HN tells personal stories all the time. I think they just wanted to tell a little joke about how suspicious the word "PlayDate" sounds out of context. I don't think it's so egregious to warrant the 3rd degree.

If anything, the overscrutinizing on an innocent story feels more reddit-esque to me.

Its actually 100% true! It happened no more than a minute before I made the post. I am nowhere near funny enough to make that stuff up :D

I found it cute. I'm sorry some people are so cynical.

I put it as simple as this: what is the maximum harm I have for believing this story vs just chucking and moving on? I see zero risk so trying to join this odd callout fake culture is more disruptive than leaving it be.