Just about the scariest thing you could read.

[Grundislav]

I found it amusing that he was educated at the University of Florida, where I currently attend.  

I have an idea.  If he was born in 1998, it obviously means he's currently 5 years old.  Mills and I can hunt this kid down...if there happens to be a 5 year old John whatever, we can kill him and see if the internet posts disappear.

Fun experiment.

[Nacho]

DO IT!!!1! FOR THE GOOD OF THE SCIENCE!!!1!

[TerranRich]

Er, ahem. You do realize you'd just create an alternate timeline, and the posts would still be there? Even if they did disappear, you'd end up having no recollection of them whatsoever.

But you of course alread knew that.

[Miez]

I just don't get the whole "russkies nuking the states" thing; there's this crippling civil war, America has completely debilitated itself. Hell the Russians - if they would WANT to in the first place - could just march in there. But no, they nuke everything? wtf?  
A very compelling story, a great hoax, but this little detail is just a little too Russophobic and spoils it.

[strazer]

...
There are also no income taxes.

Heres why later:

Is there an IRS?

Yes, we pay taxes. Sounds like you don't enjoy keeping track of your
personal income taxes. I don't think anyone does.

While I do agree that this guy is a hoax, I have to defend him here.
He said there are no income taxes. Later he says "we pay taxes", but doesn't specify what exactly.
In the second part of the sentence he merely comments that the poster doesn't enjoy keeping track of his income taxes. That doesn't make Titor's taxes income taxes.

You have to admire the consistency in his writings. Quite masterfully he rarely gives definite answers and often replies with counterquestions.
If the physics part would hold up to scrutiny as well (apparently it doesn't), it would be harder to tell if he was a hoax or not.

In this thread the mods of the forums where he allegedly made the posts seem to have him identified as a liar.

Hoax or not, he does have a point about society today. If that does not make you think, at least his story is so well done IMO that for non-physicists it's quite entertaining.

Btw, he doesn't talk of "civil war" but "civil conflict", small incidents that keep mounting up until 2008. So if you really want to believe, you might have to wait another 4 years.  

[timh_009]

Yeah John Titor.....
anyone heard of John Edward?

Lots of people believe every word he says but he talks so fast that no one knows what he is actually meaning. At risk of looking embarrased they just nod their heads and say "yes, yes". He continually says different very very vague things like "I'm getting an R in your family" and the poor person ays "Oh my great uncles friend was Richard" and John just goes on with another question. He preys on people who have recently experienced a loss in their life and tricking them shame on him.

John Titor is preying on a world fearful of war by telling us that there will be a war. There might be but probably not and 99% not the way John Titior says it will happen. Shame on him.

Well theres my 2 cents

[Peter Thomas]

For what it's worth, I think this guy is good......

I don't believe a word of it (personally), but you have to admit, he's chosen the perfect type of media to start the hype, and he's gone to all the right places to get people interested. He doesn't care WHO'S interested, just HOW MANY, and he certainly did that job well. You don't just start this type of hoax up after one night of drunken pleasure... this guy thought about it.

I disagree with most of what he says for the same reasons that everybody else has already pointed out, but whether you think it's gold or crapola, it still makes an interesting read, and I find it fascinating to think that people get so involved.

The only regret I have is not being able to ask some of my OWN questions. Forget the policitcal crap...... I wanna know next weeks lotto numbers.....  :'(

[Nacho]

There is a lot of people who can easily hint people with vague sentences.... I remember some similar session to tihm has mentioned. The "medium" starts telling "you´re coming here because you´ve lost somebody beloved, correct?"... Of course, if you go to a medium you are looking to contact with somebody.

Finally, a person came with an "invented" dead familiar and with data he could give to the "medium". Of course, the "medium" got all the information, and contacted with the dead familiar... the only problem was that this familiar wasn´t actually dead. It is a experiment we can do. Go to two mediums, to one with the desire to give him information, and the other to tell him of averything except of the matter you want to know about. The first one will give you a confortable solution to your problem, whereas the other will talk of no senses without guessing your real problems.

My predictions to year 2004:

-The pope will have severe health problems.
-Bin Laden of another important Al-Quaeda member will be captured.
-There will be a surprise in the US elections.
-There will be problems in Middle Orient, but Palestine and Israel leaders will finally face the problem.

As you can see... all to vague. But when that things happen, we can come back to the predictions and give the propper interpretation.

Edit: Somebody remembers that Bob Lassard? who claimed he worked in Area-51? another person trying to fool people?

[Meowster]

"Think Differentably".

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

I don't believe it. The website is probably own by the same guy. It's a good money making scheme, or it would be, if it was more interesting.

[shbaz]

Farlander.. you can see into the future!! Can you contact my Grandmother for me?

(anyone seen that episode of South Park where Kyle (?) makes fun of John Edwards and nominates him for the biggest douche in the universe award?)

[Nacho]

Jackhammer... I´ve seen many "medium sessions" to have an slightly idea of how they manage to make it seem real, so... if your grandmother is dead ( :'() I think we could do an experiment in #AGS and I could guess many things of her if you are a little participative (which is the attitude of the people who goes to that sessions).

Wanna try?

If not, we could do it easier... Invent a character and write some facts of his live. I will try to guess.

It´s quite easy. They look the age of the person who want to stablish the "contact". If he is average, they test if he is trying to contact with parents/son. If they´re young, they go for grandpas... If they´re old, they probably try with sons.

Also, they descriptions are very vague. Imagine you (20 y.old, more or less) come to me saying that you´ve lost somebody you love. I can think it´s your brother, but you say "No"... Then I can reply, well... probably I was seeing an remind of the person who we are trying to contact, so, if he was watching a young kid, it can be somebody who took care of you when you were younger... maybe the image was you... Have you lost somebody like... your grandpa?

And by your answers, you finally give the "medium" the story. Have in mind that the people who want to  believe in such things wants to find a relief, so, any vague data you give them will be seen by them like a great prove of the existence of souls/supernatural contacts... whatever.

I am opened to the experiment.

[Jockstrap]

Ha, yeah. And I'm a 300 year old vampyre....

[Nacho]

what is so difficult to understand by you? That people who want to believe can´t give information to a person who wants to fool them?

Well... In that case... You´d probably be a 300 y.old vampire.

ergo... You´re senile...  

[Jockstrap]

No No No No No. You misunderstand me. I said that in reference to the whole time traveller thing, not your post....guess I should have been more clear.....

[Nacho]

Ohhhh! My apologizes! In any case... I haven´t been so harsh, and my "you´re senile" statement just works if you can´t understand my previous post. As you did... all is ok!  

[shbaz]

Farlander, I totally agree with you, I don't believe in that stuff. I only said that because that was what Kyle did in the South Park episode, he demonstrated how easy it was to trick people and instead of realizing that it was fake they just assumed he was a medium too. It'd be fun to try anyway though.

[Nine Toes]

Ha, yeah. And I'm a 300 year old vampyre....

Shutcho mouf, foo!  You know better than to violate our code!...  

[Flippy_D]

Fun, this. I got it from, as ever, Fazed.

I was mulling it over at various points today (when not being buried in snow), and came up with the reasons I think this strikes such a chord:

Detail, confidence, consistency, plausability (in a twisted way) and realism.

Although the cynic in me is currently yelling incoherently and hitting me with a stick. I agree about the Russia thing, that's odd. I also think the lack of reference to the 'war on terror' is strange. If he was born in... 1998? then he would surely remember or know of something to do with terrorists or 9/11 and such. Also, it's more subtle, but the thing about alhemeizers (or however it's spelt) is nagging at me. It's the perfect thing really, for when he posted. Not many people in America were aware of it that I know of, but there was the trouble in England, for starters. He may have had the foresight to see the scare about it and mention it, because it's certainly vanished since. War in '05? seems unlikely to me, but stay away from Jacksonville

There have been more elaborate hoaxes than this. Not many, but they have definitely happened.

[Ben]

Yeah, the Mad Cow thing was something that anyone could have predicted, since it was so huge in Europe, and our livestock is in disgusting condition in the US.

The whole thing definitely preys on our fears, and that's what makes it believable. Throw in a few gimmie predictions and you have yourself a real time traveler  

I relly don't think this is as bad as those "spirit messenger" people. That website doesn't really take advantage of anyone (well, not for money), and it actually makes a few good points about the way we live. Those people on TV just lie to people., and get rich doing it.

FAR: I'm interested. Guess who I killed.. er.. who died and I really miss.

[Nacho]

Sure Jackhammer, I posted in response to you considering my ally in this... ^_^ I just wanted to make this experiment because it should be interesting to post the results here...