Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2023-04-03/From the archives

A retrospective of the best and worst pranks.

From the archives

April Fools' through the ages

By Adam Cuerden

To simplify things, years in the headers will link to the documentation for all pranks that year. The Signpost coverage – where available – will be linked in the text highlighting some of the best or most controversial pranks. Since the early days of Wikipedia tended to have the biggest pranks, the second half will cover rather more years.

2004: Let's delete the main page!

We didn't have The Signpost to document Wikipedia's first April Fools, and it was fairly tame compared to later years: A proposal to delete the Main Page, an attempt to block localhost for vandalism, and other things mentioned in joking that feel like things that would later happen. We did get one rather good news item on our main page:

Santa Claus' elves go on strike at the North Pole, they threaten that if talks don't resume by noon EST, they will become elf-employed.

...but it was shortlived, and compared to what was to come....

2005: Britannica takes over Wikipedia, fake articles get flushed down the loo.

While having an Arbitration Committee was controversial in 2005, publishing a blatant hoax as featured article on the main page and announcing Wikipedia's imminent takeover by Britannica was apparently fine and dandy. And things got more and more goofy as the day went on:

• 
  Just some of what today we would consider outright vandalism that struck that day. Check out the tragic deaths right next to blatant hoaxes!

Even the interface changed. The text you clicked on to "edit this page" was replaced with "vandalise this page". And then later...

• 
  Things got weirder from there.

Our coverage attempts to dig through this chaos. An attempt to set rules was put in place, and the original plan for this year – just using a silly article that sounded fake, but was actually real – would be used in later years, instead of inventing fancy mediæval toilet paper holders.

2006: The last hurrah of screwing with the interface; paid editing for all

More user interface shenanigans: the "delete" tab became "baleeted". Cyde changed "My watchlist" to "Stalked pages", and was blocked accordingly. Drini (later renamed Magister Mathematicae) wasn't blocked for his unprotection of the main page, though.

I'd say the meanest prank, however, was adding this to the community bulletin board:

• Special Notice: Due to generous donations by several large corporations, Wikipedia can now afford to pay editors. All editors with over 1000 edits are elible to apply. For details on how to register for the payroll, CLICK HERE.

Paid editing for all?

Our coverage is here.

2007:

The first year The Signpost missed out on any coverage. The big innovation this year was finally implementing Raul's idea from 2005 for Today's featured article:

George Washington was an early inventor of instant coffee, and worked to ensure a full supply to soldiers fighting at the front. Early on, his campaign was based in Brooklyn, but later he crossed into New Jersey toward a more profitable position. In the countryside, he demonstrated a love of wild creatures, and was often seen with a bird or a monkey on his shoulder. Washington's choice beverage was taken up by the soldiers for its psychoactive properties, even though it tasted terrible. Some thought his brewed powder could even remedy the chemical weapons then in use. But, despite this, Washington failed in his first bid for the Presidency, as papers were filed too late, and the nominator forgot to tell him about it. (more...)

Recently featured: New Carissa – Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria – Cleveland

Meanwhile, we rescinded the payments from last year. Recent changes got a new notice:

The Wikimedia foundation Wikipedia Announcement The Wikimedia Foundation has decided there is no other option at the present than to charge people to edit the English Wikipedia. "For too long people have been free to hack this website. It's about time they paid" states Theresa Knott the new funding officer. "Allowing free access to all simply encourages vandalism. By asking for a quid an edit we stop kids vandalising, spammers spamming and edit warriors warrioring " Minor edits will naturally be cheaper, although the exact pricing details have not yet been fully worked out. Debate on this is welcome. All users should register their credit card at Wikipedia:Credit Card Registration by noon on 1.4.07. Otherwise their editing privileges will be suspended. Members of the cabel are, of course, exempt.

2008:

Honestly, the did you know section really knocked it out of the park this year:

• ...that the 24 Hours of LeMons includes such penalties as tarring and feathering a racer's car and crushing a car via audience vote (crushing of a car pictured)?
• ...that John F. Kennedy was shot dead in an ambush by government agents who had foreknowledge of his whereabouts?
• ...that in a few villages and towns of southern France and Spain it is illegal to die, and that there are attempts to have the same law in a town in Brazil?
• ...that Weber kettle grills were actually made out of buoys cut in half?
• ...that men are able to be insured against alien impregnation?
• ...that Ben Affleck died while shoveling snow outside of his house, leaving behind an unexpectedly small estate speculated to be worth as little as US$20,000?
• ...that American entrepreneur Timothy Dexter defied the popular idiom and actually made a profit when he sold coal to Newcastle?
• ...that six latrines at Black Moshannon State Park in Pennsylvania are listed on the National Register of Historic Places?
• ...that in 1976, people reported feeling a floating sensation as they jumped in the air, caused by a Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect (Jupiter pictured)?
• ...that Wiener sausages are named after the mathematician Norbert Wiener?
• ...that the winner of the Ernie Awards is the person who gets the loudest boos from the audience?
• ...that the 31-mile (50 km) West Rim Trail along the Grand Canyon was selected by Outside Magazine as the best hike in Pennsylvania?
• ...that although presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have been requested to give technical advice about software patches in open-source computer operating systems, only the Ukrainian president did so?
• ...that James Garner sent two of his associates into a room filled with toxic chlorine gas?
• ...that Jan Wils won a gold medal in architectural design in art competitions at the 1928 Summer Olympics for his design of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam?

(Aside: this is one of the illustrations in Wiener sausage.

• 
  A short, fat Wiener sausage in 2 dimensions

...That's a wiener, alright.)

The featured article was Ima Hogg, one of those people who probably hated her parents a bit for their naming choices. To quote the article: She endeavored to downplay her unusual name by signing her first name illegibly and having her stationery printed with "I. Hogg" or "Miss Hogg".

Featured picture candidate "800 x enlargement of a pixel"

Six administrators were blocked this year, one for making Wikipedia's tagline " "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia administer [sic] by people with a stick up their lavender passageway". Lovely.

Besides the above-linked article, we also had a short history of April Fools' on Wikipedia.

Finally, my favourite joke nomination at featured picture candidates, "800 x enlargement of a pixel"

2009:

Today's featured article: "The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a world-renowned institution dedicated to showcasing the finest art acquired from Boston-area refuse. The museum started in a pile of trash in 1994, in a serendipitous moment when an antiques dealer came across a painting of astonishing power and compositional incompetence that had been tragically discarded."

Other jokes include a to close English Wikipedia, and the dark Terminal Event Management Policy, about what to do if the world was ending on Wikipedia, particularly useful as Skynet was approved to begin operations.

The page that collects jokes also has this hilarious, but undocumented screenshot:

2010:

The picture of the day demonstrated just how much beauty standards change

We briefly covered things, but, honestly, the only things worth speaking about is the main page fun. The article was wife selling, which is kind of boring, but DYK once again ruled the roost:

• ... that researchers have identified the pictured life form which no longer lives on this planet?
• ... that The Queen was captured by the Germans in 1916?
• ... that a rain of blood in Germany foreshadowed the coming of the Black Death?
• ... that James Brown flew an F-22 Raptor and survived a fuel leak while traveling at almost the speed of sound?
• ... that despite dying in battle and being beheaded, Máel Brigte of Moray still managed to kill his opponent Sigurd the Mighty, a 10th-century Earl of Orkney, as he rode home afterwards?
• ... that the Duke of Edinburgh won a recorded 95% of the vote in a Greek head of state election, but was never appointed?
• ... that Martin Van Buren was over twenty feet wide?
• ... that residents of Castleford, England, were incensed when their council tried to eliminate Tickle Cock?
• ... that the citizens of Picoazá, Ecuador, elected foot powder as their mayor?

• ... that Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley, Yorkshire, boasts a wife-soothing cradle (pictured)?
• ... that Bertie Ahern speaks Bertiespeak?
• ... that humpbacked elves are rarely seen because their bodies are microscopic?
• ... that Lindbergh raced an airplane from Washington to New York in under three hours, without ever leaving the ground?
• ... that Robert Louis Stevenson took a pew from South Leith Parish Church?
• ... that Elvis is still alive and teaching soccer at Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School?
• ... that the first Territorial Governor of Montana, Sidney Edgerton, fought as a Squirrel Hunter during the American Civil War?
• ... that T. rex survives underground in Kenya?
• ... that two Irish musicians described as "tone deaf", and as "not very good" by British prime minister Gordon Brown, have been recently cited as more popular than The Beatles?

• ... that the materials used in the production of a Škoda Fabia car (pictured) in 2007 included margarine and orange sugar paste?
• ... that Tom Cruse was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantly charging hostile Indians?
• ... that the cod Yorkshire dialect, one on't cross beams gone owt askew on treadle, in Monty Python's "Trouble at Mill" sketch actually means something?
• ... that Guinness Black Lager is a new black lager which is being test marketed in Malaysia by Diageo for sale in the west under its Guinness brand name?
• ... that the yellow morel was once a Phallus?
• ... that Leonid Malashkin was the true composer of Kodály's "Buttocks-Pressing Song"?
• ... that in October 1968, Dumbo was arrested in Las Palmas, Spain?
• ... that Wikipedia covers the whole shebang?
• ... that Perth, Western Australia, got rid of ugly men in 1948?

• ... that Ruth Belville (pictured) and her parents had a business selling people Greenwich Mean Time?
• ... that the Prada Store in Marfa, Texas, is never open?
• ... that Professor Dirk Obbink is an expert on material from garbage heaps and charred remains?
• ... that the Ilkley Museum in Yorkshire, England, is a notable habitat for Brunus edwardii?
• ... that the American television show Glee was written with the aid of Screenwriting for Dummies?
• ... that Frank Hansford-Miller, founder of the English National Party, emigrated to Australia?
• ... that "Everything in Sussex is a She except a Tom Cat and she's a He"?
• ... that buttock mail was a form of punishment for fornication, an alternative to the stool of repentance?
• ... that William Shakespeare was nicknamed "The Merchant of Menace"?

More next issue!

← Previous "From the archives"

In this issue

3 April 2023 (all comments)

From the editor

News and notes

In the media

Arbitration report

Featured content

Recent research

From the archives

Disinformation report

+ Add a comment

Discuss this story

These comments are automatically transcluded from this article's talk page. To follow comments, add the page to your watchlist. If your comment has not appeared here, you can try .

• The article's skewed!? I feel like I got meta-pranked... Space Sushi (talk) 23:08, 15 April 2023 (UTC)
  

The Signpost is looking for new talent.

Home

About

Archives

Newsroom

Subscribe

Suggestions