In a blog post published on the site travel Q&A site Trippy rounded up some of its members' "most hated cities" and rated Perth No. 4, a move Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said was a "brand hit" the city did not deserve and which also drew a spray from Tourism WA.
Despite the post not showing any evidence of more than one disgruntled individual commenting on each city, Trippy saw fit to name the cities the "worst on the planet" and publish those comments to the national audience in one sour slap.
Perth got a mention on the strength of a comment from Brad Duplechain from Corona, California.
"Just boring. No food culture to speak of and overall low on the fun scale," Mr Duplechain spat.
Mr Duplechain's illuminating words were also used to describe why Cleveland, Ohio, was also on the list: "Because Cleveland."
The other cities on the list were Athens ("a minor hellhole"), Las Vegas ("lipstick on a pig"), Moscow ("generally seemed miserable"), Belize City, Los Angeles, Arles, Chisinau and Bangkok.
The comment on Perth contrasted with a glowing review of the city by The New York Times, which called Perth a "hipster heaven", and The Economist intelligence unit's 2015 Global Liveability Ranking, which last month ranked Perth the world's eighth-best city to live in.
WAtoday.com.au also ran a piece last week about some of Perth's least-appreciated, low-key gems.
To rub salt into the wound, the blog included the most unflattering possible photo of Perth, a close-up of a collection of skyscrapers so generic that a similar photo could easily be taken in any of the world's capital cities.