THE HINTS- VITAL TO SUCCESS

[DeeepThnkr]

Sure, your search for hints in the book will lead you down some rabbit holes. It is unavoidable. All chasers will go down some rabbit holes.

But will ignoring book hints make it any easier? That is the wrong question. Mr F says the person who solves it will have put a lot of effort into it. No one will stumble on it. He recommends you read the poem many times and look carefully, meticulously through the book for hints. He's telling us how to do it. You have to work for it. There are no shortcuts.

Look for the hints he gave us. Do it systematically. Do it like you are studying for an exam.

This^ is sound advice.

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I still haven’t heard an intelligent response ever from any poem purists about the quote below from f. It is from the Moby Dickens video 11/2/13 (44:10 minutes in). In a hysterical happening, I remember SeanNM blowing a gasket because I posted the quote and he couldn’t handle it. It’s like he thought I was labeling poem purists that don’t look for hints in ttotc as non serious searchers when really it is f that has used those words. F has said similar quotes to this a few times and he has mentioned that it is his best advice. No getting around that Sean and Mdavis.

....There are no clues in this book, but there are some hints. What I tell people to do, if you’re really serious about looking for the treasure, get the Thrill of The Chase and read it. And then go back and read the poem over and over and over again. And then go back and read the book again, but slowly looking at every little abstract thing that might catch up in your brain. That might be a hint to help you with the clues. Any part of some, is better than no part of any....

Fundamental design,

I believe that you and I only disagree on the level of importance of the hints in the book. I believe you see them as vital, although Forrest only says they can help one with the clues, and I personally see them as too much noise that may lead to an overwhelming amount of confirmation bias. And maybe neither of us is right, who can yet say?

Now we all can agree that there are, without any doubt, hints that can help one with the clues in the poem, because Forrest has said that many times, even in his best advice he tells us to look for them in his book. But if we cannot, with any level of certainty, identify what those hints are within the 28,000 +/- words in the book, how can we even then understand how they are the supposed to"help" us? (that's a rhetorical question) I mean has Forrest not told us that we cannot know that we have the first clue correct until we have the treasure, then is it not fair to infer that we then cannot know with any certainty what those subtle hints are within the book prior to discovering the chest?

Sure it is fun to theorize or go down the myriad of rabbit holes that those believed hints may provide, because they educate us in so many ways, but, in my opinion, if one bases the foundation of their solve upon what they believe is a subtle hint/clue in the book, then they may find cracks in that foundation. So I am personally of the belief that the best way to mitigate confirmation bias, is to solely focus on the words in the poem, and yes while I can quote nearly all of Forrest written and spoken words, they are not the foundation of my solve, only the 166 words in the poem are. Is my method the right way or the easiest, who the heck knows for sure?

Again, I believe you and I only disagree on the level of importance of the subtle hints/clues in the book. And while my methodology to solving this maybe different than yours, is does not take away from how you go about solving it, I just chose to limit the amount of what I call noise.

Seannm

Seannm, I’ve been clear to say that I think the hints are vital. I haven’t differentiated between the book hints and a possible hint in the poem. That’s because I think they are a packaged deal. My bet is that the hints in the book point to the same, correct geographical location as a hint in the poem then one finds wwwh. That seems like an intelligent way to massively cut down rabbit holes and brings the book hints and poem hint (if there) together. Sometimes you got to think how would you design something like the Chase that makes sense and allows confidence. Guess I picked the right screen name.

I’ve also mentioned I think the actual hints (if ever released to the public) will be the only thing involved with the mystery of the proper solution that won’t be subjective or cause me to fear confirmation bias. It’s possible that f figured this out before he finished designing the Chase.

I’m not sure how to interpret f words that the hints help with the clues as a bad thing. To me, it’s not about that there’s more words in the book than in the poem so I’ll choose the less worded route. For it’s the amount of places that the poem words can be describing...hundreds of billions of choices in theory that that approach ultimately entails. Again, f knows this and we all know that. It’s the final outcome that ultimately matters in each search. So far, all searches using hints and clues or just clues have not brought home the tc. That’s comparing apples to apples. From that result, the best advice from the puzzle setter is my route.

I also strongly agree with the packaged deal. He used the book, as many other setters have, to create the over all puzzle. Some of what I have posted lately is part of the method that he used. It isn't a coincidence that when you get a proper anagram or fold within a page it gives you 3-4 specific, not vague or open to different interpretations, but specific references back to book, sbs, vignettes, interview and poem. When you are able to tie them together you just know it's right. I'm talking about an isolated case of this, it repeats. When the solve is revealed it will be known that solving without the book was almost impossible. I lean toward 100% impossible. If Im wrong I'm wrong but can't see how its a coincidence. Alot of searchers wont come out and say it in a public forum but in PM's there is alot of conversation going on right now about this stuff. You wouldn't believe me if I told you who the searchers are that are taking the Binding off book and folding certain pages or having pages under big loupes and such. Until last week I thought I was the only doing this. After putting it out there I have received an outpouring of PM's from great searchers who are saying they have found the same things. Is it a case group hysteria? Can a dozen searchers, acting separate of one another, find the exact same things and come to the exact same conclusions? I find that to be the most unbelievable of scenarios. I don't find I'm special in any way nor more intelligent than most of you but I'm a pragmatist. I need to feel it and see it to believe it. This feels real and seems designed. No other way to put it. The book is needed, the SB's may or may not be needed but I am at 95% that some are part of the design. What If the Chase is designed to give out time released hints? Have you thought about what happens when he passes this Vail? He has. What if the answer to that question is an actual part of the Chase?