It is a Reddit mystery that has had many people scratching their heads for just over five years. It all started back in 2011, an anonymous Reddit account began a new subreddit, r/A858DE45F56D9BC9 (also, known as r/A858 for short). As the world of the Internet, as people began to discover the secret group, it began to peak their curiosity and some began to try and crack what they believed was a secret code. Thus, r/Solving_A858 was born.
There are people who dedicate their free time to trying to decipher what these random codes and posts mean. The Daily Dot calls them “a dedicated group of computer science students, amateur cryptographers, and motivated enthusiasts.” The group of sleuths has grown quickly after the creators decided to make it public. Especially after someone created an AMA request for an explanation.
“My big question is what do these seemingly random strings of numbers mean, do they correlate to something; is there some big joke I’m missing out on?”
Unsurprisingly, the request went unanswered. Despite having posted random codes for several years, only a few have been decoded. Even so, the decoders have been secretive about what they found.
Then, everything changed. In August 2015, the subreddit’s creator allowed users to ask questions. However, their replies were still very cryptic.
“We cannot disclose the purpose. A858 will end when the purpose is disclosed or discovered.”
In a twist, the subreddit went public on March 29. Since then, it randomly sways from public to private. But, could the mystery be over. In a highly anti-climatic post, the creator shared this simple message.
“The A858 Project Has Concluded. You may unsubscribe.”
The decoders over on the solving reddit aren’t buying it though. They are continuing their work to crack the supposed code. Do you think there is a big mystery worth uncovering?
0 Comments