You’re probably heard that there are stupid people on Facebook. You’ve probably also heard of ways that you can troll those stupid people. One of the best ways is to post links to the Onion and watch these idiots believe that the Onion is a real newspaper and their madeup news is completely real.
The website literallyunbelieveable catalogs these reactions from idiots of Facebook. We interviewed the founder of the site and got his thoughts on the whole thing.
Sherrod from OhInternet: Where do you live, what is your age?
Hudson Hongo: I’m 24 and live in Eugene, OR
OhI: What gave you the idea to start literallyunbelievable.org ?
HH: I had heard that facebook users were quoting scripture and threatening hell-fire over a piece from The Onion about a $8 billion “Abortionplex” so I decided to check it out myself. When I looked into it, I found that there were reactions like this to every article they published, even absurd ones like “Giant Bin Laden Destroys New York.” After finding about a dozen of these responses I realized it was basically selfish to keep these truly unique texts from the public, and put them all online.
OhI: Where do you get the content from? User submitted? Do you find it on your own?
HH: It’s a mix of threads I find personally and submissions, but I’d say the best posts come from screencaps taken by keen-eyed readers. For instance, the post that ended up making the news this year, a U.S. Congressman’s outrage at the supposed Abortionplex, was sent in by a reader who caught the thread before it was taken down in embarrassment.
OhI: Have you been noticed by or spoken to anyone at the Onion?
HH: I haven’t been contacted by The Onion proper, but I know their sister publication, The A.V. Club, are fans. Or, if not fans, at least aware of Literally Unbelievable and not actively angry about it. I count that as support.
OhI: Do your friends/family have any opinion?
HH: My mom likes it because she gets to see her son’s name on the internet, but when I try to explain my blog to other people they usually get a glassy look like they’re remembering a past life in a distant time. This is probably a healthy response to the word “blog.”
OhI: What kind of interesting feedback do you get? Compliments or hatemail?
HH: A lot of people write in just to tell me that I made them laugh. That kind of encouragement is really valuable on the days where you’ve spent an hour reading insane responses to “Obama Finishes Deal To Get Every American A Free Parrot.” I almost never get hate mail, but when I do it’s to explain to me that The Onion is a satirical publication and I’m a doofus and my reading comprehension is low, which only confirms what my Second Grade placement test said.
OhI: Have any of the users you’ve posted contacted you? What did they say?
HH: Not yet, though I wouldn’t mind an e-mail from the congressman.
OhI: What other projects are you working on?
HH: I recently started a sort-of sister site to Literally Unbelievable called Least Helpful, collecting insane and bizarre product reviews. I think anyone who likes one will enjoy the other.
If you’d like to learn more, check out Hongo’s personal site and follow him on twitter at @hudsonhongo
About Sherrod DeGrippo
