ARG: Who Is Benjamin Stove-New

The Who is Benjamin Stove site is OPEN again

SirQuady@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 03:09:44 +0000

I hardly could believe my een, when I received a topic reply notification!

Okay, I just wanted to let any that may be interested know that they can now get back into the site :D

Last of the Tuckermail!

mapmaker@forums.unfiction.com — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 06:53:44 +0000

Vera Stove print has arrived!

SirQuady@forums.unfiction.com — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 02:30:40 +0000

I received my Vera Stove Print with a "Certificate of Authenticity" today via UPS Ground. At the bottom of the painting "The Solvers" (all of us) are listed. :D

Article in Advertising Age

Mr.Lovek@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:57:01 +0000

Hey Solvers, we just got a nice article published in Advertising Age. And our boy LOVEK got some nice quotes.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=110432

WARNING! The site has been infiltrated by a virus

imbri@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 17:19:54 +0000

DO NOT visit the site!

The main page of the forums has been infected with a line of code which tries to download and execute a trojan. I haven't been to the blog or other forum pages, but I wouldn't trust them myself. My office's anti-virus detection flagged this as a trojan, and fortunately my system stops with a "do you want to run this?" before executing the code.

Addlepated has sent an email to the site owner at GMD Studios. Let's hope this is fixed soon.

(and i still haven't received my crop circle poster)

WIBS Post Game PM Chat - Thursday, April 13th 9pm EDT

Iain@forums.unfiction.com — Mon, 15 May 2006 19:53:33 +0000

A post game chat with the Puppetmasters of Who Is Benjamin Stove? has been scheduled for "Stoveday" - Thursday, April 13th at 9pm EDT (6pm PDT). It will be a moderated IRC chat held on irc.chat-solutions.org in #benjaminstove.

For those unfamiliar with IRC, you can use the Unfiction Java client to connect easily without installing a new client. Just select the room "benjaminstove" from the drop down list to go directly into the chatroom. If you need detailed instsructions, please read this wonderful thread by imbri to get you started. Unfortunately for people stuck behind corporate firewalls, with the disapperance of the open public cgi clients, connection to the chat may be impossible for you. We do apologize in advance for this and invite you to submit your questions below. We will make every effort to ask questions of people not in attendance and post the log after the chat.

As many players may not have participated in a moderated PM chat before, here is a brief tutorial (based upon past chats. Your actual experience may vary.)

Players, moderators and PMs will gather in the #benjaminstove chat room. About 10-15 minutes before the start of the chat, a queue will be opened for those that wish to ask questions. You can join the queue by messaging one of the moderators (e.g. /msg Rowan I have a question to ask ). Your name will be added to the list on a first come, first served basis, so make sure you arrive early and pay attention to the annoucements in the channel if you wish to ask a question. The queue is normally closed at the start of the chat, although depending on the number of questions received and how quickly they are answered, it may be opened again later in the chat. If you have multiple questions, you will have to join the queue multiple times, but please be aware that we will normally allow everyone one chance before letting questioners repeat.

Once the chat starts, the room will be moderated - that is, no one can talk unless they are a moderator, a PM, or the question asker. A secondary chat room may be established for those that wish to comment on the chat as it is ongoing. When it is time for a new question, the person next up in the queue will be voiced and allowed to ask their question. The moderators will make every effort to alert players when they are next in line, but please be aware that you may receive no warning other than being voiced in the channel. In order to keep things moving at a quick pace, we ask that everyone in the queue already have your question typed out and ready to be pasted into chat when they are voiced. Please keep in mind that there is a maximum number of characters that can be pasted into the chat, so avoid lengthy questions or break them up into multiple lines to avoid having part of it cut off. You are normally allowed one question and one related follow-up per turn. Follow-ups may be eliminated at the discrection of the moderators based upon time constraints. If it turns out that your question has been asked and you cannot think of a new one before your turn, please let the moderators know as we can push you back in the queue until you are ready. Once the question and follow-up have been answered, the current questioner will be devoiced and a new turn will start.

PM chats normally run for about an hour in duration. They can run longer if the PMs schedules permit it, although it is not a guarantee. At the end of the moderated chat, the room will be reopened up for general chat with anyone who wishes to stay around. If you have any questions during the chat, please feel free to /msg a moderator and they will assist you as best as they can.

If you are unable to attend the chat, but still have a question to ask, please ask it in this thread. Moderators will gather all the questions at the beginning of the chat and will ask them on your behalf. We will try to get as many questions answered from this thread as possible, but please be aware that we may remove some questions from our list if we deem them very similiar (or identical) to questions asked by players attending the chat.

Wikipedia article

SirQuady@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 10 May 2006 23:03:09 +0000

Not sure if anybody will see this here now that it's been moved, but one can but hope. I'll probably post this on the IG forums, too.

I wanted to draw attention to the Wikipedia article that I archived at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ciaran_H/Who_is_Benjamin_Stove%3F . I'm in the process of editing it, and I was wondering if you would like to help? I imagine the game would be notable enough now to do a full writeup on it.

Just a thought. :)

Foily!

church@forums.unfiction.com — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 14:39:34 +0000

Our beloved Foily emoticon ( <:o ) from WIBS has officially been added to the Unforum list.

Let the paranoia continue...

Just type "< : o" to use him (no spaces)

Credits!

church@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 19:05:02 +0000

The credits for WIBS are now up on the GMD site:
http://www.gmdstudios.com/blog/000301.html

Some of you might recognize a name or two from the list. Thanks to everyone involved for putting on a great show!

Fenwicked

thebruce@forums.unfiction.com — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 20:59:00 +0000

Thanks to Sidtheduck...we have this .

Keep in mind that it's still being checked over, but: :P <:o

[HUMOR] Ethanol on the Red Green Show

BS@forums.unfiction.com — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:31:16 +0000

If you're Canadian, and even if you're not, you might have heard of the TV show Red Green .

Well, tonight it went through it's final episode. As part of the celebrations, Red made a perpetual motion machine that caught my attention, as it relates to something in WIBS!

H takes a lawnmower, attaches it to a capacitator (or some
weird electricity thingy), so that when the mower spins, it turns the capacitator and creates electiricity to spin a fan blade

the fan blade hits some corn plants, knocking the corn cobs into a kitchen sink, where they are ground by a garbage disposal, and fall into a bin....where they ferment and become ethanol ....which falls into the mower's engine, and powers it, starting the process over again, thus, perpetual motion!

Naturally, it doesn't quite work
...but i thought it was hilarious!

Glacial pace. (Now resolved, thank you PM's)

Synchronicity@forums.unfiction.com — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 04:52:29 +0000

Of WiBS. This waiting game is driving me crazy.

[SPEC] of the W.A. variety.

Blue K@forums.unfiction.com — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 01:27:56 +0000

Maybe we should confine all WiBS wildarse speculation (W.A.S.) to unfiction and only post on the IG boards when we have a realistic theory, or ask the IG characters via PM. That said, don your aluminum coated choice of head-wear.

The following too-big tome is in regards to my W.A.S. about any feud or other relationship between Tuck's relatives and Ben stove.

First of all, it might be a good idea to read doomcrayon's (where is doom?) what we know .

Tucker's Dad
- Never supportive of Tucker's search for Ben Stove.
-- Removed Finnish article from fridge after Mom. put it up there, "loses" laminated copy of article.
-- He thinks (the WiBS board) is crazy. (Kinda taken out of context )

Tucker's Mom (hereafter known as Mom . )
- Uncomfortable discussing the Stove family.
- Spurs Tucker to remember as a kid, adults occasionally discuss "problems with the Stoves".
- When asked about Ben she says "I just hope he's found peace wherever he is.
- States that "Tucker's Aunt and Uncle's was out by Tuck's grandparent's then."
- Mom drops (IMO) a metaphorical bomb when she posted that she drove out past the old Stove farm and said "When the Darby's still lived out there, it was different. Nobody could compete with the Stove's. Their house may have looked dim, but the land put everyone elses to shame. Tucker's grandpa used to complain about it all the time, said it made him look bad. He'd be pleased to know that his farm puts the Stove's to shame today."

Blog
- Ben's parents killed in a fire in 1961.
- Scarecrow decapitated and hung upside down, mid-80's
- Supposed MiB's snap a photo with Tucker outside the diner where he met Ben, print it out and put it in Mom.'s mailbox.

Ben's tragedies and farm problems
- From 1986 Farm troubles letter:
-- "It would appear, that since my farm had such a good yield this year, that I have "single- and under-handedly" dropped the price of soy and corn in the great state of Iowa."
-- "I also have my neighbors making a complaint about my irrigation ditches. I've had inspectors out here twice to look at the ditches. I got the feeling they were trying to find something to fine me for."
-- "I've got a collection of village idiots doing everything they can to sabotage my farm because they are jealous."
-- "Paul Stuyvesant threatened to bring the FAA to write me tickets because he said my solar panels are blinding him when he flys. He's really angry because I don't use his crop dusters."
-- "Someone also slashed the tires on the combine. And when I had Earl Rind out to fix it, he didn't come too quickly. Took him 2 days. He wouldn't have done that to anyone else, I know it."
- From Crops seized letter.
-- "And it gets worse. I took her to the university hospital for her check-up and treatments. We didn't get back until early evening and already there were a swarm of FDA people around the silo."
-- "They seized my crops, Doctor. Seized them! I thought for sure that all the rumors about my fertilizer was just town talk. Not anymore. Someone convinced them it was worth looking into. Next thing I know, agents are taking my harvest as a 'precaution'."
-- "My insurance doesn't cover confiscation as a loss. I'll be in the same boat I was in after the tornado: unable to collect."

W.A.S. Concerning the Darby's (not Tucker though)
- Tucker's meeting with Ben was in Newton, supposed MiB's taking photos and personally dropping it into Mom.'s mailbox. Mom. slips up here.
- Tucker's Dad knew where the meeting with Ben Stove was taking place, he snapped the photo of Tucker and placed the photo in his own mailbox.
- Tucker's Dad is a MiB? What does he do for a living? Mom. said she was going to call Dad at work, so he is employed...but where?
- Mom. uncomfortably says she hopes Ben has found peace, was it because her family/friends/neighbors literally drove him out of town?
- BIG TIME W.A.S. Tucker's Grandfather and/or Uncle Jack and/or Uncle Jim and/or Tucker's Dad were the ones who harassed Ben and reported him to the FDA?
- BIG TIME W.A.S. Ben's parents killed in a fire that began as a prank/harassments by Dad and his brothers?
- Scarecrow decapitated and hung upside down by the Darby brothers?

Even if any of the above W.A.S. is true, does it really get us anywhere? I'll answer that, probably not. It may help fill-in some backstory I suppose.

Post up your theories.

TINAG lives.

FLmutant@forums.unfiction.com — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 19:37:39 +0000

Combine alien / conspiracy theorists with a corporate sponsored ARG, Confusion ensues.

[UPDATE] Blog post from 4/4

rowan@forums.unfiction.com — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 15:17:31 +0000