humanresources@whysoserious.com

November 23, 2007

humanresources@whysoserious.com was a clue that appeared in the first issue of The Gotham Times in the form of a classified ad correction:

Upon emailing humanresources@whysoserious.com, the following reply was received by participants:

This led participants to find the clue hidden in the first issue of Thehahahatimes.com to find Whysoserious.com/personalityprofile.

November 27, 2007

A new email was sent from humanresources@whysoserious.com:

This clue was solved with Whysoserious.com/personalityprofile, leading to Whysoserious.com/mausoleum.

December 3, 2007

Another email was sent from humanresources@whysoserious.com:

By shifting each letter one key to the right on a QWERTY keyboard, "steprightup" was spelled, leading to Whysoserious.com/steprightup.

December 4, 2007

Participants who received cell phones from the Joker via the Whysoserious.com/steprightup game received a text message from humanresources@whysoserious.com:

January 14, 2008

Participants with cell phones received the following text message:

Shortly after replying, the following message was received:

March 26, 2008

A new text message is received by cell phone owners, although from recruiting@rent-a-clown.com. We consider it to be part of the same investigation.

Replying resulted in this message, suggesting a new game before April Fool's:

For the phone-owners who did not manage to reply in time to participate, the following was sent:

March 30, 2008

Cell phone owners were called by a live person and informed that they were one out of 17 recruits who replied to the text message on March 26. They were given a letter and told to share their letter with other "accomplices". If a cell phone owner could not be contacted, their letter was given to a participant who was already called.

The list of letters is as follows, as compiled by participants who shared their letters on the Superherohype forums.

Name Letter "As in"
The Schlone W  
XnbombGiskard E Elephant
bassboy616 Y Yo-Yo
punk R Ransom
Pennyworth V Victim
ianskyvox T Thief
O Operator
Note: Original recipient of letter did not respond to calls
BriGonJinn A Assault
BigTonyVegas N Narcotics
EddieNashton C Clown
Screwpa! A Action
vlkers54 L Laugh
fceeviper G Gun
FlyingMonkey C Clown
Gerik E Elephant
Matt100 L Laundry
Fishtankbb N Network
Note: Was not able to report his letter until a day later, but the puzzle was solved by deducing the N
Gupfee E Elephant
GQJoker A Assault
Mr.Walken Y Yo-Yo
Giskard E Elephant

A text message was also sent containing 6 extra letters:

This led to www.clowntravelagency.com.

April 24, 2008

New cell phones in a package intercepted by informants in the GPD MCU's Operation Slipknot were also associated with the Joker, since soon after the conclusion of the game, these new participants received a new text message from humanresources@whysoserious.com:

This led to Whysoserious.com/itsallpartoftheplan.

June 9, 2008

All participants with Joker cell phones received the following text message:

Upon replying yes, a new message was received:

This alluded to an event that would occur on Friday, June 13.

June 13, 2008

True to his word, the Joker sent thumbnail images to the phones as clues.

  • Group 1: All of these images depict a name of a Domino game variant, and the mask is a Domino mask. The solution is domino.
  • Flower & scorpion
  • Cyprus
  • Mexican Train
  • All Fives
  • Domino mask
  • Matador
  • Group 2: Each word is an anagram using letters from the word commercial.
  • Immoral
  • Memorial
  • Crime
  • Recoil
  • Comical
  • Malice
  • Group 3: Each fraction is a multiple of 3/8, multiplied 1x through 7x, only 2x is missing, so 3/8*2 is 6/16.
  • 3/8 (1x)
  • 9/24 (3x)
  • 12/32 (4x)
  • 15/40 (5x)
  • 18/48 (6x)
  • 21/56 (7x)

The entire solution is Dominoes commercial 6/16, which alluded to the Citizens for Batman-sponsored Domino's pizza giveaway on June 16.

June 19, 2008

Cell phone owners received various text message clues, which turned out to be a word puzzle leading to Whysoserious.com/laughtilithurts.

The introduction message was the same, but the words differed even though they led to the same solution when unscrambled.

June 25, 2008

A new text message was received by conspirators with cell phones, saying either:

This complicated exercise is further discussed here. Solving the game led to Whysoserious.com/redballoons.

July 1, 2008

Cell phone owners received the following text message at 12pm Eastern:

This led to Whysoserious.com/operator.

When the person replied, an acknowledgement was received:

The phones and their respective goons were later used that day in the exercise.

July 7, 2008

A new text message was received by Joker phone owners, with a different word following the initial note:

All include letters in the word bamboozle, leading to Whysoserious.com/bamboozle.

July 10, 2008

Shortly after the discovery of Whysoserious.com/kickingandscreening, a mass email was sent to all subscribers who had answered the original ad correction:

July 11, 2008

All conspirators who had submitted their phone numbers in any aspect of this investigation (as well as Joker phone owners) were called by an unlisted number. The message consisted mostly of jumbled clips from audio recordings heard previously in the investigation. However, it also contained a new clip mentioning the Gotham National Bank, leading to the sixth episode of Gotham Tonight, which revealed the Joker had robbed the bank. The full phone call was later uploaded to stream in the background of Whysoserious.com. The transcript is as follows: