Suicide 'artist' 90DayJane writes back

I received this e-mail after my story about trying to find 90DayJane went online last week. See the story here. In the letter below, the author of the controversial, short-lived 90DayJane blog reflects on the nature of fame, vows she won't reveal her identity and muses on whether she'll ever do anything as "big" as 90DayJane. A couple of sentences from the letter have been editorially redacted.

Hi David,

Please know that if I were not paranoid about my online security and anonymity I'm sure someone would have found me. It seems to have become a fun challenge to some warez people.

The thing about fame (I think) is that no one ever gets to choose what they are "famous" for. Unlike being respected in a chosen profession or achieving some great feat, fame is a simple situation wherein someone has managed to get to the top of the "cultural dog pile" (your words). People don't get to choose how the public perceives them and they can spend a lot of time and money trying to change that perception. By keeping my identity away from 90DayJane, I get to skip all of that.

The fact is, I attempted to create something as an artist, public perception changed that creation and so I killed it before it got out of hand. In my opinion it became much more interesting as a social experiment, but I couldn't fool myself into justifying it in that way; I'm not a sociologist.

I think it's important for a person to know their limitations. The response I received from the public, the media and even the board of psychiatric health made me accept my limitations with this project.

So, in summary, I will not be revealing myself as 90DayJane no matter what. Yes, the offers and possible opportunities from 90DayJane are seductive -- how could they not be? Also, why would I continue to email with you if I did not enjoy speaking about the project? There is an allure in all of that, but what is more alluring is keeping my credibility as an artist and not becoming just "90DayJane".

Will anything I ever do again be as "big" as 90DayJane could have become? Probably definitely not. And I am absolutely fine with that.

-- 90DayJane

Does anyone have any questions for Jane? I think most of us are probably ready to put this one to bed.  I did, however, ask her to send along some of the e-mails from the media companies that were making her juicy offers.