From
David Still
<ds@davidstill.org>
To
Patrick Lichty
<voyd@voyd.com>
Re:
Reality
MESSAGE
Patrick Lichty wrote: > Dear Patrick Lichty > You were very surprised when I contacted you. True. >You said you'd never met me. But when you visited my website you recognized me -how I look, where I live. It all seemed strangely familiar. With all respect, I did not. >Yet you continue to question my authenticity. Do you really think I'm just a 'character' created for the web? It's possible. Many others have done so, including myself. > Just to show how real I am, let me remind you that I live in a neighbourhood called "De Realiteit" (Reality) in Almere, the Netherlands. That's where I live - in the flesh. So how could I have invented such a name? You could merely be familiar with that area of the Netherlands, grown up there, etc. For example, I am very familiar with the Tokyo and Manchester areas. I have many pictures of myself in Japan, and an address where I can recieve mail, and have many friends that could vouch for my existence. I am also somewhat fluent in Japanese as well. THerefore, I could easily quote with great detail down to owners of several shops near Narakita-Danchi, Aobaku, Yokohama-shi, Japan to the point where it would appear that I could possibly live there. >When you get to know me better, you'll soon realise that I'm a part of your world, part of your own reality. And this is why you should trust me. WIth all due respect, and I'm not being contrary, whether I trust you or not is not the point. I do not trust or not trust you. You are a personality whom I am dealing with on the Net, and if I ever meet you or have cross-references from friends on the Net, I'll know a bit more about you, and that's fine. I personally have nothing against you, and if met, I'd love to buy you a beer somewhere. My point was that the promotional strategy in regards to sending a form letter to seek out potential colleagues for a design firm was something that would naturally be met with skepticism or derision, as it is similar to many hoaxes and net interventions. So in the world of net.art such an appeal is so similar to a possible intervention that such skepticism is almost expected. In addition, it was very strange when nearly a dozen of us began sharing these notes of yours, and it became a sort of joke on one or two of the lists, seeming almost like the semi-weekly form letters from supposed deposed African officials, who ask that they deal with you from Netherlands phone numbers. Therefore, your location and method of contact worked against you a little. From a personal perspective, you caught me during the winter, which usually means I'm a littel more apt to be foul tempered, and I was undergoing a particularly unpleasant episode in which my church's minister was publicly rebuking my family for questioning their authority in regards to some radical divergences with church doctrine. You can imagine that this would meet me with a stressful attitude. Secondly, since I have been around the tech sector for over two decades, I have seen start-up companies come and go, and I have been involved with eight so far, with only one being half successful. Therefore, I beg your understanding in being very skeptical in regards to start-ups of any kind, and which is why I will only work with start-ups who are willing to pay some small fraction as a measure of good faith (usually 40%). I mean, if you have some sort of concrete business plan you would like to show me under a Non-Disclosure Agreement or talk in greater depth under the proviso that I require at least a fractional payment to begin an enterprise, then I'm very interested in hearing your ideas. I mean no disrespect, but I honestly thought you were some odd net artist perpetrating a hoax. As for trust, I'm sure that can be built if I'm someone you want to trust you (re: that I'm worth the effort, which under your personal paradigm may not be the case, and I respect that). I also apologize for any offense, but the way you went about things was very similar to some pretty bombastic hoaxes. Best, Patrick Lichty