Is this "game" safe and how does it work?

January 20, 2012 9:02 AM

Today on facebook someone made a post that involved typing some symbols and a series of numbers in the form of @*[###:0] in the comments section, and the resulting comment comes up with a name. The instructions say to eliminate the "*" and for the ### to use the last three digits of your phone number for example you would type: @ [ 1 1 1 : 0 ], and the game is that it gives you your phone's "name". Does anyone know how and why this would work? I am a total idiot when it comes to coding/computer language stuff but to me this looks like a command of some sort, but my total ignorance also makes me fearful of the big wide internet virus spreading machine.

Here's the full "game":

Did you know that your cellphone number has a name?
1. Take the last 3 digits of your cell no. Example: 800-0456, take "456" only
2. Type it down in the comments section below like this: @*[456:0]
3. Then remove the "*"
4. And then click ENTER to see your phones name.

And then, following these instructions, in the comments section you see a series of people commenting with funky names and then the same people commenting again with amusement or dismay at what names they got. In other words, this "game" seems to "work".

Tell me hivemind, is this "game" safe and how does it work?

posted by anonymous to Technology (2 answers total)

Previously.
posted by fearnothing at 9:04 AM on January 20, 2012

You can see answers in this question.

Basically people on Facebook have a user number that's semi-hidden. 111:0 is someone's user number.
posted by muddgirl at 9:04 AM on January 20, 2012