In late September 2011, as Tor.com explains, “popular geek sitcom Community threw us a 45-second //Doctor Who// parody in the form of Inspector Spacetime. In seemingly no time at all, a fictional fandom for this non-existent TV show emerged online, complete with a TV Tropes page, message boards, at least one Tumblr, and t-shirts for purchase.”

In early January 2012, a Gentlefailer innocently asked where they could possibly watch or download some Inspector Spacetime eps. “All of my friends are really into this so I thought I'd give it a shot.” It was assumed to be a joke in that thread.

Later in the same post, in a thread titled, “What's the angriest you've ever gotten in an internet argument?”, another Gentlefailer deadpanned, “Right here. When a nonnie asked about Inspector Spacetime and someone posted that it wasn't a real show, admitting that they'd actually been suckered by that kind of thing before, and had a couple of assfaces show up accusing 'em of lying and going on with the pretense that it was real.”

Not everybody was in on the joke, it seemed, and one comment excoriated the jokers for “being a complete asshole to someone explaining the inside joke for the benefit of outsiders.” And tempers were lost…