FAQ For The Missing Hat Community as of May 18, 2006

Is this bot a social experiment/dating service/psychological experiment?
At this time, we do not know. Individuals have expressed excitement over it, some of them have made new friends because of it and since the conversations are being monitored through the bots, its not known what that information will be used for.

Is this bot dangerous/have I been hacked?
This bot has not exhibited any dangerous attributes but that doesn't mean it is benign. That being said, new bots initiating conversations that start with "i say, old bean, have you seen my hat?" are "Hatting" people all the time. There is a chance copy-cats with malicious intentions could start appearing. We're trying to keep as updated a list as we can. Practice safe AIM netiquette, because you are in a conversation with someone you don't know, do not click on links until you have verified what they are and only if you trust that other person. Please post to this community if you have any problems with any particular bot so that we can let others know.

May I post the conversation I had to this community?
By all means. Though please be nice and put any long conversations behind a cut so we all don't have to scroll through it. This helps if you wish to contact your opposite hat so that they can find you and verify it was you. Just be sure to put a tag in the part we all read that you're seeking.

Who is The Hatmaster?
This is the information we have so far: As posted in http://www.ricedoutyugo.com/view.php?post=885 The phone number given is (530) 678-4931. If you call the number you get a brittish voice asking if you've seen his hat. Its unlisted but the bill is going to a person in Dunsmuird, California. He has responded Anonymously to Livejournal posts. He often posts to http://www.ricedoutyugo.com but that community claims they arn't involved with this. He e-mailed a person from this community from thehatmaster@gmail.com. If you have any information or want to help solve this mystery, then by all means, please do and keep us all updated.

Why is http://www.ricedoutyugo.com so weird?
ricochet_rabbit managed to uncover a connection between one of the posters to riced out yugo and the Principia Discordia by reference of a hotdog in this conversation. Discordians believe in perpetuating chaos. This is still only a theory.

Who are the happy_citizens?
They are an attempt at memejacking. It was started by fire_trucks. He claims to know who the Hatmaster is and he claims he will tell you if you join his community and tell him you love them and post your screenname and promise not to tell anyone else. They are also recruiting through the aimbots. We are not associated with them. They were formed May, 24, 2006. Interestingly Riced Out Yugo has responded to them with this.

Is it possible that the Hatmaster himself has talked to me?
There's no real way to tell unless he or she admits that they are the hatmaster and even then it could be your opposite hat agreeing with your question whether or not they are because its a weird conversation. There are some very creative individuals out there who might appear to know more then they actually do. Theres a chance, but its very slim and the fact you're in a blind conversation means even if it was, you couldn't know.

I didn't know what was happening when I got Hatted. How can I contact my opposite Hat to apologize/get their real contact information?
Unfortunately at this time, the best you can do is join the community and hope your opposite finds their way here or The Hatmaster takes pity on you and tells you. Many people have found their opposites in this community by describing their conversations and any info they found out about their opposite but we arn't getting all the people who have been hatted. There's hope, many people who have been hatted once, get hatted again, if you lead whoever you're talking to, to this community, then someone else may find their opposite in a past conversation.

Is there some way to initiate a Hatting?
It is possible to add any of the bots listed on the information page of this community to your AIM buddy list. Then if you AIM that bot when it is online, you will be connected up with a random person. Otherwise, being picked for a conversation appears to be random. Note that AIM has this service already though it isn't limited to livejournal users. AIM Jill020306 to have a conversation with another random AIM user.

Why do I see the other users screen name but they see mine as the bots name?
Of course the bot filters and relays all the conversation that goes through it. As a side effect it changes all instances of your screen name into the bots screen name. To get around this filter, type your screen name with spaces between the letters. It was suggested that the bot might also learn to filter out links to these websites. Be creative in getting the message across.

Why did my opposite Hat not respond/put up an unrelated response?
Sometimes the bot catches people who are away and have no messages up. Sometimes it catches and relays those peoples away messages. Sometimes your opposite Hat has the "Do you accept this message" feature enabled and chooses to ignore the conversation.

Is lilaznhottie604 part of the "Hat" phenomenon?
No, she is a bot that gathers what you and all the other people say to her and then repeats it back randomly. She is not a relay bot though she has hit several people in this community who have written stuff to her about this community.

This FAQ is a work in progress and is constantly being updated. Please comment here or post to the community if you have further questions.