[HN Gopher] Faxlore
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       Faxlore
        
       Author : benbreen
       Score  : 61 points
       Date   : 2022-07-18 21:53 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | buildsjets wrote:
       | For your consideration: Glendale Police Department report on the
       | Satanic Panic. Undated. Good times, hail Baphomet and assorted
       | lesser demons.
       | https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/149064NCJRS.pdf
        
       | vivegi wrote:
       | Hmm.. I think I just realized that I had fallen for the "lights
       | out" hoax for the longest time. I heard about it first in an
       | email around 1998. I believed it to be true until I read this
       | Faxlore wikipedia link today. Wow!
       | 
       | To clarify, just a month after I heard about this, I had a
       | confirming event. I was in Detroit at that time and my wife and I
       | were staying in a motel. It was just after sundown. We pulled out
       | of the motel parking lot into the road. It was less than a minute
       | later that I realized I did not have my car headlights turned on
       | and I switched them on. Seconds later, a cop who was following us
       | stopped us and questioned us if we just pulled out of a parking
       | lot. He didn't give me a ticket, just an enquiry and let us off.
       | That incident worked as a confirming event for me.
       | 
       | Bunch, Michael: "Technology Aided Spread of Terrifying Hoax", San
       | Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 4, 1993 - "Lights Out" gang initiation
       | legend spreads by fax and copier.
        
       | ThinkingGuy wrote:
       | My very first encounter with a Nigerian Prince scam was in the
       | form of a fax received by my college roommate. He was from
       | another country and didn't really understand it. I remember just
       | telling him it looked suspicious and to ignore it.
       | 
       | Around the same time I also knew a religious family who had the a
       | copy of the Proctor & Gamble "Satanism" warning taped to the
       | front of their refrigerator (it listed all the P&G brands, so
       | they'd know which ones to avoid).
        
         | mbg721 wrote:
         | To this day, the P&G corporate HQ in Cincinnati has blank white
         | circles on the top, where the supposedly Satanic logo would
         | have gone.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | Can you point out for me in this picture where these white
           | circles are that you just posted as fact?
           | 
           | https://www.google.com/maps/place/1+Procter+%26+Gamble+Plaza.
           | ..
        
             | JasonFruit wrote:
             | Obviously that picture was altered by Google, which works
             | with the P&G Satanists. Search for any health or beauty
             | product category on Google and see how long it takes for
             | one of the P&G brands to pop up. It's no coincidence.
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | shhhh, the P&G mafia will soon be knocking on your door
               | if you keep informing the public like this. You have been
               | warned!
        
             | mbg721 wrote:
             | In the center of the short sides of the octagon on each
             | tower (taking the top as an octagonal prism), just under
             | where the roof slants upward.
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | https://www.google.com/maps/place/1+Procter+%26+Gamble+Pl
               | aza...
               | 
               | That thing?
        
               | mbg721 wrote:
               | The link just points me to the map rather than a specific
               | photo, but it's in the right place. Here's a picture: htt
               | ps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procter_%26_Gamble#/media/Fi
               | ...
        
       | ben_w wrote:
       | The blue star tattoo legend made it's way around my primary
       | school twice while I was there.
        
       | jszymborski wrote:
       | Someone tell me there's a section hidden on textfiles.org with
       | examples of these.
        
       | jordemort wrote:
       | If I wanted to set up a fax number to collect random fax spam,
       | how would I attract spammers to the number?
        
       | ttyprintk wrote:
       | You would have seen these behind the receptionist in dentists
       | offices and public schools:
       | 
       | https://bavatuesdays.com/xeroxlore-folklore-in-the-age-of-me...
       | 
       | By the 2000s, the more-intense pranksters had discovered that
       | high-volume printers on college campuses left IPP open.
        
         | googlryas wrote:
         | > more-intense pranksters
         | 
         | Never heard weev described that way before...
        
           | ttyprintk wrote:
           | "Nothing will red pill white men faster than this," was one
           | white guy's reaction to Obama. Back then, might have ended up
           | as just a prank. But, that white guy was unfortunately ahead
           | of his time.
        
         | 13of40 wrote:
         | Disappointed. There's supposed to be a frazzled cartoon cat
         | with a cup of black coffee and the words "I've got one nerve
         | left and you just stepped on it."
         | 
         | (Come to think of it maybe I'm mixing memes.)
        
           | krallja wrote:
           | "I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day.
           | Tomorrow doesn't look good either."
        
       | krallja wrote:
       | I once faxed "oh god how did this get here i am not good with
       | computer"[1] to Cheezburger, Inc.
       | 
       | [1] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oh-god-how-did-this-get-
       | here-...
        
       | koofdoof wrote:
       | Anyone know a good collection of faxlore? Id love to see more,
       | but examples online seem a little sparse.
        
       | quercusa wrote:
       | I'm surprised not to see the IBM mouse balls tech note on the
       | list.
        
         | whoosh3 wrote:
         | Reminds me of the time I got a box of mouse balls from AT&T,
         | the guys got a chuckle out of that.
        
       | cestith wrote:
       | Reminds me of tapelooping and blacklooping. Not only urban
       | legends were spread by fax. All sorts of scams, baseless legal
       | threats, harassment, and more were too.
       | 
       | Since in theory it tied up meaningful resources (time on the
       | phone line and potentially paper and ink) some places made
       | sending certain things by unsolicited fax illegal. In the US IIRC
       | one could be fined and be made to pay restitution and punitive
       | damages to to recipient if they could find and name the party to
       | the government.
        
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       (page generated 2022-07-20 23:02 UTC)