Shortly after posting my first query into the nature of this fishy business (ouch) I received more messages from PetTrout.
MagicSwordKing: Who is this? PetTrout: I am PetTrout: Are you planning to circumnavigate the globe, too? MSK: Yes MSK: Who is this? PetTrout: My real screen name is (redacted) without the xes PetTrout: We've been trouted. MSK: You're beginning to pique my interest.
I was curious. I messaged the other, seemingly human screen name, now reasonably certain that the trout was in fact a bot of some sort. The plot thickened when it was revealed to me that PetTrout operates with a companion bot, each one relaying messages to the other, keeping the true names hidden. I was represented as ImplicitTrout in the previous conversation.
It is unknown whether the person I eventually contacted was a puppetmaster or merely another pawn in some automated game, however Wikipedia does in fact have the knowledge of this program that solves the case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheGreatHatsby
Simply put, they are AIM bots designed to instigate communication between total strangers. Be aware of Trout.
Update: Thanks to reader Chris Garaffa for this tidbit: If you reply to a trout with $optout you won’t be trouted again.
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Got a message today from a fellow named ThreeWayTrout. Same message as you, about trannies. Good to know I’m not alone.
I got a message from “hellishtrout” this morning, asking “Are you planning to circumnavigate the globe.” This happened to me on Thursday night as well but I was leaving work for a 3-day weekend and didn’t think much of it.
Thanks for posting what you found about this. I also did some research and learned that you can reply with:
$optout
to have that account permanently ignored.