Post by douglaswulf on Feb 7, 2007 19:01:39 GMT
fatsothewombat said:
Fair enough; I didn't know that people were still answering the Treasure Hunt email address. However, the website is terribly out of date, and has not been updated in years. The campaign itself is long since finished. Whilst I don't know exactly how many times the Treasure Hunt team, RT and Cardiff production team have been hoaxed, I do know they have been a fair few times (and it's people who definitely would know this that have stated as much).
Re: the Ainsworth incident. I only believed that to be true in the latter stages of the hoax (the last week or so), and that was because Andrew said he had seen the print himself with his own eyes, and as he was someone I had known online for quite some time prior to this, I took him at his word. All the while when it was "Jacob Knights" who'd seen it, I was sure it was a hoax. But the rapport and trust that had built up towards Andrew meant that when he said he had seen it, I believed him.
No, I don't believe that genuine missing Dr Who has been offered to the BBC and dismissed as a hoax.
And there were definitely more than two online hoaxes last year; the two you cite were the most prominent, but there were several others as well.
Ash:
I seem to recall that soon after 'Jacob Knight' posted his lies about the 'Wall of Lies' on a message board, people began instructing him to contact the RT, the Treasure Hunt, and other such official groups at the BBC.
I also seem to recall that 'Jacob' claimed that the RT had just ignored him or whatever when he wrote to them. It was at that point that I was almost certain that this must be a hoaxer.
The scammers don't want to just be sent along to the BBC typically. They want to waste time stringing along the fans with such nonsense as "I couldn't find that guy with the films at the market this weekend, but I'll ask around the week after next, unless I need to do my laundry that day."
That's why I would personally just send such people along to the BBC and hope that the BBC tells them to get in contact once they have more than a bunch of excuses to convey. I appreciate your willingness to deal with hoaxers, but I would hope to avoid doing it myself if possible.
Doug
P.S. Andrew Ainsworth today invited me to join another of his scam Yahoo groups. This is the third time despite my telling him on Ian's forum to leave me alone. The guy needs to seek professional help.