This is going to be the second time I’m going to say something to the ends of: Well, that didn’t last long.

First, the Plan B website came out with its well written, eloquent, and argued manifesto citing the Shareholder Nine and their grievances with the current state of Nokia Corp. It took only 36 hours after its initial discovery and the attention of numerous media outlets from The Wall Street Journal to the entire blogosphere for Plan B to collapse under its own weight and vanish from the Internet.

Now, their Twitter account is letting us know that it’s been a hoax all along. According to Engadget:

There’s just one problem, though: the "nine young investors" don’t really exist — according to the last tweet on the @NokiaPlanB Twitter account, it was all a hoax perpetuated by "one very bored engineer who really likes his iPhone." Ouch. That explains why the now-defunct site abruptly gave up the cause this morning after just 36 hours of existence, and it definitely explains why we never got any response to our emails trying to get further information. We’ll award points for bravado and for doing a better job of rallying the troops than Nokia itself, we suppose, but we’re sure quite a few Nokia fans are going to be crushed at this news. On the bright side, Plan B did inspire the excellent NokiaPlanS.com, which is sure to bring a smile to even the loneliest hearts in Espoo.

Perhaps everyone should have been a little bit more skeptical, but with all of the recent extreme events occurring within Nokia it seemed to toll the bell at just the right time. With so many disenfranchised workers wondering what’s happening to their jobs and customers concerned about the deal with Microsoft, it felt like time for a folk hero to rise up with sword in hand and take up the mantle of the people.

The two tweets on the @NokiaPlanB account do suggest outright that it was a hoax and that the anonymous author—our Shareholder Nine—happens to be an engineer and loves his iPhone. (Well, we know now our anonymous author identifies male, that’s something.)

Frankly, at this point, there’s no reason to follow up on this any further. People could attempt to investigate the celebrity of Mr. Shareholder Nine, but he’s really cleared the way for a great deal more skepticism on the Nokia front when it comes to open letters and actions proceeding forth from faceless actors. The huge shake up in the industry has made it an emotionally charged event and a good feeding ground for these sorts of hoaxes.

It’s about time to put this one to bed.

Goodnight, Nokia Plan B.