Changes: Octagon Global Recruiting

Revision as of 21:29, 27 July 2008

This information was revealed in part through the third alternate reality game
Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project

Clues · Comic-Con · Correspondence • Dharma booth video · Tests

Characters:		Dan Bronson · Daniel Faraday · Hans Van Eeghen · Lara · RuckusGuy
Websites:		Octagon Global Recruiting · Dharma Wants You · Dharma Special Access

OGR Logo

Octagon Global Recruiting is a volunteer recruiting organization apparently run by the DHARMA Initiative, as part of the alternate reality game, Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project. A television advertisement for the Octagon Global Recruiting website, octagonglobalrecruiting.com, was aired at the end of the last commercial break during "There's No Place Like Home, Part 2" on May 29, 2008.

The television advertisement and site stated that Octagon Global Recruiting would hold a recruiting session in San Diego from July 24-27, 2008, and fan speculation relating to Comic Con being at the same time and location was later confirmed in a series of emails, with the group supposedly running aptitude tests as part of their recruitment drive.

So far, the newsletter emails have yielded two names of significance: Hans Van Eeghen and RuckusGuy, in addition to one new in-game website, Dharmawantsyou.com.

Press release

“

Industry: Charity

On behalf of the Dharma Initiative, Octagon Global Recruiting is currently seeking volunteers to contribute to an important new research project.

San Diego, CA (PRunderground) May 29, 2008 – The Dharma Initiative is a multidisciplinary research collective dedicated to improving the human condition through innovative scientific research. Our directors are recognized leaders in their fields, with distinguished research histories in a wide range of social and scientific disciplines.

A new research project is about to commence which will play a vital role in the furthering Dharma Initiative’s objectives.

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, requires research volunteers to assist in a range of unpaid positions.

Our national recruitment drive will commence in San Diego, California, July 24 – 27, 2008.

To apply for an unpaid position, or to simply learn more, please visit: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com [1]

”

Ad video

Volunteer positions

The advertisement asks for unpaid volunteers for a number of positions, listing the following (presented in order vertically):

Meteorologists	Health Care Workers	IVF Consultants	Recycling Coordinators
Psychologists	Communication Specialists	Teachers	Aeronautical Engineers
Parapsychologists	Neuroscientists	Architects	Horticulturists
Zoologists	Janitors	Ichthyologists	Dentists
Physicists	Engineers	Transport Mechanics
Mathematicians	Biologists	Immunologists
Botanical Researchers	Astrophysicists	Nurses
Engineers	Ex-Military	Illustrators
Builders	Electricians	Auditors
Drivers	Vets	Minibus Drivers

06/19 email

The full text of this email is also available at this page on the Octagon website.

“

From: info@octagonglobalrecruiting.com
CC: Hans Van Eeghen (hansvaneeghen@octagonglobalrecruiting.com)
Subject: Recruitment Information

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, would like to thank you for registering your expression of interest in our latest volunteer recruitment drive.

We will be launching in San Diego on July 24th at Comic-Con International offering select registrants the opportunity to take an exciting aptitude test that will give applicants the chance to demonstrate their unique talents.

The Dharma Initiative hopes you will be able to join us to find out more about their ground-breaking new research project. We will contact you closer to the date with more information.

For those not able to join us in San Diego, Dharma's full recruitment program will be made available online to registered recruits after July 27th.

In the meantime, the Dharma Initiative urges you to spread the word. Invite your colleagues to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com and take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity.

If you can't view the images in this email please click here

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE DHARMA INITIATIVE:
This message and its attachments are confidential and may contain information which is protected by copyright. It is intended solely for the named addressee. If you are not the authorised recipient (or responsible for delivery of the message to the authorised recipient), you must not use, disclose, print, copy or deliver this message or its attachments to anyone. If you receive this email in error, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete this message and its attachments from your system. Any content of this message and its attachments that does not relate to the official business of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries must be taken not to have been sent or endorsed by any of them. No representation is made that this email or its attachments are without defect or that the contents express views other than those of the sender.

”

The HTML source of the 06/19 email contains the comment "March has 32 days", which is the title of the last story from Mystery Tales No. 40, which featured in the episode "Cabin Fever". The story is about a man who somehow time travels back into the past (one day) to keep a bridge in his town from collapsing.

When you reply back to info@octagonglobalrecruiting.com you receive the following message:

“

From: info@octagonglobalrecruiting.com
Subject: AutoReply:Recruitment Information
Thank for your interest in Octagon Global Recruiting. We have forwarded your email through to the appropriate department.

Note:

Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries unless specifically stated. This email and any files transmitted are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed.

”

Hans Van Eeghen

Emailing hansvaneeghen@octagonglobalrecruiting.com gives you the following automated response:

“

Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: Recruitment Information

Thank you for your email. I am currently on assignment in the field. I will contact you as soon as I am back in the office.

Sincerely,

Hans

Note:

Any views or opinions are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Dharma Initiative or its subsidiaries unless specifically stated. This email and any files transmitted are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed.

”

07/18 email

The full text of this email is also available at this page on the Octagon website.

“

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008.

"My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country," said Mr. Van Eeghen. "As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us."

The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.

If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.

The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at www.dharmawantsyou.com

The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com

”

The source code of the 07/18 email also contains a message from someone calling themselves RuckusGuy. His message is:

“

…If you’re reading this, wanna hear something cool?
I’ve got intel about his little “recruitment drive.”
They’re doing some kind’ve personality/IQ testing or something down in SD for ComicCon.
Buddy of mine works down there and has the approvals for their “booth,” he says once you go in no one knows what happens inside and you need an appointment to get in. He also said to make sure you’ve got your Bluetooth on and visible – he’s rigged up a little something.

The whole thing sounds like elitist B.S., doesn’t it?
Well, I’m getting in that booth and taking the test.
As many times as I have to before I “pass” (whatever that means?)
And then…
If I can?
I’m gonna tape it so EVERYONE can see what these idiots are up to.
Should be fun, right?
See ya in SD. RuckusGuy OUT.

”

Comic-Con

Lostpedia has begun to get reports from Comic Con. Note that these are as of yet mostly unverified. At the Octagon Global Recruiting booth, fans are given a waiver form and an appointment time by DHARMA staff (all with Australian accents). At their appropriate time, they can enter the booth, which has cameras on the ceiling (these appear to feed outside the booth so observers can see what is going on). With a set of headphones and television equipment, participants are shown images or given a series of questions, and have to say what first pops into their heads. Some of the images in particular are reportedly very bizarre. Questions are then asked such as "You just took away a child's favorite toy. Why?" Reportedly, fans have an option of what type of test they can take by choosing a different name. There were eight options, all names of Jupiter moons. In one hidden cam video, a participant of the test is asked the question, "Who is your constant?" which is an allusion to the episode The Constant. [2]

The test apparently lasts about five minutes, and upon completion you are told whether you passed or not (it's likely everyone will "pass" as part of the ARG). Participants are then told to make sure they see the Lost panel on Saturday, and have their test sheet with them (they apparently make a point of having your own sheet with you). They are also given an ID card, which includes special details which can, from July 28th, be entered on Dharmawantsyou.com to allow those who took the test to register for "phase 2" of the application process.

The legal declaration form participants must sign finally revealed the name of the ARG project, Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project or simply known as "The Project".

At the LOST panel, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse announced that DHARMA was sponsoring LOST. Hans Van Eeghen announced the results of the tests: nearly everyone had failed dismally except for a select few. These select few were going back to the DHARMA booth to be shown something "special". A little while later, a young guy called Dan Bronsen with a video camera interrupted Damon and Carlton's presentation because he had gotten the secret video on tape and he thought that the fans deserved some answers. Despite security trying to take him away and Damon and Carlton's objections, Dan Bronsen showed the video to Comic-Con. Here is a transcript of the video:

“

Hello. My name is Dr. Marvin Candle and I....you know what? Forget it. No point in games anymore, right? If you're watching this now, you already know that my name is, my real name is Pierre Cheng and i...(baby cries off screen and the Doctor looks over. He gets up from the couch and yells: "Jennifer! Just take him outside, please! I've got one chance at this." He sits back down.) [static] ...professor of theoretical astrophysics from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was brought [static] godforsaken island years ago to conduct experiments to study the Kerr metric solution to the Einstein field equation and... [static] If i can hold this pinhole open long enough, you should be receiving my message roughly thirty years [static] If you're... [static] The American president is a man named George W. Bush and you share digital information instantaneously on something called "Internet". And, unfortunately, my colleagues and i are all dead [static] and if, of a violent purge, one that we are apparently powerless to escape. (he looks down sadly at his left arm, which looks normal, and grasps it with his other normal hand). [static] This information comes to me from a source that has proven himself to be credible.

Other man (possibly Daniel Faraday): None of that matters. It doesn't matter. Just get to it, please! [static]

Dr. Cheng: Because, if this transmission is successful, it's proof the work I've been doing here is valid. This place, it has extraordinary properties. I'm begging you, no matter what's happened, it's imperative that the DHARMA Initiative be reconstituted. You have to continue to research [static] and you have to do it now. Time is not just of the essence, it is the essence. Perhaps you'll be able to find a way to save us, to change the past and to [static] (something) You can't let it....

Other man: This is useless! Alright? It's just useless. They'll never gonna see this. How do i turn this off?

Dr. Cheng: No, no! W-w-what are you doing?

Other man: How do you turn it off?

Dr. Cheng: No! What are you doing? [static]

”

The Bluetooth video (low-quality version)

EmbedVideo received the bad id "Z5_o9p4W1C4&" for the service "youtube".

The DHARMA video

Trivia

When read from the bottom upwards the first letters of the positions spell DHARMA INITIATIVE.
The logos of the DHARMA Initiative are octagons.
- There are 16 positions needed to create this upside-down acronym.
"Engineers" is listed twice, residing in the 8th and 15th position from the top of the list. If you count to the end and then continue down again from the top (counting the first spot twice), Engineers also rests in the 42nd place. the word Engineers is also included as part of the 32nd consecutive slot, under "Aeronautical Engineers".
The first four jobs (meteorologists, psychologists, parapsychologists, and zoologists) are also the first four areas of research of the DHARMA Initiative mentioned by Marvin Candle in the Swan Orientation film.

Near the end of the video, when the octagon ring is making its final spin, its sides bear the same Bagua trigrams as seen on the DHARMA Initiative logos.
At the end of the video, a person can be seen typing the numbers 8 15 16 on the keyboard.
- This footage was taken from "Man of Science, Man of Faith".
Similar to the Hanso Foundation website, a Plesk error message is displayed when connection is attempted using SSL.
The terms and conditions on the Octagon web site reveal that it is owned by the Walt Disney Internet Group.
The "IVF" in "IVF Consultant" stands for In Vitro Fertilization, so an IVF Consultant would be a position similar to the one that Juliet Burke held during her time with The Others.
An editor of Lost is Henk Van Eeghen.
The IP address in the HTML source code of the site (avalible all the way to the left of the page) is 72.47.249.66 and is registered to Domains by Proxy, Inc.
Octagon emails use the word Dharma, as opposed to the correct DHARMA, as it is an acronym.

External links

Octagon Global Recruiting website
http://octagonneedsyou.com/ Redirects to Octagon Global Recruiting website
http://octagonwantsyou.com/ Redirects to Octagon Global Recruiting website
http://octagonrecruiting.com/ Redirects to Octagon Global Recruiting website
Misspelled link (registered differently: "octogon") Redirects to Octagon Global Recruiting website
[3] Terms and conditions
[4] Privacy policy

@@ Line 154: / Line 154: @@
 The legal declaration form participants must sign finally revealed the name of the ARG project, [[Dharma Initiative Recruiting Project]] or simply known as "The Project".
-At the LOST panel, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse announced that DHARMA was sponsoring LOST. Hans Van Eeghen announced the results of the tests: nearly everyone had failed dismally except for a select few. These select few were going back to the DHARMA booth to be shown something "special". A little while later, a young guy called [[Dan Bronsen]] with a video camera interupted Damon and Carlton's presentation because he had gotten the secret video on tape and he thought that the fans deserved some answers. Despite security trying to take him away and Damon and Carlton's objections, [[Dan Bronsen]] showed the video to Comic-Con. Here is a transcript of the video:  {{quote|text=Hello. My name is Dr. Marvin Candle and i....you know what? Forget it. No point in games anymore, right? If you're watching this now, you already know that my name is, my real name is Pierre Cheng and i...(baby cries off screen and the Doctor looks over. He gets up from the couch and yells: "Jennifer! Just take him outside, please! I've got one chance at this." He sits back down.) [static] ...professor of theoretical astro-physics from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was brought [static] years ago to conduct experiments to study the Kerr metric solution to the Einstein field equation and... [static] If i can hold this pinhole open long enough, you should be recieving my message roughly thirty years [static] If you're... [static] The American president is a man named George W. Bush and you share digital infomation instantaneously on something called "internet". And, unfortunatly, my colleagues and i are all dead [static] and if, of a violent purge, one that we are apparently powerless to escape. (he looks down sadly at his left arm, which looks normal, and grasps it with his other normal hand). [static] This infomation comes to me from a source that has proven himself to be credable.
+At the LOST panel, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse announced that DHARMA was sponsoring LOST. Hans Van Eeghen announced the results of the tests: nearly everyone had failed dismally except for a select few. These select few were going back to the DHARMA booth to be shown something "special". A little while later, a young guy called [[Dan Bronsen]] with a video camera interrupted Damon and Carlton's presentation because he had gotten the secret video on tape and he thought that the fans deserved some answers. Despite security trying to take him away and Damon and Carlton's objections, [[Dan Bronsen]] showed the video to Comic-Con. Here is a transcript of the video:  {{quote|text=Hello. My name is Dr. Marvin Candle and I....you know what? Forget it. No point in games anymore, right? If you're watching this now, you already know that my name is, my real name is Pierre Cheng and i...(baby cries off screen and the Doctor looks over. He gets up from the couch and yells: "Jennifer! Just take him outside, please! I've got one chance at this." He sits back down.) [static] ...professor of theoretical astrophysics from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was brought [static] godforsaken island years ago to conduct experiments to study the Kerr metric solution to the Einstein field equation and... [static] If i can hold this pinhole open long enough, you should be receiving my message roughly thirty years [static] If you're... [static] The American president is a man named George W. Bush and you share digital information instantaneously on something called "Internet". And, unfortunately, my colleagues and i are all dead [static] and if, of a violent purge, one that we are apparently powerless to escape. (he looks down sadly at his left arm, which looks normal, and grasps it with his other normal hand). [static] This information comes to me from a source that has proven himself to be credible.
 Other man (possibly Daniel Faraday): None of that matters. It doesn't matter. Just get to it, please! [static]
-Dr. Cheng: Because, if this transmission is successful, it's proof the work i've been doing here is valid. This place, it has extraordinary properties. I'm ''begging'' you, no matter what's happened, it's imperative that the DHARMA Initiative be reconstituted. You have to continue to research [static] and you have to do it now. Time is not just ''of'' the essence, it ''is'' the essence. Perhaps you'll be able to find a way to save us, to change the past and to [static] (something) You can't let it....
+Dr. Cheng: Because, if this transmission is successful, it's proof the work I've been doing here is valid. This place, it has extraordinary properties. I'm ''begging'' you, no matter what's happened, it's imperative that the DHARMA Initiative be reconstituted. You have to continue to research [static] and you have to do it now. Time is not just ''of'' the essence, it ''is'' the essence. Perhaps you'll be able to find a way to save us, to change the past and to [static] (something) You can't let it....
 Other man: This is ''useless''! Alright? It's just useless. They'll never gonna see this. How do i turn this off?