We’re not going to say, “We knew he was trouble when he walked in.” We’re not going to tell you “that’s how it works,” or “that’s how you get the girl.” We won’t even try to sneak in a line like “clickbaiters gonna bait, bait, bait, bait, bait.” We’re just going to tell you what happened—and maybe refrain from any more Taylor Swift lyrics.

In August, Lan P. (AKA Reddit user Mantaraylover), an enterprising “Swift fan for over seven years,” created a post for the Reddit community at LearnUselessTalents, titled “How to trick people into getting them to do useless things for you.”

The post redirected to the voting page of a Taylor Swift Meet and Greet contest hosted by San Francisco radio station Star 103.3. If you clicked on the post, you automatically cast a vote for Lan.

Turns out, hundreds of people fell for it.

The response to his digital double-crossing ranged from “Well played, sir” to “You motherfucker.” Most commenters, however, acknowledged his ingenuity and supported him in his quest.

In return for their votes, he promised to represent the community by wearing this shirt in the photograph that he’d get to take with Swift:



Reddit user Mantaraylover

Now armed with redditors’ intentional support, Lan quickly ascended to first place, a position that brought him some casual haterade on Instagram from the person in second place.

That rival? A 15-year-old girl named Selin, who runs a Tumblr fan blog dedicated to Taylor Swift—with over 30,000 followers.

As the competition drew to a close, Lan maintained his lead, thanks to the LearnUselessTalents community. Luckily, the contest had two grand prize winners, so it didn’t spark a Reddit vs. Tumblr war of the Swifties. (There’s still time for that later, I guess.)

The day after the concert at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco, Lan posted a photo update to his website, marrytaylorswift.com (“Powered by the Help Lan Meet Taylor Swift Foundation, 2015”).

Just before the photograph was snapped, Lan decided to kneel before his idol in (a mock) proposal.

Mantaraylover via marrytaylorswift.com

Tragically, his last-minute impulse obscured the logo on his shiny new LearnUselessTalents shirt, but we don’t blame him. It’s hard to remember your internet promises when you’re in the presence of Taylor Swift.