A nasty trap for Bird's opening.

questionable annotations. fxe5 is actually the best move, qh4+ is garbage as is Be7 and white is completely winning if he ignores the queen.

I am fairly sure that there is more to this gambit than meets the eye. The position is fairly even, especially on shorter time controls. Athough it may be in theory better to be a pawn up, as a human the tactics get so crazy that the winnings seem to be quite equal. Qh4+ is actually a good move as far as I know, especially after Qg4. As for being a pawn down, could not the same thing be said about the king's gambit? There's more to chess than just material. And I am well aware that Be7 is garbage. But why waste an opportunity to win in four moves and have a hearty laugh about it?

And I am well aware that Be7 is garbage. But why waste an opportunity to win in four moves and have a hearty laugh about it?
Some of us care about playing the game well and have stopped finding hope chess to be amusing. "HA HA HA You could have let me win on the last move!" ... yeah.

It's a cute idea.
But after 4.Nf3, white can just develop at leisure, with d4 coming soon.
Black will have to go through concessions to challenge white's center, with not much counterplay to show for it.
White will have a relatively easy game, while black will have it much tougher.

Well, it seems I was wrong about Qh4+. I must have misremembered something about this opening if it really is as bad as you suggest.
But I think It's fairly reasonable to assume I'm not the only person on chess.com who gains a slight amount of enjoyment in beating someone in four moves. It is incredibly stupid, it is hope chess, but I mean c'mon, it's fun. And you would be suprised how many people ARE incapable of calulating further than ONE move.