Wow. Thanks for passing that on, it closes the book somewhat.

I guess I still have two lingering questions:

1. What the exit on purpose, or by sheer accident?

2. Who is the girl in the pictures?

I hate it when people lie in e-mail and on the internet. If they're not who they say they are, then they're asking for space on my emotional hard drive under false pretenses. To hell with Emitter and Acanit or whoever they really are. I really really care about people and when I'm made a fool for doing that, it doesn't matter whether they stole money from me or just played on my sympathy. This guy (another alias, I'm wagering) needs serious emotional help.

Wow. Fascinating.

Jay, I don't know that "Emitter" will ever tell us.

Unfortunately, or Fortunately, however you see it, there is enough interest in this story and enough people who have a "vested interest" in Layne as a being that they won't let this go without closure and more detective work and questions being answered. I just hope that this doesn't devolve into petty and catty physical or other confrontations.

Yes, all were led astray. Some invested considerable emotion into something that in the end was a lie, but after all, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Getting emotionally involved over the 'net is begging for trouble. Its really too bad that this is the case and sort of a commentary on the 'net itself, where for the most part, people are anonymous and everyone can be what they always wanted to be. The 15 minutes of Warholian fame is ripe for the picking to everyone with a dial-up connection. A societal comment, when you think about it.

So go on, do all your detective work. There is a case to be made that the fella made these things public in the first place and he can't just ask for a do-over now. But please, do not hound this person any more than beyond the bounds of your keyboard and good taste. Esteem him, or pity him, but leave well enough alone and chalk this up to having been had. Hopefully smarter and wiser, if not a little bit more cynical.

Remember the immortal words, sung by Harold Hill:
"I flinch, I shy, when the lass with the delicate air goes by
I smile, I grin, when the gal with a touch of sin walks in.
I hope, and I pray, for a Hester to win just one more "A"
The sadder-but-wiser girl's the girl for me.
The sadder-but-wiser girl for me."

If you talk to Layne, aka The Emitter, again would you encourage him to keep blogging? I think he is a fabulous writer and would like to continue reading his work.

Is "Emitter" as narcissistic a fellow as he appears in his post? It's not that I was expecting an apology; I find the current craze for demanding apologies to be tiresome. But I don't see any sign that he's considered the effect of his deception (not just in the blog, but in email, IM, and other blogs' comments) on the people who were taken in. Such a lack of consideration is typical of the con-man personality, isn't it? Maybe all those people in the pictures weren't in on the gag after all. Maybe they were just used. Oh, and as much as I loved the prose writing, remember when Layne got on a poetry kick? Man, that stuff sucked.

There's a small problem with his "confession."

He claims acanit was inspired by the Kaycee Nicole debacle. However, acanit appears to have started on January 2, 2001, as shown on this page in the internet archive:
http://web.archive.org/web/20011127035010/www.geocities.com/acanit/

The Kaycee Nicole story didn't break until about May 20, 2001, over 4 months later! How could acanit have been inspired by something that hadn't happened yet?

I suppose he could have back dated those entries, but it *is* very odd.

Thanks for the update, Mitch. You were the person who first broke this story, and gave people the closure that they needed.

I'm quite satisfied with where everything is right now, even though some people are obviously very upset (and rightly so, in my opinion). I still don't know for sure who "Layne" was (i.e. the girl in the pictures) and frankly, I don't care anymore.

You couldn't make the events of the past two weeks up... no one would believe you! But it all *DID* happen. This is easily the craziest thing I have ever been part of.

It was so obvious to me that it was fake,
it's a little strange to see how some are
so pissed off to find that out. Yet the
comments on the site made its clear
that many were buying the story hook,
line and sinker.

I must say that I like how the author was
smoked out of his hiding. By his reaction,
I'd lay odds that he doesn't want this
story getting out. I doubt very seriously
that all the people in those photos were
willing participants in the story. They
might not be happy to see how there photos
were used.

Another interesting facet of the acanit mystery: Acanit was online even before her now famous journals. She had a yahoo briefcase with photos of an absolutely gorgeous young lady. She also spent some time at a dating website where she stated ties to Southern California. I can't say for sure it wasn't all a hoax, but I saw these photos before the Sex Pistols journal and it makes the Emitter story not seem plausable.