UPDATE 2: Here is another attempt at guessing Cloud's identity.
A mysterious person has been commenting in my Shoutbox under the pseudonym 'Cloud' for quite some time. All the while I was wondering about his (might be her) true identity when the name Cloud appeared.The first time Cloud appeared was during the end of August.
Cloud I am new to here.I heard other people talked about your blog and so paid a visit. (2008-08-29 2:24 AM)
When asked who he was the first time, Cloud replied:
Cloud Ah ha.Cloud will pass by.See when I will reveal myself.Haha.Just kidding.Maybe some time I will tell you. (2008-09-01 1:14 PM)
Oh, he wants to keep it a secret... So fine, I left it at that. Cloud did not appear in my Shoutbox again... until last week.
Cloud Yaya.You haven't been updating for a long time.. (2008-12-01 11:50 PM)
Before that, I thought that Cloud had lost interest in my blog. When asked of his true identity the second time, he said:
Cloud Still haven't reach the time yet.By the way,chatting with a person you seem not to know.Doesn't it feels better?Though I know a little bit about you, (2008-12-02 5:10 PM)
Cloud I enjoy talking like this to you.Haha.Close yet far.. (2008-12-02 5:10 PM)
Then I asked: When is 'the time'? He replied:
Cloud haha.i also dunno..jz enjoy lo.not bad ma like this.. (2008-12-06 4:51 PM)
This guy really got me burning with curiosity. A la CSI, I found out that this guy is definitely from Nottingham University. Also, I assumed that this person has not commented on my blog using his real name before. And based on the way he speaks, I seriously considered him to be a girl. This got me racking my brains: Which girl in Nottingham reads my blog but never commented using her real name before? The result: Too many possibilities. I can't know each and everyone who visits my blog.
Then on Wednesday Sze Wei asked me via MSN whether I would like to know who is Cloud. 'Sure,' I said. She gave me two suspects; both of them seem absurd at first, as I haven't considered them before. Then she mentioned that the second person had done the same thing on her blog before. This got me down working. Based on the multiple visits of Cloud to my blog, the pattern corresponds exactly to that person!
Armed with that information, I can say with 99.98% surety (0.02% error in respect of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle) that Cloud is...
P.S.: Thanks to Sze Wei for the lead!
Dear WJ,
ReplyDeleteI am terribly disappointed that you seem to be overly rash in your conclusion that this mysterious blog visitor 'Cloud' is me. I have never thought that you could make such a mistake, which could have the possibility to lead to even greater, harmful consequences if not sorted out immediately.
You may think this Cloud person have visited your blog often. Yes, he/she may have, but so does ME. In fact, I DID visit your blog OFTEN, for I am a loyal fan of your blog, I am your friend, and I am giving FULL support in your blogging efforts by visiting your blog. As said, I am simply disheartened.
Furthermore, Cloud's style of writing conversations does NOT correspond to mine at all. Please do check that.
Please do remember that you need to properly investigate before making any conclusions. I sincerely hope that this will not happen again, ever.
Dear Benjamin,
ReplyDeleteI have always given much effort when creating a post for my blog, making sure that it is factual and suits the tastes of everyone. This post is no exception.
Before writing this post, I'd done some research based on the information available to me. But the anonymity provided by the Internet makes it hard to identify individuals, so I'd to make some assumptions. This effectively reduced the factuality of this post.
But still, I created this post because I believed that it will not cause harm to you or anybody. Remember, I am your friend too. Whether you are Cloud or not does not makes a difference to me. Is it wrong for me to think that you're playing a joke on me since you are my friend? Yeah, I may have gone overboard when I insisted that you are Cloud, but all I wanted at that time was for Cloud's identity to be revealed as soon as possible, nothing more.
I understand why you are disheartened, but I hope that you would look at this post at a different angle. I did not say anything negative about Cloud actions. So if you are Cloud or otherwise, my purpose is that you would not be put under bad light. I'm neutral on this matter. Other people may interpret this post differently, but that is beyond my control. Also, this blog is a fully democratic space, and you are free to condemn, to criticize or to explain your stand. I do and will not stop you from speaking up. In this spirit, it is also impossible for me to delete my own post as you requested. However, I'll update it taking into account reader's comments.
In short, this post is not intended to cause trouble to you or anyone else. I apologize however, for any inconveniences caused if this post is misunderstood. I hope this incident will not affect our friendship.
Yours sincerely,
WJ