You are all to be commended for your exemplary performance these past several weeks. Your unwitting participation in BLIND SKIES has proven most informative, and quite frankly entertaining to many project members. To say that it got out of hand would be an exercise in understatement. We picked GLP precisely because it was out of the way, off the beaten path of usual internet surfers. It suited our needs perfectly. Unmoderated. Anonymous posting. We couldnt have asked for a better testbed unless we had built it ourselves.

Rest assured, Elaine is in no way part of this. She is/was as unaware of the true nature of our experiment as the rest of you.

Our initial hypothesis was straightforward enough: Given the barest minimum of verifiable evidence, ordinary citizens of average to above-average intelligence could be duped into wholesale belief in a catastrophe scenario, provided there was ample corroboration from equally ambiguous, non-credible sources.

We never anticipated the myth spreading beyond the confines of GLP. When the conservative website, Bushcountry, picked up the story, we realized that our initial models had failed miserably to account for the word-of-mouth potential inherent in the internet. At most, we thought perhaps a few other fringe sites might get on board, but its obvious to us now that its only a matter of time before a mainstream media outlet syndicates this content, at which point the story will explode into something far beyond our ability to control.

In fact, it may already be there.

We should have spoken up sooner. This all moved so quickly, we just werent prepared to adapt to the monster we had unleashed.

For our own protection, because its becoming abundantly clear that civil/criminal litigation may result from this experiment, we cannot and will not identify ourselves, nor will we reveal any details that might readily be traced to us. Were confident that using IP logs will prove frustrating for you, at best.

Because of the overwhelming success of this project, we will not be apologizing. You all behaved exactly as we had predicted, falling into 2 camps on either side of the issue. The believers held fast to every scrap of datum, whether it was credible or not. The non-believers grew frustrated and angry as their attempts to apply logic and reason were ignored. Anger and dissent grew and grew, and ultimately the entire story devolved into an unintelligible mass of contradictory assertions and accusations. We are acutely aware that even our own admission in this forum will be viewed as yet more hoax material, albeit more cleverly crafted and well-thought out than standard fare for these pages.

BLIND SKIES began with an idea. The now-legendary SNOWBALL INTERCEPT provided the impetus we had been looking for, the final piece of a puzzle that had been confounding us for the past 14 months. It was the perfect backstory for a disaster scenario that would be easily accepted. Few people have any real knowledge of astronomy. Fewer still know much about the socio-political environment that modern astronomers operate within, and when one of our members suggested using an invented Australian astronomer to further muddy the waters, we knew it was time to release.

To be honest, we have no knowledge of the validity and/or credibility of the so-called SNOWBALL INTERCEPT. We have no affiliation with it whatsoever. We only used its existence to further our agenda. That current world events have proceeded in such a way as to lend perceived credibility to our fiction is by no means our fault. Many of you fail to appreciate the power of coincidence. While we had anticipated that at least some activity in current events would affect the outcome of the project, we never expected nor modelled the possibility of so many "dots", as some of you have called them, coming together around our story.

We planted the seeds with NOTED & WARNED. Just enough credibility to whet your appetites. We did hire an astronomer to assist us with the final stages of BLIND SKIES, so that we could craft messages containing sufficient truth to warrant further investigation. Following up with AUSSIE BLOKE, we added fuel to the fire in the form of a fictional, curmudgeonly astronomer whose conscience had finally moved him to reveal the details of an impending catastrophe to a select group of forum visitors on an obscure website.

Some of you saw through the veil. Some of you, even after reading this, will continue to insist upon the reality of AB. While we predicted that some people would continue to believe even beyond the scope of the project, we did not anticipate the enormous numbers involved. Because so many people remain convinced (and will continue to remain convinced, even after reading this), we elected to release this message as a means of covering our collective behinds from whatever legal fallout remains ahead of us.

Weve told you its not real. Weve provided you a credible, logical explanation as to why it isnt real and given you some insight as to what its true purpose was. In our eyes, we have absolved ourselves of at least some of the guilt that is surely to be laid at our feet in the coming days and weeks.

AUSSIE BLOKE has taken on a life of his own here. Our last use of him was the vacation message. Similarly, NOTED & WARNED has not been used by us for several weeks, and yet forum messages continue to appear, ostensibly implying that they are from these purely fictional characters.

Many of you picked up on the PLANET X elements in our story, and that was intended, as well. There are already many believers in this (we are not among them), and they provided a reliable base group that we could reasonably expect to buy into our story relatively early on.

BLIND SKIES is not, as many have claimed, a PSY OP. Although we have an affiliation with the government, our mandate was not intended to be any sort of disinformation campaign, mass brainwashing, or subliminal manipulation. We conducted a serious experiment to study the panic reflexes of a virtual community, and quite frankly the experiment ran away from us. AUSSIE BLOKE has now become our Frankensteins Monster.

We applaud the efforts of so many of you to find the facts behind the fiction. We were impressed by the fact that many people realized their lack of astronomical knowledge, and sought to follow ABs advice and LOOK TO THE SKIES, and INVESTIGATE FOR YOURSELVES! We cannot say that we arent pleased with our role in inspiring a new renaissance in the field of astronomy.

Near Earth Objects are a threat to our planet, and someday perhaps there will be a scenario that closely matches what we created for BLIND SKIES. However, that day is not today.

We will continue to monitor these forums, along with many others, and we will continue to collect the data regarding your responses. Even the release of this message was factored into the experiment, however as we have already stated, we never anticipated releasing it to such a broad audience.

One interesting result that we had not considered was the various religous and prophetic threads that have spawned as a result of our experiment. One project member commented that it was encouraging to see that faith is not dead in the world.

And so, to you believers, I say be careful in what, and in whom, you place your faith and your trust. And, to you non-believers I say, continue to keep up the fight for truth and reason, because you are logics last line of defense.

With regards,

The Monitors

Blind Skies half way down the thread...

The Monitors Revealed

6/3/2004

10:08 am EDTRe: GLP was an "Aussie Bloke" experiment! so says the Monitors

I have no doubt that this message will be cross-posted, copied, pasted, and spread just as far and wide as my original "Monitors" message. In less than 24 hours, you have all embraced an entirely fake post that offered NO corroborative evidence and NO verifiable proof of anything.

Like many of you, I was on the fence regarding Aussie Bloke, N&W, and even Lyros to some extent. Part of me remains convinced that an intelligent person, or group, can easily construct a plausible scenario that many people will believe in, simply because it SOUNDS good.

I could have left "The Monitors" (which, by the way, was taken from an old Space: Above and Beyond episode, for those of you who remember that awesome TV show), but I'm really not interested in sending people into mental institutions or home foreclosure, because they lost their minds over something they read on the internet.

This should clearly illustrate to you all that you NEED to improve your BS filters when you read something on the net. There are organized groups operating even now that will generate a hoax just for the bragging rights of doing it. If AB/N&W is a hoax, they are right now patting themselves on the backs and congratulating each other.

Honestly, I don't know if it's real, if any of it's real, but I had to throw "The Monitors" into the mix to prove a point that MANY other posters have been shouting at you ever since this began.

It took me all of 15 minutes to write the "Monitors" message. If someone REALLY wanted to do their homework, ask some questions, and take some notes, they could create a story that most of us would be hard-pressed to refute.

Sure, I upset a lot of people, but you guys needed a wake up call. STOP BELIEVING EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET. Yes, mainstream media often misses or intentionally buries news items, and sites like GLP can be valuable resources in finding news that falls through the holes, but stories like ABs go beyond all that, and delve deeply into the realm of complete and utter internet hoax.

Just look at what the reactions to my message were. Some people refused to believe that AB could be anything but the gospel. Some people realized it was a hastily prepared scam. Some people saw it as a logical explanation that reinforced something theyd been thinking all along. In short, your reactions to my post were very much in line with your reactions to AB and the like.

I know youll all require proof that "The Monitors" message is a fake, and that Im the one who did it. So, here goes. BLIND SKIES is the proof - totally made it up on the spot, because it sounded good. AB kept saying look to the skies, but so many people werent seeing anything, so it sounded good. I googled it myself, and was surprised that the first hit actually had to do with asteroids. I laughed a little, but then included that part about COINCIDENCE as a result of my google experience. I picked it out of the blue, people, and it "hit" when searched on!

When I 'quoted' AB and said LOOK TO THE SKIES and INVESTIGATE FOR YOURSELF, I fully expected you to do web searches on BLIND SKIES, and quickly learn that it probably doesnt exist, never has, never will. I was a little surprised that the anagram hunters didn't make an appearance (maybe they did and I missed it). Before I posted, I checked to make sure thered be no "hits" on anagrams, and the closest I saw that you MIGHT latch onto was DISIN BS ELK.

I insinuated government "affiliation" ("The Monitors" never stated they WERE the government, yet many inferred that), because I knew that would add even more credibility. Many of you are convinced that TPTB are untrustworthy (and perhaps they are), so by adding that element, I insured that those disaffected people would likely get on board with my message.

Honestly and seriously, I dont know if AB is telling the truth. Part of me wants to believe, and part of me just cant accept it. I think the preponderance of evidence is against "him", thanks largely to the efforts of other posters on GLP who did the homework and dug for the truth.

Why are all the navies leaving port? I dont know, but just because none of us know, it doesnt mean AB is right. Whether you choose to believe it or not, coincidences DO happen.

In closing, I think you should read these articles on paranoia and conspiracy theory. Ive seen them linked in a few other places, so now they're on GLP, where maybe they can do the most good.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0421/indiana.php

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0422/indiana.php

quoted from part 2 -

In an introductory essay, Peter Knight, editor of the 2002 collection Conspiracy Nation: The Politics of Paranoia in Postwar America, attributes modern conspiracism to "the pervading sense of uncontrollable forces taking over our lives, our minds, and even our bodies." He writes that "conspiracy thinking has become not so much the sign of a crackpot delusion as part of an everyday struggle to make sense of a rapidly changing world." In effect, individuals are losing their sense of agency in a period of political chaos and technological overload, compulsive consumerism and fear of the future, experiencing a loss of self and a sense of interchangeability with other digitized and horrifically surveilled humans, unable to get the big picture into focus and hence fixating on an idea of the world itself as a vast, impenetrable conspiracy. The worst thing about the above catalog of alienation effects is that it seems irreversible and inescapable.

---------------------

So there you have it. Spread the word. "The Monitors" are fake. If the moderators of this forum ever bothered to look at the IP logs, theyd see that this post originates from the same place. And yes, I really AM a registered member who posts occasionally under a different name. And to those of you claiming that a law has been broken here, and those who would petition congress to do something about hoaxes, I think you should consult with a real lawyer and find out a few facts before you make yourselves look even more foolish. My contribution to the AB saga has been negligible, so Im not really concerned about the thought police breaking down my door in the middle of the night to prosecute me for violating the PA. Duping the gullible may be immoral or unethical, but it is hardly illegal, unless done for monetary benefit. With regards, The Monitors

rense.com

I thought you guys at Rense.com would like to have this. I got it off www.cassiopaea.org. Apparently the real Dr. Gartrel has come forward and said he is NOT 'aussie bloke". I don't know about all you folks out there but I'm getting real tired of all this "end of the world" crap that's going on now.

Anyway here's what is on the site... At the time of writing, one of our research staff received the below from the real Dr Grant Gartrell:

"Thank you for your inquiry and your scepticism. I don't consider that any apology is needed for your contacting me. I have just returned home from a week interstate caving to find my answering machine full and more than 60 emails awaiting me. It has taken me most of the night to find out why.

"Thanks for the kind comments about my forays into the parliamentary arena. I would like to think that I wasn't wasting my time then. "What appears below is what I have sent to a couple of places where this stuff seems to be breeding. "Further to that, I have never made any submissions to any parliamentary bodies on impact threats or any other aspects of cometary debris.

"Several people have recently contacted me, and thus have drawn my attention to claims being made in my name concerning the prediction of imminent cataclysmic cometary impacts. "Please be advised that I have no knowledge of the identity of the person "Aussie Bloke" who claims to be me.

"I am very displeased to be caught up in a hoax in this way, and while I do not regard myself as a vindictive person, I do not think that I would be too upset at this moment if a small "personal sized" heavenly body fell out of the sky and flattened "Aussie Bloke", or at least knocked some integrity into him. "I am one of the authors of an article on meteors which appeared in the Australian Journal of Physics in 1975, but, although still interested in it, have not worked actively in that field much since that time.

I am currently a berry grower with a serious interest in cave exploration, cave science and cave tourism development and management, as well as the landcare movement and the promotion of sustainable agriculture and horticulture.

"There are a number of claims made by "Aussie Bloke" in his hi-jacking of my persona that are plainly incorrect and make it quite clear that he does not know me as well as he would like others to believe. "I would like to state categorically that while I have no doubt that over geologically significant periods of time there have been significant impacts on earth by space debris, and that there is no reason to suppose that similar events will not occur from time to time in the future, I have no knowledge whatsoever of any such immediate or imminent threat, or any related conspiracy. I have never even met Chicken Little, and I have already started planning travel arrangements for conferences I expect to attend in several years time."

Kind regards, Grant Gartrell

rense.com

Astronomers detect '10th planet' - BBC