Return to Unfiction unforum
 a.r.g.b.b 
FAQ FAQ   Search Search 
 
Welcome!
New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.
Website Restoration Project
This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.
Announcements
This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.
This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.
  

The time now is Fri Nov 15, 2024 7:16 pm
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)		 View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum
Calendar
 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): General/Updates
[UPDATE] New blog 10/5
View previous topicView next topic
Page 3 of 8 [108 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Next
Author Message
Lady Kata
Boot


Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 28
Location: Redwood City, CA
urthstripe wrote:
what's the number?


415-248-2617

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:05 am
 View user's profile AIM Address
 Back to top 
Kybard
Kl00


Joined: 26 Jul 2004
Posts: 42

 		I thought this would be a relevant enough place to put this. I sent Dana an e-mail just a few moments ago. Here's a transcript:

Quote:
Dana,

Hi. I sent a few e-mails to you back when everything was just starting up. I've been sending things to this e-mail lately too - one trying to gain Melissa's confidence for the sake of finding more information. I just wanted you to know that I am deeply, deeply sorry for what some of the others have been doing. There is no excuse for what they have done.

There are people here who are going to do their best to make sure Melissa is not given the tools she needs to hurt you or any other innocent person involved in this. You're a good person, and you've been amazing in keeping your head amidst the psychotic events that have come about in the past few months. If you ever need someone to talk to, if you ever need some kind of confirmation that many of us most certainly have no intention of selling you out to a brutal and unstable artificial intelligence, then please, by all means, I'm willing to talk to you and support you. My phone number is [removed]. I'm most often home during the late afternoon - around 7-10 EST. Ask for [removed].

I am not going to prefer some robotic personality to a real human being. You've been so generous and kind to all of these new people for all this time; you're more than deserving of our support in turn. I hope that you stay with us and that we can protect you as the days go on.

- Your friend,
Kybard


I mean it even in an out-of-game sense, too. We have to support Dana now - as Melissa grows stronger and the focus of the story shifts, we seem to forget that Dana has been trying throughout the game to be helpful and to support us. We should give her that support in turn.

[META]-wise, I doubt the PMs would appreciate us essentially abusing their characters, who they no doubt have taken great pains to formulate and flesh out, by tossing them aside when our "need" for them is done. Play how you like, but I would prefer standing by the side of characters who are clearly on our side. Very few characters are as obviously on our side as Dana is.

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:06 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
 Back to top 
chulo333
Decorated


Joined: 28 Jul 2004
Posts: 263
Location: Long Beach, CA

 		i think she posted about this because I (along with many others, i'm sure) called Dana's voicemail and tried to leave a message for melissa. Personally, my call was just to try and make crew. i left my name, rank and phone # along with a statement that i had valuable info. I did this because of the statement melissa made about having access to Dana's communication lines. My purposes werent to harm dana but to find another means of communication with melissa.
_________________
AKA Major Sena! A "trusted" crew member
Team OCARG - Orange County Axon Relay Group

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:18 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
THe_Smakus
Veteran

Joined: 09 Sep 2004
Posts: 72
Location: Montgomery, AL

 		Traitors? Patriots? That is the question.
I'm not sure where to specifically post this, but i would hope this message goes out to all who would so quickly turn Dana over to Melissa to "more efficiently accomplish success in the mission."

This is a reoccurring theme in the Haloverse, sacrificing a few for the needs of the many. Is it justifiable if a handful of people are sacrificed to save millions? This was the thinking by which Dr. Halsey, the mastermind behind the Spartan II project, justified the surveillance, abduction and scientific experimentation of/on a group of 60 (or so, it's been quite awhile since i read the 1'st book) 6-year-old children. Through the use of methods that could easily be described as cruel; inhumane; and in 30% of them, fatal, she transformed the budding Spartans into something more than -and also less than- human. She turned them into super-soldiers, but at the expense of their humanity. With the culmination of the experiment, there were roughly Twenty fully functional Spartan IIs.

Near the end of First Strike (the third book of the series), Halsey poses a moral dilemma to Spartan 117 (aka, john, the Master Chief). He has the choice of damning one man (a brave soldier) to an inglorious death, for the cause of granting the rest of humanity a better chance of survival against the flood. I'll not spoil the plot by revealing John's decision; it was certainly a central point his character development, especially because it was so late in the book trilogy.

I think the PM's have also posed a similar dilemma to us. Will we choose to sacrifice anything for the goal of accomplishing our mission? The stakes may well be high; perhaps even Earth's survival is at risk. It's rather likely that no one would blame us afterwards for civilian casualties, in light of the gravity of the situation. One must ask though, how can one justify the sacrifice of his or her own humanity, in order to save humanity? At which point does collateral damage become too costly? When we start sacrificing fellow players? People in no way associated with the game? Where should we draw the line?

This question, i believe, is central to the survival of the Human species, even more so than the destruction of the Covenant threat. If we become our own worst enemies, why must we look to external sources for threats to our survival?
Edit:Punctuation. It's a big post.
_________________
Transmission Terminated
~j

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:39 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Nova
Unfettered


Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 529
Location: Frog blasting the vent core

 		Well said. That is what I was trying to say, although you were rather more successful at expressing the idea than I. Smile

I firmly believe this is one of the "puzzles" or "tests" of this game, albeit a rather more subtle one than most, with an answer that is not so simple to define.
_________________
***END MESSAGE***

***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START***
***TRANSPORT WHEN READY***

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:44 am
 View user's profile MSN Messenger
 ICQ Number 
 Back to top 
weephun
Entrenched


Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 908
Location: Fuquay Varina, NC

 		Wow, now I'm doubly glad my email contained this:
weephun's email to danatwing wrote:
Dana, if you are reading this:

Know that I harbor you no ill will whatsoever. I still believe that you just made an honest mistake trying to delete Melissa from the server. (Melissa, calm down, we'll discuss this later.) I do however believe that if Melissa is trying to keep something from Durga that the Pious Flea (seeker) wants to reveal, that it is a BAD idea to let that happen. I'm of the opinion that the seekers end goal is not a good one, so whatever takes it closer to that goal is bad.

_________________
- Sean Stewart: "generally people like seeing their names on TV, although probably no one has had a more mixed experience with that then weephun, God bless him.
- Currently assisting Epic Games in their quest for world domination

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 12:52 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
The Adam
Boot

Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 61

 		Hell, I'm glad Dana has finally acknowledged that there's some downside to all this assistance we've been rendering to this vengeful AI from the future that wants her dead.

Unfortunately we've hit the point in the game where I can no longer adhere to my original 'shut it all down' viewpoint, as Melissa is necessary to our communication with Durga, which, as of last Friday, has become important to the possible survival strategies of our favorite people in the future.

Dana, I hate to say I told you so, but your self-preservation needed to stay on high alert instead of being cast aside for curiosity.


---The Adam, too late for apologies

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 2:45 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Digiwizzard
Boot


Joined: 25 Sep 2004
Posts: 23

 		It is now officially time to roast zudini on a spit Twisted Evil .

Seriously though, if this is a puzzle the PMs have certainly limited the ways for us to interact with Dana. Her gmail account is now being operated by Melissa and I don't think she's going to bother listening to the hundreds of voicemail she's gotten saying "OPERATOR ARE YOU THERE I HAVE IMPORTANT NEWS OPERATOR"

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 3:47 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
anaerin
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2004
Posts: 391
Location: Regina, SK, CA Posts: 1337

 		I've just e-mailed the following to Dana's e-mail account:
Quote:
From : Robert Johnston
To : danatwing
Subject: Just so you know

Dana, you've probably been receiving a lot of strange messages to this
account, among many other things. As you are probably aware, the AI
that is currently inhabiting your web server has the details of this
account, and is monitoring it.

I cannot apologise enough for the "vengance" this AI feels towards
you. It seems she made an initial mistake as to your intentions in
regard to attempting to restore your information to normal, and saw it
as a direct threat to her life. As such, she has branded you a killer
and an assassin. I am sure you know all this, but as this AI is now
monitoring, I am certain she will be reading this message, and I wish
to explain to her as best I can about how things have happened.

When the AI ("Melissa" or "The Operator") arrived on your system, it
was in such a bad state that an automated process called the "System
Peril Distributed Reflex" started to try and repair her, starting with
patching her together, taking whatever it needed from her memories,
thoughts and feelings, concentrating on getting her "Wide awake and
physical". Whilst the SPDR was doing this, it posted a warning on the
front page of your server (http://www.ilovebees.com/).

However, as this is the year 2004, at least 400 years before the first
reasonable AI came about, you presumed that the corruption and warning
were the work of childish hackers, attempting to deface your site (As
has been done many, many times before, see
http://www.attrition.org/security/commentary/), and you worked to try
and clean the system and restore it to it's previous state, using the
best AntiVirus available, and when that failed, a purge-and-restore
(Like Jersey was going to try with Durga, before she stopped him, as
she was already wide awake and physical).

When you realised that this wasn't just some stupid defacement, you
stopped your attempts to clean the site, letting it progress normally.
Being a civillian, you had no access to any more "direct" measures,
but you enlisted the help of visitors to try and see what they could
do to help you, and what you started to realise was an advanced AI
from the future, so all could be happy and content, and in their right
timeframes.

As time went by, you tried to help out with puzzles and any
information that you could find, and when the time came for your
(already planned) trip abroad, you took it with a mind to keeping
involved.

But now Melissa's attempts against you have become more serious. From
the evidence we have, it appears as though she has hacked her way into
your bank and wiped your money, leaving you (almost) helpless. And as
time is passing, she is looking for other ways to hunt you down, and
perhaps even murder you.

And so we come to Lt. Adam's comment to Melissa, in an Axon call. What
you didn't hear in that message was that Adam attempted to tell
Melissa that you were innocent, but she would not listen to that, and
refused to acknowledge that you are a civillian, and that while you
are guilty of trying to clean your system, you had no way of knowing
there could be an AI present. I know you are sorry for that, and
apologise for the damage you accidentally caused to Melissa.

In summary, Dana, we are doing all we can to help, both to help
Melissa get back to where she belongs, and to help you get your life
(and your website) back to some semblance of normality. I hope we can
succeed, but at this point, I can make no promises. Sorry.

Melissa, I know you are reading this, and if you have gotten this far
without exploding in a fit of rage then perhaps the deteriation of
your systems isn't as bad as your crew fear.

Sometimes a mistake is the last thing you make.
Sometimes a mistake is the first of many mistakes you will make.

As far as Dana/The Killer/The Assasin is concerned, you are *wrong*.
You have made a mistake. There's no need to bury your head in shame
over it, but there is a need to undo all the things you have done
against her.

Let's show you an example of how you are wrong here. When Durga
crash-landed on Jersey's machine, Jersey told his machine to try and
delete her (Like an anti-virus sweep). Durga then killed Jersey's AI.
When Jersey then attempted to purge and restore his system (As Dana
tried), Durga was in a fit state to warn him not to. Durga and Jersey
have since become friends.

Dana would like to apologise. She would like to come home and help
you, in any way she can. But she can't, as you've taken all her money,
are hunting her down like a dog, and will threaten her life if she
even attempts to come back again. This must stop. Now.

Your core programming has become corrupted. There's no easy way to say
that, so I'll just say it. If you look back through the reconstruction
archives, you will see a distinct change in your core program. The
evidence of this is there, in your own words and actions. While you
might call me a traitor, you cannot deny the information both yourself
and the SPDR have archived and logged.

The "Truth" you are seeking in Chawla Base is the artifact you found
just before all this happened. And the conversations you monitored
were sent to Durga by your "Security Process", which has been
attempting (successfully) to re-write your core objectives.

In other words, you are now infected with an unknown, most likely enemy, agent.

Thus, the Cole Protocol is in effect, and you are guilty of treason if
you do not follow that protocol to it's fullest extent, and may be
liable to imprisonment if not execution. This is not a threat, this is
a mere stating of the facts of the situation.

I hope this situation can be resolved, fully and completely, so
everyone is happy and safe. And I'm certain, one way or another, it
will be resolved.

Signing off

Robert "Anaerin" Johnston
Specialist
+44 7xxx xxxxxx


(The x's are hiding my phone number).

I hope this helps/works.

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 5:17 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
 ICQ Number 
 Back to top 
rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 4117

 		dana's number
Dana's voicemail is: 415-248-2617

The message is the same one that has been since before she left for China.

I think that those of us without access to axons can take this blog update as a big hint--to put it mildly-- that we can call and email Melissa directly.

So no more complaining that we don't have a way to reach her. Maybe we can talk your way into being on her crew by what we write or say...

You never know until you try.
_________________
I love this site for being free, in every sense of the word~Spacebass

Mankind was my business, the common good was my business.~ Dickens

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 6:44 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
ROBOGriff
Decorated


Joined: 20 Aug 2004
Posts: 297
Location: Wherever my hat lays

 		This may be asking alot, but can somone post dana's blog message for those of us at work.
_________________
Meatwad: But you just a box.
Boxy Brown: I just a what, bitch?!
----------------------------

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 7:58 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
Dreadnort
Boot

Joined: 27 Aug 2004
Posts: 20

 		prity new in the the UK
I have been reading this site for a while and have a few questions.

If the AI is from the future may be there is a good reason for her wanting to have Dana removed.

What about this split timeline perhaps Dana is related to a person that casues problems for the AI in the future. hence fix the problem now

I to like some others on here are willing to sacrifce the one to save the many.

slap me stupid with a wet kipper if i am way way of the mark here

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:00 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Aspmaster
Veteran

Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 129
Location: 35.074196 -89.91932
ROBOGriff wrote:
This may be asking alot, but can somone post dana's blog message for those of us at work.


Sure. No problem. Here you go:

Dana's blog wrote:
hide and
Hi. This is Dana.

If you're trying to have me hunted down and shot like a dog, please feel free to use my email and voicemail to communicate with Melissa. Everyone else is.

While you're at it, please give a big hug for me to Adam.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:00 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
CoffeeJedi
Unfictologist


Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 1327
Location: Charlotte NC, USA

 		Re: prity new in the the UK
Dreadnort wrote:
I have been reading this site for a while and have a few questions.

If the AI is from the future may be there is a good reason for her wanting to have Dana removed.

What about this split timeline perhaps Dana is related to a person that casues problems for the AI in the future. hence fix the problem now

I to like some others on here are willing to sacrifce the one to save the many.

slap me stupid with a wet kipper if i am way way of the mark here


the only reason why Melissa wants Dana killed is simply pure revenge, there's no altruism there. Dana tried to delete her at first, and she's held a grudge ever since.
_________________
seeker > !seek canoe
!splotch

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:32 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
CoffeeJedi
Unfictologist


Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 1327
Location: Charlotte NC, USA

 		someone in the blog comments made a really good point, why didn't anyone LIE to Melissa? "oh, the assassin? um,i think she's in Cleveland"
_________________
seeker > !seek canoe
!splotch

PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:35 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
Display posts from previous:   Sort by:   
Page 3 of 8 [108 Posts]   Goto page: Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Next
View previous topicView next topic
 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): General/Updates
Jump to:  


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum



Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group