I. Description

A sketch depicting the hypothetical entity, taken from a spiderpost.

Spiderposting refers to a bizarre recent trend wherein crudely-written, spider-themed coldposts are uploaded to the General Public Database (GPD). The articles almost always focus on a single instance of a spider-like entity, often given a nonsensical name such as "Ara-King-nid", "Manspider", or, in one case, simply "He bigg [sicc]". This entity is usually depicted as a figure possessing the head and torso of a human male, and the lower body of a spider. Thus far, none of the thousands of M.E.G. expeditions into Level 8 or the Hive have yielded documented evidence of this hypothetical entity. In view of this, the creature's existence is a statistical improbability, and should not be counted as fact.

It is noted that these "Spiderposts" have gradually increased in frequency over the past months. An exhaustive catalogue of all known Spiderposts since 1 Jan 2018 has been collected and archived in the table below.

II. Current and Anticipated Effects

While Spiderposting may appear harmless or even humorous, it contributes greatly to the problematic wider phenomenon of "Coldposting", which has serious consequences.

Coldposting is broadly defined as the upload of an article to a site without external review. In terms of the GPD specifically, this refers to articles uploaded without the oversight of known and verifiable jurisdictions — whether M.E.G.-aligned, neutral, or otherwise.¹ On a public information site as ubiquitous as the GPD, this is highly detrimental to both the public and our organization. Coldposts, and specifically, Spiderposts, are likely to:

III. Possible Origins

To date, no person, M.E.G. Operative or otherwise, has been caught in the act of Spiderposting. A vast majority of Spiderposts are uploaded from IP addresses which are not registered within M.E.G. jurisdiction. As a result, computers from which Spiderposts are made are usually untraceable — it is not possible to determine their physical location given the data available within our systems. Furthermore, even on the rare occasions when computers were successfully traced for Spiderposts, attempts to apprehend the culprits still failed. By the time our Operatives reached the terminal responsible for the upload, the offender had already physically left the space.

Consequentially, it is extremely difficult to determine the nature and origin of Spiderposts. Based on limited circumstantial evidence, the following theories have been proposed as plausible explanations. The truth about the phenomenon may well be contained within any one of these proposals, or some combination of them.

Proposed Theories

IV. Proposed Solutions

Spiderposting cannot be prevented.

This may primarily be attributed to the fact that the General Public Database remains impossible to regulate. Since the M.E.G.'s establishment, our organization has located and gained control over a majority of GPD servers. However, a significant minority of such computer servers remain public, or have fallen into unfriendly jurisdiction.

A good number of these computers retain administrator rights to the database, which cannot be revoked, allowing troublemakers with access to them to make Coldposts freely. It is even possible that certain levels (such as Levels 3.1, 4, or 522) are able to spontaneously generate computers which already possess such administrator rights, making total regulation of the GPD utterly impracticable.

A. Discouraging Spiderposts

In spite of this, there are already many established courses of action which minimize Coldposting and mitigate its effects. These include:

This report proposes that advisory campaigns over the following months be altered to specifically target Spiderposting. Higher penalties may also be exacted upon M.E.G. operatives found to have engaged in Coldposting or Spiderposting.

B. Capturing Culprits

Though difficult to execute practically, apprehending an offender may shed light on the origin of Spiderposts. If there is indeed a single, cohesive group behind the phenomenon, this may allow us to trace the problem to its source and hold to account those responsible.

To achieve this, a reward may be publically offered to M.E.G. Operatives or members of the public who manage to capture Spiderposters. "Bait servers" may also be set-up — computers which are left physically unattended across public spaces, while being digitally monitored at all times for suspicious activity.

Summative Remarks

While this report has attempted to summarize all available information on Spiderposting, the phenomenon's origins and intentions remain a mystery. At the time of this document's publication, Spiderposts continue to jeopardize the GPD and put stress on our Archival staff.

Personnel who may have any information on Spiderposting are encouraged to come forward to put an end to the practice, for the good of the general public, for the benefit of the M.E.G. and our ideals, and — ultimately — for the betterment of humanity.