The Diary — Old Hoax or New or Not a Hoax at All?​

[Iconoclast]

If Barrett intended to forge a diary why wouldn’t he naturally think, I need to find a blank diary- before realising in hindsight that he needed to finetune his search to get what he wanted?

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t your own theory that Barrett needed a diary to use as a decoy?
if so, why would an 1891 or even one dated from 1880 be of use to use as a decoy for the 1888-89 real deal because the “genuine” one had blank pages at the back? He would still have fallen into the trap of each page being dated so useless for the purpose of a decoy.

A 'decoy' (good word) would only need to be the equivalent of a Victorian document with at least twenty blank pages. Which is - interestingly - what he got.

[Yabs]

The word 'diary' in an advert is not ambiguous. We all know what we think of. We think someone is seeking or selling a 'diary', a book with 365 days in to write stuff at the appropriate time or to remind us of stuff coming up.

Mike Barrett therefore wanted the same as what we all think of when we hear the word 'diary'.

To comply with the Barrett Hoax theory, he needed to ask for a 'notebook' or a 'document' not a 'diary' or he needed to seek a diary from 1880 to 1888.

The clues are all there in the advert.

If Barrett intended to forge a diary why wouldn’t he naturally think, I need to find a blank diary- before realising in hindsight that he needed to finetune his search to get what he wanted?

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t your own theory that Barrett needed a diary to use as a decoy?
if so, why would an 1891 or even one dated from 1880 be of use to use as a decoy for the 1888-89 real deal because the “genuine” one had blank pages at the back? He would still have fallen into the trap of each page being dated so useless for the purpose of a decoy.

[Iconoclast]

Oh of course it’s stupid on the part of the fictional idiot and I’m sure the man you consider a genuine idiot (Mike Barrett) felt the same way when he realised blank can mean dated and unwritten and not fully blank pages like those recently used to forge the hitler diaries.

The word 'diary' in an advert is not ambiguous. We all know what we think of. We think someone is seeking or selling a 'diary', a book with 365 days in to write stuff at the appropriate time or to remind us of stuff coming up.

Mike Barrett therefore wanted the same as what we all think of when we hear the word 'diary'.

To comply with the Barrett Hoax theory, he needed to ask for a 'notebook' or a 'document' not a 'diary' or he needed to seek a diary from 1880 to 1888.

The clues are all there in the advert.

[Yabs]

And if I ordered a pen as ambiguously as your fictional idiot did, I'd be too embarrassed to send it back as I hate it when people call me a complete ******* twat. Maybe you'd care somewhat less than I?

Oh of course it’s stupid on the part of the fictional idiot and I’m sure the man you consider a genuine idiot (Mike Barrett) felt the same way when he realised blank can mean dated and unwritten and not fully blank pages like those recently used to forge the hitler diaries.

[Iconoclast]

A question which, it has to be said, answers itself.

And the answer is clearly NOT to create a hoaxed record of James Maybrick's thoughts. That could not be clearer regardless of how you try to take us on a journey to the Moon and back. Do you ever stop and think, "Why do I keep trying to find some obscure reality whereby a guy wanting to create a hoaxed record of James Maybrick's thoughts from 1888 before he so famously died in 1889 seeks a diary from 1889 or even 1890 and then accepts one from 1891?".

Get back to counting angels on pinheads, Herlock. Your pedantic approach to all things Maybrick is as embarrassing as Yabs crying his or her eyes out like a baby because they asked for a red pen and they got a red pen.

Barrett's ad was not particularly ambiguous but sitting on the head of a pin pretending you're one of the angels, it's amazing how much ambiguity you've managed to inject into the entire tale.