If it were a scam you think they'd ask for money

[nathanjw]

Found in the "medical studies" section of the Dig: http://www.menwithcramps.com/

No, go ahead, take a look. Browse around a little.

What is this? An elaborate joke? A way to waste the newsprint of alt-weeklies nationwide? A desperate attempt to anchor a bunch of spam-blogs with a slightly less obviously fake site? Part of some viral marketing or "real life/online" game? I'm really kind of puzzled. There's no genuine contact information, the location is given in vague terms that make no sense in our particular local geography, and their "board of directors" is a bunch of people with only-superficially-reasonable credentials (and mostly lacking in institutional anchors that would let you confirm or deny their existence).

I don't get it at all.

Comments

[jadelennox]

Most proper nouns on the board of directors page are ungoogalble, and I disbelieve in "The Big Daddies/Little Sisters Fund" (especially since a Google makes me suspect that might be a computer game in-joke).

[jadelennox]

No, Definitely nonsense. More performance art?

[jadelennox]

And one more spam from me and then I'm done. If you take their quiz, you get

Unfortunately, since our study is closed, we are no longer accepting further volunteers.

Your Fardel Score is provided as a courtesy to help you on your long journey to recovery.

Due to very strict double-blind requirements, we can no longer accept any of your information for research purposes, including any answers to survey questions. The answers to your questions will not be kept in any database. They will not be included in our research data-gathering process. The results of your survey will not be included in any analysis, nor will you be placed in a pool of viable candidates, as our research quota for volunteers has been met.

Please return October 2nd for more information regarding the study.

So the joke will be revealed soon, I suppose.

[nathanjw]

Ah, I missed the "Inventor of the magnet" bit. That's more obviously bogus than most of the stuff on the site. Still, I find myself puzzled as to the point.

Here's a connection for the picture - looks like a link, of sorts, to real people:
http://www2.flickr.com/photos/fiveoftoast/250655123/

weirder than you might imagine

[(Anonymous)]

a friend of mine worked on this site for the german guy who is doing the study. I think they may have sort of taken over the thing and messed with him a bit. I think his english is pretty poor, and he also didn't pay them for their work. so i think they put in some bogus stuff in there to get him back. i hear the guy is a complete phony. but i guess there is some sort of study going on.