Reply All: #79 Boy in Photo

October 13, 2016 6:50 AM

To reach a port, we must set sail.
posted by Tevin (16 comments total)

I'm only half way through this, but it is amazing!
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 7:03 AM on October 13, 2016

An interesting story with a local connection. I like. Though the whole time this song was playing in my head.
posted by SansPoint at 8:00 AM on October 13, 2016

Woah. I was going to listen to just the start of this episode, but once it got going I couldn't stop it for anything. I was totally enraptured. What an awesome story, one of the best of this show.

Here's the ilx thread
And the original photo
And the memorial photo
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 8:01 AM on October 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

This was an amazing episode and story. I'm glad it ended the way it did. For a while in the middle I thought they could end up looking pretty bad for pressing so hard for more answers. Even if he was alive and well, he might just want to be left alone now or had always been upset that the picture got any attention. I'm still not so sure if he knew more than he let on about the thread and the discussion when the phone call was finally made. That was a weird conversation, but maybe that's just him. That original thread makes me sad and I think it's the kind of thing some people think of when they hear that I'm reading MeFi.

I still don't understand what's so compelling about the picture but the story that followed is great - all of its parts and players.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:48 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

They spent a good deal of the episode justifying doing this story but in the end I don't agree that it was justified to track this guy down. I think it was unethical. They doxed this guy because they were curious. He literally did nothing to earn notoriety. It was a massive privacy violation and not justified by his ambivalent participation at the end.
posted by palegirl at 9:07 AM on October 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

The whole thing did remind me of a smaller scale version of "Chris-Chan", a noted Internet Weirdo who came to the attention of 4chan for his fanfic and has a bunch of people monitoring their every move. Not sure why Chris-Chan's story and stalking is actively gross to me while this is more just "cool story." Probably because it doesn't seem like the ilx people are causing any harm unlike the channers.
posted by SansPoint at 9:24 AM on October 13, 2016

I get feeling like this is doxxing, but I doubt that PJ/Alex would have published anything without Tommy's permission.

At least, I hope not.
posted by Tevin at 11:42 AM on October 13, 2016

I think it's interesting how PJ represented his own anxiety at getting involved in this (which brings up the morality/doxing concerns), and how it seems that the long time (well over a year) between the start of this investigation and the product was largely because of this.

Thanks for posting the pictures and the original thread; I would have probably just never attempted to seek them out just because it seems weird to me that it's something I can just click a link to go and view/read, after all the importance given to it in this podcast. Huh, does that even make sense? The internet is an interesting democratization of content/context.
posted by destructive cactus at 11:50 AM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

That photo just seems so...familiar. I'm about the same age as those guys, and I have tons of random photos from parties like that. And now I miss my SNES.

I also liked the way that PJ represented his own anxiety, and how you hear how awkward he is at the beginning of the phone call to Tommy. The Reply All hosts do a really good job of being characters in their own story. I love how the story was going to die and Sruthi was like NOPE.

I thought it was cute the way they thanked Nancy Warren (aka PJ's mom, and the subject of a previous episode) in the credits for providing free lodging the reporters.
posted by radioamy at 6:36 PM on October 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

ICYMI, there's a fun moment after the credits in which PJ tells the story of his first cherry Coke.
posted by General Malaise at 5:38 AM on October 14, 2016 [6 favorites]

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:35 PM on October 14, 2016

I still don't understand what's so compelling about the picture but the story that followed is great - all of its parts and players.

If you view it in the context of a found photo - which, I realize, it isn't exactly - it's definitely evocative. The Hooters T-shirt, the Family Guy poster, the strange cut-out in the drywall with red pen markings around it, the half-assed window air conditioner insulation, the second hand dresser next to the wire shelves; it's a room many of us have passed through in our lives, and it's impressive how complete a picture it paints of life within that house. (If, admittedly, a potentially inaccurate one.) It does a better job of setting a scene than the opening shot of any film I've ever watched. It sounds like some of the online comments were rather mean, but it's also a mighty intriguing image when viewed with empathy. If I found it in a dumpster or second hand store, I'd consider it the score of the year.

As found object internet meme investigations go, this is the best of the best. Interesting throughout, the slightly mean people got played for suckers in a delightful way, and nobody actually got hurt. I'm glad to know about it.
posted by eotvos at 9:00 PM on October 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

They spent a good deal of the episode justifying doing this story but in the end I don't agree that it was justified to track this guy down. I think it was unethical.

I didn't find it unethical, but... there wasn't really any story there. Nondescript photo becomes a small-time meme, reporters investigate meme, friends of person in photo joke about him being dead, guy turns out have run-of-the-mill life and otherwise be unaffected by the whole thing. I know not every episode can be "Girl Guides in a concentration camp" but I don't get the hype.
posted by psoas at 11:31 AM on October 20, 2016

Interesting. I enjoyed this much than "girl guides." I guess the good thing about the variety they have is that eventually they'll have something for everyone...
posted by primethyme at 8:18 PM on October 20, 2016

I don't think the final interview added much to the story, he was ultimatley a peripheral character in the drama. I wanted them to just confirm he was alive and then go back to the group and have a good natured showdown about their prank. It sounds like a pretty disciplined operation, the small giveaways notwithstanding. The prank is the only really unusual part of the story. I mean, "internet forum goes crazy over mystery, enjoys making jokes and light-hearted conspiracies to explain unexplainable thing" is not really unusual at all.
posted by skewed at 9:05 AM on October 21, 2016

Interesting. I enjoyed this much than "girl guides." I guess the good thing about the variety they have is that eventually they'll have something for everyone...
posted by primethyme at 11:18 PM on October 20 [+] [!]

much.... more? Less? your comment can go either way. It's such a perfect typo I almost think its
posted by rebent at 6:38 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]