# April Fool's Day



## Loob

What happened?

I really missed the daftness of specially-created April Fool's Day forums...

Being daft in existing forums wasn't the same - not least because it can be seen as divisive


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## Cagey

Technical difficulties, of course.  It wasn't done on purpose and isn't likely to happen again.

I like a clearly marked playpen, too.  Next year it should be back to the normal form of abnormality.


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## ajo fresco

I think I found this year's April Fool's Day thread!

A vague thread title, no specific question, with 30 posts (as of this writing) which consist mostly of off-topic chat about the best way to stir up amorous feelings in one's boyfriend.

I had considered reporting it, but then I saw 2 mods had posted in it as well -- and the thread continued uninterrupted -- so _April Fool's Day_ was the only possible explanation!


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## Grop

Yes, this thread was clearly about giving bad advice to what was probably a fake new member.

Several new members registered yesterday and didn't follow the rules; some of them were possibly true newbies, but several were obviously parodic members, and expected silly answers.


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## Joannes

Yeah, I guess it was a bit tricky, maybe there should come a new thread titled 'What's it like to be a newbie here, _on April 1_?'

Meanwhile, in the Portuguese forum, the protest on the adjective ban continues..


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## Frank78

Joannes said:


> Yeah, I guess it was a bit tricky, maybe there should come a new thread titled 'What's it like to be a newbie here, _on April 1_?'
> 
> Meanwhile, in the Portuguese forum, the protest on the adjective ban continues..



Yeah it took a while before I recognized that it was April Fool´s Day. Here it´s not very common among adults to make jokes on that day. It´s more for the children and teenagers.
At first I thought, what´s going on here the forum is very chatty today and no mod complains. 

That was my first April Fool´s Day.


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## ajo fresco

Grop said:


> Several new members registered yesterday and didn't follow the rules



This happens every day of the year!


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## Chaska Ñawi

ajo fresco said:


> I think I found this year's April Fool's Day thread!



You must think very poorly of WR to imagine that there'd be only _one _thread!


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## Alxmrphi

lol, yeah CN is right, the whole place was going mad, being wacky and silly, I think if they could have played carnival music on all WR pages they would have done


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## Vanda

hehehe. English forum banned the pluperfect, one of the Spanish forums banned the adverbs and you haven't taken notice of that! Our adjectives have been restored to their own sacred place now, it is just that our day begins 4 hours after some of yours.  
I love it when foreros have the opportunity to see what can become of the forums if all of us post whatever we want. 
Isn't April 1st, the day?!


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## lablady

Isn't April fool's Day fun? 

It _was_ sometimes difficult to tell if a thread was a joke or a serious request. I sympathize with the true newbies who were subjected to yesterday's chaos. But it really was fun.


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## AngelEyes

I like the April Fool's Day craziness precisely because it's only allowed once a year. It's special that way and lots of fun seeing how creative and wacky members can be.

Last year, if I remember correctly, the fake English threads were all in CD, weren't they? I was surprised to see them in the middle of the EO forum.

One thing I wish the MODS would do is put all these threads in a special place so that everyone can read them all, after April first. I'd like to be able to re-read last year's goofiness, too. 

If they're displayed in a read-only thread, that would be great. When I need a good laugh, I'll have a place to go. 


*AngelEyes*


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## Alxmrphi

AngelEyes said:


> I like the April Fool's Day craziness precisely because it's only allowed once a year. It's special that way and lots of fun seeing how creative and wacky members can be.
> 
> Last year, if I remember correctly, the fake English threads were all in CD, weren't they? I was surprised to see them in the middle of the EO forum.
> 
> One thing I wish the MODS would do is put all these threads in a special place so that everyone can read them all, after April first. I'd like to be able to re-read last year's goofiness, too.
> 
> If they're displayed in a read-only thread, that would be great. When I need a good laugh, I'll have a place to go.
> 
> *AngelEyes*



Great idea!


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## DearPrudence

lablady said:


> Isn't April fool's Day fun?
> 
> It _was_ sometimes difficult to tell if a thread was a joke or a serious request. I sympathize with the true newbies who were subjected to yesterday's chaos. But it really was fun.


Actually some newbies did worse things that we could have thought of!  (I want to thank them for the threads they inspired us (some of them are just plain copy / paste actually  ).
And yes, it was crazy to see that some were true newbies and it was a bit hard to respond seriously.

(actually I have a friend who discovered the forum on April 1 three years ago but decided to register on the following day because the place looked a bit crazy  Voilà, c'était juste un petit coucou  )


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## TrentinaNE

Even though I've been through 3 previous April Fools Days here at WRF, I was still caught off-guard yesterday.  I think I reported three threads (and even PM'd the CD moderators) before realizing what day it was. D'oh! 

My favorite April Fools bit was when then-moderator ElaineG created an alter-ego who asked for help translating her awful "poem" to an Italian guy. I was dying of laughter from some of those posts. (Do you remember, Alex? ) It's fun to see people's creativity come out once a year. 

Elisabetta


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## AngelEyes

I'm curious about the setup to this day.

*MODS*: do you have a special "meeting" to work out the mechanics of how it's going to be done each year? And another thing, is it fun or painful to sit back and just let everybody go crazy for once? Did you have to tie your delete finger behind your back? 

Elisabetta, which forum was ElaineG's thread in?

One complaint: I didn't accomplish hardly anything yesterday! It was that addictive. 

*AngelEyes*


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## TrentinaNE

AngelEyes said:


> Elisabetta, which forum was ElaineG's thread in?


At the time (3 years ago, I believe) it was in the IT-EN forum, but it now "sleeps with the fishes." 

Elisabetta


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## lablady

I particularly like the clever alter-egos the moderators create (did everyone know that some of those "newbies" that were running amok were moderators in disguise?) I like to see if I can figure out their true identities. Personally, I didn't dare register with a new "April Fool's Day" username for fear my rule violations would receive reprimands from a moderator that didn't know it was me. I'm pretty sure the moderators have orchestrated it all, and know who's who.

The first April Fool's Day after I registered, I was completely caught off guard and overwhelmed by all the hubbub. When I figured it out, I sent a congratulatory PM to one of the culprits, then signed off until it was all over.  
I have fond memories of the posts generated by "Achoo" and "Princessrunamok".


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## Joannes

Vanda said:


> hehehe. English forum banned the pluperfect, one of the Spanish forums banned the adverbs and you haven't taken notice of that!


I have, but that didn't create the mutiny I saw in the Portuguese forum  - seems like you've made people actually care about the rules. 



lablady said:


> I particularly like the clever alter-egos the moderators create (did everyone know that some of those "newbies" that were running amok were moderators in disguise?) I like to see if I can figure out their true identities.


Yes, it's a challenge. Tbh, I'm no good at it, although I'm pretty sure I unmasked one of them which used tildes instead of dashes . (Or maybe that was a feint so that I would think it was ewie. - orrrr it _was_ ewie pretending to mislead but being ewie after all.  ...)


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## sokol

Joannes said:


> I have, but that didn't create the mutiny I saw in the Portuguese forum  - seems like you've made people actually care about the rules.


Yes, they took offense at this hilarious Brazilian-Girls-Thread. 

Actually I missed some of the fun it seems, all those April Fool's threads were spread over the whole forum ... so yes, it would be more convenient to have them "fire-walled" in a single forum ... which of course will be the case next time again.


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## Loob

Thanks, everyone - it's good to know normal lunacy will be restored next year

Not that this year wasn't fun - it was!

_Can anyone tell me how I might sneak a peak at the Brazilian-Girls-Thread?  _
_And was there one about Brazilian boys?_


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## Valeria Mesalina

I didn´t much like to see fake threads among the genuine ones. I´m sorry.

I prefer all of them to have a place of ther own. And not everything was running smoothly. A couple of threads in the Spanish / English forums were nasty, to say the least. 

My impression was that it would be a hell of a job to clean up the place afterwards.  

By the way, I did not recognize any mod under their fake identities but I´d like to get hold of the one who said s/he was falling in love with me. I still want to strangle him (or her).

Val


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## ERASMO_GALENO

I was really fun to see what could happen any given day without mods. Thank you to all the foreros who worried about the order in the forums and who tried to advice those vicious posters in order to get them to fulfill the rules...

Are you suggesting that even one of the mods had to do something with yesterday's mess? Just imagine that!


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## Valeria Mesalina

ERASMO_GALENO said:


> I was really fun to see what could happen any given day without mods. Thank you to all the foreros who worried about the order in the forums and who tried to advice those vicious posters in order to get them to fulfill the rules...
> 
> Are you suggesting that even one of the mods had to do something with yesterday's mess? Just imagine that!



I did worry. And I did advice one mod (I don´t know whom) not to use chatspeak. 

I thought that in Spain, at least, there are many people who don´t know what 1st April means. So many real newbies, exploring the Sp/En forum would be utterly lost. Worse, there would be some of them who took this place as a chatboard and even joined in for that reason. 

The cleaning up is up to you , Erasmo. Good luck!

I did join in the fun, after all _si no puedes vencer al enemigo únete a él _. But I rather prefer the foolishness restricted to special forums and not scattered everywhere.

I´m a SPOILSPORT. So what?


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## Veentea

I'm a newbie and was starting to get horrified!  I didn't know what I had gotten myself into and was thinking that this wasn't the place for me when I saw some off-color threads. 

First, I took a joke reprimand seriously and felt pretty badly.

Then, I reported another thread...

Thankfully, a moderator told me to look at the calendar!

I should have known because foolishness was reigning in my home with taped toilet lids, vinegar in the water boiler and water in the salt shaker -- but I didn't expect it here!

Once I realized, I joined in the fun but I feel sorry for the moderators trying to find them all.  One of my joke threads remain -- probably because it got a good answer.


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## ERASMO_GALENO

Yeah, we explained the situation to every member that sent a message to us, and also when any member reported several threads without knowing what was happening...

And yeah, we are still cleaning all the mess up...


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## Veentea

> And yeah, we are still cleaning all the mess up...


I guess members could help by reporting those remaining...

It's fun for April's Fool but could leave the wrong impression for a serious visitor... or attract the wrong crowd.


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## Chaska Ñawi

It could ... but it hasn't been a big issue.  As Erasmo has already said, the regular members are great about observing the rules and reminding others to do the same.  

Many of the "newbies" running amok in the forums received kindly pms from the regulars explaining how everything worked.  As for the "wrong crowd", they find us pretty boring by the next day!


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## ERASMO_GALENO

Veentea said:


> I guess members could help by reporting those remaining...


 
Yep, please report as much as you can. We do read every report you generate, but we do not always can read every thread and every post in the forums, so the most effective way to make us realize of something wrong, is to report it! 



Chaska Ñawi said:


> As for the "wrong crowd", they find us pretty boring by the next day!


 
Yep, some people may say we can be boring, but they can't say we are not helpful...


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## ewie

Joannes said:


> Or maybe that was a feint so that I would think it was ewie. - orrrr it _was_ ewie pretending to mislead but being ewie after all.  ...


Oh darn! ~ given away by my punctuational habits again, Joannes


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## danielfranco

I can't believe I missed it this year…
Did you guys got the Crustacean Forum open again?

Ah, well… There'll be other April's Fools, I guess…
D


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## Grop

Hi D, no there was no special forum (except for Context Only which was apparently read-only and used by the mods) this year.

That's why all the crazy stuff was on the usual forums.


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## ewie

The 'Context Only' forum was a 'procedural misfunctioning', Mr.G.

Also known as a _cock-up._


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## french4beth

My favorite non-WR April Fool's Day event was from this company regarding _wireless convergence_: they announced the creation of the wolfpigeon, the sharkfalcon, and the crocodeagle .


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