This is the trouble with April Fool's Day.

[conuly]

First, it's April Fool's, so run of the mill pranks just won't cut it anyway, everybody will be expecting them.

But here's the thing. YOU want to be FUNNY. Well... it's possible to be funny, but then you probably won't catch anybody. They'll all have a good laugh at the joke, but they won't be fooled. (Which is probably just as well if you're pranking online, because you can't see their reaction to being fooled anyway.)

Or you can fool people, but then nobody laughs, they just get upset, and it's not funny at all.

So your options are: Be really over the top and fool nobody OR be less over the top and fool everybody but they don't forgive you for a year.

Neither one of which really is a good option. *sighs*

Comments

[cumaeansibyl.livejournal.com]

I actually managed to be funny and catch someone last year, but I don't expect it would work again.

[ascian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, good April Fool's jokes are rare and hard to pull off. I don't usually go in for them for the reasons you cite. It's hard to find that happy medium where the joke has impact without doing harm.

I had one, though, that was lots of fun. I was on a text-based roleplaying game where you submit your character's personality, background, etc in an application, and then those features are put on public display once you're approved. I was on the staff that approves characters, and I copied down the features of a character that belonged to the game's director, did a poor search/replace of the character's name, and submitted it from a false e-mail as a blatantly plagiarized application.

Everyone believed it was genuine, and when the app was denied I got all nerd rage 'MY DADS A SYSADMIN AND IM A SUPERHACKER SO U BETTER WATCH OUT!' for a couple of e-mails, all the while monitoring my friends' amusement/annoyance ratio, and yelling 'APRIL FOOL'S!' just before they stopped being entertained.

It was great. :D

For pointless little gags, I'm a fan of putting a lubed condom on a doorknob. It's harmless, but it's a great moment of 'GAH!' My mom always puts a rubber band on the hand-sprayer attachment on the sink so that people turning on the water will get doused. It's a little nastier, but I think it's pretty all right. I'm thinking I might go over to their house and add food colouring to their milk when they aren't looking... >:)

[sayga.livejournal.com]

My mom always puts a rubber band on the hand-sprayer attachment on the sink so that people turning on the water will get doused.

Bahahahaha! I love that! Not if it was me and I was already dressed for work, but great for a weekend April Fools!

My coworker just ran to the bank. I think when he gets back, I'll tell him that a millionaire client we've been trying to get called and said she'd sign with us. That's harmless enough though not terribly funny either.

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

And then there are the ones that are overdone so many times that you refuse to click on anything without doublechecking it first. =P *Can't believe that people are STILL rickrolling, despite its triteness by now*

[conuly]

I thought rickrolling was over on Thanksgiving.

We all have to wait several years. THEN we can start doing it again.

[cumaeansibyl.livejournal.com]

I actually managed to be funny and catch someone last year, but I don't expect it would work again.

[ascian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, good April Fool's jokes are rare and hard to pull off. I don't usually go in for them for the reasons you cite. It's hard to find that happy medium where the joke has impact without doing harm.

I had one, though, that was lots of fun. I was on a text-based roleplaying game where you submit your character's personality, background, etc in an application, and then those features are put on public display once you're approved. I was on the staff that approves characters, and I copied down the features of a character that belonged to the game's director, did a poor search/replace of the character's name, and submitted it from a false e-mail as a blatantly plagiarized application.

Everyone believed it was genuine, and when the app was denied I got all nerd rage 'MY DADS A SYSADMIN AND IM A SUPERHACKER SO U BETTER WATCH OUT!' for a couple of e-mails, all the while monitoring my friends' amusement/annoyance ratio, and yelling 'APRIL FOOL'S!' just before they stopped being entertained.

It was great. :D

For pointless little gags, I'm a fan of putting a lubed condom on a doorknob. It's harmless, but it's a great moment of 'GAH!' My mom always puts a rubber band on the hand-sprayer attachment on the sink so that people turning on the water will get doused. It's a little nastier, but I think it's pretty all right. I'm thinking I might go over to their house and add food colouring to their milk when they aren't looking... >:)

[sayga.livejournal.com]

My mom always puts a rubber band on the hand-sprayer attachment on the sink so that people turning on the water will get doused.

Bahahahaha! I love that! Not if it was me and I was already dressed for work, but great for a weekend April Fools!

My coworker just ran to the bank. I think when he gets back, I'll tell him that a millionaire client we've been trying to get called and said she'd sign with us. That's harmless enough though not terribly funny either.

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

And then there are the ones that are overdone so many times that you refuse to click on anything without doublechecking it first. =P *Can't believe that people are STILL rickrolling, despite its triteness by now*

[conuly]

I thought rickrolling was over on Thanksgiving.

We all have to wait several years. THEN we can start doing it again.