text; computer

[carolinesays]

Summer is ending, children, and with school teetering on the horizon, here's a chance to exercise your critical thinking skills as preparation.

I would like volunteers for an experiment. A very small one. It'll hardly take effort on your part, as I would not wish to interrupt your daily business. All you need is some recording equipment. Real recording equipment, not fake likely-incorporeal dubiously-"magical" recording equipment used by this network. Digital or analog are acceptable. A webcam or phone camera will suffice.

I intend to find out how it is we can perceive this network, yet others cannot. The next time the narcissistic urge to overshare takes you and you wish to make a post, record yourself doing so. Make two other additional recordings: One of you listening to/watching a post on the network, and a control tape of you doing nothing.

Send your recordings here. Failure to adequately label your tapes will be noted on your permanent record.
[ insert a P.O. box address here ]
[ also an email address that's pretty much just a keysmash gmail account ]

Of course, you need not volunteer if you are uncomfortable at the idea of a semi-voyeuristic stranger watching you go about your private business. All copies of your videos will be disposed of properly. I have no desire to be arrested by the police (real police, not fake space invader alien police) for possessing suspicious camera footage of minors.

Once we can isolate whether this "network" is all in our heads, or if we are interacting with something physical while everyone who has not been visited by the invisible password fairy suffers from selective blindness, or some other unknown factor, we may proceed.

Your cooperation is appreciated. Suggestions for future investigations will be taken under advisement.

Comments

text all the way

[testsonseashells]

Genuinely clever! Admit I'm impressed. Files attached.

[And so they are.]

Hope you'll inform us of discoveries.

[carolinesays]

Excellent. And thank you. I would hate to be less than genuine.

Once I have a reasonable sample size, certainly.

handwritten text;

[somedaytogether]

I don't qualify as a minor, so you're safe on that score, but here are my recordings.

[Files attached.]

I am always in favour of figuring out what is going on here.

text

[carolinesays]

One can never be certain. Sometimes it feels every under-eighteen year old has access to this system.

Care to share your theories on the whole business?

[somedaytogether]

Yes, I know. We're going to have to do something about that, since they face greater risks than we do. If only we had school officials on our side.

I'm not a scientist, and I'm really not the person to ask about this, but I've heard two theories and they made me wonder about a third, so:

1. The echoes/pluses come from our past lives.
2. They are information from another universe. (Not incompatible with 1.)
3. They represent not who we were but what we could be.

I also made this post, which I would encourage you to add to. If you see any patterns or theories, please share them.

[carolinesays]

[a few minutes' pause as she reads through the spreadsheet.]

Well, well, well. How interesting. The recurring mentions of futuristic technology and space travel could account for the varied locations and physical abnormalities, even the "supernatural" abilities. If this or your 2nd theory hold true, we may be as alien as these gardeners. How cheery.

Regrettably, not quite enough data yet to make a conclusion.

[somedaytogether]

It's true. Once you get robots, everything else is on the table. Sufficiently advanced technology etc, etc.

But there are so many gaps. Unpleasant as they are, the more echoes we can get, the better off I suspect we'll be.

[dorkytracksuit]

This just sounds kind of dangerous.

[carolinesays]

Really, now. How so?

[dorkytracksuit]

well what if the tapes get intercepted? what if you get found out and they get found before you can dispose of them? having that kind of physical evidence is just dangerous.

text;

[synchronous]

Sure, okay.

[ He sends three webcam videos to the Gmail account. They don't focus on his face, but rather on a spiral-bound notebook he's using to access the network for the experiment. (The control video shows an empty page.) ]

text;

[carolinesays]

Wonderful. True cooperative effort is so difficult to find these days.

text;

[synchronous]

Always glad to waste my time if it's for science.

voice;

[hollowleg]

I'll see what I can do. In fact, I'll record this. You gonna post your findings?

text;

[carolinesays]

No, I think I'll hoarde them jealously, like a dragon compelled to collect scientific observations instead of gold.

Alternately: In a week's time. Allowing for stragglers and the postal service.

voice;

[hollowleg]

Alright, I walked into that one.