[WikiEN-l] April 1st 2006, IRC, the mailing list, and the Cabal

Sat Apr 2 12:20:48 UTC 2005

On Apr 2, 2005 4:50 AM, Alphax <alphasigmax at gmail.com> wrote:
> Now that it's over (mostly), a brief synopsis of what happened:
> 
>     * A "joke" article was created in the User namespace
>     * Article was nominated as a FAC for April 1st 2005
>     * Mailing list, IRC and Cabal members shouted at each other
>     * Raul, Supreme Overlord of Features, grumpily declared "no"
>     * More shouting results in Main Page becoming full of silliness
>     * Many "joke" articles created
>     * Much concern about cleaning up the aftermath
> 
> And now for something completley different:
> 
> April 1st, 2006. April Fools Day *next year* (assuming Wikipædia still
> exists).
> 
> Many people liked the idea of an April Fools Day Wikipedia. Many did
> not. Answer: Compromise!
> 
> Here is my plan for Supreme Domination and pwnership next year:
> 
>     * The Main Page and Article namespace as a whole will remain
> "sensible". Links to April Fools version /might/ be possible.
>     * The Help namespace (which AFAIK is protected anyway) will remain
> untouched. We need to keep the serious things serious.
>     * The Wikipedia namespace (except for policy and information pages)
> is fair game. However, spurious VFDs (eg. Wikipedia:Votes for
> Deletion/Main Page
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/Main_Page>)
> should *not* be tolerated.
>     * Templates should be pranked with caution. Examples: VFD Template -
> Terminator Edition
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Vfd&oldid=11749823>,
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Vfd&oldid=11749823>Wikistress
> <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/1/19/20050401120959%21Wikistress3D_1_v3.jpg>
>     * Things in Mediawiki namespace should be pranked with /extreme
> caution/. Only those things visible to Sysops (or at the very worst,
> logged-in users) should be touchable. Example: Changing "block" to
> "crush by elephant" (but remember, the same joke is only funny once).
>     * Various other suggestions welcome.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I am a deletionist inclusionist sockpuppet troll. I founded
> the Cabal. Jimbo, /I/ am your Father!. Wikipedia is not sane. ALL YOUR
> BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
> 
> --
> Alphax
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Alphax
> There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'All right, then, have it your way.' - C. S. Lewis
> 

I say the simplest answer to next April Fools is to write an article
on a genuine subject, which *truly* seems incredible (in the proper
sense of the word) and bring it through FAC.

Really, to do so shouldn't be too hard. If we did a really good job of
this, with it written completely professionally and deadpan, and kept
*everything* else on Wikipedia as normal (as far as possible), then it
would be truly a public bepuzzlement to be proud of.

I'm not suggesting a hoax, or a lame-o-rama. I'm saying we have a
year, lets find a really unbelievable true subject to create an FA
about.

Oh, and don't give in to impatience and use it before 1 April.

If we don't manage it, I say the suggestion of filling Did You Know
with really unbelievable facts would achieve the same.

----

I was one of the advocates for ETPH on the main page. I was however
sorry to see such really lame "jokes" as the tab renaming, the VfD
template change, etc. Such things were disruptive *and* not in the
spirit of April fools. They were *really* *really* lame. The whole
point is to have one or two convincing subtle hoaxes and keep
everything else normal. The EB takeover thing was a nice idea, but in
reality was far too farcically done.

So although I was happy to see Wikipedians did have a sense of humour
and didn't be too stiff-lipped, I did feel it was a very crude and
unrefined humour.

I'm sure some others were none too surprised to see somewhat of a
parallel between /. and Wikipedia yesterday.

In summary, I'm in favour of us letting our hair down and having April
Fools' content. But we should strive to do it well, and be the best at
it if we're going to bother.

Zoney

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