April Fools

[Trotsky]

This is carry-over from a work conversation.  None of the dozen or so of us had ever actually *seen* a decent April Fool's prank.  Heard legends, of course, but not been present.

Is April Fool's Day itself the only actual April Fool prank?

[Rosey]

This is carry-over from a work conversation.  None of the dozen or so of us had ever actually *seen* a decent April Fool's prank.  Heard legends, of course, but not been present.

Is April Fool's Day itself the only actual April Fool prank?

I know AFD mostly as "stay off the internet day": it's generally full of predictable jokes and eye-rollingly dumb attempts at tricking people. I, too, have never seen a really good AFD prank.

[Trotsky]

This is carry-over from a work conversation.  None of the dozen or so of us had ever actually *seen* a decent April Fool's prank.  Heard legends, of course, but not been present.

Is April Fool's Day itself the only actual April Fool prank?

I know AFD mostly as "stay off the internet day": it's generally full of predictable jokes and eye-rollingly dumb attempts at tricking people

Sturgeon's Law kicks in super hard on the internet.

[nr53]

I had a friend convince people he was a new father, complete with baby pictures, facebook posts and some friend congratulating him to help spread the joke. He spread this over a few months but had the birth occur on the 1st so it still counts.

[Swampy]

Although technically a March 1 joke, and I can only find an article reporting on the joke rather than the joke itself, this one was pretty good. :-)

[Al DeFlorio]

Sidd Finch

[Trotsky]

Pranks run via the media are another animal.  They are too "professional."  My question was whether anybody has actually personally participated in a good DIY prank.

[judy]

I have a friend who is trying to plot out a prank for this year's April 1. Something along the lines of she's not at work that day because she's at an interview at another branch office/run off to join the circus/auditioning for a singing gig. We told her she shouldn't say she's interviewing and the singing gig is actually possible. I will report back if she actually does go through with it.

[judy]

Nothing exciting from my friend. She called a meeting for her team on reorganization, showed up with bagels and left.

[RichH]

Nothing exciting from my friend. She called a meeting for her team on reorganization, showed up with bagels and left.

NOT doing a prank is sort of a meta-prank in and of itself now.

At least that's what I'm telling every internet site.

[Beeeej]

I had a reasonbly decent one many years ago while still on campus, convincing a fair number of people of a pretty outlandish concert lineup for Springfest/Slope Day.  I also hooked a bunch of Billy Joel fanatics on a listserv one year with a fake press release about adding Bruce Hornsby and someone else (can't remember who right now, maybe I'll try to find it later in my email archives) to the next Billy/Elton "Face to Face" tour.

My wife's right, though, it's become too much of a "get sympathy with a fake problem" day, and finding humor in other people's honest expressions of sympathy isn't very cool.  So today my only "prank" on Facebook was to post a career change announcement that was obviously silly enough that people would know instantly it was a joke and hopefuly find humor in it.  Those who felt the need to respond in the comments that it must be a joke were, I suppose, second-level jokes in themselves.

[Beeeej]

Oh - as far as meta-pranks, my favorite is that one of my closest friends got married to his fiancée by a Justice of the Peace on April 1 with no prior announcement of the plan.  Today is their twentieth anniversary, and some of their friends still have trouble believing it actually happened, which is entertaining in itself.  (I was one of only a few witnesses, so I know.)

[KeithK]

My wife's right, though, it's become too much of a "get sympathy with a fake problem" day, and finding humor in other people's honest expressions of sympathy isn't very cool.  So today my only "prank" on Facebook was to post a career change announcement that was obviously silly enough that people would know instantly it was a joke and hopefuly find humor in it.  Those who felt the need to respond in the comments that it must be a joke were, I suppose, second-level jokes in themselves.

You mean I don't have a permanent place to crash in Vegas?  Damn!

[billhoward]

Hosts for Gator Country FM 101.9 (the name suggests some endemic listener credulousness) reported that dihydrogen monoxide was coming out of taps in Florida. Officials talked about arresting the hosts for causing a public panic.

http://12160.info/page/radio-hosts-suspended-after-dihydrogen-monoxide-prank-causes-pani?xg_source=activity

[Jerseygirl]

For an April Fool's Day prank at my last job I went in after everyone had gone home for the night on 3/31 and removed all of my personal effects, papers, etc. from my desk. I am not a neat person, so this was a noticeable difference from normal. Then I didn't come in until late the next morning. My then-bf, who worked in the same office, played along, drove in by himself, and said he hadn't seen me that morning. Since I was miserable there*, it was entirely plausible that I had quit.

*Those of you who follow me on Twitter may remember this as the place where I "fixed a tech problem" by turning on our CFO's computer.