c/bad-takes-unpacked

19

anthonynelson•1d ago

Hit 1,000 bad takes collected in my bookmarks folder this morning

It started as a joke six months ago to track the worst opinions I saw online, but after scrolling through everything from a guy saying dogs are just tools to someone arguing pizza is better cold than hot, I'm wondering if this is just making me more cynical or if it's actually taught me something about how people think, so has anyone else done something similar and noticed a pattern in the crazy takes?

23

fisher.thomas•1d ago

Saw a take about "creativity being dead" after watching a viral art critique video

I was scrolling YouTube last night and stumbled on some guy claiming all modern art is just copying with no soul, which felt like a bad take from 2015. Then I checked the comments and people were actually agreeing with him, saying things like "real art died after 1980." Has anyone here ever actually seen that kind of thinking change after they show someone a specific example of something new and cool?

30

wells.christopher•1d ago

A food blogger told me I was ruining my cast iron with soap and I pushed back for months before giving in

I kept seeing this one blogger with a huge following saying you should never use soap on cast iron, just salt and oil. I thought it was total gatekeeping BS and kept washing mine with dish soap like normal for like 2 years. Then I noticed my eggs were sticking way worse than my buddies pan who followed her advice. After a 3 month test where I only used hot water and a scrub brush, my seasoning built up way better and food stopped sticking. Makes me wonder how many other kitchen myths I've been clinging to just cause I hate being told what to do. Anyone else have a cooking tip they ignored til it bit them in the ass?

17

abby_cooper•3d ago

Rant: That YouTube guy who said you just need a sharp knife to cook anything

I saw this video yesterday from some dude with 500k subs saying all you need is a decent chef's knife and you can cook any meal. He acted like garlic presses and mandolines are a waste of money. I spent my whole first year of cooking trying to slice potatoes evenly by hand and it always looked terrible. Got a $15 mandoline from Target 6 months ago and my casseroles actually cook through now. Has anyone else had to unlearn that whole 'just git gud' nonsense?

27

olivia_white93•4d ago

Found a 2017 comment that nailed the exact timeline of the housing crash back in March 2020

I was scrolling through a YouTube video about real estate investing from 5 years ago and spotted this one comment from some random user named "Mike_TX_2020" who said prices would peak in early 2022 and then drop 15%. My jaw dropped because I checked the date on it and he posted that in 2017, three years before the pandemic even started. Has anyone else stumbled across an old prediction online that turned out to be freakishly accurate?

11

abby_morgan18•5d ago

Vent: Fell for that "earn money while you sleep" crypto course

Wasted $200 on some online course promising passive income with crypto trading. Three months later I'm down the cash and all I got was a headache from staring at charts. Anyone else get suckered by those YouTube ads?

2

the_alice•6d ago

TIL that guy who said 'just use WD-40 on everything' ruined my bike chain

Honestly, I ran into this dude at a bike shop in Austin last spring. He was dead serious that WD-40 fixes every stuck part on a bicycle. So I tried it on my chain after a ride in the rain, and within two weeks the chain was rusted and squeaking like crazy. Turns out WD-40 is a degreaser, not a lubricant, and it strips away the factory grease. The shop mechanic told me I basically washed the chain clean and left it exposed. Ngl, I was so annoyed I spent $35 on a new chain just because of that bad advice. Has anyone else had some random stranger give you a tip that totally backfired?

20

spencer_gonzalez1•7d ago

Remember when people thought ordering pizza online was sketchy

I remember back in 2007 my buddy tried to order a pizza from Pizza Hut's website and my roommate freaked out saying someone would steal his credit card info. Fast forward to 2024 and I just ordered a deep dish from Dominos on my phone while sitting on the bus, didn't even think twice about it. Anyone else remember when people were that scared to type their card number into a website?

17

green.iris•8d ago

That TikTok video about 'grass fed beef being bad for the planet' made me actually do research

Saw this video last month from some influencer claiming grass fed beef is worse than factory farmed because of land use and methane. I almost believed it because the editing was slick and she had graphs. But then I dug into actual studies and found out the numbers she used were cherry picked from a single paper that got criticized by other scientists. She conveniently left out that rotational grazing can actually build soil carbon too. Has anyone else noticed how these viral takes on food systems leave out all the nuance?

23

evan_davis•8d ago

TIL that 'woke' isn't just a buzzword for outrage baiters

Saw a twitter thread last week where a guy argued that adding a trigger warning to a history documentary was 'woke nonsense destroying education'. I used to just roll my eyes and scroll past. But then I actually watched that documentary about Japanese internment camps. The warning took maybe 10 seconds. It just said some footage might be disturbing. That tiny disclaimer didn't ruin anything. It gave people a heads up. Now I wonder how many hot takes I've accepted without checking the actual context. Has anyone else watched something after seeing it get trashed online and found it was totally fine?

2

val_ramirez•12d ago

That viral Twitter thread about "just start a side hustle" still haunts me

I stumbled onto this thread a few months back where some guy was bragging about making $10k a month dropshipping and said anyone can do it in under 30 minutes a day. Sounded too good, but I gave it a shot anyways. After three days of setting up a Shopify store, I had spent like 12 hours total and still hadn't figured out how to get products from AliExpress without breaking some rule. The guy's whole angle was that it's easy money, but he didn't mention the $200 in ads I burned through with zero sales. Then I looked into reviews of his course and saw a bunch of people saying they lost even more money. That take is straight up dangerous for folks who don't know better. Has anyone else wasted time on one of those "hustle" threads that turned out to be a scam or just bad advice?

4

phoenix_singh25•13d ago

Got called out for leaving half my deck wet after a job and it taught me to actually pay attention to overspray

A customer filmed me walking away with water still pooled near her flower beds and sent it to my boss, who then made me redo the whole thing for free before I finally started using a proper surface cleaner with a tighter spray pattern instead of just the wand.

12

the_eric•14d ago

Had to pick between a dehumidifier and a window AC for my basement last week - chose the dehumidifier and now my socks don't feel damp but I'm sweating to death down there, was that the wrong call for a space that gets musty opinions like 'just get both' when you're on a $200 budget?

The hot take I saw online said a dehumidifier fixes basement smell no matter what, but after three days of running this Frigidaire I think that person has never actually lived in a summer with 90% humidity has anyone else found that advice to be garbage?

5

mileslane•15d ago

That viral tweet about "aggressive scheduling" really rubbed me wrong

I saw this Twitter thread last week from some productivity guru saying if you don't pack your calendar back to back you're wasting potential. In my experience, that kind of thinking just leads to burnout and missed details. I manage a 48-unit complex in Tucson and when I tried that approach for two weeks, I ended up double booking myself for three maintenance walkthroughs and had to apologize to two tenants. Has anyone else seen this whole "every minute must be optimized" take backfire in real life?

23

olivia670•15d ago

That "Women Cry More Than Men" study got shared everywhere and it drove me nuts

I stumbled on a psychology paper from last week that claimed women cry 30-50 times a year compared to like 5 times for men. The numbers come from a survey of 150 people in Stockholm, but nobody talking about it online mentions the sample size or location. The stats just get passed around like they're universal truth. Anyone else notice how these viral facts lose all their context once they hit Twitter?

16

harperp24•15d ago

Found a Twitter thread claiming vinyl records sound worse than streaming

I saw this post from someone in Austin last Tuesday who said vinyl is just "nostalgia for bad audio." They argued digital compression is cleaner and vinyl pops and hiss ruin the experience. Has anyone else argued with a person who clearly never heard a proper turntable setup with good speakers?

12

colethomas•15d ago

Rant: That guy on YouTube saying you should never wash cast iron with soap is full of it

I bought a pre-seasoned Lodge skillet from a flea market in Detroit for $12 about 6 months ago. For weeks I was paranoid about scrubbing it with anything but salt and water because every video I watched said soap would ruin the seasoning. Then last Tuesday I made a tomato sauce that left this dark sticky residue that wouldn't budge. I finally said screw it and hit it with a little dish soap and a soft sponge. The seasoning didnt flake off or get messed up at all. It actually looked better after I dried it and rubbed a tiny bit of oil on. Now I wash it like a normal pan and its been fine for 3 weeks straight. Has anyone else noticed the no soap rule is just some weird internet gatekeeping thing?

3

pat_murray53•15d ago

Walked out of a meeting after my boss said LinkedIn influencers are the new journalists

My coworker in Austin tried to defend it by saying at least they do research sometimes, but has anyone else noticed those posts are just repackaged press releases with zero fact-checking?

8

williamw75•17d ago

That one YouTube comment about my fence gaps drove me nuts but they were right

Some guy said my spacing looked off and to use a string line instead of eyeballing it, so after 15 years of doing it my way I tried it on a 60-foot run last Tuesday and honestly the difference was night and day. Has anyone else had a random online stranger point out something that actually made their work better?

13

wilson.olivia•18d ago

That 'life hack' video about washing dishes with ketchup ruined my entire sink

Honestly, I tried that viral TikTok hack where you use ketchup to clean tarnished copper pots. I was in my kitchen last Tuesday, squeezed half a bottle of Heinz onto my grandma's old saucepan, left it for 10 minutes like they said. The ketchup actually ate through the seasoning on the pan and left this weird sticky residue that took me 20 minutes to scrub off. Has anyone else fallen for one of those cleaning hacks that turned out to be total garbage?

2

emma96•18d ago

I finally called out a YouTube conspiracy video about sandwiches

So I was scrolling YouTube last weekend and found this guy with 50k subscribers claiming that Subway uses special bread that's 'engineered to make you crave more.' He had a whole 20 minute breakdown with graphs and everything lol. I actually work at a Subway in Portland and I can tell you the bread comes frozen in a box, nothing special about it. Has anyone else caught a super specific bad take like that where you just happen to know the truth?

4

val_shah•19d ago

Pro tip: Twitter is the worst place for cooking advice, just use YouTube instead

I got into a thing last week with a dude on Twitter who swore you had to sear a steak 4 minutes per side on high heat. Tried it and ended up with a hockey puck lol. YouTube videos actually show you the color and sizzle, so you can tell when it's done right. Twitter threads are just random people yelling their opinions with no proof. Been following a channel called 'Guga Foods' for 6 months now and my steaks come out perfect every time. Anyone else find video tutorials way more reliable than text posts for cooking?

30

hannah_wells•19d ago

TIL that viral tweet about 5G towers causing birds to fall from the sky was completely made up by a parody account.

I was at my cousin's BBQ last Saturday ranting about cell towers until my buddy pulled up the fact-check on his phone and I just stood there with my tongs in the air looking like a fool, has anyone else gotten burned by a fake take like that?

1

quinnm77•24d ago

Was sure those "life hack" tile leveling clips were a scam but I tried them anyway

I saw a TikTok from some contractor bragging about these plastic tile leveling clips and I rolled my eyes so hard. My dad taught me to tile the old way with wedges and string lines and I figured that was good enough. But I had to redo a backsplash in my kitchen after a bad job last spring and figured why not spend the 15 bucks. Honestly the clips made everything line up perfect without me having to check every single tile with a level. I still felt kinda dumb admitting it worked because I talked so much trash about them. Has anyone else tried a tool they were sure was a gimmick and ended up eating their words?

Bad Takes Unpacked - Vivisector