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Joe Vesey-Byrne
Aug 24, 2016
Redditors are fast to shout 'phoney', and they're pretty protective of the integrity of the forum. Thank god they were on the case of this child's alleged schoolwork.
Many have questioned the authenticity of a photo uploaded to the site on Monday that claimed to be a drawing by one user's five year old son 'Austin'.
Picture: Millhousenstein/imgurThe user 'Millhousenstein' added the image with the heading: "My son's first week in kindergarten off to a great start." The photo shows an activity sheet, purportedly filled in by Austin which asked him to write his name and then complete the sentence: 'Hands are for...'. His answer reads 'touching balls'.
This amusing response has been shared over 300,000 times on the hosting site 'imgur'.
Luckily there are expert graphologists among the Imgur and Reddit comment boards, and after careful consideration they have declared their suspicion that this is not a real example of a five year old's schoolwork.
Clearly there is a distinction between the writing of the name and the actual text. I would deduct the 5 year old wrote his name then he paid off a more mature kid to write the rest for an easy 'A'
-- 'Elfhoe'
Looks like the 'touc' is written with a different pressure and style than the rest. Then 'Austin' is way shakier. Calling bs.
- Blacksocksnevergetdirty
Citing the differences in handwriting between Austin's name, which appears childlike, and the words "touching balls" which appear to be less so, users on the forum questioned the post's authenticity.
Responding a day after posting, Millhousenstien emerged on the thread to make this claim:
He did write his name, his teacher wrote in the answers on their sheet. I'm guessing just to save time. Due to it taking him a minute just to write his own name.
Case closed ladies and gentlemen.
Or is it? indy100 has some follow up questions we believe are in the (Reddit) public interest.
Why did a teacher write down this answer that was open to such ridicule and hilarity, and also why is the teacher's handwriting (although better than Austin's) still so childlike? This couldn't possibly be the most innocuous thing that has ever been debunked on Reddit? Could it?
Perhaps this is all an elaborate ruse. Who is this fraud Austin? When will he strike next?
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