Memo to all sites: You do NOT have to do April's Fool Joke

better nothing that a lame attempt

[walkman]

am I right or wrong? Some are so cheesy...

[Mr Bo Jangles]

I hope a few at Googleplex write that on some of their whiteboards - it's lame Google, as most corporate humor is.

[DamonHD]

Hi Walkman,

I'm with you: if you've nothing good to say then keep quiet! Slashdot's April Fool was cheap and borderline misogynist; I'm just waiting for the hearty jokes about its readership not being queer enough next year... Bv<

Rgds

Damon

PS: I liked Google Romance because they took the p**s out of all the things that their detractors complain about, such as irritating ads, buggy betas, etc.

[Chris_R]

Well I think everyone thought they were bening clever - and by the time they released them - they were too late in realizing - everyone else had done one and had no time to read theirs.

It made sense I mean for the last few years it worked pretty well. You only get this chance once a year - and people didn't know others plans. If they didn't do it - it almost looked like they were unprepared. Now you might HAVE to do an april fools joke in marketing books - or be looked down upon - especially if you have a big fan base like apple or google.

People woke up - I put way too much effort into mine - while I now have a story I want to post that I don't think people will believe, so how long do I have to wait until april fools dies off and I can post it? I am thinking tuesday.

[maccas]

Yeah I thought romance was ho hum, pigeon rank from a few years back was quite clever. The worst example of april fools was slashdot, I just stayed away from it all day.

[Chris_R]

I thinnk actually Taco Bell had the - well tipping pint isn't the word - sort of ignited the idea among marketers that you could use this to your advantage when they bought the liberty bell.

[Matt Probert]

I quite agree. We conciously decided not to issue an April Fool's joke. Apart from being perhaps inappropriate, I notice that many jokes aren't understood (see the Google dating service, for example). And that for an encyclopaedia site could result in serious consequences.

Matt

[ronin]

I usually do an April Fool's news story on the front page of my site for April 1st, but since April 1st this year fell on a Saturday - my lowest traffic day of the week - I decided not to bother.

Instead I added a piece of news which looked like it might be an April Fool's joke, but was actually a piece of news.

[DamonHD]

Hi,

Hmm, an April meta-Fool. Very clever!

Rgds

Damon