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PaperclipPerfector  19hr ago (text post)   821 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 27, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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This may be a small question, but it's about something fun and it can't wait till Sunday: I've bought my family tickets to a big soccer game, and the team we're watching sent us an email demanding that I prove by Tuesday that I'm a fan, or they'll cancel our tickets (flights, hotels, etc. already booked). Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of their team, we just want to watch the match. As such, I need someone to make an AI/filtered/etc. image of me wearing their shirt or scarf in a bar. It needs to look real enough to deceive someone looking to spot photoshopped images (but probably not super familiar with AI). If the image works, I'll donate $100 to a charity of your choice - or, if you happen to be interested, I can get you a World Cup ticket at face value minus the $100.

Please DM if interested. Why to trust I won't welsh on you: I have close IRL friends who are users and a couple powerusers on this forum who know who I am, so a callout post would hit my real-life reputation.

Mods, please delete if you don't like this. As I see it, this is legal and normal to do in the UK, though most people don't go as far as I'm trying. Plus what they're doing is kind of a dick move, the stadium isn't even sold out so it's not like the locals need the tickets.

Update for those following: after seeing some of the comments, I realized that I wasn't thinking enough like a hustler. I happen to be in New York right now, and the England football team were playing an international friendly today. I hared down to Chinatown, found a place that was selling old football shirts/bootlegs of old football shirts, bought one, checked the club's website to see where their NYC fans go for games, reached that bar while England was still playing, got some guys to take photos with me. A lot more fun than messing around with ChatGPT. Thanks all for your kind advice and offers.

What kind of a weird challenge is this? How is this real?

It is standard practice in European soccer to segregate the home and away fans in different sections of the stadium. I never knew how they enforced it until now.

I tried getting into soccer a while back, but the culture difference between European and American sports fandom was a much larger barrier than anything happening on the field pitch.

I remember when I went to see a game in Milan, I was able to buy a ticket as a foreigner, but I needed to show ID... the scalpers were there, selling tickets along with IDs? Somehow? It was weird, but presumably the whole setup was to ensure that the local fans of each team were kept separated.

I've never heard of this happening before, but I guess since it's an important game they expect lots of away fans to be buying home end tickets (again, a totally normal thing to do).

Many economically illiterate people hate scalpers. Presumably, when Bartender_Venator bought the tickets, the terms of service said something like "resale is forbidden and scalped tickets may be canceled", and this challenge is a roundabout method of checking whether he is a reseller.

The challenge is slightly overinclusive, since it catches not just scalpers but also those few purchasers who are neither fans nor scalpers. As a different commenter points out, Bartender_Venator presumably could try using that argument to invalidate the challenge—though I don't know how much success he can expect if he does so.

Or an away fan who might start a fight, that's a bigger concern.

Scalpers are smart enough to be able to provide the team with dozens of pictures of happy families at the ball game.

They are also asking for a photo ID scan tbf.

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