because he and the wife can have another baby, but he and the baby cannot make another wife.

...I still don't get how this riddle destroys BBSs or gets people labeled as sociopaths though.

There is no history of this riddle doing anything sinister to anyone in the history of its existence.

Why would you post that it has destroyed countless news groups?

Absolutely "invented" and completely false.

Gee wiz...newsgroups are LITTERED with radical views on all sides...nothing like a "silly riddle" would even remotely disturb the loosest of online communities.

Further more... guessing (or googling) the answer to this means nothing, it proves nothing of one's psyche, and does nothing to provide a detailed insight on anyone who may guess (or google) the answer.

Is this the kind of thread work you think we should all be doing here on ATS?

Making up stories about stories?

Mr Mask not impressed...

Only the first half of the riddle is deployed.
The thread grows large and is debated for days.
Finally someone says the answer and only then does
the person who posted the riddle say "It's a test to catch sociopaths."

And then entire forum would turn to ice.

People would reread everything
the person who guessed
had ever written.

But it was the person who posted the riddle,
and how they posted it, and then framed someone for bad behavior
that made it dangerous. The people who did this were the only one's exhibiting
any sociopathic traits. Like the inability to empathize with their victim.
Back in the day, sociopath was a radioactive word
it was like going to woodstock and having
everyone point at you and say
Charles Manson get him!


David Grouchy

It's was run like a contest,
but the prize was being internet proved
to be something malicious or inheirently evil.
A horrible thing to do to one's own forum don't ya think?


David Grouchy

i got a riddle...
what is round, has a head on it, and can be found in my pants?
answer a quarter

Originally posted by 2weird2live2rare2die
i got a riddle...
what is round, has a head on it, and can be found in my pants?
answer a quarter

If this turns in to a riddle thread, I will flag it.

Star for you sir!

reply to post by davidgrouchy


link to the thread, so we can see for ourselves. you may have taken a joke too seriously.

I'm glad ya'll called me out on this.
I'm going to have to plead the 5th.
This friend of a friend cover story
isn't going to work. Remember
pleading the 5th is not an ad-
mission of guilt, but some
of the people I have train-
ed in the past have
gone bad.


David Grouchy

The only reason I brought it up is if one looks at the time stamp of this thread

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I was concerned that someone's real life was
about to be ruined, but the MoDs got on it
really quick. So well done by ATS.


David Grouchy


Here is a quote from the Mod on page 3

IMPORTANT NOTE ON THE TOPIC AND ATS MEMBERSHIP

ATS is not a place where investigation of or speculation about the identity of any member is appropriate (NOTE: See below). As a general rule, threads dedicated to such activities are closed or removed. Contribution of opinions on ATS should never be met with ad hominem attacks, speculations about "real life" identities or other attempts to intimidate or discourage participation.

What's the purpose of confusing newsgroup?