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We all know very well that things in this world tend to backfire. Call it a law of nature, a frequent twist of fate, or destiny. “Look who’s laughing now” is a phenomenon that has happened to virtually every one of us, and no matter what you do, it repeats again and again, and again.

The Reddit community “There Was An Attempt” is dedicated to precisely the comic absurdity of all the attempts in life that went against the plan, or turned in the wrong direction. Created in August 2015, the subreddit now has 1.9m members that are not immune to the funny attempts that “were there.”

“People enjoy the slapstick comedy of it. At the end of the day, everyone is laughing,” the subreddit’s moderator told Bored Panda in the interview that you can read in full below. And now we leave the stage to the ensued hilarity.

#2

To Complain About A Child Selling Hot Dogs

To Complain About A Child Selling Hot Dogs

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Bored Panda spoke to redditor u/F4T4-M0RG4N4, the moderator of the r/ThereWasAnAttempt subreddit, who said that the community has evolved a lot since it was created 5 years ago.

“When I first joined the team, it was mostly a screenshot sub. A few months back, there was some drama about how there were only three mods who ran the subreddit (which at the time had around a million members).” As a result, they invited more people to join the moderator team and removed the screenshot posts.

#5

To Make Speaking 2 Languages Sophisticated

To Make Speaking 2 Languages Sophisticated

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#6

To Sound Literate

To Sound Literate

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For those who’re wondering what, precisely, “there was an attempt” refers to, u/F4T4-M0RG4N4 explained that it’s basically about “someone attempting something but ultimately failing.”

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Conceptually, it’s similar to “if someone tried jumping off a trampoline into a pool but when they tried to jump, the trampoline tore. In that case, you could say, 'Well... there was an attempt, at least' and that’s where our subreddit comes into play.”

The posts are mainly about “some people having a dumb idea, trying out that idea, and failing.” This misery is what makes it so funny. 

#7

To Prevent The Homeless From Sleeping Here

To Prevent The Homeless From Sleeping Here

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#8

To Start Cat Racing

To Start Cat Racing

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Jihana
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is just adorable 🤣 Also: why would you think a cat would get out of a box?

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#9

To Prove That Patton Oswalt Is A Failed Comedian

To Prove That Patton Oswalt Is A Failed Comedian

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Today, the moderator team only allows video submissions and cross-posts, “which are posts that were in one subreddit but were reposted to another (kind of like retweeting.” This format works better for r/ThereWasAnAttempt, since screenshots can more easily become reposts, for one.

Especially when there’s one similar subreddit that’s specifically for social media clapbacks and comebacks, but its content mainly features screenshots.When it comes to their 1.9 million member count, the moderator said that “I don’t think we have the exact same post frequency as, say, a meme subreddit.”

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Partly, it’s because it isn’t easy to repost something from r/ThereWasAnAttempt. “I could probably look at the new section for r/memes and see quite a few frequent reposts.”

#14

To Shame Atheists And Take Away Their Holidays

To Shame Atheists And Take Away Their Holidays

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#15

I Mean... You Tried..?

I Mean... You Tried..?

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Steve Barnett
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'Having Voldemort trying to kill him at every opportunity finally took its toll on Harry Potter'

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#17

To Arrest A “Drug Dealer

To Arrest A “Drug Dealer

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#18

To Make Fun Of A Bird

To Make Fun Of A Bird

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DforDory
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At least he realised it. If you can't laugh at yourself, you're doomed.😁

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#19

To Shame Men

To Shame Men

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#22

To Convince People To Be Pro-Life

To Convince People To Be Pro-Life

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Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you got a tiny Voldemort in your womb, abortion might not be the worst idea.

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#23

To Defend God

To Defend God

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#25

To Be Racist

To Be Racist

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Queen fhk
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Am proudly a Muslim just like a Christian proudly a Christian and also like an atheist who is proudly an atheist!!!!!!! It's our believe when people think about freedom of speech, they forget about hurting other people's religion, but when we stand for our rights we are themed as paranoid. Just leave us alone, stop looking for trouble which you wouldn't get and exercise Human Rights fairly not partially degrading other people's religion. I quote everyone is different yet you try to make everyone the same religion, race, tribe all " Differences matters, yet that makes us who we are, denying our differences is denying the truth " I am A PROUD MUSLIM, it's me not you allow me to practice my religion in peace and stop popnosing on my affairs, everyone deserves right to religion just as u think!

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#26

To Suggest A New Idea

To Suggest A New Idea

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Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Flawless! And you should be able to make a audio contact with other people in real time so you can tell them, instead of typing a message for them.

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#28

To Eat A Mozzarella Stick

To Eat A Mozzarella Stick

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#32

To Replace I'm Sorry With Thank You

To Replace I'm Sorry With Thank You

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Charlotte
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But actually this is a technique I used in customer service. For example when you put a customer on hold to go get more info, you ask them if they’re happy to wait. When you get back you thank them for waiting. If you say “sorry for the wait” it suggests you did something wrong, when really you were just doing your job. It leaves a different impression on the customer and genuinely impacts satisfaction.

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#33

To Prove How Unfashionable These Jeans Were

To Prove How Unfashionable These Jeans Were

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#35

To Provide Front, Side, And Rear Photos For The Car Insurance Rep

To Provide Front, Side, And Rear Photos For The Car Insurance Rep

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#36

To Virtue Signal...

To Virtue Signal...

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mintyminameow avatar
Mewton’s Third Paw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Diversity is more than just hiring black people and erasing the need for any other minority. There’s clearly Asian and Latin women on the panel.

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iancarter avatar
Clever Dog
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Diversity is about having people of all kinds of backgrounds that includes some men too. Positive discrimination is still discrimination. The future is to stop barriers to employment for any group no matter the sexual orientation , gender,race religion or disability. The best person for the job is the best person for the job, everything else is secondary.

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mrtree1779 avatar
MrTree1779
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No men, no brown people, no large people, nobody older than 30, maybe 35. --- I see zero diversity outside of hair color. It looks like one woman went out and hired all of her bridesmaids to be her co-workers.

holliebyrnes avatar
Hollie Byrnes
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you are the best person for the job, you are the best person for the job. If the workers are all white women then maybe everyone else needs to pick up their game.

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WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So the Huffington post is racist and sexist. They are also rated sub standard for factual reporting due to failed fact checks and the promotion of pseudoscience. https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/huffington-post/

jvdauterive avatar
Juliette Dauterive
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You actually BELIEVE this is a Huffington Post meeting? Typical ignorant, that believes whatever MEME comes across their feed.

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mintyminameow avatar
Mewton’s Third Paw
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As usual, ignore and erase Asians / middle eastern women and latinas and act like it isn’t racist as fûck.

ambroise-lescop-2 avatar
Shelp
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I recall someone pointing out that there was more diversity on the NRA's board than on the Huffington Post's...

csaclint avatar
csaclint
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Diversity should never be a goal. Hiring the best should be. If that is a diverse group then fine, if it's an all white group, then fine. As long as they were hired not for the color of their skin, but for the content of their character.

wh4ok avatar
Jon S.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The problem is unconscious bias. It has been shown that faced with two otherwise equal candidates people tend to pick the one most like them. When asked to justify their decisions they say things like "I don't know, I guess I just got a better feeling from that person" or "It seemed like they were a better fit for the group." It is a tough nut to crack.

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Bears Kitten
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why isn't it enough that there is all women? Why does it always have to devolve into a color thing? Maybe no qualified blacks applied for an editors position.

pobin_rice avatar
Pobin Rice
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s full off vile so called journalists who could get real jobs at actual news outlets

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Tiger Pearl
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the comments people are saying they can tell there are a couple of Asian or Latina women... The picture is very blurry and it would be hard to tell. On the surface it looks like all white women. Just like it’s not enough to have one or two women mixed in with 20 men, it’s not enough to have (maybe) 1 or 2 ethnically diverse people. You’d think the people in the picture would get that since they are “proud” of being a group of all women. Being a woman, I would usually be excited to see a group like this. However it still appears that there is exclusion going on. So this picture missed its mark.

danieleribolla avatar
Daniele Ribolla
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thirteen white women and no men is OK, but no ONE coloured girl? huh?

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Malcontent
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember this- someone replied with a brilliant post about how HuffingPost was going down the toilet with massively declining readership and some serious internal problems relating to the female leadership. Go figure, having a mainly female staff didn't magically make their organisation better, it actually made it worse due to lack of sexual and ethnic diversity. Go look it up, if you want a laugh at their expense and arrogance.

kotlc4evakotlc4eva avatar
Book Panda!!!!
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry if it sounds like I'm being racist, (I know some of you are already giving downvotes) but maybe you should focus on hiring people who are good at the job (so sorry if it sounds like women/black people aren't qualified. I'm a female) not because they would make you look good by being diverse. Obviously, this is my opinion. Also so sorry for being bad at communicating.

paigegrieshop avatar
Mustn’t eat the mango 🥭
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More races should be working there, black, Mexican, Indian, they all have great ideas for the world.

maemosse avatar
Mae Mosse
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I noticed they all have either brown or blonde hair. Don’t they like redheads either? What about disabled people? I wouldn’t want to work with all women. There is that theory that if a group of women work together long enough their periods start syncing together. Can you imagine all of those ladies having PMT at the same time?

backatya7 avatar
backatya
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I bet they get nothing done either by arguing or tramping the other on the way they dress. Then when their periods go in sync since they're always together, Hell No!

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Stan Chung
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

and why aren't there any men? equality doesn't mean just women. fight me

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Patricia Kasprowski
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In diversity you have men and women of several ethnic backgrounds. All of these women are WASPs!

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Katinka Min
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All the same age, too. Oh well, step after step. We'll get there, some day.

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Thumbs Down
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was An Attempt: To Virtue Signal... What does "Virtue Signal" mean? Should this say "Signal Virtue" instead?

s_vitkovitsky avatar
s. vitkovitsky
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Diversity of thought is what's importanr, and it's invisible in any picture.

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Blarrg
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Huff Post does some good work, but I don't get the impression there is a lot of diversity of thought there.

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Bama Belle
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You don't see anything wrong with your comment? Maybe you think it's OK to stereotype certain people but not others?

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Capelli rosa e patate
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

See this always confuses me. It’s one picture, they just happen to all be women and they just happen to not have a black person in the picture. “You don’t hire black people?” Is quite insulting and defensive. (Just my opinion, I feel I see stuff like this far too much. A picture without “diversity” isn’t a racist picture, unless there is intent behind it.)

aprylcanfield avatar
Apryl Canfield
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

GIRLS ONLY FINALLY YASS QUEEN( IT would be nice for boys too be in some s**t too but like girls need some vengance!

truthmonster00 avatar
Truth Monster
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The "Steph Da 5'6" assumes there are no black people, but she is either racist or showing colorism, unless she knows for sure none of them identifies as black. A "passing" black person may appear to be another ethnicity.

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The Coated Dev
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

congrats I guess but it would be sick to see some different color as well

ed_31 avatar
Ed
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

YEah it's missing men. That's a lack of diversity. ANd the missing black people. lol So much fail.

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Donald Holder
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Reverse" sexism is a real thing too. There are plenty of female bosses, owners and hiring managers who overlook a better qualified man just to fit a "agenda"(or gender) required number.

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James F. Wilson Jr.
Community Member
3 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

During their meetings they have enough ladies to loom and patch four quilts at a time.

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#37

To Get A Cardi B Tattoo

To Get A Cardi B Tattoo

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Some Cool Guy
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never realized that there is a level of messed up that someone would want to get an Anne Frank tattoo on your damn FACE

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#39

To Display Plus Size Clothes Without Causing Offence

To Display Plus Size Clothes Without Causing Offence

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Roger Haywood
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Considering that there are no plus sized mannequins, I think its good improv. (I'm on the larger size myself, and I'm nowhere near offended)

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#40

To Stand Up For The Joker

To Stand Up For The Joker

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Hans
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Welcome to the Internet, where you can be offended by literally everything,

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#42

To Fuck The Police

To Fuck The Police

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#47

To Criticize A Garbage Man

To Criticize A Garbage Man

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Sanne H.
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don’t know how it’s in other countries, but here in NL apparently it’s one of the best paid low-education jobs available. A friend of mine did it as a student job while in university and apart from the smell he was quite happy with it.

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#48

To Be A Professional Company

To Be A Professional Company

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Pamela24
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All that's gonna do is make more people drive drunk. If Uber is so concerned about people throwing up in their cars or being violent (which is understandable) they should charge a deposit and/or allow the drivers to have pepper spray or something to defend themselves if necessary (not guns!).

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#49

To Create 3 Mexican Countries

To Create 3 Mexican Countries

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#50

To Hide

To Hide

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Note: this post originally had 150 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.