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There was a wild post on r/RealEstate yesterday. It's already been deleted.
There's obviously a good chance that it's a totally fake story. I'd basically assume that it is. I don't even really care if there's even a 0.1% chance that it's actually true; it doesn't really matter.
Part of the reason why people likely believe that it's fake is that it sounds like absolutely outrageous behavior by the contractor. Something that no one would put up with. Something that would shock the conscience if it actually happened and there was a recording of the interaction or something.
So what's weird is that this is the standard modus operandi in the medical industry. It's just the way things are done. Yes, if you have insurance, then instead of telling you to your face that they're charging a ridiculous made up number after the fact, they tell your insurance provider the same thing. But the basic fact pattern is absolutely the same.
I'm definitely not going to go all Kulak and say that since this routinized obscenity shocks the conscious, everyone needs to start going around murderin'. But it absolutely is a routinized obscenity that should shock the conscience. Perhaps my crazy pills are significantly less potent than his, but they appear to still be crazy pills.
Lawyers can debate the legalese of "consent to treat" forms and what they do and do not allow, but it simply cannot be plausible that we will have a functional medical industry when it is the one and only industry that is allowed to simply refuse to provide you a price prior to authorizing work and then go on to just make up whatever the hell inflated price they want after the fact.
This being reddit, I'm guessing that contractor/landlord interaction was completely made up as a parable to illustrate some point about landlords being parasitic/rent being too high.
It's pretty clearly a troll post.
It has a couple nice features that make it well-calibrated for engagement.
#1) It gives off a #thathappened vibe. It's just so obviously fake. People can feel smart when they expose it.
#2) It buries the lede. Wait, this guy is 25 and has several properties. He got "lucky" in marketing? So this means he's either a scammer or has money from daddy. Again, this allows internet sleuths something to latch onto and post about.
My favorite form of burying the lede is posts that start with "Me (30m) and my girlfriend (22f)" and then, later on, reveal "when we first started dating 7 years ago...".
I hope you enjoy these helpful hints for getting engagement on your own short fiction on Reddit. I've been considering doing it myself lately. Not sure why. Seems fun.
It may be fun for some but if it's not obviously fake then it gratuitously damages social trust by adding to readers' expectations of bad behavior from others. I wish people wouldn't write these.
I don't think Reddit (at least most parts of it) are redeemable.
The only way to interact with an extremist propaganda factory is to mock it. I want Reddit to die and be replaced with something better.
The end result of this is /r/FuckLuigiMangione: an entirely invented drama op that exists purely for lulz.
I won't deny it's given me some belly laughs, but I don't see how it could be good for society. It's not even hurting Reddit: it's volunteer engagement farming that gives them more opportunities to display ads.
What's the point of that subreddit? To poke fun at the people who like Luigi, or the people who hate Luigi? It just doesn't make sense to me.
But in general, this is my least favorite aspect of the internet: real discussions boiled down to trolling and why-are-you-so-serious-about-serious-issue type loserdom. The people who care the least shouldn't always win. But nether should the people who care the most always win.
I guess I just see it as another area where the internet destroys authentic connection. If you bring up a serious issue with a real-life friend, you can have an actual discussion about it and maybe learn something. But outside of a few places on the internet, like here, it's lulz vs activism all the way down. Real talk with people who are concerned but not trying to sell you something is rarely possible.
Dramatards hit it big with the abortion bounty hunters thing, and have been chasing that high ever since.
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Chaos. It's literally an op by rDrama to make people on Reddit of every "side" post angry comments to share and laugh at them.
Stop going on Reddit. Seriously.
It's like complaining about porn recommendations on Porn Hub. You are telling on yourself.
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