I’m going missing. I’m leaving behind friends, family, and everything familiar, and I’m challenging you to find me. If you do, you’ll win $5,000 and get your picture in Wired .

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Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evan Donald Ratliff Hometown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Atlanta DOB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . April 23, 1975 Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5′11″ Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blue Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brown Build . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medium Medical condition . . . . . . . . Celiac disease Twitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . @theatavist Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . eratliff@atavist.net Known online alias . . . . . . . Thrimp Johnson Known to frequent . . . . . . . . Beaches, Wi-Fi-enabled coffee shops, soccer-watching bars, used bookstores, taco stands, dive bars, fishing holes Last seen in . . . . . . . . . . . . . San Francisco

Starting August 15, I will try to stay hidden for 30 days. Not even my closest friends or my editors will know where I am. I’ll remain in the US and will be online regularly. I will continue to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and I’ll make cell phone calls. I’ll generally stay in the kind of social environment I like to live in (no hiding in a cabin in Montana), and I’ll keep track of my pursuers, searching constantly for news about myself.

Information about me will be posted here at wired.com/vanish. The Web page will provide everything a plugged-in investigator would have, including activity on my frequent flier, credit card, and ATM accounts — if I’m foolish enough to use them. Wired will also post interviews with my friends and family members and log calls made by my usual phones and emails sent from my usual addresses.

To win, you have to locate me between August 15 and September 15. You’ll take my photo and say the password: fluke. I’ll give you a second code word, known to me and to Wired . Email that word, along with the photo, to my editor at nicholas_thompson@wired.com. Upon doing so, you will agree to be interviewed so that in a future issue I can tell the story of how you found me.

You will be excluded from winning if you commit a crime in your efforts to find me, contact my family, or physically harm me. In addition, family members, employees of Condè Nast, sources interviewed for this story, and anyone working with me or any of the above people are not eligible. If no one finds me by September 15, no prize will be awarded. Visit this page for full rules.