# States List Puzzle (Hoax Or Not?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704 "2009-03-25T03:46:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/21 "2009-03-26T21:05:56Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > I > that ridiculous “blind, deaf, mute” thread currently going on… Link? ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/22 "2009-03-27T03:22:12Z")
Did the guy stop posting states? Are we to assume that their will be no more states listed? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/23 "2009-03-27T03:25:06Z")
Incidentally, the Wikipedia page for this thing (linked to in the OP) has just been deleted. 20:52, 26 March 2009 Orangemike (talk | contribs) deleted “States List Puzzle” ‎ (db-CSD G6: this article had a PROD tag which, due to some administrative oversight, remained on the article for 1.5 years. It should have been deleted years ago. The article has not been edited (except for copy-editing) since the PROD tag disappeared…) ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/24 "2009-03-27T04:09:59Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Incidentally, the Wikipedia page for this thing (linked to in the OP) has just been deleted. Once it is deleted, is it gone-gone? There is no way to see the history? Or am I just missing how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/25 "2009-03-27T04:14:03Z")
I think it is fair to assume that it is a hoax based on the fact that the release of new states ended. If it were real, the stream of new states would have kept going. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/26 "2009-03-27T04:46:23Z")
Wow, strange that this would pop up. It was literally a day or so ago that the original SD thread popped into my head (but I couldn’t remember exactly what the puzzle was) and I was wondering if anyone had figured it out yet. Too bad it’s still a mystery… ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/27 "2009-03-27T05:02:08Z")
It’s so ‘Microsoft’ to start something and not follow through and finish it. Path not found. Fatal error. Reboot. Maybe no one will notice that this application is gone. Some one at Microsoft should pick up the ball and update. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/28 "2009-03-27T14:28:52Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > It’s so ‘Microsoft’ to start something and not follow through and finish it. Path not found. Fatal error. Reboot. Really. And after 27 solid releases, we were all looking forward to State List v28. Clearly Microsoft should release the app as Open Source, and let the community work on it. _But you know they won’t._ ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/29 "2009-03-27T17:30:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Link? Sorry, my “currently” was slightly off, I think. I was referring to [Riddle me this!!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508802), last post 20/3/09. Please don’t bump it! ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/30 "2009-03-27T20:32:40Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Sorry, my “currently” was slightly off, I think. I was referring to [Riddle me this!!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508802), last post 20/3/09. Please don’t bump it! Yeah, I was the last one to bump that thread, and I regret it now. I’ve done some Google, and Google group searches since then, and I’ve come up with the same general conclusion in that case as for this puzzle – someone should have figured it out by now, if it were possible. I used to frequent a forum back in the '90’s that contained those sorts of “situational puzzles” where you ask questions with a yes/no answer to try and figure out the explanation of a weird premise. Some were very clever. But sometimes, the only reason they are difficult to solve, is because the author, perhaps semi-deliberately, perhaps simply because they’ve misunderstood, has given false clues. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/31 "2009-03-27T20:37:47Z")
I remeber this back in the day. Since it was Microsoft, I had always meant to write a program to dump all of the state names through every hash I could think of, and see if the list is a logical sort of one of the hash schemes. Completely forgot about it, but I’m guessing some other computer nerd had already thought of it and come up with nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704/32 "2009-03-28T21:37:30Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Maybe it is a list of states most favorable to incorporate a business. > > Delaware is definately #1 for that. That was my first thought, but someone would have guessed that by now. My second thought was maybe it’s the itinerary for George Thorogood’s 50 States in 50 Days Tour from 1981, but no, that started in Hawaii. The ten minutes of my life I wasted looking that up was plenty. I really don’t see anything convincing me that the “charity” isn’t some college kid’s beer fund. You would think the site would name the charity, and that the puzzle admin would have a Microsoft email address. [Lex.net](http://Lex.net) is mainly a legal research service [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/states-list-puzzle-hoax-or-not/490704.md?page=1)