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It's a well known fact amoung USENET regulars, that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true. It's also well known among the regulars, that you can't believe everything you read on the net. It is also well known to journalists, that you should check your sources. The following is but one lesson in the schooling of a student journalist.
- TROLL: n. A creature which hangs out under bridges waiting for an innocent passerby.
- v. To drag a line, usually with a hook attached, behind in the hopes of reeling in a fish.
It all began one day, when the following Usenet article was spotted on alt.beer, the Usenet hangout for discussions of anything even slightly related towards beer and drinking.
Hello,
My name is Kiersten and I am a student journalist at
Kansas State University in Manhattan KS. This may be a little
unusual, but I am doing a story on fake ID's or novelty ID's.
I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about what
you offer. What kind of information you need from the people
who buy ID's from you, what kind of ID's you create, how many
people you sell too, questions such as these. I can promise
you total anonymity.
Now, if that wasn't enough to alert the reporter's instincts, the fact that Walter didn't care about remaining an anonymous source... In fact Walter seemed to want the attention. Walter (Uh, there is NO Walter - TINW) went and posted the following Usenet article once the site was up:
Nothing unusual about it. We all know they exist, and everyone
knows
that someone's got to be playing games and getting them into the
hands
of all the youngsters. If someone ignores their existence,
then you
are only opening yourself up to believing anything someone tries
passing
off to you.
>I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about what
>you offer. What kind of information you need from the people
>who buy ID's from you, what kind of ID's you create, how many
>people you sell too, questions such as these. I can promise
>you total anonymity.
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
º Walter's
Novelty Express - Fake Identifications
º
ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ
º Celebrity Status - Authentic looking
SAG Membership Card º
º
Fool all your friends. Get onto
º
º
sets without hassle. $19.95
º
º
º
º Foreign Driver - Impress
your friends with this official º
º
style International Drivers License. Not º
º
intended for official use. $35.95
º
º
º
º Stateside Driver - Our quality digital
technology equipment º
º
will create for you an identification º
º
almost mistaken for real by all but the º
º
trained eye. $49.95 (most states)
º
º
AK,KY,NV $59.95 CA,MO,KS $69.95
º
º
º
º Identifications require that you enclose
a full color photo º
º with your order. Photo needs to
be at least 3 x 5 in size. º
º Our quality equipment will crop and size
the photo to the º
º proper size for the individual ID's.
One photo per ID please.º
º See order form for further information.
º
º
º
º WE DO NOT CONDONE THE
USE OF ID'S FOR ILLEGAL USE.
º
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
> I am also curious how
difficult or easy are they to
>create? Can anyone with a scanner do this or is it an art form?
Oh no. In order to purchase quality equipment such as what
we at
Walter's use, you have to pay upwards of six digits. You
can try
with the cheap "home publishing" stuff, but your results will be
what you pay for, a home made look.
>Please let me know if you can answer these questions and perhaps
others.
>I promise that I will not use names or anything without permission.
Not a problem. In fact, you can publish the following URL too:
"http://www.io.com/~tweek/Novelties/"
At the very end of the article you will see:
"Everyone knows that someone's got to be playing games and getting
them
into the hands of all the youngsters. If someone ignores their existence,
then
you are only opening yourself up to believing anything someone tries
passing
off to you."
