They where clues. I made a summary of them here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=661781.msg7552956#msg7552956the only part I missed IIRC was the "SOCLOSE" hint. I believe they all hinted at binary. "SOCLOSE" was meant to make us backtrack, same as the reverse counting. Not sure why OP left some oft the numbers out. Maybe there is a reference with the post numbers where binary was mentioned.