2012 Clues
So its back to the drawing board for next year
to find a spot so deep and drear.
Harder to reach all you whiners
than those buried Chilean miners.
Next year's clues will inspire dread
requiring knowledge of languages dead,
Higher math rocket science
disbanding every hunters alliance.
I take your leave. I bid adieu.
I go in search of the perfect clue.
Prepare to hike hard dig deep and delve.
Will have a grand party in 2012.
So its back to the drawing board for next year
to find a spot so deep and drear.
Harder to reach all you whiners
than those buried Chilean miners.
Next year's clues will inspire dread
requiring knowledge of languages dead,
Higher math rocket science
disbanding every hunters alliance.
I take your leave. I bid adieu.
I go in search of the perfect clue.
Prepare to hike hard dig deep and delve.
Will have a grand party in 2012.
The newspaper removed the names of four of the five initial winners after one of them admitted to accessing the song version of clue No. 9 hours before it was posted to TwinCities.com.
That means Lange Wallgren of Osseo is the sole winner, earning a check for $5,000 for turning in the medallion and a set of published clues early Feb. 1. He found the treasure a few hours after the 11th clue in the 12-clue contest was released.
The other four hunters had teamed up with Wallgren an hour or two before he found the 2-inch plastic medallion in Tony Schmidt Regional Park in Arden Hills.
What Wallgren and three of the other four hunters didn't know, they have said, was that co-hunter Alex Valen had days before located the yet-to-be posted Clue No. 9 on the Pioneer Press website and shared it with others.
The newspaper does not know whether he was the only person who was able to access the clue. But because Valen and the three other hunters had been searching together before Wallgren's find, the paper decided to remove all four from the finders list.
The song version of the clue had been placed on a TwinCities.com server but had not been published on the website. Valen was able to access it by entering the correct, unpublished Internet address for the song.
Two days after Valen and the rest of the winners
had been introduced at a news conference, he admitted that he had accessed the clue early.
The four co-hunters had provided a registered Winter Carnival button, worth an extra $5,000 in prize money. That sum has been rescinded.
"Today's action was to maintain the integrity of the treasure hunt for the sake of the legions of hunters to whom this community tradition means so much. We regret that today's action was required," said Lori Swanson, director of marketing for the Pioneer Press.
The newspaper said it still reserves the right to ban some of the co-hunters from future treasure hunts, which are held in conjunction with the St. Paul Winter Carnival.
John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093
Peace everyone. I hope there isn't a serious schism here. I have enjoyed so many of you. Don't enjoy having your fellow Coolers for lunch too much.
I guess I'm just speaking as a 3rd party viewer to the information. It seems to me the clues are so cryptic that accessing anything early other than the 11th or 12th clue wouldn't really give someone a big advantage. Although I'm sure every devoted hunter would argue that point.
I also don't understand why the press would publish such files before they are released, maybe they're assuming everyone will act honorably. It's certainly going to be a big story, talked about for a long time to come. Especially now that it's been made public.
I wonder if this will change either how the press distributes clues in the future and/or if they will decide to not include audio/video clues. They could certainly use this incident as a reason to stop those. I know the only reason they really include them anyways is to get more traffic to their website during the hunt (lets face it, text clues can travel along a lot of different communication channels, word of mouth, texting, email, facebook, 3rd party websites, forums, etc.). So that being the case, they'll try to keep including them. Hopefully they'll at least make those files inaccessible until the time they're supposed to be accessed, keep everyone honest.
I'm glad he came forward and hopefully the issue can be a learning experience
for all of us. The hunt is a game. There are both written and unwritten rules
to be followed. Vince Lombardi was wrong.
Hype sells newspapers........that's their core business.
So, how are they going to hype it next year?
This could have been handled differently.
We are the most loyal and dedicated hunters for the press and now things seem to be in chaos.
Hopefully time will heal some wounds.
So disappointing.
They need to stop with this nonsense and go back to strictly text clues.
Blaming the PiPress is like blaming the robbery victim for carrying money.
Sometimes our hubris gets the better of our judgement and things get off
the track. This is now water under the bridge. Let it go.
doesn't give anyone the right to enter. It wasn't dumpster diving.
Any IT wonk knows when they are trespassing or coloring outside the lines.
The line is NOT blurry. It is bright red and very distinct.
This affair is between the PiPress and the perpetrator(s).
It's simple www (101).
it can easily be stumbled upon by ANYONE.
the www address was there to be seen by ANYONE that typed it in.
hmmm lets seeeeee..... I'm in a hurry and I am anxious.
I can't find the stupid audio clue because the WWW.twincities.com website is lame...so I have a audio clue open.... I change 1 number or letter in the http www address so I can find it and wahla! but ooops its NOT clue #8 like I thought it was, it's saying clue 9! WHY? because some idiot at the pp sent it out to the world wide web early! That makes it the PP's problem.
something unauthorized. My point exactly.
If I go to a house and the front door is locked and nobody answers
the bell, is it o.k. for me to walk around to the unlocked back door and enter?
While inside is it o.k. to help myself to any cash, raid the
fridge, or load the flat-screen into my truck?
If I recall correctly, the original poster commented about searching the
directories and having the ability to read files on levels not accessible to
the other posters. He had no business doing that and he knows it.
Loose lips again sank the ship.
Who is this "original poster"?
The audio clue (that the Pioneer Press is commenting about) was available to ANYONE typing in its www address. No directories. It was accessible to you and me.
PiPress server and obtain information not published. You can parse the "I didn't
commit a crime" all you want. If there was nothing to answer for, why was the
$5k returned?
Start with message 2641.
It just isn't being given.
Maybe I should have said t-shirts.
I agree if Alex had kept that to himself, all of this nonsense would not even exist.
If you get the 12th clue early for whatever reason, please just keep it to yourself. (Just stand on top of the thing in the woods and make grandiose hand gestures until someone walks over and asks if you need medical help.)
It just isn't being given.
nopeekingkluenine.mp3
was designed by the pp AFTER they were informed by THE HUNTER that the audio clue had been discovered. No one was "peeking" with bad intentions - this is supposed to be a fun game and they were playing, The pp turned this in to a "rick roll joke" when they realized they needed to have their www's not so apparent.
That "nopeekingkluenine.mp3 " in the www was found by just looking at the www when clicking on the link. Now if someone didn't have a "link", what would they do? hmmmmm type in what they thought was the way to get to the clue because of past clues. That's not being deceptive, that's doing your homework.
You're funny Maddog
there are very easy ways of keeping the file "available" but secured from prying eyes.
none were employed.