Today, I am going to do something rather unprecedented, and base most of my post around a thread in a forum I frequent. This is mostly to show how smart and intelligent I am, if you still had any doubts.
In this thread, a friend of mine, here called 'Atanamis', makes an announcement about another friend of mine, using the screenname 'Jew'. Jew goes on to provide various other details. I am now going to prove without a doubt that this thread, or at least the vast majority of it, is a hoax.
For starters, here's the thread. It spreads to a second page, so don't miss the last parts:
Quite a sob story, isn't it? I was actually fooled for quite awhile, right up until my third post in the thread. This was when I noticed that Jew's AIM screenname had been on constantly, and his away message had changed several times while he had been 'away'. I promptly became suspicious.
After thinking over the situation, I realized there were several suspicious bits about his story. First of all, AMD is a big company. They're not incapable of putting someone up for a week in a hotel, even if this person does happen to arrive a week early. And as it would have been the company's fault, they are pretty much guaranteed to do so.
Then there's the time-zone difference. Dresden is 7 hours ahead of us. That means that Jew must have made his post concerning the open times of his hostel at 2:12am Dresden time, since I made my last one before that at 6:50pm Central Time. The internet cafes there must be open incredibly late. However, his posting times make perfect sense if he's still residing in Dallas.
This is where I'd like to point out that I know this 'Jew' is administrator of two other forums, and has mentioned none of this on either one.
Also, the quick hiring process is somewhat suspect. While not unheard of, it does seem to be a rather short time for such a large company. If it were the government hiring him, it would be one thing, but that sort of speed is uncommon in the civilian world.
It's also interesting is how Atanamis seems to know as much or more about the situation as Jew does.
All in all, I'm quite convinced the whole thing is a hoax. Quite a clever one, but a hoax nonetheless.
Now, having had much fun and entertainment researching this little project, it's back to homework.
Posted by Ardith at April 6, 2004 08:43 PM | TrackBack