Before the day ends, I want to write a short something about Paul Horner, who died eight years ago on Sept. 18, 2017. He was 38.

Who was Paul Horner? A prankster, best known for comic viral hoaxes and fake news stories. And I mean actual fake news, the kind that’s entirely made up — not the news dismissed as “fake” by people who don’t like what it says or because it challenges their views.

To Horner, the joke was always on the person who clicked “share.” His work often fooled media outlets, trolled conservative figures and baited culture warriors. During the 2016 presidential election he aimed much of his absurd fabrications at Donald Trump and his sycophants, convinced that their eager sharing of such clearly made-up nonsense would ultimately drive voters away. Horner believed in the corrective power of fact-checking. (H.L. Mencken could have told him a thing or two about underestimating the public’s intelligence.)

I have mixed feelings about Horner’s work. He considered himself a satirist; I suspect he was more motivated by a desire to make mischief than provoke thought. At the very least, he naively failed to understand that satire — humor in general — is often lost on many people, especially those primed to be butthurt at the slightest perceived wrong.

Few remember Paul Horner or his hoaxes now. Unfortunately, the outrage addiction he exposed is more alive than ever.