Having just read X's displeasure at Y's habit of concealing shall we say contentious matter in diary entries, I took a look at this "secret diary" and it's pretty hair-raising stuff. I'm not going to give any more away (Those Who Know, Know), or debate the morals of this, but....

Do you look for hidden material in diaries, suspecting (for example) that innocent graphics might be hotspots lead to spicy extras? If so, and you found something that got under your skin as much as X's discovery, would you spill the beans?

-- Nicholas Grinder (eda@impolex.demon.co.uk), June 22, 2000

Answers

In Y's journal I always look for extras -- his page has always been something of an Easter egg hunt. (Do the British conceal eggs and other treats on Easter, or is that one of those customs we Americans inherited from the Indians?) In the days of Musings of the Y, he had a link, which was no larger than three pixels and in a shade only slightly different from the page's background, from his homepage to secret material.

It amazes me that Y apparently did not realize that X would quickly find the "uncensored" material. It was even less hidden than the three-pixel link of Musings's day. Hell, even I found the uncensored stuff two days before X, when I was just trying to get from his journal to Y's forum page -- it was right in the open under the June directory.

Anyway, yes with personal pages I often run my mouse all over in hopes of turning up a concealed link. I get into the directories and look around. I don't know how to hack, and probably wouldn't do it even if I did know how, but sometimes there is fun stuff squirreled away in obscure corners. Given my lack of expertise, I figure that if I can find it, it must have been intended for me to see.

-- Tom Dean (tsd@ogk.com), June 22, 2000.

Hasn't Y always been doing this? I know a few other journalistas that do it too, from time to time. I'll admit zie has the most juicy content.

I'm not in the habit of looking -- in fact, I forgot that Y had this habit for a while. back in the day (when did people start saying "back in the day?") zie used to have whole secret entries, but the naming scheme was simple.

hey, what's up with my link on the big dado controversy?

Anita of Anita's BOD and Anita's LOL

-- Anita Rowland (anitar@halcyon.com), June 22, 2000.

I do look for hidden material, but only when I'm made aware that it exists, as in Y's diary. In order to be as outraged as X is over Y's secret information I'd have to be a raving lunatic in the first place, and involved with an inveterate shit-stirrer like Y in the second place, and I can't even imagine putting myself through the psycho-sexual drama of such a relationship, so hell no.

-- Lucy Huntzinger (huntzinger@mindspring.com), June 25, 2000.

"Musings of the 'Y'"...how comical!

I think it funny that we all know exactly whom we are referring to, yet dance around the name...

-- JonnyX (jonnyx9@aol.com), June 29, 2000.

The drama goes on back at the successor page to Musings of the Y. Check out the newest forum threads.

Grinder, I don't know who purveys the new "Y" forum format, but please don't use it even if it's free. It's nauseous-making.

-- Tom Dean (tsd@ogk.com), July 25, 2000.