I just did a quick search. I have never posted an April Fool’s Day message. Quite surprising, since I love the tradition. The internet is particularly good as a medium to deliver fake messages. I was fooled yesterday about the IE8 news.
A great April Fool joke is believeable. It makes the listener say, “WOW, I can’t believe it! But I will because it’s such important news!” The IE8 news yesterday totally hit the spot. I really wanted to believe everything in there. I really, truly, honestly WANTED to believe it. However, it was too good to be true, so I ignored the clear signals that it was a fake.
Gmail on the other hand today put a April Fools day feature that just is stupid. It doesn’t even make any sense. I didn’t care to believe it, so it missed the mark.
My best April Fools joke (not online) was a few years ago, when (after having 3 baby boys) I called my father and told him, “We have news. Katie is pregnant again.” My dad screamed, “God! Have you ever heard of birth control!?!” After a little while, I let him in on the joke. He hung up the phone angry with me, but I was delighted. I tricked the old man! HA HA HA HA! A great April Fools joke really lifts the spirit, if you are the joker and not the jokee. When you are on the receiving end, you feel like a class A moron. Just like I did yesterday.
A great April Fools joke is difficult to pull off. Don’t take it lightly. This is serious stuff. If you see some good ones online, feel free to post them in the comments below.
Whatya think?