On This Day in LG15 History: The "Message From The Creators" (Sept. 7, 2006)

Two years ago today, the folks behind Lonelygirl15 came clean that Bree and Daniel's videos were actually a fictional show and not reality. This was a momentous moment in the history of LG15, and frankly, the internet.

The announcement was made in the infamous "Message From The Creators", posted at the "new" lonelygirl15 forum at 3:32pm PDT, by a new user and admin named "The Creators". While some immediately smelled another hoax, fans who had been put in charge of the forum (without knowing who ran it) made clear that no one else had authorities to make admins or create new subforums.

The revelation was immediately cross-posted at Anchor Cove (then known only as "Alissa's Lonelygirl15 Discussion Forum"), and the initial reactions there were soon reported on by the New York Times.

Early fan Comments included:

west: “This is like R2-D2 poking out and saying ‘hey look I’m just a midget’ at the end of the ceremony during the finale of star wars.”

clueso: “I don’t know if it is real, but I like the message. What else were the detractors looking for? Did you want Bree jumping out of an exploding cake with a response to every question all at once? Isn’t the truth kind of cool? They are saying the board and the fans were indeed part of the show, and will continue to be. A great new art form.”

Hyemew, the Dauntless Dean of All LG15 Fans: “I knew it was fake, but I didn’t want THEM to tell me! Investigation seems a little less fun now that all parties involved acknowledge its fake.”

Terryfic: “I feel this is their attempt to get their project back to what they wanted it to be about. Personally, I have always found the mysteries in the videos more interesting than trying to find those responsible. I thought discovering the 10/12/06 clue was far more exciting than figuring out where the fauna in their videos come from. I do not think this was the most exciting way to do this, but it would be hard for them to do it any other way. They could not put it in a video or on a YouTube profile or anything as that would not fit the storyline. The character Bree is not meant to know she is a character, thus she cannot talk about that fact.”

John Green: “We are just like you.” Well, just like us, except most of us aren’t repped by CAA.

A few hours after the infamous Message was posted, it became clear why it dropped when it did: The LA Times broke a story about how three lg15 fans had determined that "Bree" had been sending myspace messages from the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Hollywood, which they had determined by using an IP tracker on a fake myspace page. The CAA would not deny that they represented Lonelygirl15.

But fans still wondered - who is Bree? Her picture appeared on the front page of the LA Times the next day. It would be five more days until the identities of those behind the show were confirmed.