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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): Interaction
[LOCKED] (Please help!) [OUTGOING] Floodmail for the Princess
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Freelance
Boot


Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 61

 		(Please help!) [OUTGOING] Floodmail for the Princess
Ok, I don't really think we're getting anywhere sending Ladybee777 a million different emails and questions, most likely we're either confusing him/her or are lessening our chances of getting the important questions answered.

So some of us in the chat had an idea to get the attention of whoever is controlling Ladybee777 and get some information out of him/her!

What I propose we do is all of us (or as many of us as possible) send the same letter to Ladybee777SPLAThotmail.com... This will ensure that it is seen, and that it is from all of us, instead of just one of us. Think about it, whoever it is sent ALL OF US a letter, so it would be logical for ALL OF US to go in on a reply and send it on! And the reason for sending so many is to make sure it is seen, and noticed that it is different!

I've already composed what I think to be a strateigic letter for several different reasons, one of which being its simplicity, and I'm posting it here for your approval before we launch it. If there are any changes you want made, anything you want included or taken out, please say so because it's your letter too. Once we decide on a finalized one, however, PLEASE do not make any changes to it when you send it! That will greatly detract from the message we're sending. We have to work together as a team, here guys...

As for suggesting changes though, don't do it just to personalize the letter, only suggest changes if you think there's a good reason to make them.

One last thing before I post the letter, and this is important: PLEASE DO NOT SEND THIS YET!!! After we've made all the necessary corrections we'll all send it out, and hopefully most of the copies will be sent within about the first 5 minutes. Then sparradically more can be sent out throughout the day. Please only send the letter once, though. If everybody sends it once, it'll make a point, but it won't be malicious spam.

Quote:
To: Ladybee777
From: friends of Dana (good-guys)

Hello, how are you? We received your letter, it was very interesting. It appears you have been doing some reading, I hope you liked the literature we sent you. If you're wondering why you're getting so many copies of this email, it's because we're trying to make this as simple as possible for you. Instead of giving you a million different emails and questions to read, we're giving you one letter to respond to. I hope you will respond as soon as you can, as the countdown isn't getting any slower. I believe we are both working toward the same goal, so why don't we help eachother? Friends?

If we can be friends, then we need to know what to call you. This is our first question for you:

WHO ARE YOU?

Are you the Princess or the Flea from the story? You already said you did not like the Queen or the Widow, so surely you're not one of them. Please tell us your name so we can be friends. We've already given you our names, mine is written at the bottom of this letter. Maybe you could say: "My name is the Flea" or "My name is the Princess" or "My name is neither"?

ARE YOU OK?

We are concerned about you. The Queen and the Widow are dangerous, please let us know that you are ok. And is there anything we can do to help you? We know you want to see Dana, but we really can't help you do that unless you answer a few more questions for us. I know you've answered a lot of questions already, but we're still having trouble figuring out exactly what you mean. Do you need us to send you more literature, or more words so you can communicate better?

HOW DO YOU KNOW DANA?

You said in your last letter that Dana is a good-guy/friend. That is good to hear, she is our friend too. How do you know her though? And what are you trying to do to help her? How can we help you help her? Do you know any way we can contact her? Voicemail, email, snail mail, in person? We are worried about her and we think the Queen may be trying to kill her.

WHY DID YOU LEAVE OUT THE THIRD CHAPTER?

In your email there is no chapter three! Was this a mistake? We know you are having some trouble with English, or you are trying to out-smart the Queen. Does this maybe have something to do with the recipe 3 on the website? Also the "T-U-R-T-L-E Power" reference at the bottom of your letter confused a lot of people, can you tell us what you meant or why you included it? Maybe you were making a joke, or maybe you were trying to tell us something?

Please keep writing to us, we really enjoy your letters. We need to help Dana. If you will try to answer as many of these questions for us as you can, we will try to find her for you. Thank you!

This one means to trust me: Wink

Sincerely,
Lance


The first 3 questions I think will be answered. They're things we need to know, and hopefully the PM's won't think the answers are giving away too many clues. The 4th question I'm really going out on a limb with, but I think it's worth it to include one such question.

One other thing, when we DO send out the letters, everybody replace my name with yours. This lets them know they're not all coming from one source.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 4:20 pm
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rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 4117

 		Bad Idea
Dude, I appreciate your enthusiasm as well as your frustration at being becalmed for the moment.

But, I think this topic says it all:

Quote:
Floodmail for the Princess


We do not want to spam anyone with useless, multiple copies of the same email.

If your concern is that you think the emails are not being read, I - and many other players- can assure you that you are mistaken. The emails are being read and carefully assembled into responses. Maybe we need to focus on understanding what we have already been sent.

To me, writing your own email to try to communicate with the A.I. is some of the most fun this game has to offer. I suggest that people use their own approaches, we never know what will work. Smile
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 4:49 pm
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Robke
Boot

Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 14

 		I think the point is not getting it read, but that it is a reply of the community.
Don't know if it is a good idea.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:36 pm
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Shad0
I Have No Life


Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
Location: Southern California, USA

 		Re: (Please help!) [OUTGOING] Floodmail for the Princess
Freelance wrote:
What I propose we do is all of us (or as many of us as possible) send the same letter to Ladybee777SPLAThotmail.com...

My $0.02: I don't like it. I apologize in advance if this seems harsh. It is not intended to be, but I really don't like this idea.

Leaving aside the whole SPAM issue, I firmly believe that the entity sending these e-mails is pretty puppies and flowers-ing intelligent. (There, I saved the mods some editing. Mr. Green ) I still think that the Sleeping Princess wrote the eloquent and beautiful Widow's Journey story, and that the only reason she is now communicating in broken English is to ensure that SPDR and Melissa do not "hear her breathing" -- that is, notice her communications.

The Princess has already made it pretty clear that she looks down on the Flea because "he can't write his name or read a book." I think the last thing we want to do is make her think that it's not worth communicating with us. And I think sending this letter will do just that, for the following reasons (among others):

Quote:
If you're wondering why you're getting so many copies of this email, it's because we're trying to make this as simple as possible for you. Instead of giving you a million different emails and questions to read, we're giving you one letter to respond to.

I am afraid that this will strike the recipient as condescending. She's been doing a darned good job so far, reading all the nonsense we've been sending her and sifting through it enough to pick the snippets she needs. Where do we get off deciding what will make things "simpler" -- or, for that matter, deciding that she needs things to be made "simpler" for her in the first place?

Quote:
This is our first question for you:

WHO ARE YOU?

Are you the Princess or the Flea from the story? You already said you did not like the Queen or the Widow, so surely you're not one of them. Please tell us your name so we can be friends. We've already given you our names, mine is written at the bottom of this letter. Maybe you could say: "My name is the Flea" or "My name is the Princess" or "My name is neither"?

I understand that there is still lots and lots of SPECulation out there that this letter could be from the Flea. I don't buy it, not for a second. Whoever wrote this stated, as clearly as she possibly could, that it was "by The Sleeping Princess," and that the flea is "a proper fool" who can't even "write his name," let alone compose a letter like this. Maybe we could have sent something like this before receiving the most recent e-mail, but now, I think asking this question again makes us look -- I'm sorry -- stupid.

Now, this does NOT mean that I think anyone who doubts that this letter is from the Princess is stupid. No, no, no, not at all, not in any way. I encourage all of us to continue debating these things, because the free exchange of ideas is the best way to get anywhere in any ARG. My problem is with letting the author of this letter know that we still don't know who she (or he, if you insist) wants us to think she is. We do not want to look dumb.

Quote:
ARE YOU OK?

We are concerned about you. The Queen and the Widow are dangerous, please let us know that you are ok. And is there anything we can do to help you? We know you want to see Dana, but we really can't help you do that unless you answer a few more questions for us. I know you've answered a lot of questions already, but we're still having trouble figuring out exactly what you mean. Do you need us to send you more literature, or more words so you can communicate better?

In the killer.jpg pictures, the Princess (or whoever) already told us both that she is fine and that she likes communication from us. Again, I fear this question makes us look stupid.

Quote:
This one means to trust me: Wink

Until now, whoever this is hasn't even suggested that she doesn't trust us. Why plant the idea now?

Finally, I really dislike the idea of burying the poor Princess -- not to mention our poor PMs -- with zillions of copies of the exact same e-mail. I think I understand what you're trying to do: if she gets only one e-mail, then she will have to answer that one. I still don't like the idea of sending it to her a zillion times. She sent her letter to all of us because, well, we're all different people. She is only one entity. Why overload her?

Once again, I hope this isn't too harsh. I just feel very strongly that sending this letter is not a good idea. Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Seafood Shield UP!
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:44 pm
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Cherry Cotton
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Joined: 04 Aug 2004
Posts: 237

 		My thoughts:

1) The letter is beautiful. The most important part is that you establish that it is good that she is friends with Dana, and that we are trying to help Dana because we are afraid that the Widow is trying to kill her. Keep that. Bronze it. Fortify it with troops and nine essential vitamins.

2) All theories about whether or not the respondent is intelligent doesn't really apply here. There's no concrete evidence that the entity who wrote the story is the same as the entity writing us these responses; all evidence is to the contrary, given their writing styles. All we know is that she (sorry, seems like a she to me) writes only in fragments of already-written text and seems to be an important ally of ours.

So, I don't think we have to worry about sounding condescinding; the entity seems very friendly, and I have no doubt that, aside from the "floodmail" idea, that this E-mail will also come across as nothing but friendly as well.

(later: oops, there is evidence to buttress your theory that the Widow story was written by the same entity that is writing to us in fragments of text: specifically, they both speak in JPEG-ese. Must stay sharp, Cherry...)

3) On the idea: I have to agree, I think sending many E-mails is in poor taste and we should avoid it, so that the entity does not get mad at us. This letter stands out on its own and I'm positive (_positive_) that the entity will take notice of it on its own and respond.

4) As for advice on how to improve the letter: If you want to make it more concise, I would advise to shorten the first paragraph, and then remove the "why is there no third chapter" and "turtle power" part. If you feel like its important to ask why she's talking about turtles (teenage mutant ninja ones, for that matter), keep it in; but you might also want to remove it since a) I'll bet you ice cream she won't respond to it and b) we want to keep the letter as concise as possible.

Anyway, thanks for writing this E-mail; I'm sure the entity will be touched. ^_^ My vote goes towards you sending it on your own, and good luck. Later!

...Oh, and I'm Cherry. I'm new here. In five seconds, this medium will metastastastasize. (KABOOM)

PostPosted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 10:43 pm
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Freelance
Boot


Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 61

 		Thanks, Cherry. *glares at everyone else*

Ok just kidding... Well, when I first mentioned it in the chat, a lot of people thought it was a good idea and one person thought it wasn't... Then I come back from lunch and everybody thinks it's a bad idea but one... So fine, it won't be flooded. Rolling Eyes

But what do you guys think about having a lot of us sign it, so the entity (and the PM's) know it's voicing the majority of our concerns, instead of the questions of an individual?

Btw, I only put the turtle power thing in there because this letter wasn't intended to be just from me. There's an overwhelming number of people who think this is some kind of clue. I happen to think it was just a joke, but still, I wanted to voice all of our important questions, instead of just mine.

Actually, now I'm starting to think about it, and, this thread probably isn't ever going to get enough traffic to have a decent ammount of signatures in the letter, so maybe I should just send it myself? Anybody still think collecting signatures is a better idea?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:47 pm
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Shad0
I Have No Life


Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
Location: Southern California, USA

 		Re: (Please help!) [OUTGOING] Floodmail for the Princess
Freelance wrote:
Actually, now I'm starting to think about it, and, this thread probably isn't ever going to get enough traffic to have a decent ammount of signatures in the letter, so maybe I should just send it myself? Anybody still think collecting signatures is a better idea?

As one of "everyone else" Wink , I would like to state categorically that, if this letter comes from an individual instead of from all of us, I withdraw every single objection I had. If you're speaking only on behalf of yourself, you can say whatever you want, however you want.

(Plus, I agree with you that it would take waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to get multiple signatures.)
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:03 pm
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Cu Roi
Veteran

Joined: 30 Jul 2004
Posts: 123

 		Flooding Ladybee...
NO we should NOT spam Margaret's email. Bad idea.

I'm sure all of our letters are being read.

We should be patient and work with what info we currently have. Whatever has been sending these collage emails will likely speak to us again soon, and hopefully be more coherent this next time around.

As for a petition...I don't know...it could work, but I'm inclined to believe that it wouldn't illicit any greater response than our collective individual efforts will.

It's an idea though.

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:04 pm
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aliendial
Unfictologist


Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 3438
Location: Far Far Away. Nowhere Near You. Really.

 		If there's a good reason for the missing threes, I would imagine we are supposed to figure it out for ourselves and not just ask for the answer. I didn't realize we were that desperate yet. And if there is a good reason for them, then I imagine posting an answer in cleartext where somebody else could see it (the Operator?) is not to be desired....
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aliendial

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 1:41 pm
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Freelance
Boot


Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 61

 		Ok, I sent on my message from just me. But you can't blame me for trying! Nobody else was stepping up to the plate with any brilliant ideas, after all. Rolling Eyes

Anyway, you can lock this thread now if you want.

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 2:27 pm
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Tank8131
Boot

Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 53
Location: Illinois

 		Are you calling your idea brilliant?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 3:57 pm
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Freelance
Boot


Joined: 02 Aug 2004
Posts: 61

 		No. Are you trying to start a fight? Confused

Seriously, somebody lock this thread.

PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:10 pm
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ScarpeGrosse
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Joined: 30 Nov 2002
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 		Yes, yes. If only to save you two from yourselves and the impending public embarassment should this thread continue.

Locky!

I LOVE this emoticon
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:12 pm
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fireball
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 		Scarpe, you might just go ahead an make Locky! your sig file...after all, that's about all we do these days.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:16 pm
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ScarpeGrosse
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fireball wrote:


HAH! That's even better!
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 05, 2004 4:18 pm
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