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Post by FROZEN ACCOUNT on Jul 7, 2006 16:52:23 GMT -5
I sent a letter to LSnicket,(not his publishers but him), reccomending this site and here is his out of office reply: Dear Reader, There are many ways that a mysterious colleague might send you a message. A coded letter may be tied to the foot of a crow, a Volunteer Factual Dispatch may be sent using a telegram machine, or a secret may be encoded using Verbal Fridge Dialogue. In any event, you have no way of knowing whether the message was sent by a villain or a volunteer. That is definitely true in this case. Since Lemony Snicket is hiding far away from his computer and the internet, this correspondence—a word which here means “a letter of unknown origin from an infamous author”—should be deleted at once. If he did write back, Mr. Snicket would probably tell you to avoid his troubling chronicles of the Baudelaire children, stop visiting www.lemonysnicket.com, and refrain from decoding this e-mail.With all due respect, A Villain or Volunteer Do you think it means anything? |
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter 
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891 
Likes: 113
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Post by Antenora on Jul 7, 2006 17:14:44 GMT -5
I tried the Sebald code on that, and I can't find anything that looks remotely coherent(nor does this letter contain any of the clumsy sentence structure that usually indicates that code). There also don't seem to be any spelling or grammar errors that'd indicate Aunt Josephine's code. So, I think this may just be a red herring, with no particular significance. (However, there is an earlier version of the Snicket auto-reply message out there someplace, containing the Sebald-Coded phrase "Your teacher works for Olaf". So if there is something hidden in that letter by a more obscure code, it's probably not a clue to the last book or anything else much.)
Actually, now that I think of it, were there any bolded or italicized or colored letters in the original? Those were used in some promotional sites a while ago.
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Post by FROZEN ACCOUNT on Jul 7, 2006 17:22:20 GMT -5
No there wasn't unfortunatley. By the way, I don't remeber ever reading about a red herring in the books. What does that mean?
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Antenora
Detriment Deleter
Fiendish Philologist
Put down that harpoon gun, in the name of these wonderful birds!
Posts: 15,891
Likes: 113
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Post by Antenora on Jul 7, 2006 19:27:58 GMT -5
A red herring, as explained in The Ersatz Elevator, is a popular term for a fake clue intended to distract from the real clues.
And it seems like if there wasn't any differently styled text in this e-mail, as well as no indications of codes, there wasn't a coded message at all. It's all a rather clever ploy to mess with our paranoid minds, or possibly the result of an incompetent web designer leaving out something intended to be there.
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Post by negativenine on Jul 7, 2006 19:50:42 GMT -5
Wow, I was all reading to get my decodin' cap on, but I think Tocuna's right.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2006 22:22:23 GMT -5
well, you can make it say whatever you want, as long as you make up a code that works. could this be the message, you can believe whatever you want
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Post by Wizz on Jul 10, 2006 15:31:23 GMT -5
This message is an automated reply, No one actually sends that, its juct when you send them a e-mail a computer sends you a random message about lemony snicket. I tried sending a message before but seconds later the reply is already there so its clear that it is an automated reply.
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Post by Daveaite on Jul 10, 2006 19:57:16 GMT -5
Dude I emailed him and got the same message.
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Post by Shelly on Jul 11, 2006 17:36:59 GMT -5
Same here.
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Post by Jacques the Environmentalist on Jul 16, 2006 20:29:35 GMT -5
It's impossible for it to be verbal fridge dialogue, no couplets, definitely no sebald code and certainly no food code. An automated email reply can't really be in disguise.
What a ripoff.
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Post by FROZEN ACCOUNT on Jul 20, 2006 0:06:13 GMT -5
I'm not an idiot, I know it was an automated reply. I just thought that there was maybe someting to it.
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Post by Sugary Snicket on Jul 21, 2006 14:12:56 GMT -5
I'm afraid not. There doesn't seem to be anything pointing to a code, so..... Unless it's a letter code. Maybe every other letter..... No, no, there isn't. My mistake.
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Post by Gigi on Jul 21, 2006 14:27:38 GMT -5
Isn't it obvious? The message is right there in plain sight! The last line clearly says "refrain from decoding this e-mail". You're supposed to take it literally. There is no secret message.  |
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Post by Dante on Jul 21, 2006 14:41:23 GMT -5
Let the record state that I deleted three posts here to remove/prevent a miniature flame war. For more information, PM me.
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Post by Jacques the Environmentalist on Jul 23, 2006 22:00:58 GMT -5
Good work Dante, putting out fires and all.
Gar. Now the next time a letter comes out and implies directly that there's a code I'm not touching it.
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