this is not tom theories discussion

[John Green]

We have an excellent thread started by lindseysubtlyinked to discuss the thisisnottom riddles; I thought here that those of us who've reached the current end could discuss the developing story--if it is a developing story--and the world of that which is not Tom. -John

[str]

well, he was the blood money commenter on the dragonball video
it could be him
... or not :))

[Evan]

blogTV works wonders. :D

[Sarah]

So has anyone gotten anywhere on 1.2.1? I can't make anything of the missing letters/words. I've looked in to Auden as well but couldn't find anything significant. I even looked into "Auden's group" thinking group could be circle which could be connected to the circles in 1.1.1 and 1.2.2.

This is kind of frustrating...I'm hoping there is actually something here and we aren't just supposed to wait.

[Tom]

In 1.2.2 the page source says to wait again. I think this is a stopping point.

[Lana]

on 1.2.2 the letters replaced by #'s spell out "W, e, a, c, t, u, al, ly, k, i, n, d, a, li, k, i, t, the, e,"

or We actually kinda lik it thee?

*sigh* I wonder what comes next...

[Adrianne M. Navratil]

no it's We Actually Kinda Lik It Here that's every letter I got out of it v.v still stuck and the damn source code says just wait so then what??? @_@ we know we cna't just wait bc I mean youtube is already ahead of the game there's 3 more videos since the first meaning there's got to be a way out of this next problem v.v -sigh- but what is it idk if I'll ever know >_<</body>

[Rosianna]

I suggested this already, but I thought I'd put it here just to see if anyone else felt the same; this feels like something bigger than just the riddles. At first I thought it was some sort of viral marketing campaign (but that perhaps is just my cap of marketing paranoia growing up in the world of subliminal internet messages) but it could be that it isn't campaigning, it is BEING the thing that we're paying attention to. If so, we're doing it well.

Does anyone remember those floppy disc games that were just text and they told a story and you dictated what happened next, mysteries etc? TINT reminds me of those. Either way, if it is a developing story as John suggests, it's doing some incredible experimentation. If it's "merely" (and I use that word lightly, because I'm in love with it) a riddle website, then it's a very very good one.

On the story note, he definitely is a fan of literary references.

Je ne sais pas.

[Arne]

I had some of the same thoughts. A viral marketing campaign was my first idea, but now I'm not so sure any more that there's something bigger behind it. My guess is that that the whole thing is about the scavenger hunt itself. We can all play this seemingly mysterious game together, and it gives us something to talk about.

TINT is actually reminds me of notpron. I don't know how well-known that riddle is in the English speaking world, but it was quite popular in Germany a few years ago. It has riddles that are very similar to those from TINT, that you could solve by looking at the source code and using google and hex editors and stuff like that. The biggest differences are that TINT is much more interactive and that the story is only revealed step by step. There's a whole community trying to solve the riddles -- and it seems to me that this is what TINT is about. The experience of trying to make sense of it together.

[Amy Lee]

I agree that there is something bigger happening here. It reminds me of the Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo that Harry and the Potters did last summer. The ultimate end was that we, the fans, were getting this amazing concept tour. The whole idea was spending a day at summer camp complete with counselors (people from the board who volunteered in their cities), games, snacks, a photo booth, guest lectures, and a bunch of other cool stuff. thisisnottom.com is similar in that we had to solve layered riddles that included decoding numbers using the Ottendorf Cipher and sifting through weird language and formatting (much like 1.1.1, 1.2.1, and 1.2.2)

I have no idea what the end result of this may be but on the UEE board we figured that the tour was the answer really early. However, the journey to the big reveal and the creation of a group of people that I still speak with today even though the tour and riddles were over long ago were the true victories.

[John Green]

Alex's name was found via a search on the owner of the thisisnottom domain; I don't know if he'd want his privacy invaded, so I won't say anything more about him (except that from everything people have gathered, he seems both nice and real).

Yeah, I agree with those who are saying the poem isn't supposed to LEAD to anything; I think this is the beginning of something and we have to wait to see it play out. But who is the (possibly royal) we? Why do they want us to tell only those we trust? Why the heck are we so concerned about who Tom isn't?

Obviously we can't know the answers to these questions yet, but I just find it interesting.

[dozzzier]

I don't think Alex aka Not-Tom would shroud the game with all of this mystery if he wasn't leading us somewhere. (This judgment could be false, though; I've never met Not-Tom, so I have no idea what he's like. For all I know, he could just be a very clever jerk who likes making us run in circles.) Though I'm interested in what all of the poems and pound signs and circles and such could possibly mean, I'd rather just follow the story in its proper order.

We're only at the beginning. I don't want to know what's going on until we reach "The End."

Somehow, I think knowing the meaning of it all before Not-Tom wants us to know would somehow spoil the magic of it.

[Madi]

I'm of the opinion that Not-Tom is a character, and Alex is just his creator. Their stories intertwine but do not mirror each other.