Today, Justin Hall refused to take questions on the scandal that has engulfed his personal work on the web. Amidst allegations that he has fabricated his life, Hall today ducked into a black car leaving Oakland for Los Angeles. The controversy threatens to overshadow his recent work to reinvent himself as a graduate student and resident of Southern California; some independent media analysts are now claiming that his plans to attend grad school and move to Los Angeles are actually premeditated concoctions.
Hall's late application to grad school and too-rapid closing of his Oakland estate are leading observers to highlight the chronological impossibility of events Hall details on his personal web site, "Justin's Links." Citing application deadlines, researcher Stan Hodgson writes, What must have happened is that Mr. Hall applied by January 30, and then began posting on the graduate school topic at a much later date, most likely after he'd been admitted, but AS IF he were still contemplating applying. Certain decisions about the house were likely made and concluded far in advance of the posting, if it is indeed the case that he is moving and selling the house.
Hall's web site "Justin's Links" has a reputation for personal disclosure, as Hall has spent ten years sharing what has appeared to be his innermost thoughts, physical sensations and pending experiences. Now it appears that Hall may have been weaving nothing but a web of lies. Weighing recent evidence and using measured language, Hodgson remarks: Mr. Hall's recent posts on this site suggest a greater than normal divergence between lived experience and the blogged representation.
Experts are just now unraveling what some call a premeditated pattern of deceit surrounding Hall's recent announcement of plans to sell his home and attend school. In a possible attempt to hide evidence, Hall emptied his Oakland home of five years, splitting his records between multiple vehicles that were today dispatched from that location, bearing their contents to unknown California storage facilities.
The crisis threatens to undermine years of good will from websurfers, who had been lead to believe that Hall was telling the truth about his life online. James, a frequent commenter on Links.net, posted this remark in response to the allegations: I've often wondered whether there was not a great deal of artifice in Justin's apparently casual and offhanded (and apparently uncensored) manner of describing his life. In the days since the scandal broke, a growing number of voices online have joined James in calling for an official investigation of or explanation from the elusive Hall.
Hall was seen at an In-N-Out Burger in Kettleman California, seemingly oblivious to the growing scandal, and calls for him to reveal the true story behind Justin's Links. A observer noticed Hall in a corner booth, eating a double cheeseburger and deleting spam on a laptop hooked up to a mobile phone.
Experts are not yet agreed on Hall's motivation for faking a life online. But it appears that this callow youth might have finally have tipped the scales of truth, as investigators could have enough evidence to indict Hall on charges of false honesty.
Claiming travel and deadlines, Hall himself could not be reached for comment.
