I only just stumbled upon a different article [1] recently, but I'm not surprised why it's not a well-known phenomenon. This puzzle seems to be deliberately exclusive, and most people don't have the time to 'play' whatever game is going on. There hasn't been any kind of fulfilling conclusion that would make for a compelling story.

1: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10468112/The-...

It's the same article, just got reprinted.

Cause it's fake. AFAICT Google doesn't show anything earlier than 11/26/2013.

Go ask someone on related irc channels, that's what people playing 3301 used to communicate.