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Rather_Confused: I was inspired by all the people who ran straight toward the blast in the video, trying to help out. This subreddit is kind of like that; it’s the human spirit fighting back. So when oops777 [the creator of the r/findbostonbombers] asked me to mod it, I said sure.Do you honestly foresee this subreddit playing an important role in the investigation process?
I will say this: nothing surprises me. I’d love to open my computer and read a post that nails the guy. That’s why we’re doing it—in the hopes we can help.
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No, actually. I’m just a guy.
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Well, they're right to suggest that us saying “The bomber is this person” is wrong. But here’s the thing: How many times do cops say, “Call our hotlines”? How many times do they ask for help? That’s basically what this subreddit is.How long has your investigation been underway?
It started yesterday as a response to what is being called the Where’s Waldo posts on the news subreddit, which are all the posts looking for suspicious people in the crowd at the marathon. It was a way to consolidate those.
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Honestly, I have no idea. We could be really close or we could be days away. We know we’re just a small group on a website and the chances of us personally finding someone might be miniscule, but we all want to see the culprits. We want justice for the people who lost loved ones.What kinds of methods are people using?
We have hundreds of people scouring photos trying to identify the type of backpack that was possibly used.
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I was actually about to comment on that before you called. We need to be careful about jumping to conclusions—his theory shows that he's clearly suspicious of Arab people. Personally, I wouldn’t want to see any Arab Americans being singled out just because people jump to conclusions. My personal opinion is that they were a group of people there enjoying the festivities just as much as anyone else.
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There’s Blue-robed Man, White Hat Black Jacket Guy, Blue Duffel Bag Guy (both in the photo below), Green Hat Guy and a bunch of others. Personally, I think Blue-robed Man could just be a guy with bad fashion sense trying to walk through a crowd. For the most part, a lot of these people just look like regular guys hangin’ out, but you never know.
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Well, it certainly doesn’t hurt to be looking at people wearing backpacks around the time of the blast. A perfect example is Music Man: people looked at the post of him because he has a huge backpack, but the backpack doesn’t look like it has any weight to it. If these guys are carrying explosives in their backpack, it’s gonna have some weight to it. It’s basically like a giant game of Where’s Waldo, but we don’t know what Waldo looks like. The thing is—it’s daunting to say—but no one knows who did this. That’s why we need more people looking. A small tip to the FBI could really help.What will you do if you find the culprit?
Any evidence we find will be sent straight to the FBI. We don't support vigilante justice, and we don't encourage people to do anything other than report suspects.That's reassuring, I guess. Thanks, Rather_Confused.UPDATE: The FBI has just released official images of the suspects. (Blue-Robed Guy is not included.)
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