Park Slope Teens Make Thousands With 'Most Hated Thing' Website

BROOKLYN, NY — Think back to what would have made your most-hated list in high school. Did it include Jeff Bezos? What about Tik Tok? Maybe acne, waking up or bras? Some things never change.

Now, how much would you pay to let the world know?

A group of Park Slope high schoolers behind a new "Most Hated Thing" website asked exactly that question — and they're lining their pockets with the resulting teenage angst. The website, set up late last year, asks people to pay to either submit what they "most hate" or vote to boost other submissions.

"We were simply talking about things we hate. We then wanted to compare it to a list already made online ... but didn't find anything quantifiable," said the website's founders, who asked to remain anonymous. "We thought that if people were to put 'their money where their mouths were,' it would be a good indicator."

The mysterious teenagers — who Patch has confirmed attend Millennium Brooklyn High School — have so far raked in more than $5,600 with the site ("Capitalism truly rocks, doesn't it?" a note on the page reads).

The only money that doesn't go to the creators is money donated for the word "cancer," which will be donated to charity, they said.

"We're just like everyone, we like to have extra cash to have fun and finance projects," the teens told Patch.

The Most Hated Thing site is open to anyone, not just high schoolers, though it is clear from submissions that the majority of users are likely younger, or even from the school.

Millennium Brooklyn High School ranked as the 18th "most hated thing," as of Friday.

Students have told Patch the site has, unsurprisingly, caused tension among both students and administrators. Millennium administrators did not respond to a request for comment.

Creators told Patch they haven't quite yet come up with a policy to deal with potentially problematic answers to the list. Recognizing the irony, they said they hope their website can remain "hate-free."

As of Friday, the list included submissions like "Women," which was the 19th most hated thing, and "Jesus," who landed at number 16. "Racism" was last on the list at number 75, well below submissions like "wet farts" or "sneakerheads."

"We are ... great advocates for free speech, as you can probably imagine," the website's founders told Patch by email. "The line is hard to find, but we should clarify it soon."

"We think that public figures, common concepts, subjects or entities are fair game, but we don't want our website to become a place for extremism, racism, bullying or anything inhumane or cruel," they added. "We'd like our website to stay exactly as it is: a place for all people to talk about what annoys them and have fun, no matter their political alignment or identity."

The creators said though they don't want to take the site too seriously, their ultimate goal is to create a platform where users can "express true anger or frustration," and, because it's anonymous, say how they really feel.

"We would love our website to serve as an indicator of what's really on people's mind and we hope it can serve business people and politicians to try to solve what really causes pain to people," they said."Since it's anonymous, people can really say what's on their mind and we think it's somehow liberating."