I'm not a Trump supporter

[plasmid]

We're being intruded by migrants secluded
Who stowaway past our frontier
They're costing us green and will linger unseen
Unless I should get into gear

Their nature I'll dredge as I perch on a ledge
And twisting the truth's my endeavor
Exposed to the nation, and next: deportation
They thought they'd endure thus forever?

I promise the answer has nothing to do with politics

[plainglazed]

ahoy plasmid - have been mulling over this one for some time tho been too crazed to drop in consistently.  Just finished a big project that's been hanging over my head for some time so hopefully I can now get here more often.  Don't think I'm quite there yet but have two guesses -

Spoiler

a cotton gin? or a can opener?

- Cheers

[Thalia]

No one else wants to take a stab?

Spoiler

Your immune system? Makes me think of a virus and DNA.

 

[plasmid]

Thanks for kicking this one off, Thalia. I'm not anything having to do with the immune system this time around. While the clues in this one are relatively subtle, there are some words scattered about that wouldn't really be invoked by a description of the immune system so much as by what I am.

[Thalia]

 Are we trying to figure out who "we" are or who the migrants are or both? If we're looking for the migrants, is "we" referring to people? 

[plasmid]

The goal is to figure out what the "I" (and "my") in lines 4-6 is talking about. Figuring out what the "migrants" is referring to would get you very close to the answer and would mean that you understand what this is talking about, and you could probably then deduce what "I" am pretty easily. Figuring out the "we" actually wouldn't help so much; people are involved, but I wouldn't really say that "we" refers to people.

[rsn]

is it maybe

Spoiler

a drill machine

 

[Thalia]

 Still haven't found a way to do spoilers on phone so see quote below:

On Monday, December 05, 2016 at 3:51 PM, Thalia said:

 

  Hide contents

Don't know about twisting but a security camera? 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2017 by Thalia

[plasmid]

On 1/31/2017 at 7:36 AM, rsn said:

is it maybe

  Hide contents

a drill machine

 

 

On 2/1/2017 at 2:11 PM, Thalia said:

 Still haven't found a way to do spoilers on phone so see quote below:

 

RSN is quite close with that answer, but I'm looking for something a little more specific that would fit the clue about secluded migrants.

Not a security camera; along with the "twisting" clue I'm also looking for something that will get into gear.

[rsn]

How do you add a spoiler via phone 

[Molly Mae]

[spoiler=guess?]Is it ship-borne barnacles?[/spoiler]

[plasmid]

10 hours ago, Molly Mae said:

[spoiler=guess?]Is it ship-borne barnacles?[/spoiler]

Not the migrants I'm going after with this one; they don't have someone sitting on a ledge and twisting the truth to expose them and get them deported. (At least not that I know of, but I'm admittedly a landlubber.)

[Thalia]

On Monday, December 05, 2016 at 3:51 PM, Thalia said:

 

  Hide contents

Never used one so could be quite off. A nail gun? 

 @MM Unfortunately the text version doesn't work for spoilers anymore.

 

[plasmid]

7 hours ago, Thalia said:

 

Not that, Thalia. While it's on the right track in invoking a machine, I'm looking for one that really does get into gear while it's twisting and exposing.

(And odd that the nested quote won't appear.... and that it was nested in the first place.)

 

Testing out using just {spoiler} and {/spoiler} with straight instead of curly braces ... seems to work

Edited February 8, 2017 by plasmid
[spoiler] works

[Thalia]

Testing... I see MM's spoiler with brackets and all.

[spoiler=Test]Maybe it's a title thing. [/spoiler]

As for nested quotes, I'm not sure what's odd about nesting. I've noticed if I want to include the spoiler in a quote with text, I have to have the spoiler open before quoting...

[Molly Mae]

 

Deforestation equipment?

EDIT: Or a watermill/dam?

Edited February 28, 2017 by Molly Mae

[plasmid]

Nothing to do with cutting down trees; I don't think I could see them as migrants who stowaway by a frontier in any sort of way that would trigger an "aha", and that's a pretty important clue to this riddle.

I can see a watermill sort of fitting this set of clues, but it doesn't really clamp down on the ones about being secluded and lingering unseen until being exposed. Or the tiny but significant clue at the end about thinking they'd endure forever.

[yeltommo]

Need a clue...

[Molly Mae]

Does it involve the diamond purification process?

The migrants being impurities, and "you" being some of these patented tools and processes.

https://www.google.com/patents/US5133792
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4578260.html

 

We're being intruded by migrants secluded - impurities
Who stowaway past our frontier - internal impurities?
They're costing us green and will linger unseen - some can't be seen without tools, impurities reduce the value of the diamond
Unless I should get into gear - I suspect an actual gear or machine is used

Their nature I'll dredge as I perch on a ledge - dredging diamonds to clean the surface
And twisting the truth's my endeavor - perhaps making them appear more valuable?
Exposed to the nation, and next: deportation - literally: shown off, then exported, though I think this line is supposed to refer to the "migrants", so I'm likely incorrect.
They thought they'd endure thus forever. - Migrants likely believed they would be protected inside of diamond forever.

[plasmid]

Yikes, that's some pretty esoteric knowledge there. I know little enough about the process to even be able to give a proper assessment of how well it seems to fit the clues... so it's obviously not what I'm riddling about. I generally shoot for stuff that would be known by most people who're in high school, and in this case it doesn't call for any real education at all.

[yeltommo]

So, I'm not familiar with this forum, but somehow I got obsessed with this riddle after a riddle-fanatic acquaintance asked me to send her a good one. I shared it with her, as well as my mother, stepfather, and another older couple, but no one has figured it out. I see that it was originally posted in November, so it has gone unsolved for over 3 months. Is that typical on this site? Is there a customary amount of time before the poster provides the answer (or an additional clue) or could this riddle remain active/unsolved indefinitely? I'm at an impasse.

[plasmid]

2 hours ago, yeltommo said:

So, I'm not familiar with this forum, but somehow I got obsessed with this riddle after a riddle-fanatic acquaintance asked me to send her a good one. I shared it with her, as well as my mother, stepfather, and another older couple, but no one has figured it out. I see that it was originally posted in November, so it has gone unsolved for over 3 months. Is that typical on this site? Is there a customary amount of time before the poster provides the answer (or an additional clue) or could this riddle remain active/unsolved indefinitely? I'm at an impasse.

Most riddles don't go unsolved for this long on this site, but a substantial minority can stay around for weeks to months. It's pretty rare for people to post the answer to one of their own questions here even if it goes unanswered for a pretty long time, but does occasionally happen. I think I might have done that in the past, but if so it was on a riddle that I decided wasn't a very good one after I had posted it and looked over it again with fresh eyes. I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen with this riddle though; I think this will be a riddle that I consider "good" where the definition of good is that the answer is completely non-obvious unless you see it and re-read with the answer in mind, and if you do then all the clues jump out at you and you realize that it simply must be the answer.

But if you're really stumped, I could share the answer via PM.

[yeltommo]

Well, given that I'm a total newbie at riddles and that this one is apparently difficult, I highly doubt I'll be able to figure it out. Combined with the fact I could use an excuse to get in touch with my acquaintance,  I see no reason why I shouldn't accept your PM offer. However, you could also PM me a hint. I'm particularly intrigued by the "twisting the truth" part.

[plasmid]

Okie dokie. Try re-reading it after seeing the answer.

[Molly Mae]

Gophers?

I am still trying to figure this out, haha.

[plasmid]

Nah, too many clues go unexplained with gophers: getting into gear, perching on a ledge, twisting, exposing... And remember that the "I" in the riddle is the one doing all that stuff, not having that stuff done to it.