Slashdot Mirror
The Internet Falls For Rumblr, a Fake "Tinder For Fighting" App
HughPickens.com writes: Caitlin Dewey writes at the Washington Post that Rumblr, a "Tinder for fighting," promises to bring fight club straight to your smartphone that lets users schedule consensual, recreational fights with local strangers for free. "Rumblr is an app for recreational fighters to find, meet and fight other brawl enthusiasts nearby," according the app's website. It encourages users to insult their matched opponents with this pro-tip: "tell your match what you don't like about their picture." Reported by the likes of Venture Beat, Business Insider, New York magazine, and the New York Daily News, there's only one problem: There's no way that the app is real. In fact, it looks far more likely that we are being trolled by a couple of precocious teenagers. Let's start with the app's most obvious problem: its questionable legality. If you're "throwing down" and seriously injure your opponent — or, God forbid, he dies — you cannot claim self-defense and you could be charged with crimes ranging from misdemeanor assault to homicide. If Rumblr's creators are found to have encouraged or aided an assault, they could be guilty of criminal facilitation in the fourth degree — a class A misdemeanor. They could certainly be sued in civil court by injured users or their families. "Our bet? Rumblr is a marketing stunt, a prank or (best case!) an unsubtle parody," concludes Dewy. "Part of me is scared it will turn out to be real, of course. Not for my sake, but for humanity's."
Apparently the Internet is nothing more than a handful of shitty old media rags.
Who knew.
"Part of me is scared it will turn out to be real, of course. Not for my sake, but for humanity's."
Part of me is scared this person is serious.
Sometimes a good harmless troll is some good fun, shakes people up into actually thinking before they damn well read something.
Brings new meaning to the term "hey, hit me up on rumblr" I suppose too.
Obviously a fake — if one is already allowing a total stranger into one's comfort zone with all the accompanying risks, exposing himself to the stranger's skin and — quite possible during a fight — bodily fluids, why not have sex instead of kicking each other's teeth out?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Let's not report on it and give it free marketing. There's no danger to not spreading this: very few people are going to look for the app, and sensible people are going to distrust an app that encourages fighting or any other illegal activity. Let it drop, and take the wind out of sails.
Fight club isn't supposed to be legal.
So it's a felony. So what?
It's probably real.
Let's start with the app's most obvious problem: its questionable legality.
Is that a problem? Seems like a secret winning recipe for Uber (for a while, at least).
Oliver.
Dewy, who wrote the above milquetoast nonsense, may find the fighting traditions of 18th- and 19th-century German students , as described, for example, in Mark Twain's "Tramp Abroad", most illuminating...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
When I saw it, I sort of chuckled internally and thought "sure, why not?" It's sad when something like this can seem so plausible that you don't get riled up over it. But then I've been going to 4chan for years; that kind of numbs you to the crazy stuff that ends up on the internet.
Yeah, I'm confused about this one. Selling drugs or sex isn't legal either but that doesn't mean that a website that does it is fake.
Just because it is illegal to facilitate an exchange doesn't mean that someone isn't going to create a website that tries.
Sure, it might get taken down or they might open themself up to lawsuits but that doesn't change whether or not it can exists.
On another note, how exactly is a mutual fight illegal? There are plenty of places where boxing, cage fighting, etc... happens.
Let's start with the app's most obvious problem: its questionable legality. If you're "throwing down" and seriously injure your opponent â" or, God forbid, he dies â" you cannot claim self-defense and you could be charged with crimes ranging from misdemeanor assault to homicide.
Just have the fighters sign assumption of risk waivers to get around that particular legal problem. The biggest reason that street fighting is illegal is because of the gambling, not to protect the fighters from themselves. That's why Fight Club was so unbelievable, none of the guys were betting on the fights! It's not even like there was a rule against it. The rest of the movie was completely plausible, though it could have been improved with a trained orangutan.
Does it all the time. Legal it certainly is. Cage matches? All the time. Legal it certainly is. If you want illegal, go 81 in an 80. Illegal it certainly is.
I wrest this case.
I could have sworn the "secret recipe for Uber" was that all those wonderfully regulated cab services actually suck and many have poor customer service: http://www.wbur.org/2011/02/15...
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
I'd be entirely unsurprised if this was completely real, that the authors are just ignoring the legal risks and the investors are either exaggerated (a ploy to draw real investors) or figure the inventors have a non-trivial chance to either dodge legal liability or transform the app into something legal.
If you couldn't find investors just because something was a terrible idea then we wouldn't have Twitter.
I stole this Sig
Because this would be a perfect minigame for it.
[Sorry, this signature is unavailable in your country/region]
In many countries, you simply cannot consent to serious injury -- at all, ever.
Things like boxing (and hockey) wind up being "prize fights", are under heavy regulation, and are supposedly set up with enough safety procedures to avoid serious injury, with exceptions being considered errors, and dealt with accordingly.
Cool, I guess there's one exception: you can consent to organ donation!
But how can we use Rumblr to encourage more women into STEM fields?
In the US at least mutual fighting is no where near legal. The fights in rings are sanctioned and approved of by a judge because they have shown that it is their business and they have proven that they have appropriate insurance policies for the fighters.
If two consenting individuals choose to fight each other willingly, why is that a problem? What if it was part of X minority group culture? Would SJW culture then accept it?
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
Aren't boxing and wrestling matches...legal? They are sports.
Is you don't fucking tell anyone about fight club.
stoopid nerds.
"a marketing stunt, a prank or (best case!) an unsubtle parody." How is this different from the rest of the internet?
The first rule of Rumblr is not to post about Rumblr...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
First rule about Botnet is: You don't talk about Botnet.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
So why don't Uber ensure their drivers carry the correct license to take passengers for payment?
Fighting in hockey is nowhere near the level it was at a few decades ago. You don't see the kind of bloodbaths there once were.
Except for a few thugs who often end up being more of a handicap to their team due to penalties, suspensions, etc, (Milan Lucic, I'm talking about you) there aren't nearly as many goons playing hockey any more.
You are welcome on my lawn.
1. Use Tindr/Grindr to fuck someone. They give you an STD. No lawsauit.
2. Use Rumblr to fuck someone up. Lawsuit.
There have always been real "Fight Clubs". They're called "martial arts schools". Precautions are taken so nobody dies, of course, and nobody's expected to fight way outside of their level, but the fighting is real. I've had ribs, nose, a finger and a collarbone broken in the past 30-plus years. The broken nose, by the way, was me trying to execute an elbow strike during my second year and punching myself in my own nose with my fist. The broken collarbone came from a waxwood staff (called a "gun" in Chinese).
Since then, I can probably count the number of hits to the head I've taken on one hand. You've got to protect the meat.
You are welcome on my lawn.
This was posted to slashdot after the "go live" time of the app/website, but only links to articles posted prior to the launch that speculated it was a hoax.
One of the authors (Alfred Ng) of one of those articles wrote a follow up piece *after* the launch, with the actual details of what the hoax actually was (A marketing stunt) and what registered users saw when they used the app at launch...
-- The Hoss Man
Things like boxing (and hockey) wind up being "prize fights", are under heavy regulation, and are supposedly set up with enough safety procedures to avoid serious injury, with exceptions being considered errors, and dealt with accordingly.
My boss is a 4th degree black belt in some martial art. I mostly work remotely or at client sites so I don't see him that often, but when I do it's about 1-in-3 odds that he will have a black eye, bruise or some other "serious" injury from sparring at the martial arts place.
AFAIK, there's no regulation involved here. He doesn't hold a boxing license and there's no boxing commissioner present at his sparring sessions. People willingly show up and kick the crap out of each other, and apparently it's legal.
I'm not sure why a "tinder for fighting" would be illegal in that light. Any liability would seem to be a civil matter between the consenting parties, with the exception of possibly some kind of manslaughter liability if you killed the other guy.
" If you're "throwing down" and seriously injure your opponent â" or, God forbid, he dies â" you cannot claim self-defense and you could be charged with crimes ranging from misdemeanor assault to homicide."
What a dipshit dickhead. Consenual fighting is perfectly legal. What a twat...grow a pair!!!!
Fighting is legal in Seattle, unless it poses danger to third parties.
https://www.municode.com/libra...
If it's legal in one city, I'd hazard a guess it's not a felony. No one commenting here so far has referenced any law that says it's illegal in any jurisdiction.
Wait, you aren't supposed to use Tinder to match people and beat them up when you meet? My bad!
In 2009, I went to Cuba - despite it being illegal for me to do so - and not just because it was illegal, but because I had been to thirty five countries by then and simply wanted to understand what a country held that would make it illegal for people like me to visit.
A lesson learned in law.
So let me get this straight. The author of this article is using 'it being illegal' as the chief argument about why the app is nonsense?
What about actually trying it out?
Personally. I am not a fighter. But I break laws all the time. When I can't afford to pay for something I hop the metro. When my shoe broke and I had absolutely no money to my name I stole superglue. Such a felon, right?
Laws are there to guide the population. Not to dictate orders. If some people want to fight. Let them.
To the creators or rumblr. Kudos. You may be filling a need. And if someone dies because they engage in this activity. Oh well.
Like anyone would admit to who did it.
Remember the first rule.
Great followup to that Peeple app.
What was that Paul Newman movie from the late 70s? Youngbloods?
That was a fun movie.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
Found it on imdb. Slap Shot.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00...
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
And boxers practice just the same in the gym. It is still under a supervised system, rather than fighting in the street with random strangers.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
You're sure he's at the "martial arts place"? Perhaps ask him about "Project Mayhem".
My boss is a 4th degree black belt in some martial art.
It's called Yoga.
Nice bitch-tits you've got there, Bob.
Those aren't considered serious injuries. We're talking broken bones, and potentially life-long injuries.
But, as was said by another, within a licensed sparring gym is a different matter. I'd imagine that it's supervised, there are medical-safety measures and procedures in place, including someone to stop the fight, and I'd guess that the gym is somehow licensed or registered for it.
It's for meeting lightly battered women.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
Er, no.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhJSA9PUAJ0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og7JS8mcp3c
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Cook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzo0iHrivVQ
We know who already won.
Youngblood and Slap Shot are different movies aren't they? (with basically the same story?)
Er, yes.
Am I playing the "List of credible sources" game right?
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Just create an account and load in the profile your neighbour's pic. Then wait for a rumblr user to come close, and enjoy the fight...
everything about the write up seems like they're hoping it's fake... but there's no indication that it is.
personally, whatever two people consent to should be fair game. why not have everyone fill out a digital waiver through the app and then go to town on each other? they can even set whatever terms they want through the app too... pure fisticuffs only or weapons? geez, seems like the app could facilitate a great many of these kinds of details.
hell, we should bring dueling back... or fucking thunderdome. both parties need to consent so anybody can just refuse to participate. but it seems like we're increasingly living in a society where everybody talks too much shit. blah blah blah.
we need to cut out some of that fucking verbiage and settle shit with some finality.
It's a marketing stunt: http://vonhughes.getrumblr.com...
Remember, there are no stupid questions. But there are a lot of inquisitive idiots.
The greatest hockey movie ever, Slap Shot.
The Hanson Brothers!
https://www.thestar.com/conten...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Population Control just got a whole lot more entertaining.
Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
Indeed. Waivers help the process.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
Damn it, Fight Club wasn't supposed to be an instruction manual!
In other news, I wish I could +1 Funny this entire comment section.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
Irish dancing? AH that will be American taekwondo then.
>There are plenty of places where boxing, cage fighting, etc... happens.
These are licensed sports, generally heavily regulated - not just anybody can go, and if you go there are legal parts to the rules that are fairly well enforced.
This is why deaths in fighting sports are quite rare events.
Without those they would be a lot more common. Killing or maiming somebody with a punch is a lot easier than you think if you don't know what not to aim for. There are even regulations about the fitness and health level of the participants - sorry no entry if you're a serious alcoholic because a blow to the liver will probably be fatal.
Doing this outside the purview of the law would definitely be assault (if nothing goes wrong - if anything does you can expect manslaughter or murder as well). In almost every jurisdiction I know off (and definitely in the USA) assault is a crime - not just a civil offense - and that means you cannot consent to it. The state charges you - not the victim, and the state has every right to do so even if the victim expressly does not wish them to (this is, in part, to prevent criminals getting away with it by scaring the victims). Of course in practice they will rarely press charges without a willing victim since the victim's testimony is very important to a conviction but they don't actually need it and in this case both parties will be getting charged anyway so that aspect falls away entirely.
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
Nice logic there. I guess AirBNB and Uber aren't real, either.
Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
Ahahah as if they are just available for anyone who wants them. You know the numbers are usually limited, and generally all taken.
Maybe if licensing mattered so much, people wouldn't vote with their dollars for Uber. Maybe if the cab companies with the legitimate licneses that they lobbied and paid for should provide even comparable service?
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
samzenpus fell for the app, we did not.
How come this "criminal facilitation" thing isn't used against the Pirate Bay? No need for outlawing hyperlinks or any other links.
If you mean ice hockey when you say hockey, why don't you say so? :) ... how will we ever be able to understand you?
There is a well respected sport that is called hockey and is not played on ice
Americans
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
The licenses for the BUSINESSES are limited.
Not those for the drivers, every one can simlly apply and make a passenger transport permit.
And Uber simply can BUY a license from another business and require its drivers to have the correct permits: AS ANY OTHER BUSINESS IS DOING!
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
A mutual fight is probably not illegal until it is done in public (i.e. street fighting). Add money to the formula and other regulations probably apply.
This fight club app is just a variation on organised boxing, so as long as the rules didn't say you could cripple or kill someone, you'd probably be all right in the UK.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I could have sworn the "secret recipe for Uber" was that all those wonderfully regulated cab services actually suck and many have poor customer service: http://www.wbur.org/2011/02/15...
Then Uber should be able to compete with them and win on quality without having to do anything illegal.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Citation needed.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Field hockey
Wow, if you never have heard about hockey go back into your cave. ...
The german women's team is world champion most of the time
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Not taxi licences. Driver licenses.
In New Zealand they're available for people who pass background checks and have a good driving record.
You need a passenger endorsement if you want to drive a taxi, bus, shuttle bus, limo, or do anything where you accept payment to drive someone else.
Taxi licenses are different and only required if you want to park in taxi stands or charge per kilometre/minute. You don't need one for pre-paid trips.
I don't see how this is supposed to make a difference to consumers, who are voting with their dollars against the regulations made by corrupt politicians at the behest of, and often written by, the very industries they regulate.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Oh, field hockey. Why didn't you say so? Like lacrosse without the baskets on the stick,right?
If you walk up to anyone on any continent in the world and ask them what "hockey" is, you think more people would describe real hockey or "field hockey"?
You are welcome on my lawn.
Because people who pay someone to drive them somewhere should expect the driver to be a good driver, not constantly breaking the law on the road, not a violent criminal and doesn't have a medical issue that could impact their ability to drive.
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/driver...
It depends on the state's mutual combat laws.
since almost no-one outside of North America plays Ice-Hockey, it's unlikely to be that
Old School Hockey for the win!!!!
Oh come on. Seven of the thirteen Chicago Blackhawks centermen are from Europe: Sweden, Austria, Latvia, Finland, Russia, Czech Republican and whatever the hell the "SVK" are all represented and that's just among the centers.
Do you know that there are professional hockey leagues in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the UK. Ice hockey, for decades, was the #1 sport in Russia (and may still be).
Here is a list of the FIFTY-ONE countries that have national hockey teams
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Total ice hockey countries is over 100.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Uber makes medallion type systems irrelevant, and it's about time.
If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
Yeah, those were the faces I was seeing as I tried to remember the title. Loved those guys.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
Yes counting the number of countries is every so useful. When you've got India in both.
Hockey is India's national sport. Ice Hockey is probably played by a handful.
ANd Americans don't even believe that metric either, since they continue to refer to its padded up, throwing a ball game as football. FIFA has more member countries than the Olympics.
And when Sepp Blatter needs votes to stay President it probably has more member countries than the Earth does.
No they don't :)
What is next? Ships without Captains? Airlines without license?
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.