‘Time’ Accidentally Publishes Article About Thought Catalog

Chalk one up for the little guy, Thought Catalog has successfully trolled the mainstream media. This might be a little hard to follow, so pay close attention.

Time and Gawker have both covered a “fake” article that was published on our beloved Catalog last week titled, “5 Things Women Need to Do in Their 20’s (Or Else the Suffragists Died For Nothing),” by Anne Gus, a pseudonym for a bodybuilding.com poster by the name of AryanofValhalla.

Soon after the article went live, AyranofValhalla took to misc, a bodybuilding.com subforum dedicated to memes and having a good time. He writes:

I can’t believe my eyes misc, I was bored one evening a week ago and so I wrote a satire article from the perspective of a twenty something feminist woman and sent it in to Thought Catalog. A few minutes ago I got an email saying they published the article My pen name is Anne Gus, as an to the misc. It’s happening.

The bodybuilding.com thread and the comments on the article itself document the ensuing drama. It didn’t take long before the fake article got some traction elsewhere on the web, and Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan covered the story here.

What both Gawker and Time don’t know however, is that the fake article, is a fake.

There is no AryanofValhalla.

The account on BodyBuilding.com was set up by our dear administrative assistant Wendy Les a while ago as a work of satire. A quick look at “his” other posts indicate that it is clearly a parody of the typical Gym Bro.

Last week we decided to take advantage of the account, and we published the article and posted the fake thread on Bodybuilding.com.

Now, both Time and Gawker are reporting on a fake article that isn’t even real.

It just makes you wonder, what the hell is newsworthy anymore?