It’s a textbook Redditception: one redditor suggests a prank, another redditor tries out the prank, only to have a third redditor who was in on the joke all along respond by pranking the prankster. Naturally, the whole thing winds up back on Reddit.
Twice.
Do we care that this classic case of trolling the troller could be faked?
Probably not.
It began with a joke Tweet posted in April by minor Twitter celebrity @PaulyPeligroso: “Text random numbers with ‘Hey, I’m outside!’’
Two weeks ago, redditor brom333 brought the idea to /r/funny, with the simple comment, “Finally, something to do.”
At least one redditor decided to take him up on it, with predictably facepalm-inducing results.
“I did this and texted someone with my area code,” redditor SquareTurtles responded on the thread. “They know my name and everything about me. I still have no idea who they are.”
Meanwhile, on another Reddit thread, redditor leyts posted what seems to be the entire counter-prank in action from his viewpoint as the hilariously all-knowing prank victim of “Max,” who clearly comes off as the dupe instead of the troll.
Leyts claimed to have reverse-searched Max’s cellphone number on Facebook, and used the information he found to creep out the poor prankster. And, because Leyts is clearly One of Us, there are Internet memes and ‘No U’-style interactions a-plenty:
Naturally, redditors pointed out the other thread to Squareturtles, who confirmed himself as “Max” according to leyts.
Redditors were quick to follow leyts’ example and do some digging, and soon enough, there were cries of shenanigans. Was innocent Max in on the whole thing? Was it all a clever ploy for sweet, sweet “karma points,” or Reddit upvotes?
“[I]t’s so well executed that I don’t care,” said redditor zonker1984 in response to the skeptics. “If true, it is hilarious. If false, it is hilarious and excellent crafting of a narrative.”
Photo via RoyallyTenenbaumed / Reddit / Imgur
