Continued from a thread in /b/ where we tried and failed to come up with a question/answer pair that would serve to identify people as being possible Yotsubites.
Instead of saying "Hey man do you read 4chan?", which can potentially backfire, it would be wiser to have a catchphrase similar to SA's to greet each other outside of the forums.
This is top secret squirrel stuff :ssh:
General guidelines:
a) Do not post something fucking retarded like Q: "lol pedobear furry gaysex balls touching?" A: "ZOMG REI DONATE TO FUCK 4CHAN!". We need something that is an actual QUESTION AND ANSWER PAIR.
b) It's a Good Idea to only use the decided-upon catphrase to identify people as being Yotsubites, and not to use it all the time. We wouldn't want it entering popular lingo or spreading to groups of people who do not read the boards, as that would completely defeat the point of it.
c) Q: a question about the person you are asking to A: Affirmation, plus a subtle bit of information that identifies
A pretty good example is
Q: Did you see the news on Channel 4?
A: Yes, Richard C. Mongler died
Let's try to come up with something that doesn't suck ass, okay?
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-10 1:26
>>79 Yes, but onlyl because IMHO "Richard C Mongler" is too awkward of a psuedonym for Cockmongler; so anything with RCM is going to sound clunky.
But if its towards a non-4channer, you can easily shake it off by saying something like "Oh, wait, thats something else". It is an odd question, but its like that for a reason.
The only thing I feel wrong with it is that it seems like a common question, though its really not.
Maybe you could ask
"Did you see that new guy on channel 4 news?"
Thats a more relaxed way of asking.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-10 1:32
Q: "So, how's the Internet?"
A: "Serious business."
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-10 1:33
>>81
We could always use just "Richard Mongler," it's just as obvious.
I would have to say that also if the time came,
that it could be asked to a roomful of people at the same time, say like a convention hall
"Has anyone seen channel 4 VIP news today?"
except using something more witty and that could get a passing grade maybe
Maybe it would be better to ask something like,
"Do you get channel 4 in your area?"
That seems a little more like something you would ask someone that you don't know. I like the 'channel 4' part, but I agree that asking 'did you see the news on channel 4' or whatever makes it seem like you know the person already. Not like someone that you are randomly meeting.
It was okay until roughly around the July 2004 return actually. That's when the GameFAGs kids began to really flood in. Well, considering it was summer and all the 14 yo GameFAGs kids were on summer break...
The channel 4 thing doesn't particularly work because channel four is an English television production company.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 2:48
The Nevada one as it is is sort of retarded. Who doesn't know where Nevada is?
How about something like "Have you been to Nevada?" "Of course not, she's in jail/Japan."
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 2:49
well, "seen" insted of "been to"
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 3:51
I don't think that "normal questions" could work. After all, this is supposed to be a Secret Code Phrase. SA's Stairs question is somewhat random to an outsider. After all, how many times do you think you have to ask someone if their house has stairs in it?
That's why I think that we should have a similar pair. The Channel Four thing is okay, since it has a dual meaning; however since the frontpage of SA is what gave birth to the Stairs question, it would make sense to adopt a similar question for our own use, from the frontpage.
The only real problem I see with this is that it was actually Lowtax who came up with the Stairs question in the Space Robots prank, not knowing in advance that it would later be used by goons. The phrase "Do you have stairs in your house?" was actually in the article.
The only thing I can think of that would seem to work would be either a variation of the News question, or something involving the frontpage and its running joke of Moot in Mexico.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 5:46
--"Hey, d'j'you ever take Mexican Studies?"
--"Yeah, in middle school."
Maybe. But alas, I am out still of clever.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 8:19
Q: Have you ever met a celebrity?
A: Yeah, Santino Lee stole my bike. Does that count?
4channer: "Who is your favorite anchor on the Channel 4 news?"
non4channer: "Huh?, they don't have news on channel 4. Hey, do I know you or should thing? WAIT!, you're the little fucker that's been going through my garbage!
We are NOT trying to come up with a standard greeting between two 4channers. We are trying to come up with a secret question that you, person A, would ask the other guy, person B, to find out if he is a 4channer.
I guess I'll just go ahead and tell you. The stairs question goes:
Q: Do you have stairs in your house?
A: Yes, I am protected.
See? Now, it's a question that you can ask anyone, and if they ARE a goon, then they will answer with the correct answer. It's also a rare enough question (seriously, how many times in a person's life are they ever asked if someone's house has stairs in it?) that anyone who knows of the question/answer pair would immediately recognize "Hey, this person I just met in the elevator just asked me if I read SA..."
On the other hand, if the person you are asking the Stairs question is NOT a goon, he will probably say "...huh? Stairs in my house? What?" to which you can sit there and smile and say "Oh, never mind..." and fuck with them a bit with that, knowing that they are not protected and taking satisfaction in the fact that you just messed with their head a little.
This is the type of effect we are trying to come up with. We are asking this question to people we JUST MET, and it is NOT something that you ask someone when you see them in the morning on the way to work if you know someone reads 4chan.
After all, if you KNOW that Bob reads SA, and you have talked with him before about shit that goes on in the forums, do you really need to ask him if he is a goon every time you see him? No, of course not. Because you already know.
This is a one-time use question, that you as the 4channer are asking someone if you have a suspicion that they might also read 4chan. Think of it as a final test. If they respond correctly to the question, then you can say "Oh, awesome. This guy's a 4channer, too." But if they respond incorrectly, then you know that they don't read 4chan.
Thus we need to come up with a question that meets all the above guidelines in >>1,9 and it also has to be a rare enough question that it has nearly no practical value at all in conversation, and it must be simply and easily remembered.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 15:00
this always worked for me:
Q: "LOTUS POD!"
non-4channer: "..."
4channer: *starts shivering*
- or -
Q: *cough*youa4channer*cough*
A: "Yes, I am!"
4channer: "O' RLY!, WANNA SEE HOW WIDE I CAN OPEN MY ASSHOLE!, AND YOU CAN TAKE A PICTURE! WE CAN POST IT AND CALL IT LIL' GOATSECX! IT'LL BE AWESOME!, HAY! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY?, AREN'T WE FRIENDS?!"
ha, so that's what the stairs thing was about. I thought that was just a random question.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 21:45
Q. Affirmative?
A. Negative.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-11 23:31
It has to be something which is, first of all, an uncommon question that could be asked to all people without sounding weird. Thus, "Where is Nevada?" works, and "What was your favorite subject in middle school?" works. The latter more than the former, because it is a much less common question. Asking about high school is common, but nobody asks about middle school, since almost everyone hated it. Or maybe that's just me and my entire psychology class from high school, I'm not sure.
The response has to be very distinctive, yet sound normal enough that a passerby wouldn't have to say to themselves, "Wait, what did that person say? Nah, I'm just imagining things..." However, the distinctiveness is key. A response like "Mexican Studies. Everything else was moot." If people worry about someone possibly asking about their favorite subject in middle school, there could be another verification from the original asker. It wouldn't have to be so distinctive, but it would have to be something that's not common. Perhaps something like "Yeah, that was my 4th class of the day."
So, I think:
P1: "What was your favorite subject in middle school?"
P2: "Mexican studies. It's a moot subject, but I loved it anyway."
P1: "Yeah, that was my 4th class of the day."
Of course, variation could be introduced, too. The important parts are:
So, yeah. I like the Nevada one, but that's a question that I would honestly ask, without referring to 4chan at all. (Yeah, I'm a bit of an airhead.) Nobody asks about middle school, and the secondary verification from the first person would just make both people that much more sure, since asking about middle school isn't as uncommon as mentioning mexican studies, and then saying something using the word "moot". I mean, come on. Who even uses that word any more?
So, yeah. That's what my brainmeats came up with.
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-12 1:33
One thing to note, though, is that SA's hshake does not reference SA at all. So mentioning moot or the lucky number 4 sort of gives it away. Also, it should be a quick little back-and-forth, not some drawn-out shit that's obviously a forced in-joke.
I kinda like the mexican studies/middle school one. What sort of crazy Mensa middle school offers Mexican Studies?
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-12 5:43
Regular person.
Q: So ya ever been to Cancún, Mexico?
A: Nah.
4channer.
Q: So ya ever been to Cancún, Mexico?
A1: Yeah it was VIP quality.
A2: Yeah, back in middle scchool.
A3: Zomg Rei harbl thrust vectoring.
(or any appropriate non sequitur answer)
Name:
VIPPER2005-04-12 6:45
The other thing about the SA handshake is that nobody uses it. Unless you've been reading GBS far too much, "I'm from the Internet" is the least direct thing you'd want to say to someone.
It's not that hard, just pick a "meme" that's been beaten to death, say it to the suspected 4channer, and then you can both laugh like morons to confirm.