This Might Not End Well of the Day: The story starts with a Redditor named Lucidending, who initiated an AMA thread (what’s AMA?) claiming to be a cancer patient who was ending his life with the help of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. The thread elicited an outpouring of support the likes of which Reddit had never seen (the post itself shot up to #3 on the all-time list of top AMA threads), with many sharing personal stories and donating money to charities.

A few days later, an Oregonian reporter cast doubt on the authenticity of Lucidending’s identity, pointing out obvious holes in his story. Cut to Tuesday, when Gawker editor Adrian Chen took to Twitter to “confess” to being Lucidending.

There is, as of yet, no hard evidence confirming Chen’s statement, but his “admission” was enough to generate a front-page Reddit post that reads like a mirror image of the Lucidending thread. “I know a few select people (myself included) who would give this lunatic a solid ass kicking,” says one infuriated Redditor. “Ugh, what a revolting human being,” says another. Even Reddit admin Mike “Raldi” Schiraldi chimed in:

Way to go, Adrian. You either impersonated a dying cancer victim, or you’re joking about having impersonated a dying cancer victim. Either way, congratulations, you’re a real class act.

Meanwhile, Chen remains (mostly) mum. Urlesque’s Cole Stryker says he’s busy writing a piece on the debacle for Gawker.

It’s times like these that it’s worth recalling that age-old adage: On the Internet, no one know you’re not terminally ill with cancer.

[reddit / photo: ed. (nsfw)]

UPDATE: Here’s Chen’s Gawker story in which he says Lucidending successfully trolled Reddit, but denies being Lucidending.