ftp.ee.pdx.edu/2014.02.ftp.ee.pdx.edu.tar/ftp.ee.pdx.edu/pub/Publius/info/brief.txt

Text File | 1995-02-28 | 6KB | 113 lines

               HISTORY OF THE PUBLIUS POSTS (Rev. 2/95)

   During the 1994 Pink Floyd Division Bell U.S. tour, a self-described
messenger using the common Latin name Publius, started posting to the
Usenet group alt.music.pink-floyd through an anonymous contact service.
The letters use the following subject line or some variation of it:
">>>>>>>>>> T H E  M E S S A G E <<<<<<<<<<".

   The name Publius was also used as a pseudonym early in U.S. history
by the writers of The Federalist Papers.  John Jay, James Madison, and
James Monroe wrote under one name to promote discussion of an idea.

   The posts continue on an irregular basis, with a mysterious tone
and many ambiguous clues, inviting us to look at the new album with
open minds, discuss it in the newsgroup, and investigate some sort of
enigma or puzzle in The Division Bell music, lyrics, art, and other
tour materials.  Publius says a tangible prize is to be found.

   The newsgroup was generally pretty annoyed by the posts, but on
July 16, Publius told us to watch for a sign: flashing white lights,
East Rutherford, New Jersey, July 18, at about 10:30 p.m.  At the Pink
Floyd show in N.J. that night, "ENIGMA PUBLIUS" was displayed from the
foot of the stage by the lights they use during KT and ABITW.

   Then, some people accepted the idea that Publius was a messenger
with some connection to the band and began to take the enigma seriously,
excitedly looking for clues.  They believe they have found some.

   Many theories have been entertained, but we don't know who Publius
is.  Publius says that his/her/their identity is unimportant.  Douglas
Adams, the friend of the band who suggested the name of the album, said
last year that he is not involved and was not aware of band involvement.

   The August 13 post was made several times, but some of the reposts
of it were scrambled at the end.  On August 31, the same repost was
made three times, all scrambled, and not followed by a successful post.
It then occurred to me that the scrambled "failed" posts might have been
intentional, so I saved the three from August 31 and included them here.
Many bright people have independently decoded those messages back into
the original August 13 message by finding a "simple" substitution code.

   Another sign was predicted last fall by Publius, and on October 20
the word ENIGMA was projected in large letters on the back of the stage
during the beginning of Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 during a show
at Earls Court in London.  This show was televised in Europe the same
night, and in the U.S. on November 1.  Publius then posted that this
sign was the world-wide announcement of the enigma.

   In late 1994, A Momentary Lapse of Reason was released in MiniDisc
format, with revised artwork in the booklet.  On one photo is the plain
white text ENIGMA, and on another is the plain white text PUBLIUS.

   In the fall, Guitar World magazine received a packet of newsgroup
articles about the enigma (sent anonymously) and a writer collected
information from the newsgroup via email.  The resulting article in
the January 1995 issue unfortunately featured artwork that confuses
newcomers to this investigation.  The pictures depicting clues hidden
in the TDB cover art are purely fictional representations.  No such
microscopic clues are actually in TDB art.  GW did an update of the
situation in their March 1995 issue.

   Writer Neil Strauss also received a packet of newsgroup articles
last fall "from the Publius-Concern" -- that is, someone using that
name without the knowledge of the group sent them.  His February 16,
1995 New York Times music column, The Pop Life, discussed the events
surrounding the enigma.  Mr. Strauss had interviewed the band members
and manager early in the tour.  He described their air of mystery and
as saying that "there's all sorts of other things" on the album, and
that clues would be forthcoming.  When asked about the sound-clip on
the first minute of the album and the quiet phone conversation at the
end of it, David Gilmour said, "I like puzzling people."  Asked if
some songs are veiled references to Roger Waters, he smiled and said,
"Are they?  You'll just have to work it out for yourself."

   Publius said he will not solve the enigma for us, and that it will
require considerable cooperative effort on our part.  Because early
Publius speculation in the newgroup was hampered by flamers, some
people began using private email to develop theories.  In fact, it
would be more accurate to say that all discussion in the newsgroup
was hampered by flamers.  However, Publius has said that the ideas
should be discussed openly, so virtually all discussion of the enigma
has returned to alt.music.pink-floyd.  There are still skeptics, and
it's wise to be considerate of them so as not to rekindle the flames.

   Here are a couple of recommendations to minimize the problems:
If you do not want to be bothered with the discussion, use a kill file
to filter it if you can.  When discussing the enigma, please use a
subject line with the name Publius in it so skeptics have a simple way
to filter it.  Lastly, an often neglected point of "netiquette": don't
be lazy and abuse the "reply" command, retaining the old subject line
when you are changing the subject of the news thread.  Always avoid
starting a new topic of discussion using an old subject line.  When
this sort of abuse gets out of hand, it can appear that the news is
dominated by one topic when that's not actually true.  It can also
lead some people who might have been interested to ignore your post.

   Below are all the Publius posts I have.  I did not save some of the
duplicate reposts.  However, if anyone saved the posts that were made
prior to July 16, I would very much like to have them, please.

   At the end is a list of all the Publius posts that I found, showing
year-month-day-hour-minute / subject / address used / comments.  Note
that Publius's subject line wasn't always accurate as to repost status.
(I felt at the time, but never got around to publicly commenting, that
in one case I felt that "repost" was a pun on the French "riposte" -- I
saw it as partly answering a flamer whose name suggested fencing terms.)
Note that some reposts differed only by variation on the subject line.

Mark Brown
[e-mail]