Ok, did I not say to move this to DM's to clean up the chat? You can continue to post here, but perhaps you're only reading the parts you want. Back to the ignore list you go.

Last clarification:

Maybe both coinartist and myself are from the same area? As far as I know, we only share two things in common. Bitcoin and gender.

You keep saying "my game" when it's clearly not my game. I /do/ love args. I'd have done things vastly different from coinartist. In fact, coinartist has asked me to be part of the second arg's verification team. That's my only connection to coinartist.

This account has only just joined, but I create throwaway accounts for every thread I enter. I don't need a post count to boost my e-penis (colloquial: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=e-penis). I have been a member one way or the other from close to the start of BTCtalk.

Ok, so you believe there's some sort of extra riddle with secret meaning. I see. Listen. DM me. PM me. Send me a damned private message. But we've gone so far off topic, it's not interesting anymore.

Love, Sidekick

What? Are you suggesting we're the same person? Similarities are everywhere, dear. Doesn't make them true. I would like to bet that some of our IP addresses have the same last block (i.e. x.x.x.1) but doesn't make us the same person. You're grasping.

What was uncovered? And no, it really wasn't bruteforcing. I don't believe you're even using bruteforcing in the correct context.

Yep. 100% correct and something I stated. He panicked.

I assume from our conversations. He references to himself as a male, so that's what I'd class him as. Gender has nothing to do with anything here. Gatekeeper could be a semi intelligent life form from a rock in space. If he refers to himself as a he, I accept that.

It is not my place to say where he got his coins from. You'll have to DM him yourself. I have no idea if he wishes that information to be released. Also, if you're smart enough, you can figure out where he got his coins from and it's not the defdist. Although that just seems like a blog.

Are you quoting the X-Files to me? How ridiculous.

Nope. Point?

Ok? A little defensive? It wasn't my game nor are you obliged to solve anything. I think someone smart (me) suggested you go outside and read a book (I like 1984, personally, read into that as you will)

I'm not trying to catch you out. Or S4VV4S. I'm just stating that sometimes he would "" when someone posted something that could lead towards a solve. And no, OP didn't have a softspot for him. But she did help out the group as a whole multiple times with hints (which were needed, due to mistakes in the final solve and the odd push in the right direction. SEE ODYSSEY)


Inside job? To "attack" a random user? What would be the point in attacking S4VV4S? Why didn't I get attacked? Why has no one else mentioned this? Where are the logs of such things?

Well, he was attacked, so, he doesn't. You can drop the logs into DM's if you wish. I'd much prefer to discuss your/his issues away from spamming this thread.

No need to apologise, it's just very frustrating for all the other users.


You've not answered my point. Please list out your questions and I'll be happy to go through them. But please, DM me them, it's getting very messy in here (this thread)

Love, Sidekick

Because I'm a product of the Twitter generation (not really). DM = direct message. It's just a different way of saying the same thing.

I'd like to clear up some points that judie.f really wants answered.

Yes, Gatekeeper did hit the pot first. He (technically) wasn't bruteforcing it, his working was shown to me, during the large bitch-fest after the pot was hit, and you know what, I believe him.
He was just as surprised as everyone in this thread to have gotten the private key. He even believed it was a double negative and thinking ARG/myself/others were surely seconds away from the key, he dumped into his main pot. Rookie mistake, even for someone working with < 1BTC. You always dump into a clean pot. Even if you're trading with a friend. Gatekeeper even reached out to a couple of people in the thread to offer some coins. He didn't need to do that. In regards to his massive massive pot, he earnt that building/running someone else's site. I checked out that side of things and it's beyond reasonable doubt to be legit.

Now, coinartist. I have spoken to her also. I would trust what she says in regards to the puzzle. It is, after all, a low gain puzzle. 3.5BTC is a nice amount but are we really thinking that it's a conspiracy to get the bitcointalk forum playing a game with no end/just going to give it back to herself/3rd party? I understand the frustration with not hitting the pot myself, but it was just a game. I had fun, did you?

S4VV4S. I had always thought (reading between the lines) that he was getting hints from coinartist. I must be mistaken. Now, I don't disbelieve that he may have had some rogue "attack" on his network, but I find it quite hard to believe that someone with admin access to the BTCtalk forum (in order to obtain his ip address) attacked his network. If that were the case, I'd like to see the network logs, perhaps I can help? I've a fair amount of experience in that area and could help prevent such attacks from happening again. Back to the point of the attack. What would be the end game? A change of IP address (like he's already done) would solve that completely. And someone who's apparently able to diagnose a network breach, hasn't already blocked most of the vectors into his machines? I know I have.

Lastly, may I ask your "angle" in all of this? You say you work directly/indirectly with S4VV4S but all you seem to be doing is double/triple posting here with no end game yourself. What do you wish to accomplish? I'm sure I can help, if you state clearly and concisely why you wish to pursue this. You may feel like I'm being combative or sarcastic in these many paragraphs, but I assure you if you view my previous posts, I'm being sincere and just want to close this thread because, in my opinion, there's nothing more to discuss.

One last point, the edit button to the side of your posts is for dropping "also"s into. Please stop double posting. I will have to report the posts if you continue double/triple posting.

Love Sidekick

EDIT: Just noticed I didn't really answer the question. I use DM because I feel PM is too close to PMS. Just a personal preference.

This is not acceptable.



Please post your thoughts into one single reply. Thanks.

EDIT: Sorry for the retina sized image. I forget that I'm running @2x sometimes.

Ok, to everyone that's rolling very much off topic/getting very personal/arguing, please take your thoughts to DMs. Given that this particular ARG is over, we have very little to talk about here that would provide any new insights or helpful discourse. The thread has devolved into e-drama. I believe we all wish for BTC and/or possibly some altcoin to become mainstream/accepted in more locations. Arguing, bitching and generally making useless posts isn't making the community as a whole look and feel any better. How about we all take a step back, breathe, move on, read a book, go outside and/or trade some coin.

Love Sidekick.

This would be for a gaming rig. I know, talking gaming GPU's on a BTC forum. I've been eyeing up the 780's for my next build but if I had 1.75BTC, I would have topped up to a titan black. Or maybe just a TI. It's not like I spend enough time in front of a computer as is..


Are.. are you proposing to me? On here? HOW ROMANTIC! Yes! Yes, I will, xELx.

Arg and myself would have split the coins. 1.75BTC each. My load would have gone into a new graphics card and the leftovers (considering it's not that much anyway) would have been split between a few of the solves. Without them, I'd have probably been many days behind. I'm interested in hearing what everyone else would do with the BTC.

He faced quite a lot of backlash in this thread. I couldn't say I would post after all that. Would everyone have flipped out if it was just some empty wallet? Everyone here could be BTC millionaires or dirt broke, is it possible that GK earned that money through hard work? We all played the same game. It could have easily been someone who's never posted on the forum and just swooped in at the last second with a solve.

Basically, all I'm saying is someone won. We all knew that was going to happen. We all wanted it to be ourselves, who wouldn't? Instead of grumbling, lets go do something productive (finally!).

-----

So, I was clearing up after this project and found I had 40 docs open with snippets of info, pieces decoded, 237 browser tabs, two collab conversations and way too many pieces of paper with notes and possible solves. I even dedicated one of my whiteboards to shifting XOR references. And that's after clearing up.

Aren't you glad I didn't just flood this thread with my brain dump?





Time to archive all that (yep, I'm that type of person) and see what else I can do to avoid working for actual money.

I'm not taking part because I wasn't aware of it, nor do I have the energy at 4am to do anything other than say blerg. Blerg.

I had a lot of fun here. And I do enjoy thought experiments

Time to move on and get some sleep!

Yes, but we've had the explicit information to NOT brute force it. I agree that the last stage wouldn't have been obtained without OP's hints but it's over now. Nothing you can do but do something else. It's the internet, after all.

Thank you to all the guys and girls that helped solve each step of the way. It's been a great game of cat and mouse even if the source material could do with some polish.

I look forward to playing again. Under a different handle, of course.

Love, sidekick.

I understand the anger in the thread, but let's just be happy to get some sleep. It's a shame the winner didn't drop some thanks BTC but what can you expect.

We all had a good game It's been a pleasure, gents and ladies. Thanks to OP for her infuriating puzzle.

Love, the sidekick.

GG, guys. I'm happy for gatekeeper; frustrated I couldn't solve it myself.

In regards to the font, it's Lucida Sans Typewriter with a fuckton of kerning.

I think she was trying to mimic the docs font, but wasn't as anal as arg and myself.

I know, almost certainly, that the first header (RT. ACSEN.) means nothing, but it is one/two pixels higher than OG. I'm really, really plucking ideas out my rectum because I have a possible solution but I'm definitely missing something small.

Also, don't think we're closer than anyone else in this thread, we're really not.

Arg and myself have stepped back fully, rolled out all "known" facts, all hints, discussed what's been solved, hints burnt and what we have left.

I think I speak for arg and myself here: We're stumped.

----------

1. We have one wow.jpg that used to be a tiff. It doesn’t open as a tiff anymore, saved as a jpeg.
2. Inside the jpg it holds some xmp data
3. It seemingly corresponds with the image. Although not 100%
4. Made with photoshop elements, not photoshop as the originals were.
5. There is only two points of change in the image. The title which was replaced with the original text and a 51 char string and the first header which was moved up a few pixels.
6. We have 6EQUJ5 / 6 / 6 / 5 / 7, which is from the OG but still a possible data point
7. 6EQUJ5 was the password to it’s container though, I don’t think it’s going to be used twice
8. The file was, again, dated to 1980. Aug 15 1977 or 05 15 1977
9. Everything so far has been double sha and that still remains as a hint
10. We have two unsolved/unrelated hints. "wow + crops" and one youtube video of the final countdown acted out in dance central by "AverageAsianDude".
11. And finally the portrait that hasn’t been used since the beginning. It was labeled as a starting point, so discountable.

EDIT:

12. Original wow.jpg was edited 5 times in Photoshop Elements. Previous hints/images were worked on in Photoshop.

----------

tl;dr We're stuck with no clear direction or goal. Other than solve the puzzle and high five our now infinite free time.

I'll add any hints you guys tell me I've forgotten. Also, that list was taken from our discussion earlier. It might contain typos, factual inaccuracies and/or pony gifs.

It's only the first couple of spirals. Two seconds.

If you need a hand, we're all here to hivemind the solution.

Sorry, I'm overtired and can't read typo. Care to reword?

What?

I do believe this will end, the 51 char hint in the top left would assert that it's the last stage.

I'll quote ARG in an off forum chat "wish someone would solve this already so I can go do something else"

Couldn't agree more. Anyway, back to sifting through the numbers..

I too went down that route. I really, really couldn't find anything that ended up logical/a password for the 7z. I think we're just circling the drain. I hope we get the final hint soon. I can just hear CA getting more and more frustrated with us. "It's right there! Just do x and y, not a, b, c, d, e, f, g and ß!".

I believe we're all just over thinking things. I know I certainly am. I'll revisit your idea with some gusto shortly. Let me close some of my many, many tabs and I'll look into it.

EDIT: !!! WOW        .jpg

You're the man, xELx!

EDIT:

The original



The mod (large extra file inside.. again)

https://mega.co.nz/#!gpNDyDIL!FP6zdfjymlS9Y0eGimGTM0C4y47ykMncsCzkl-Z7uT0

MD5: e92ea08b9fa72d9659ba84cd66e4e534

No, caps are from the source too. The last space and ? are meant to be a "ding" or bell sound which is also in the source. Everything after the first ~94 bytes (I think that's the number) is exactly the same as the source. Think of it like the Space.mp4's extra space that turned into a 7z. The first ~90 bytes of the crop circle are the modded parts.

I'd love to be proven wrong and given another direction.


Ah, I remember that now, but I'd try using another host in the future. If you've got to scroll past "download" links and things, your host is doing something very wrong.

EDIT: http://purviancepyramid.net/Message.html is an interesting link. Look at the bottom. Binary with S's every 8 chars. Consistant until the very last line. Thoughts?

EDIT:
That's the original crop circle. I'd like to think that the alien head is part of the password. But who knows. Also, edits don't count as posting, so:

LAST POST NOW, PROMISE.