8/21 Email from Mason Silver

I got it too @nothenrygale

So as of right now, the Exhibit C thing fits. What about @mamatato

Mason Silver just registered on here, which seems suspicious. Also, why only send e-mails to two people (so far)?

Okay, three. Anyone else?

If this is Exhibit C, wouldn’t that point to Mason Silver being connected to OSDM (or whoever is responsible for the contract)?

I didn’t get the email.
But I sure am writing a thing right now. Oddly enough, it’s related. LOL

Good point @kevin, you guys should definitely investigate what he’s about, but proceed with caution.

@kevin Good catch. So if this is the Exhibit C ploy, then the idea of data collection is actually being used within the narrative of The Experience in order to engage players.

Which means either a) Those behind the curtain have no problems discussing their hidden agenda publicly as a “story” point to drive engagement… or b) That the data collection scheme itself is just another fictional invention, and we have no idea what the real hidden agenda is at all.

Also, I just realized…. the letter C looks like the ring from an almost complete eclipse….

And a coffee stain, though I don’t know if there’s a connection there.

This definitely smells like Exhibit C in action.

E-mailed him back, of course. This could be a wonderful opportunity to learn about certain “investors.”

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Andrew Kasch.

If @masons72 is so concerned about data mining and personal information, perhaps he can explain how he obtained all your personal email addresses.

@meghanmayhem Agreed. This smells an awful lot like Tom Barrow’s email warning to Ascension participants.

@meghanmayhem – I was thinking the same thing. A couple things pop into mind 1) in his research, he purchased test files to make sure they’re legit 2) he’s just another smoke screen that someone is introducing to us to have look at a new “shiny object”

Well this is certainly a bit concerning, does anyone else remember getting asked questions that were explicitly standard security questions? Mothers’ maiden name, street you grew up on, etc?

If we have some profiles floating around with those on some .onion site somewhere it could mean some… less than good things for all of our online security.

Yeah, I’m willing to bet our “files” were among those that Mason discovered.

(Plus, my e-mail can be easily obtained by anyone with an IMDB Pro account.)

For those needing a refresher the people getting this email are connected to Exhibit C which was mentioned in the Hostess in Black twitter leaks a few weeks ago.

@thegilded Yeah, those were the initial iConfidant calls that went out.

I’m sensing another snake in the grass.

Obviously, it seems like the only way we’ll be able to answer some of the questions in this thread is to actually see the profiles that @masons72 claims are available on the dark web.

We’re waiting, Mason.

This is getting very The Game-esque. Keep close watch on your bank accounts.

I’ll show you mine if you show me yours @bcbishop

If Mason is doing research on it all, I would hope he’d have some integrity to NOT share the files publicly. At that point, he’s just as bad and as at fault as whoever is doing it in the first place.

@kevin – it’s been longer than that, we’ve been quizzed on that kind of thing since tension

@mike the contract mentioned that you four would be kept separate and not assigned to an “actor” until whatever Exhibit C is was enacted. Do you think this might mean you’ll all be contacted by someone eager to gain your confidence soon?

@wanda102 – getting contacted by Mason makes me think we are already there…but makes me wonder if there will be an antithesis of Mason contacting others.

Seems odd that after the leak that exhibit C would not be altered or changed. The names were made public, so you think that would send ODSM scrambling. So if this is exhibit C, is this how they originally planned on rolling it out?
Regardless this does feel very fishy and I would be careful.

The Lust Experience, Chapter 4: The Ethics Committee. Mason Silver SOUNDS like some LA Noir name, with a very Yours Truly Johnny Dollar .

Tread lightly, but if this is the change/collapse of the corrupt you were looking for, maybe it starts here, in a pile of paperwork? Al Capone got caught on income tax evasion, not his true criminal nonsense.

After the HiB day and the events that transpired the same night, I am wary.

Some thoughts:

When they say “My company…” what company is that? What is their core business? What is Mason Silver’s position/role within the company? What do they do, and what led them to follow Tension in the first place? Why are they “interested” at all?

He’s been hearing “unsubstantiated reports”, that are concerning from an outsider’s standpoint. Where is he getting his information, and how much does he have?

What’s their interest in exploring the datamining of players? Do they want to expose the breadth of the data collection, or does they want to piggyback on it? If this data is going to be exposed, how will that occur? A lot of it is very private, sensitive data that people would not want shared in public. Does this researcher follow ethical disclosure practices? What are they doing to prevent further abuses of the information that they uncover?

In the last few weeks, they’ve seen the release, and selling of “Participant” files on TOR. Are those the same people that were contacted? Were they contacted specifically because it was their information that was uncovered? Why else would a researcher contact THAT particular group of people in Exhibit C, as opposed to a broader sampling of participants? Is there more information being leaked about those people than is being leaked about the rest of us?

If participant data is being leaked on TOR, shouldn’t those people be given the URLs, so they can see for themselves what data is being leaked, so they are able to make an informed choice as to what they want to do about it?

I also wonder…is Mason his first name, or his title?

Mason Silver = “lives ransom”. Just sayin’.

Hang on did it say “experiment” or “experience?”

Thanks for sharing @nothenrygale

I got a reply as well

“We have a team looking into the reports of the TOR sharing but you may be of help in other ways. In particular, what was rumored to be one of the more concerning ethical breaches lobbed against The Lust and Tension Experiment. This will sound odd, but do you have any knowledge of family members, friends or associates being contacted by outside forces looking for information about you? This would be information regarding your current well being as it applies to the amount of time you spend on these ARGs and Immersive Theaters. A particularly troubling aspect, and one that may may make it harder to decipher, is that these people may have been advised that it is better to not disclose that they were actually contacted in the first place.

I suppose we should start to untangle this complicated matter by asking if anyone has been concerned by the fact that you are a participant in these worlds?”

Interesting on the different approaches they’re taking. You with info you shared and me with possible friends and family getting info for…third parties?

WHAT IS REAL ANYMORE?

WHAT IS REAL LIFE ANYMORE?

@nothenrygale – got it, @mike’s was the same. and I remember Noah referring to it as an “experiment” too.

Yeah, didn’t Noah refer to Tension as Horace’s experiment multiple times?
Either way that’s weird terminology to refer to an immersive theater experience.

These replies sound less like someone concerned about your well being and more like someone conducting research on your behavior. I realize that doesn’t totally hold up because they’re coloring your perspective by painting it all in a negative light.

There’s also something going off in my head making me think that this could be more phishing. The questions @mike and @nothenrygale received back are fairly innocuous, but be it’s just a small step to asking them to reveal more personal information to confirm that the info they’re seeing is correct.

@wintermute – not entirely weird, I have some research that discusses immersive theatre as behavioral research. But yeah, Noah referred to this as Horace’s experiment.

@mike – do you know (or have you suspected) any civilians being contacted?

No email responses yet or else my phone would have yelled at me.

I just got a reply to… Seems they want information from my Tension days:

“Thank you Andrew, one of the more frustrating aspects of this entire ordeal is that every thread that we seem to pull and pursue has had a double fail safe of being written into their narrative as part of universe’s fiction. Do you personally have any specific examples of actual harm, ethic violations or breaches of agreed upon conduct or rules?

We are currently looking to speak to any active cast members, so far, most if not all of our calls, and emails have gone unanswered.

If you personally don’t, do you know anyone who might?

Also, do these particular numbers mean anything to you? 9991, 1112, 4321 mean anything to you? ”

This is a screen grab from my original OOA survey.
I don’t have my Tension notes in front of me, but those numbers ring a bell. Do they jog anyone’s memory?

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Andrew Kasch.

Update: I put the numbers into my e-mail search and 9991 was my iConfidant number. Still looking for the others…

1112 is @chelsea

I think we should tell him about the Hostess in Black who was going off about this and went silent/back on her word suddenly.

@coryphella – I have no idea…but if that is happening, their timing with my personal life is on point because I would never suspect anything. I hate admitting this, but they know what the hell they’re doing.

For the record I never got an iConfidant number. Only received a “:-)” in the subject line.

@coryphella Damn. Could it be a typo for @blondie’s 3241?

Do we still have access to that Iconfidant spread sheet someone made? Mine is 4634

@lilmsfancpants – that’s what I was wondering, or if we have @blondie’s number wrong.

@theladyj Yup.

Welp. Why is my iConfidant number on this paper? @kasch’s is written next to his name, suggesting the assignment. Mine is in the corner and is underlined. Whoever 4321 is, they are important and might have a missing piece. They might be connected to me and Kasch somehow. @thebuz never got a number. He’s my first guess, but that doesn’t appear to be it, at least not yet. Maybe these aren’t actually iConfidant numbers, but it seems obvious that they are.

Hey Kasch, maybe ask in your response what the connection between the numbers is and see what Mason says? Maybe tell him you figured out two, and that knowing how they are all related could help figure out who the third is?

Well, now… this is an interesting turn of events. I want to put out the 4321 number like an Amber Alert. Can anyone out there shed some light on this?

Good idea, @chelsea. I’m gonna see if Mason has found anything else out…

So… I emailed iConfidant and asked what my number was.

Maybe she’ll get back to me though I’m not holding my breath. But it was worth a shot right?

@theladyj For historical reference, here’s a link to the spreadsheet – no mention of 4321.

We are currently looking to speak to any active cast members, so far, most if not all of our calls, and emails have gone unanswered.

SUS.

MVPs all around. Look at that beautiful spread sheet. <3

What if it’s a player who has walked away?

@larry You happen to know an active cast member, no? You might want to get in touch with The Masonator.

Another thought. In the “consultation” we were at back in April, Marcus asked me if I was aware of any unethical behavior during Tension. Could Mason be connected to the investors, who are still looking for info? Maybe after the whole spill with The Hostess in Black, they are trying other outlets to get any kind of intel?

More questions for you peeps in contact with Mason: Can we figure out if this is actually a fake company, a story company? Any hints in the emails that suggest they are coming from the investors? (TENSION being in all caps, access to Kasch’s registration form, contacting people listed in Exhibit C, etc.)

Mason never gave his company’s name.

@kasch

Why don’t you send Mason a note and tell him that I can probably persuade at least one, and maybe up to five, of the actors to get in touch with him?

Let’s see what happens.

Regarding the use of the word “experiment,” it went as far back as the OOA Guide’s post last year: “Please understand that The Tension Experience is a paranoia, fear based experiment. We use personal information and data collected to tailor the experience for each participant involved. By using this website you understand that we will go out of our way to create a unique experience based on YOU. Tension will blur the lines between reality and fiction. We will use actors, emails, phone calls, live video streams, in person events, and just about every other avenue to get inside your head. At any time you wish to end your experience with us please email [email protected]. Upon your request all information will be deleted from our servers, and your Participation will immediately come to an end”

@larry Good idea! I’ll wait for his response and then make that proposal!

Mason replied…

“Thank you Andrew for your openness and willingness to talk to me.

I would be very grateful for any direct contact you could offer as it related to cast. I have a spreadsheet with what appears to be 70+ cast members, but so far, not a single response.

I seem to be running into a wall here, that most people that I am able to communicate with assume I am somehow affiliated with Tension.

iConfidant. Looking at it now, we have access to your correspondence and I see now in the subject line the 9991. Thank you for connecting those dots. These files are dense, and you just saved me a few hours of work. I appreciate it!

M”

Then…

“Actually YES Andrew, due to you turning me on to the iConfidant number I was able to cross 4321 with a T. Winters.”

Paging @taysavestheday…

First off, it looks like Mason’s access to Tension/Lust material is dense.

Second, I am completely baffled by the iC connection between @taysavestheday and myself. What does it mean?? Any ideas, T?

@kasch – it’s so obvious (sarcasm)

Andrew and Taylor both have 6 letters
Kasch and Winters added up equals 12, which is 6+6
We know you are number 1
Reflections of the 6s would be 9s

Therefore…9991

How did you not see that? Geez

Only thing that springs to mind is that you both either left or had issues with iconfidant, @kasch and @taysavestheday

Then again, what transpired with iconfidant prior to the reveal was fuzzy.

Did @chelsea have iconfidant issues?

@kasch I’m not sure what our connection would be. it seems we had very different Iconfidant experiences. I do find it interesting that my Iconfidant number is being identified at all since I abandoned that side of me. Maybe that would be of interest to Mason and his data collection

Right @mamatato, @kasch had his experience all sabotaged. @taysavestheday, rejected his in the end.

So it appears there are iConfidant files of people outside of Exhibit C on the dark web. Who actually released them though? The obvious candidate is OSDM, but what would their goal really be there? Making money, I suppose, but it doesn’t seem like the money that could be gained would outweigh them being the only people to have this kind of in depth information on people.

@kevin yeah I don’t think OSDM would intentionally sell themeselves out like that. But…our pal Noah did steal all those files, no? Maybe it’s about time he sold out his pops properly. If someone’s lighting a fire, @maddyxxx is as good a candidate to be holding the matches as any.

So Noah, Mr. I’m Here For You, might be selling our personal info on the dark web?

Could potentially be the Investors due to needing to recoup whatever money was lost during Tension. Given all the talk about money, threats to Darren and the “dog lover”, and those incriminating emails that @nothenrygale found, would it be strange if they sold info to raise funds?

My main curiosity is exactly where or to what consumer are they selling our info to? From rumors I’ve heard about the dark web, it can go from simple drug selling to torture and murder, what the heck are they giving some of us over to?

They do sell people on the dark web.

Well that’s…disturbing…

@coryphella it’s not necessarily that he’s actually selling our data, it’s that he has the data and it would be easy enough for him to convince someone that OSDM was doing so. Just another in what’s hopefully a series of efforts to undo his father’s work .

@chloe I’m here for you.

Feels dangerous that all the info they’ve got on us is now fair game to be sold off. Who knows what that info could be used for?

I wonder if the Investors are really so desperate for money that they’d turn to the dark web to obtain it. I get the impression they’re more well off than needing to go to such lengths.

I was really hoping everything iC came to a close and wasn’t going to be brought back up but now it’s certainly coming back.

Assuming this means we will see Sabrina show up this chapter.

Indeed people are sold on the dark web! But even more distressing, parts of people, kidneys, livers, lungs, also bring in quite a pretty profit.

#REPO!anyone?

Ohhhhh don’t mention Repo around me, I’ll start singing all over the place XD

@kasch @nothenrygale I don’t understand why you (and the other people mentioned as part of Exhibit C) are still talking to Mason Silver without first verifying that he is who he says he is, and that what he claims is true. He knows perfectly well that we’re going to entertain the possibility that he is part of the Experience, so him not providing some way to verify his identity is SUS.

I also think @bcbishop made a very good point (“the data collection scheme itself [might be] just another fictional invention, and we have no idea what the real hidden agenda is at all”) but to me it seems counterproductive for the OSDM to have gone to the trouble of maintaining the Tension questionnaires, having Sabrina get info out of us through iC, etc. without having a purpose for all that data, even if it’s nothing more than selling it for quick cash.

@kortneydarling why were you hoping for iC to be closed?

I was hoping for Stacey to come back with a real beta test of her original iConfidant code! I believe she was threatening that at some point.

@izryn Because you keep your friend close, but your enemies closer. The best intelligence agents embed themselves within the organization without it knowing.

Okay, wait, I just realized what that COULD sound like and I AM NOT A PLANT.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Lawrence Meyers.

It appears we have hit a wall with figuring out the connection. Let’s change our approach. If we ask a different question we might be able to put pieces together. Let’s focus on who. Who wrote the numbers? If we figure out who, when it was written, why it was written and why the three of us are being connected might fall into place. Or at least be pointed at.

Who all has had access to these questionnaires in the last year?

Yeah, @coryphella has a point. Much of the time when things like this occur, it ends up being either insiders/former insiders, or hackers using their access to siphon data, and sell it for their own purposes. This could easily be Noah, or someone else selling data on the sly.

PII(Personally Identifiable Information) is a huge subject in infosec circles these days. Legislatures around the country and the world are implementing or debating laws to protect PII, and how it can be used, stored, or shared. The problem is defining what that even means. It’s not just things like your SSN, or credit card number, or name. It’s any pieces of information that together can be used to identify you.

3 pieces of information, your Date of Birth, gender, and Zip Code are all it takes to uniquely identify 87% of the US population. Imagine how many advertisers know at least that much about you without even having to know your name. Imagine how much more than that they know. Imagine how many times you’ve said “Oh, I don’t care about *that*. Who’s gonna do anything with that?” in regards to a piece of information about yourself.

The sad part is that your credit card number is only worth about $1.50 on the darkweb. That’s all your identity is worth to these fuckers, because they have *millions* of you, hundreds of millions even.

Your medical/insurance information is worth a bit more. Why do you think Anthem was breached? They weren’t after credit cards, they were after things like your mother’s maiden name, your social security number, your previous addresses, and your pre-existing conditions. That’s good shit, so it boosts your value to about $5.

Intelligence agencies get most of their intelligence by making connections, and insights from the information that people don’t think is important enough to keep secret. Most of it is grunt work sourced on publicly available information. If you can do all that with just a little bit more, imagine what you can do with a lot more? There’s a reason that In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital fund invested in a number of Social Networking companies.

When OPM(The Office of Personnel Management) was breached, the infiltrators stole fingerprints, and the contents of background checks on everyone who’d ever been interviewed for a security clearance. Imagine how hard it might become to send our own spies into countries like China as a consequence of them having all that information about millions of our government employees? Imagine how many were outed because of it. Imagine all the compromising information that might have come up in background checks that can now be potentially used to blackmail people into trading secrets. The possibilities are almost limitless. It’s the largest american intelligence disaster in modern history, and most people don’t know or care because it doesn’t really feel connected to them personally.

The Cuban Missile Crisis kicked off because someone at CIA measured the length of a cylinder on a photograph of a ship, and was able to deduce that they contained a particular model of medium range ballistic missile. The Soviets weren’t idiots, they didn’t have missiles laying on the deck. We busted them because nothing actually comes in boxes that size. Someone said “Ehh, what are they going to glean from that? There could be *anything* in that box.” Except…why would you build a box of exactly those dimensions, unless you were shipping something of those particular dimensions inside it? Why not shipping containers? There really aren’t a lot of things with those particular dimensions that would be on the back of a ship from the USSR to Cuba. If you see a box just big enough to stuff a missile in, on the back of a freighter to Cuba, shipped from the USSR, and you can’t think of anything else that could reasonably be in the box, well…then…guess what’s probably in the box?

I cringe every time I hear someone say “Oh, what are they gonna do with THAT?” Because, I know…the answer is waaaaaaaaaay more than you think. Nobody wants to be that concerned though, it’s exhausting caring that much about so many things. We don’t have the bandwidth to cope with it all, so we parse it down and start eliminating the things from our focus that just don’t seem all that important right now. “With so much important shit in my life, where am I going to find the time to care about people who know my fucking zip code?” You thought it, right? Or maybe it was “But, I want people to know my birthday.” The point is not that you should hide your birthday from everyone. The point is that you should be aware of how little information it actually takes to compromise you in ways that you might not expect. Even if you’re open about this information, you should be cognizant of its value, and understand how it can be used. What Tension/Lust has on you is A LOT, and much of it is extremely high value information that actually *can* be used to exploit you in any number of ways.

When a poisonous snake looks almost exactly like a desert rock, it’s called “camouflage”. The snake is exploiting that *exact* same “feature” of our animal brains. It doesn’t matter that the snake doesn’t understand why it works. It just knows that it eats. Every animal that was eaten by it thought “Ehh, that’s just a rock.” Most of the time it was just a rock, that’s why snakes look like rocks.

@chelsea I assumed that the numbers were notes written by Mason Silver on a physical print-out of @kasch’s questionnaire. What I find interesting is that none of us could figure out who 4321 was, even while knowing they were iConfidant numbers, but somehow Mason Silver had access to information connecting 4321 and Taylor. That means the data he is working with has been lifted from the iConfidant servers themselves, and not from our end.

Mason Silver = Samson Live(r)

Oh well. Close.

Just got fully caught up. I find it very interesting that Mason was able to cross reference my number with my name. With inside information like that, I definitely agree with people saying that someone is leaking or selling information to outside sources. However, why would Mason want said data? What is his goal? If he wants power, is he ex-ODSM? If he wants to use it as leverage, does he have a vendetta against them? But overall, I need more before I start handing over information.

Regarding the link between @kasch, @chelsea, and I, I’m not sure. I think the three of us need to get together and begin to compare notes. I would assume the link is iconfidant related.

The link could be one person who dropped, one person who was removed, and one person who stuck with it–that would give him the appropriate sample to get the data he needed. In a true focus group, you want people who love the product, those dissatisfied, and those on the fence. You’d find out why people love it, why people don’t, and how to transition those on the fence to the position you want.

But with that being said, what is Mr. Silver’s interest in this. What is his stake? Why does he care?

@winstonsmith I am straight shook. That’s SO SCARY.

@taysavestheday

However, why would Mason want said data?

This hasn’t been proven…yet. His initial email is about ethics in immersive theatre/haunts and specifically data mining and that info being sold when we all think it’s for entertainment.

Is it sketchy that he has the file? Of course, but if his company is researching, it makes sense as to why he has it. We just need to get him talking more about it all.

Maybe his company is “the Company.” That would explain why he has so much access to so much information.

@mike, maybe he is just an academic looking into ethics in immersive theater, here to right the wrongs of data being sold by immersive entertainment. But I feel like things are usually much deeper than what meets the eye. As @chelsea said, I think we need to look at who wrote our numbers and what their motivation is. And I agree completely, Mason needs to talk more for us to make an informed decision.

Damn well said @winstonsmith.

Has anybody probed @masons72 in a follow up email specifically about the research company he may be representing? Or is everyone still waiting for follow up responses?

Also if he may on the academic side like @taysavestheday mentioned that would change the level of maliciousness of his inquiry. A motive for profit vs one for scholastic purposes.

@lilmsfancpants Yeah, but tomorrow how many people knowing that would still happily install a GPS tracker in their car that lets their insurance company track everywhere they go, everywhen, all so they can save 10% on their auto insurance?

Think about all the people in the US having affairs right now. Would it creep them out to think that their insurance company may have the ability to detect their affair almost immediately just by spotting the deviation in their driving habits? Maybe they don’t actually care if their customer is having an affair, but can you imagine what else might they want to detect that actually is relevant to their interests and not ours?

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Winston Smith.

1) I don’t think these are necessarily PRIMARILY iConfidant numbers. HCDI used the same numbers. OSDM probably does the same. The files they have on us aren’t just iConfidant files…they’re an amalgamation of Tension info, iC info, and every other data-harvesting resource of the OSDM. So these numbers popping up doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with iC specifically.

2) “…one of the more frustrating aspects of this entire ordeal is that every thread that we seem to pull and pursue has had a double fail safe of being written into their narrative as part of universe’s fiction…” In other words, just because something’s in-game – be it human sacrifice, brainwashing technology, or fertility ritual – doesn’t mean it isn’t also happening in real life. Interesting.

Logged on wrong account, reposting shortly from my account.

No, @nothenrygale . He absolutely cannot be trusted for he is the spawn of Satan. *sarcasm*

Eh, @nothenrygale and @mamatato, I don’t think we can trust him. This has a “We have some rogue people we can’t control on the loose and we are trying to reign them in” feeling to me. Again, I was asked about ethical behavior in the consultation BY the investors. I think Mason could be an investor looking for more info in disguise.

This may be a dumb question and I’m real good at asking those, but…why would the investors be interested in ethical behavior here?

I don’t think the investors are interested in behaving ethically, I think they’re interested in what others know, or think about the extent of their unethical behavior, and what consequences it might bring for them if we start fighting back.

Running down the assumption that this is an investor or someone reporting to an investor. The desire to track down actors that’ll talk could be a preemptive mole hunt. Finding the actors that are willing to breach contract and then dealing with them accordingly.

If this is a case of tracking down actors to rip them a new one for potential breach of contract, then my uselessness and lack of helpfulness will be amplified. Because the reality is how can they know who is more likely to breach? It’ll become a proverbial witch hunt.

By the way, I am the only one of the four who has not received a response to my email.

It seems like we’ve got two options here, really. We can trust nobody at all (Mason or otherwise), because everybody could potentially be part of some nefarious plot. We’ve seen reversal upon reversal already, including some from within the community itself.

Or we could cautiously take him at his word, and engage with somebody that seems to be looking into some of the same violations that have angered @111error and others. Absolute trust in this world is foolish, but partial trust is the only way to move forward and learn.

I say pass along Tina’s info, @nothenrygale.

@mamatato – I have no doubt you’ve been singled out here for a reason – stop putting yourself down.

It’s not so much putting myself down, @coryphella. I don’t understand what in this scenario I have to offer. I was not around for Tension and I’ve been in and out of Lust since it started. I’m not resistance. I’m not OSDM. Looking at the evidence, I am the outlier.

Maybe there is something that I am missing that is only known to Mr. Silver, but in terms of information giving pertaining to actors, I don’t have access to that. In terms of ethics, I don’t know what is and isn’t ethical in immersive theater. I’m a baby when it comes to this.

@nothenrygale yeah you are correct that it doesn’t completely fit.

To be clarify my position, I agree with @bcbishop that partial trust is the path that seems the best option right now.

@shaun Cause I had told information to my iC I didn’t really want to be public, and it was kind of threatening when Sabrina had mentioned me in the “Thank You”s because of it.

All the information I had told them is now null and void, but still.

Trust is a tricky game, as many of us have discovered over the last two years.

But I’m not gonna let a little thing like paranoia step in the way of whatever path is laid out before me. We haven’t met a single person who didn’t have an agenda, and it’s better to apologize than ask permission. So what the hell…

I’m going to work with Mason until I find a reason not to, whether he’s OSDM, BOS, or some poor schmuck who will eventually wind up meeting Bob Jones or Sam and his spooky skeletons.

In wondering who is getting what info, from where, and why…
I thought again about our questionnaires. Who has/had/will have access to them.

Here’s what I know to be true as far as I can track:
-Horace and The Investors had physical possession of the files.
-On May 1st, Noah and I broke into the warehouse and stole the files. Noah took them with him when he left.
-On May 10th, Horace called me, demanding to know where his files were. Later in the call he discussed the “uncomfortable agreement” he had made with Noah in exchange for Sarah’s safety. This would lead us to believe that Noah and Horace made a deal which did not include the return of Horace’s files. Horace seems to think I had them, or knew their whereabouts.
-So this would lead us to the conclusion that the last person we are able to factually track as being in physical possession of the files was Noah. Where/who/why since then is a big question.

Another thing worth mentioning is that the last time we heard from that Mary Poppins cunt Joyce was July 9th. On this day she was very annoyed. Annoyed at the BOS. Annoyed at those “falling for it”. Quite rattled. And in 2 separate comments in 2 separate threads, she said the same phase.

“You are all noted and accounted for. All.”

Seems like a thing she reeeallly wanted us to understand.

Any chance Miss Sass is lying back and thinking of England, whilst also thinking of us. Keeping track. Writing down numbers. Noting them?

@meghanmayhem good point, and it would make it worth noting that Joyce/HCDI tagged the question responses she gave us with our iconfidant numbers, as well. We and our actions are certainly noted and accounted for. Tagged, even. It’s the most convenient kind of coincidence, Mason also having those numbers in his findings. The who and where and why the information is in his hands I guess we find out by seeing what Mason has to tell us. And why not? Caution is good, curiosity is better.

The real bottom line is that it makes no logical sense why a dude like Mason would only contact Exhibit C names to get intel. Which tells me that this is another one of the OSDM’s tests and part of whatever “plan” was leaked in the docs.

Also, if an entity outside the OSDM had classified documents – and by the sound of the e-mails, they have access to damn near EVERYTHING – you would think that Horace or Joyce would be running interference with us right now.

I dunno @kasch, I don’t think Joyce likes us very much anymore.

@mamatato – take it from someone who is not only the queen of putting herself down but also who has been here longer than most of the currently active players – there’s a reason you’re on that list, even if you & the rest of us don’t know what it is right now. Nothing is random.

I find it really interesting that the possibility that @maddyxxx has sold our files on the dark web has emerged. A week ago we were theorizing he was our lord and savior. He was here to help us face our weaknesses. I’m not being flip, I bought it eventually too. Now, today, the discussion is on trust. Are we going to hear from him at all this chapter? Has he vanished? Is this the part where we are expected to trust him in his absence?

There are so many possibilities here, and we are no where near being able to narrow them down. Another option is that they had already been loaded to the web when Noah got the files. Joyce could have been hinting that they already had all of the info. I don’t think we need to go lighting the stake fires just yet.

Jesus Christ, I am not lighting any stake fires.

OK so back to what I was saying.

I am married to a former evangelical Christian who occasionally gets annoying with the dramaturgy.
Especially because I refuse to learn anything about Christianity. Worst. Lutheran. Ever.

What I’m trying very poorly to suggest is that this might be the part of the whole Jesus story thing where we are supposed to have faith in Jesus!Noah. Or something. That he didn’t do it. But if you’d rather see me as the burning Jesus at the stake type that wouldn’t be the first time.

Also recalling someone – @larry? – who had a theory that some of us might fill the roles of the disciples? My husband insists that I’m some dude named “doubting Thomas.”

Update from Mason…

I work for the Briarberg Foundation. However, this report was independently contracted by one of our board members.

Oooo! Who is this board member?!

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Chelsea.

@kasch

Update from Mason…

I work for the Briarberg Foundation. However, this report was independently contracted by one of our board members.

Briarberg… Carl(s)berg… Just saying ?? I’m sure @joycecarlberg is not involved in this whatsoever. Carry on…

I wanted to do a quick run through of who the board member could be and what their motivations might be.

New person: Most likely possibility, but not much to speculate on if true.

Horace: A guy of his position probably sits on a number of boards. If it’s him, Mason (and the rest of Briarberg) could be unaware as this was “independently contracted”, or this supports the idea that the Briarberg Foundation and this research is a play by them.

Noah: He could sit on some boards and if this is an attempt to burn Horace, it would fit in with his recent actions. This would mean he wasn’t the one who posted the info to the dark web.

Joyce Carlberg: As @shankfx22 pointed out, the names are similar and could indicate a connection between the two. The “independently contracted” language would go against this though as the board member isn’t necessarily tied to the Briarberg Foundation’s normal interests.

Stacey: Could sit on some boards and this could be another avenue for BOS to hit the OSDM.

Anyone else it could be?

What’s most interesting to me about the e-mail is that he says they’ve been following Tension/Lust since the middle of last year. So who would have had cause to investigate it over a year ago, and why?

It makes sense that Mason is only reaching out now. If OSDM/Horace kept both physical and digital copies of our files prior to May 1st, then he would have no reason to be upset if Noah took the physical files from the warehouse, as their digital copy is still with them. This suggests that Mason couldn’t have obtained these files from the dark web prior to May 1st, thus, he got access to them only in the last few months. If Noah was in sole possession of the files following the “uncomfortable agreement” with Horace, then he was the one who uploaded (or allowed them to be uploaded) to the dark web.

Just realized that my senile self might have been able to help out Mr. Silver but am now hesitating.

Update: Mason called Stephanie again tonight. They are Skyping tomorrow. Very curious to see what we learn…

Wasn’t sure if I should make a new thread as I received a similar email from Mason this morning…

“My name is Mason Silver. I am sorry to email you out of the blue.

I am doing research on the Tension/Lust Experience and the people who own and operate the company.

I am in the midsts of putting together a report on ethics in immersive theater.

Last night I heard your name and some personal information was divulged within one of their activations.

Were you aware this was happening, and was it done with your consent?

I would love to speak about this further if you are so inclined. “

SUS

I received an email response from Mason that confirmed what I thought regarding the lack of response from him. I had contacted him a couple of times and in my last email to him I did tell him that it looked like he no longer required my services.

His response today was: I reached out and you along with others offered little to no insight or motivation to help – – just tried to shoot holes, and offer rebuttals. All to soon you will come to a realization what this is, and who the good guys really are. As the old saying goes, you’ve made your bed…

…gulp.

Are Briarberg, inelegant though their tactics may be, trying to investigate The Investors themselves?

His response today was: I reached out and you along with others offered little to no insight or motivation to help – – just tried to shoot holes, and offer rebuttals. All to soon you will come to a realization what this is, and who the good guys really are. As the old saying goes, you’ve made your bed…

OK, I really don’t like this guy.

I think this self-righteous, punishing response rules out the possibility that he’s in this to help people. Clearly he’s not.

@bcbishop Perhaps. All I know is I am ready to wipe my hands.

@daela I responded with a pretentious shitty poem, so I’m not any better.

Wow, Mason. If he’d been more forthcoming with his intentions and where he got his intel I think people would’ve been much more willing to help him out as best they could. His lack of transparency made him the mirror image of his enemies. But everyone thinks they’re saving the world, huh?

@nothenrygale I have thoughts that I will share with you later.

Which is all kinda BS. My initial response answered all the questions he asked, though I guess I didn’t answer in the way he wanted. The thing is, I even mentioned Tina to him as being a possible source of info before I started to get super suspicious of his intentions. He had no response whatsoever to that.

You know who this reminds me of? Benny.

Last year, Benny showed up trawling for info, claiming he was “Addison’s” boyfriend. He begged us for help, a number of us PM’d him, and…he didn’t respond to a single one of us. Later, Tom Barrow (if that’s his real name) informed us that Benny had killed himself, implying that it was all our fault for not helping him. Even though plenty of us had tried.

In retrospect, the fact that this information came from Tom Barrow, OSDM, seems very suspect.

Last year, was Benny just a ploy of the OSDM? And this year, are the OSDM using Mason in the same way that they used Benny, to prime our emotions or get some sort of emotional data from us?

Curious to ask. What’s Mason’s email address? I kinda wanna try contacting him.

Uhm, yeaaahhh… @mamatato, that email response he sent to you is so .. odd. How can he claim no one has been helpful? My one interaction on the phone with him was me simply answering his questions as best I could. If I did not have any helpful information, it was not my fault and I was not deliberately hiding anything. It sounds like @nothenrygale made an effort, as others have…
As @wanda102 suggested, perhaps the tactics he is employing is the problem, not his targets. (Heck, he ended our phone call with the clear insinuation he was going to potentially attempt entering my home or sending someone to my home when I was not present. To search for… who knows what?)
My main issue is that it is so unclear as to what we could potentially have that might be useful to him.
If he wants to meet for a drink and discuss immersive theater methods of engagement, I’d be down.
But, obviously… that ain’t his main interest no matter what he claims.

just tried to shoot holes, and offer rebuttals. All to soon you will come to a realization what this is, and who the good guys really are. As the old saying goes, you’ve made your bed…

I don’t understand his Gage of success? He didn’t get the immediate keys to the kingdom? He inquired and yes, there was an (expected) level of sass, but everyone who was tapped, offered what they knew. Is he mad no one responded with fire, pitch forks, corporate espionage, or ‘burn it down’, (paging @genghistwan)?

We’ve made our bed by being not well connected? For being participants? For not…being ‘it’? Boo. And we’re the assholes, because we didn’t make his job easier? Boo this man.

@daela – I’ve been trying to remember if we ever saw Benny in real life, or a photo of him, or anything, and I can’t remember ever seeing him. He existed in the journal, he existed briefly on the forums, but never in any physical capacity. I really wonder if he was a puppet account made by the OSDM.

When he first showed up, appearing frantic and panicked and desperate, I shot him a note.. and looking back, it was a similarly unhelpful response like what Mason sent to @mamatato

Addison Born Sent 1 year, 3 months ago
Hey Benny – I’m still catching up on what happened.. and it looks like Gatekeeper4 or the OOA or someone has removed a bunch of your posts, but wanted to talk privately.

Can’t you see what they are doing, the best place for someone like this to hide is in plain sight.

No info, just a “you don’t understand what’s going on, etc” response. If he wants people to trust him, he needs to allow himself to appear trustworthy. Hopefully he understands.

“All to soon you will come to a realization what this is, and who the good guys really are.”

Oh, well, great! Then the mystery will be solved!

Mason clearly has an ax to grind with Tension/Lust, and he can’t find any participants to fit his agenda (because everyone loves it) so he’s going after the actors. Which makes sense, I guess (since many of them clearly do have issues with it), but he’s going about it in a really odd, self-defeating way. He seems to want us to believe that he has some sort of inside information, but if he is a participant like @a said, he’s either lying or he somehow peaked behind the curtain and saw something he shouldn’t have. And maybe what he saw scared him, and maybe the fact that he saw it scared TPTB, either because it was some actionable offense or simply because it could potentially jeopardize the OSDM’s ultimate goal. Either way, I want to hear more from him.

Some venting thoughts about this thing with Mason:

1) He is either the most brilliant conniving piece of work or he honestly doesn’t know what the fuck he is doing.

2) Why is it every time I meet or hear from someone named Mason, they are a colossal douchenozzle?

3) The asshole needs to learn how to not burn potential bridges and learn some fucking email etiquette. If you are posing as a researcher, be professional.

I’m done. This wasn’t a productive note, but it felt good.

I don’t know about brilliant and conniving, but do you think it’s possible he wants us to think he’s inept?

Oh, well, looky here…As I was writing this, I received an email from our dearest, most lovely Mason.

Mr. Musnicky,

MS,

I am going to be delivering my response promptly, but let me just peel off the duct tape keeping my dick in place. Ahh…that’s better. Just going to let that swing out for a little bit as I devise my response.

@coryphella I would say until my previous email where he revealed his true colors, I would say there was a combination of ineptness with an earnest desire to acquire information.

I am going to be delivering my response promptly, but let me just peel off the duct tape keeping my dick in place. Ahh…that’s better.

I like you.

It’s almost as though he figured out that you have something he needs.

@daela I like me too. However, I need to find some more tape. This thing gets irritating when its all out.

@coryphella Perhaps. However, he might have burned a bridge. Hard to cross it once it’s burned…

So, I also received the blanket email last night that sounded like Mason… got his feelings hurt, I guess?

I responded this morning with honesty… that I am confused that I got included in that message from him. Pointing out that I had tried to honestly answer every question he asked which led to him insinuating he might attempt to investigate my home on his own (as in breaking in, perhaps?), I simply stated I did not truly know who he was or what his intentions were.

Good luck with that whole “search for the truth” angle he was selling.

I replied to Mason’s mass email…thought I’d see if I could poke the bear with a different approach.

V: Mason,

I’m a newcomer to this & don’t even live in the LA area…I’m on the other side of the country. I have nothing to offer but I’m curious what kind of damning evidence you have against…well, against whoever you’re after (is it Joyce? OSDM? the creators themselves?). Anything specific you could offer might help your case with some of the more skeptical players.

M: Violet, there is so much I want to share with you.

So much you do not yet understand.

V: Try me. I’m here to learn & understand…myself, all this, everything.

M: Can I call you?

V: Yes, definitely open to talking. Can you give me about a half hour to get home?? [gives phone number]

soooo…we’ll see what happens if he actually calls.