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Do you tend to participate in April fools day?
(Well, let's play a game of trust, shall we?)
I personally don't because most of the things that come to mind in my case are mostly doing really out of character things that would require way too much effort in my part and hoping people will find them funny, which will probably not happen and generally trust-based games like April fools aren't really my thing and I'm pretty sure I've struggled enough with irony and naiveness enough as is.
I used to be pretty excited about April's Fools, I think the internet has completely ruined that. Honestly if there is one thing that I've appreciated about Google it's how they've cancelled their "jokes" for the past two years. (Citing COVID, but I wouldn't be surprised it was just a Good Opportunity™)
Sowing distrust is like, the last thing we need right now. The reactions to Voltswagen are a good example of that: Journalists on twitter have been fucking furious because VW "confirmed" to them that it was real and then backed out. I saw someone with a long career in media, mention that "Journalists really don't appreciate being lied to and never forget when you do".
I understand the drive, when you're a company, to want to do a joke announcement and there's some pretty good/funny ones out there. The problem is that it's fucking everywhere on AF.
I hate sounding like a grump. But I don't participate, and if I didn't have a bunch of stuff to take care of right now, I'd be taking the opportunity to follow kfwyre's screenless day today. So instead I'm limiting my internet exposure to just Tildes and YouTube.
Also didn’t help that VW started talking about things on March 30th, rather than doing it on the actual day.
I think April fool's can be a really fun day. It can also be unpleasant when people misunderstand what it's ostensibly about. April fool's is supposed to be about getting someone to believe something that isn't true*. Which is different than just pranking someone.
Filling someone's car with popcorn is a prank, and the main outcome is that someone now has to clean their car, and probably only the prank-er thinks this is funny. However, convincing someone that their car was filled with popcorn and getting them to run outside, that's a solid April fool's. No harm was done, and everyone can probably have a good laugh.
A good April fool's joke relies on having a base of trust in the first place. If you prank/fool a stranger, that's just mean. If you fool a friend, it can be a way to bond.
*oh wait, Fox news exists. Welp, thanks for ruining that, jerks
I'm tired of it, honestly. Especially when it comes to big tech companies. All of the big tech companies trying to outdo one another is tiring.
Companies go out of their way to make their joke look like it's legitimate, so it's impossible to tell what's an actual announcement and what's just a joke. I just write the entire day off when it comes to news because there's just no way to tell what's real and what's fake.
I get why they do it, to make companies seem more fun and playful...like they have a sense of humor (spoiler: they don't, companies aren't people). But it's gotten out of hand in the last few years.
I actually think the opposite. Most companies play it safe; their April Fools joke is written obviously as a joke so as to avoid any liability from actually tricking people. It's pretty easy to tell. Like this is an email I got from Wyze about their "car"
(...I also wish Wyze would refrain from emailing me just for their April Fools joke, but I digress)
It usually ends up sounding more like satire without a point - it's clearly absurd, and that's about it - it's just absurd. No other point. Which is a bit of a shame; I feel like you should either do nothing, or go all out and make something that can actually trick folks.
One thing I've seen is that sometimes April Fool's (or some joke/prank ideas) can be used as a test to gauge interest or popularity of a new idea/product. If the idea is favorable, then the green light can be given, and full development can proceed. If the idea does poorly with fans, then hey it was just a little light April Fool's joke, no major effort was involved.
An example I can remember is when Blizzard announced the Pandaren for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos in 2002. The concept then proceeded to become a pretty big component of the Warcraft franchise. Another possible example, although I cannot confirm, is Google in 2014 may have created the concept of what was to become Pokemon Go as an April Fool's joke.
Obviously there are other methods of gauging interest or testing new ideas with different audiences, but this is a relatively easy and well-recognized method of both trying out something a bit "out there" and having tiny bit of fun at the same time.
Probably the most infamous example of this was Think Geek (RIP). They did this repeatedly, coming up with items that where sometimes pretty "out there" and announcing them as an April Fools joke. Then later they would actually release them for real, after gauging the response they got. https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/2/17188720/april-fools-day-2018-pranks-thinkgeek-mermaid-snuggie-star-wars
I usually go in hating it but usually there’s a small selection of content creators who actually come up with a good idea. This morning I was surprised and amused with Linus Tech Tips.
Thank you for linking that, that was genuinely hilarious. This is the kind of stuff I love to see content creators do for April Fool's. Just silly and fun.
Yes.
I put googly eyes everywhere. It's not a classic April Fools, but it is a tradition my kid really enjoys.
This year, I left him a letter stating that April Fools was cancelled, that I knew he loved the Googly eyes, but I was so sorry, due to COVID, there would be no googly eyes.
Man, he was really bummed, but what are you going to do?
I usually check in on the well-known participants (google, reddit, etc.) because they're usually good for a laugh and are clearly jokes. Everything else I just kind of ignore. I don't read the news, I don't use social media much, etc.
I personally enjoy seeing what crops up! Obviously Volkswagen, den of lies, needs to shake their marketing team a bit (when someone asks, the jig is up. Don't double down and don't do it two days early lmao). But there have been websites that do interesting things. Deviant art usually does some silly nonsense (though with their website change, they've gotten A LOT of ire from their users so maybe nows not a good time). I like when creators do fun/little things. The Lock Picking Lawyer usually has something, generally puns but it's still fun. I know artists and other smaller creators will do funny things too.
The best are always the harmless ones. I think companies could probably work on whether or not they should actually do it depending on how their users/community is feeling towards them, but that'd take more insight than they likely care to give. They want them clicks!