Suggested procedure for validating API encounters

[Jeff_Mash]

Hey there......

I think what you suggested is going a little overboard (not in a bad way....just real tedious for people).

First off, I think the obvious step to take would be to not reveal any details of your encounter that you want verified.  As an example, let's say I hang a picture up on a wall.  I may tell you where to look for it, but I won't say what the picture is.  That way, whoever reports back the accurate picture will be proof that there was a connection.

"That's well and good Jeff, but how do the rest of us know that person A who hung the picture isn't lying by agreeing with person B?"

This is where your idea could come in. However, instead of zipping your account into a ZIP file with passwords, you could simply just write it down in a text file (using Notepad, Wordpad, Microsoft Word, etc) and save it.  By saving this file, it leaves a time stamp of when the file was created and the last time it was edited.  Simply by sending this file to people, you could prove that it was written BEFORE person B verified your picture.

Of course, using tools and some programming skills, one could alter the timestamp of a file, but I'm assuming most of us here who are serious about the API wouldn't do such a thing.

[jc84corvette]

I think if you had a large group of people agreeing to one thing and one disagreeing, that person could be lying, dreaming, or something else.

[Euphoric Sunrise]

I think you've got the right idea alt, but i think what Jeff said is true also. We only realy need people to write their accounts out in private, save the file, and email it PM it to a couple of people involved, while the other participant does the same but sends too. Then the readers, or the mediators if you like, can detirmine if the experience occured correctly for both parties.

[breezeman]

Agree. And I think a third party affirmation will help people build their subconscious trust that it is real.

[alt0xFF]

The deal with pwds is not necessarily optimal in terms of carrying it out, but it technically disalows falsification.

For example, if parties A and B use person C as medium, C technically could lie (I understand that its not gonna happen, but the point is that it can). In addition, it requires additional person as medium.

quote:you could simply just write it down in a text file (using Notepad, Wordpad, Microsoft Word, etc) and save it.

Jeff_Mash
FYI, this information applies to local drive. I.E. the date of the creation will correspond to the date the file appeared on your hard drive - the day you downloaded the file. On the other hand, if you use archive, the actual timestamp information is included there.

jc84corvette, the point of this "excercise" is that even though several people are agreeing on something, this may be due to the fact that they subconsciously convinced themselves and each other of something that might not have happened, unless they exchanged information carefully in a way that prohibits such error.

Thus, that "disagreeing" person may be in fact the only one telling the truth.

[Nagual]

So... we need at least 2 trusted members to play the middle men...  That'll be tricky to find... []  The best would be 2 persons who won't go to API, so they won't miss any part of the "find my modification to API" game.  Mr Bruce would be a nice middle man if he had time...

And, for the ultra paranoid... we can't do anything if 2 members are trolling (modifier and founder)...

[dino333]

Sounds fun. If... no... WHEN I get to API, I'd be a mediater

[holy reality]

the txt file idea doesn't work.. all you have to do is set you date back a few days if you read someone's account then wanted to fake your own and claim you had it at the same time

also, i believe when you send someone a file as soon as they open it on their computer it is like creating it for the first time on their comp and it is dated "created on: today" rather than the day the author made it?

At least when I DL ...... those evil files.... from.... those evil programs... they are dated created on the day I downloaded them, regardless of when the person I got them from created it.

[Coffee]

alt0xFF: don't listen to these fools, you have a great idea even though I think your name is stupid.

What does it mean?

[alt0xFF]

Suppose person A and B meet in API, and then later try to share their experiences. Person A says "I saw this and and that, and you did such and such things and said blah blah blah...", and B replies "yeah, thats exactly what happened". Now person A may think of it as "evidence", but in fact, B may subconsciously adjust his memory of experience to fit the scheme, without realizing it, or B may be simply lying!

So what's a good way for a group of people to share such info, without possibility of any party falsifying, intentionally or otherwise, their description?

One way to do it is for each party to write most accurate description of the experience, stressing the details and things that were out of the ordinary, maybe even include drawings, etc. Then, each party distributes the description in encrypted format (a .zip or .rar archive with password) among all other parties, after which the passwords are distributed in similar fasion. In this way, there is no chance of anyone making adjustments to their accounts, since nobody has apriori access to the information.

This may seem troublesome, but unfortunately our human nature often tricks us in fooling ourselves, because we WANT some things to be true, either consciously or subconsciously. There are LOTS of people that genuienly believe they have some psychic abilities, while a well-designed scientific experiment shows that it is nothing but a wishful thinking.

[beavis]

alt0xFF. 0xFF (hex), the biggest 2 digit number, means 255. Alt is used on a keyboard to type in nonprintable characters (alt 0 2 5 5). I think his name means the highest text character: ÿ I know your true name now, ÿ, therefore you must grant me 3 wishes.