Poll: I'm sick of April Fools

[Hazzard]

Now, once a year we get people posting shit on the internet and it's impossible to find proper news.
Anyone else sick of it. The Escapist itself is guilty of it when they have a handful of articles where we can't tell if it's an April Fools or not.

Captcha:
Since when? Since Internet

 

[Mathak]

we can't tell if it's an April Fools or not.

Pretty sure most people are capable of telling the difference, tbh.

 

[Lionsfan]

I wish more people would understand, lying and presenting something as fact isn't a prank. It's just lying and stupid

Relevant xkcd [http://xkcd.com/169/]

 

[axlryder]

I wish more people would understand, lying and presenting something as fact isn't a prank. It's just lying and stupid

Relevant xkcd [http://xkcd.com/169/]

kind of a different context there. As far as April fools jokes go, pretty much everyone is in on it, so you just have to remember that it's April first when you hear something ridiculous, or you're caught off guard. That said, the lie should be creative and ridiculous, yet vaguely plausible, otherwise I'd go so far as to say you're doing it wrong.

As far as people who just lie to you randomly about something traumatic or totally believable and then call you gullible for believing them. Fuck those people. Seriously. Fuck them and their smug sense of self-satisfaction. I just recently had a conversation with a friend who was like:
"you know, I've been meaning to tell you, I'm kind of into bondage".

"really? Okay I guess"

"you believed me? Seriously? Haha, you're so gullible"

I then proceeded to punch him directly in the face....


in my mind.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I wish more people would understand, lying and presenting something as fact isn't a prank. It's just lying and stupid

Relevant xkcd [http://xkcd.com/169/]

It depends on how it's done.

If the lie is something dull then yea its pointless, but if its something amusing like "president admits the existence of aliens" then its funny.

But it's not funny.

There's no point to making an April fools day joke if you aren't actually going to fool anyone. Something like "president admits existence of aliens" is so out of right field that no one in their right mind, no matter how gullible is going to believe it on April 1st of all days. There's no point in trying to fool people with spectacular news like that because no one will believe it.

On the other hand you could fool someone with something totally banal, but then there isn't really any point to that either because a dull lie isn't funny. So in the end nothing that happens on April fools is actually funny in any way, unless laughing at other people's pathetic attempts at pranks gets you off.

 

[shrekfan246]

Relevant xkcd [http://xkcd.com/169/]

It's been a long time since I had to say this, but I don't get the first two panels.

OT: I've always been sick of April Fool's Day. The few legitimately funny jokes are vastly outnumbered by the sheer amount of people who think it's hilarious to be utter dinks on this day and can 'get away with it' because "LOL APRIL FOOL'S!"

 

[Lionsfan]

snip

snip

Thought I responded, but it must have gotten lost in the merge.

It's probably me, but I just think that pranks should have a little more effort behind them, than what I'm doing right now (typing).

We've got The Onion to type silly stories like that, I think pranks should be something you plan out and do.

Relevant xkcd [http://xkcd.com/169/]

It's been a long time since I had to say this, but I don't get the first two panels.

So the guy says: "There are 3 words in the English Language that end in -gry besides hungry and angry. What's the third word?"

It seems like a simple question, besides hungry and angry, what's the 3rd word that ends in -gry?

But the question guy isn't really asking that. He's asking "There are 3 words in The English Language, meaningless blah blah blah blah. What's the third word?"

Hence the "communicating badly and acting smug when other don't understand" line

 

[shrekfan246]

So the guy says: "There are 3 words in the English Language that end in -gry besides hungry and angry. What's the third word?"

It seems like a simple question, besides hungry and angry, what's the 3rd word that ends in -gry?

But the question guy isn't really asking that. He's asking "There are 3 words in The English Language, meaningless blah blah blah blah. What's the third word?"

Hence the "communicating badly and acting smug when other don't understand" line

Yeah, I got that much, but I... unless the point is that you're not supposed to understand, which I shouldn't rule out with xkcd.

Oh. Wait. Right, it's one of those dumb riddles where the structure is just there to confuse the question.

...

That took me longer to get than it probably should have.

 

[Elfgore]

Yeah, one facebook page has posted a picture ten times already saying Date A live 2 had been pushed back until next year. It wasn't funny the first time, since it was obviously fake, and only got worse the more they posted. I hate this day. So few are actually funny with their pranks.

 

[Qwurty2.0]

You mean Titanfall didn't add Optimus Prime?! D:

 

[JoJo]

Nah, I like this day, it's fun to see the obviously fake articles and also to guess on the more subtle ones whether it's actually a hoax or not, it's only one day of the year after-all so it's not that annoying.

 

[Muspelheim]

Come on. Does it really matter that much? Is a fabricated news piece buried among the real ones (and often rather obvious) that terrible? They aren't betraying your esteemed trust by boldly lying to your face. They're just making one segment up that particular day because that is all that remains of a much older tradition.

It's on the decline either way, whether you like the practice or not.

 

[Barbas]

Well, some pranks can be annoying...

...but it only happens once a year and it never becomes intolerable...or at least it hasn't yet.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Nope, otherwise these videos won't get made and beside it's only ONE DAY!

 

[Treeinthewoods]

I quite enjoy all the silly stuff I get to read today, once a year is the perfect amount of this kind of fun.

It's even more fun reading comments on ridiculous news from people who forgot it's April 1st.

OP, you seem to have injured your fun muscle, perhaps consider resting and icing until it is ready to be used again?

 

[Eamar]

My heart kind of sinks on April 1st because I know we're in for an avalanche of annoying, half-assed "jokes." That said, I do appreciate a good April Fools prank.

In my mind, these can take two forms: either they're something that might conceivably fool quite a few people (I don't understand the point of blatantly obvious false stories and the like), but are also clever and funny (so not just straight up lying about something boring or serious). Basically, if you can come up with a really ludicrous premise and still manage to present it in such a way that people are fooled. Something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_tree_hoax

The other good kind is when you go balls to the wall crazy and outrageous, but put loads of effort into it so that the audience is impressed and gets a bit of a laugh out of it. Like how a couple of years ago Destructoid turned the whole site into "Oktoid" - a terrible dating site aimed at gamers. That was genuinely funny, and you had to be impressed at how fully they committed to it. Similarly, stuff like disassembling a car and putting it back together again in an impossible place, like inside a school building (I can't for the life of me find a link now but I know this happened somewhere a while back) takes ingenuity and effort and can result in some pretty funny photos.

So yeah, kinda sick of a lot of April Fools, but the good pranks make it worth it. Sadly I haven't seen any really good ones today though.

 

[Hazzard]

Come on. Does it really matter that much? Is a fabricated news piece buried among the real ones (and often rather obvious) that terrible? They aren't betraying your esteemed trust by boldly lying to your face. They're just making one segment up that particular day because that is all that remains of a much older tradition.

It's on the decline either way, whether you like the practice or not.

I'm talking about things like the Square-Enix announcement. I am just suspicious of all news on the 1st of April because it's likely false on the one day where people spout crap when I just want to find the useful things.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I was under the assumption 'April Fool's' WASN'T just saying some random shit and pretending it's true, it was actually setting up an elaborate prank or even a simple one that relies on the victim's own actions or beliefs to work. If you can immediately tell some thing's a joke, it isn't a good one.
There are too many bad April's Fool things, it's just a bit boring.

 

[Hazy992]

I don't mind it in principle, but I wish people would remember that it's supposed to be about pranking people.

Just telling a lie isn't a prank or a joke, it's stupid at best and downright mean-spirited at worst.