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**ruben77** · 08-15-2024, 12:58 PM

People love mysteries, and this played well in a time when the internet started to grow. It was fun to learn about it, and same as many I spent hours diving into it when I first knew about it in the late 90s (long after it had already gone).

I wonder how future fans will react to that piece of Floyd lore. With no new music, and practically everything already out there, it's easy to fall in the realm of conspiracy theories by trying to make any sense of it when trying to get anything new from the Floyd. People are funny.

Originally posted by stonytokes View Post

...IIRC, if you took a jeweler's loop to the eye of one of the stone monoliths on one particular pressing of TDB you could see the DSOTM prism...

I don't remember that specifically, it probably is the first time I read about it. But I do recall the "enigma" word on the MiniDisc release of Momentary Lapse, which happened around that time, and is clearly visible.

**Skinny12** · 08-15-2024, 03:48 PM

I don’t get the EYE joke and would love it if you would not have it in every post . Just please stop.

Best
Nils

**DaveTheRave** · 08-15-2024, 10:49 PM

Originally posted by Skinny12 View Post

I don’t get the EYE joke and would love it if you would not have it in every post . Just please stop.

Agree it’s annoying to read and makes me want to skip the thread.

**Pottel** · 08-16-2024, 12:55 PM

Originally posted by stonytokes View Post

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/pubulis-enigma-pink-floyd-greatest-marketing-ploy/

Did this get covered here last year? EYE didn't see any results pertaining to this article when EYE searched the forum for "Publius Enigma". Shame about the embarrassing misspelling in the headline. It's not much of an article to be honest. Back in the day, EYE remember going down this wormhole for a good amount of time.

It doesn't look like the old usenet posts are available any longer according to Google. Anyone else here jump down the same rabbit hole back in the day? It's a shame that a lot of this seems to have been expunged from the 'net.

IIRC, if you took a jeweler's loop to the eye of one of the stone monoliths on one particular pressing of TDB you could see the DSOTM prism, or some such as EYE remember.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publius_Enigma

i friggin hate this Far out site, it is pure clickbait aimed at getting as many clicks as possible with shit old news that they scraped from elsewhere.
****** me off that i need to remove them from every google alert i got running (many) every.single.time.
not worthwhile...

**TheMoebLoop** · 08-19-2024, 03:39 AM

Originally posted by stonytokes

IIRC, if you took a jeweler's loop to the eye of one of the stone monoliths on one particular pressing of TDB you could see the DSOTM prism, or some such as I remember.

I don't think this has ever happened. As far as I recall, Enigma references appeared a lot in 1994 and 1995, but seem to have stopped as soon as or shortly before the Usenet service got shut down; it is quite possible that the campaign was quickly discarded, since I find no later reference to it. I always took the supposed whispered "Publius Enigma" before "One of these Days" from a 2003 version of Live at Pompeii as an example of apophenia, and its textual presence on a passage of "The Endless River" video as some sort of in-joke or nod to longtime fans.

**stonytokes** · 08-27-2024, 01:30 AM

A certain amount of my interest in PE after all these years stems from my interest in group psychology and how public opinion and behavior is manipulated. I worked for years in market research and political polling and have helped conduct research for some really scary large corporations and organizations.

That said, another reason for my renewed interest is how similar PE was to the QAnon phenomena/psyop. Both were essentially Usenet-type forums where breadcrumb clues would be distributed by a Q to those seeking to solve a puzzle. IIRC, DG had been quoted as the PE being dreamed up by a record company exec's friend who was in the CIA or some such.

I recall reading an article that detailed the similarities and parallels more thoroughly than this one, but this article presents the simplistic view of it.

For QAnon Origins, Look to the Pink Floyd Internet Hoax - Paste Magazine

**Emdy** · 08-27-2024, 02:08 AM

**TheMoebLoop** · 08-27-2024, 10:21 AM

Originally posted by stonytokes

Nah. Back in the day, when interest in the PE hadn't waned yet, a lot more information about the phenomena remained online than can be found now. I had a paper printout of what could be seen in the eye of this certain pressing long ago, as I'd printed off some of the PE info from the 'net which I stored with my burgeoning vinyl collection at the time.

By the timeline of 1994-1995, I meant the official involvement of Pink Floyd and EMI in the whole enigma publicity, not the public's; it is demonstrable that the latter held on to it much longer, as we're still talking about it. After the official activity died down, and whoever Publius was stopped sending messages, people kept on speculating, and that false successor Genesis tried to keep it going.

Frankly, I am not convinced that there is a pressing with hidden images in one of the sculpture's eye. Are you not referring to "Pulse", which is an eye with actual images embedded in it? Otherwise, unless you find the actual "The Division Bell" pressing and demonstrate that it is the case, I think it remains in the realm of the anecdotal and pareidolic - our brains see what they want to see.

Concerning the other issue, apart from both involving an anonymous user posting open ended messages to a forum, there is so little similarity between Publius Enigma and QAnon, that I can only wonder what you're trying to say by linking the two; it's a non sequitur, basically. I think the website you link to is being click-baity, and the article itself says that apophenia is basically the only thing in common between them; for one, Publius Enigma hardly strayed into fringe, virulent territory, whereas QAnon is that territory by definition.

All in all, we better be careful with sweeping generalisations, and exercise skepticism.

Obs.: Gilmour indeed wrote in 2001 that it was a marketing campaign, but it was Mason who talked about it being the idea of an ex-US government agent; Brickman had said as much in 1995, though. Again, however, that's where similarities end: Publius never claimed to be a US internal, while QAnon does, but in all likelihood isn't.

**TheMoebLoop** · 08-28-2024, 04:27 AM

Originally posted by stonytokes

I'm not the one who linked the two. I'm not the author of the article I posted, or the other article I read. You've missed my point entirely.

The TDB pressing could have been the miniDisc version IIRC. There used to be documentation of a lot of this, but it's disappeared from the 'net. I remember a lot of it distinctly. I've smoked a lot of pot, and dropped a lot of acid, but not so much that I consider my memory of those events and times a drug-fueled fever dream.

I do admit your point (and the article's) goes over my head; we have two internet mysteries featuring a person posting cryptic messages at a forum, with many enthusiasts interpreting those as they see fit, and then? You began by saying how similar they are, but it's flimsy grounding to begin with. We humans love a mystery, and to talk about it makes it all seem important, while soothing the cognitive dissonance it generates; it's not surprising that stuff like this gets relayed.

Here's an enlargement from the "Pulse" eye, where one can easily see a bike and a cluster of wheels:
https://wallpaperaccess.com/full/7221640.jpg

The internet did indeed have a wealth of pages on Pink Floyd that have disappeared, including the excellent Pink Floyd & Co. website, which had an entry detailing all the features hidden in the "Pulse" eye, and where to find them; unfortunately, it no longer survives in the Wayback Machine. I'm not saying your memory has been scrambled by drug use, but it bears stating that our memories are easily duped to begin with, and more fallible than we'd like to admit.

**ruben77** · 08-28-2024, 05:07 AM

Originally posted by TheMoebLoop View Post

...
The internet did indeed have a wealth of pages of Pink Floyd that have disappeared, including the excellent Pink Floyd & Co. website, which had an entry detailing all the features hidden in the "Pulse" eye, and where to find them; unfortunately, it no longer survives in the Wayback Machine. I'm not saying your memory has been scrambled by drug use, but it bears stating that our memories are easily duped to begin with, and more fallible than we'd like to admit.

Part of PF&Co. still survives at https://pfco.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/ but I'm not sure the details of the Pulse cover were ever in that site.
I remember this small article on another site which was devoted to the Dark Side of the Rainbow topic (another rabbitt hole in itself), about the hidden images in the Pulse eye here.

**TheMoebLoop** · 08-28-2024, 12:12 PM

Thanks, ruben77 , that's precisely the page I was thinking of! I also enjoyed seeing the old Pink Floyd & Co. website.

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