this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
184 points (72.7% liked)

Not The Onion

17236 readers
2447 users here now

Welcome

We're not The Onion! Not affiliated with them in any way! Not operated by them in any way! All the news here is real!

The Rules

Posts must be:

  1. Links to news stories from...
  2. ...credible sources, with...
  3. ...their original headlines, that...
  4. ...would make people who see the headline think, “That has got to be a story from The Onion, America’s Finest News Source.”

Please also avoid duplicates.

Comments and post content must abide by the server rules for Lemmy.world and generally abstain from trollish, bigoted, or otherwise disruptive behavior that makes this community less fun for everyone.

And that’s basically it!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
all 41 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] mhague@lemmy.world 133 points 2 years ago (4 children)

The article draws most of its facts from a tiktok video of a person saying they found X, discovered Y, heard Z from Facebook.

The link that says "businesses team up with bots" links to a tiktok video.

They reinforce the idea that people figured this out because people said it was happening in India, on Facebook.

I wonder if there's any smoking guns?

[–] Moneo@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago

Also just a fucking disgusting UX. Gross website.

[–] GobiasIndustries@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago

They quoted someone with over 20k followers and 5M likes on TikTok, those are some serious bona fides.

[–] SayJess@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I wonder if there's any smoking guns?

People must be smoking something else if they think that restaurants would waste their time doing something so stupid.

[–] Mostly_Gristle@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I don't know whether this story is real or not, but I've worked for several restaurant owners who would absolutely do this. They would not only do it, they would brag non-stop to anyone who would listen about how clever they were to come up with the idea. There are unfortunately a lot of business owners out there for whom the only thing they like more than making money is making money by directly screwing someone over. It's the only thing that makes them feel smart. I've had the misfortune of working for a few of them.

If this isn't a thing now, I guarantee someone is going to try it.

[–] bedrooms@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

Omg tiktok journalism once again

[–] Kengaro0@lemmy.world 75 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Are they being advised by Nathan Fielder?

[–] Fermion@feddit.nl 22 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Whoever came up with the idea probably had really good grades.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I graduated from one of Canada's top business schools with really good grades

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Nah, this is more a Scott Auckerman deal

[–] jopepa@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Maybe a half of a wyr scenario

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 52 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The second I saw TikTok I realized this is news generated for 12 year olds.

No thanks. Report as fake and move on.

[–] Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 47 points 2 years ago

This is the most made up sounding story I've allowed myself to be clickbaited into for a while.

[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 45 points 2 years ago

Great plan. There’s no way this can backfire!

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 43 points 2 years ago (1 children)

“She found out that there are restaurants now posing as people on dating apps, just so you go to their business. And once you get stood up, they know that probably 9 times out of 10 you’re going to buy something from them.”

Wow.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

She "found out", yet she provide no evidence?

What's more likely? Restaurants are engaging in an elaborate conspiracy, or this woman is mentally ill?

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 24 points 2 years ago

Did you read the part where she found out because multiple women had the exact same experience at the exact same restaurant?

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Definitely more likely that some company is fucking with people for profit. That’s, like, their thing.

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 31 points 2 years ago

Wow, that's a pretty horrible. It's creative, but heinously immoral.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 28 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Horse shit. If any restaurant has time to do that shit, they aren't making enough money to stay in business. Fucking making an article where your source is a comment chain from a video. What nonsense.

[–] wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one 5 points 2 years ago

Not that I think this is real, but tbf the restaurant doing this is absolutely the one floundering to stay in business.

[–] GONADS125@lemmy.world 27 points 2 years ago

Tell them: "Don't worry, my date is paying for the meal." And leave.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Pretty sure this article was written by AI... Bots all the way down.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

bored panda is a social media aggregator... they rip shit from reddit all the time.

[–] LesserAbe@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Thanks, came here to say this does not read like a human wrote it

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What a garbage article. The entire basis of the story is conjecture from a TikTok comment.

I bet it's true. Need some evidence though.

[–] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 years ago

I think its one of those "i made it up but it turns out its true" stories.

[–] wahming@monyet.cc 9 points 2 years ago

50-50 whether this is real or made up for likes

[–] jeena@jemmy.jeena.net 8 points 2 years ago

Damn, capitalism, you dark!

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 years ago

Just don't go to a restaurant for the first date. Go for a walk first.

[–] cypherpunks@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago

very credible story

[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

After reading half of article, things seem fishy. Not sure I believe it.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 5 points 2 years ago
[–] Destraight@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

I mean we're on "notheonion" so it makes sense

[–] wolfeh@lemmy.world -2 points 2 years ago

Hey mods, please remove this. Whether or not this is a real phenomenon, this article shows and proves nothing.