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From the archives

April Fools' through the ages: Part One

A retrospective of the best and worst pranks.

This is a draft of a potential Signpost article, and should not be interpreted as a finished piece. Its content is subject to review by the editorial team and ultimately by JPxG, the editor in chief. Please do not link to this draft as it is unfinished and the URL will change upon publication. If you would like to contribute and are familiar with the requirements of a Signpost article, feel free to be bold in making improvements!

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April Fools' through the ages: Part One
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A retrospective of the best and worst pranks.
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The Newsroom (talk)

deadlines

Writing: 6 January 00:00 (4 days left; 30%)

Publishing: 7 January 00:00 (5 days left; 35%)

There are 3 days, 6 hours, 8 minutes and 26 seconds until deadline. (refresh)

Last revised 18:05, 2 April 2023 (UTC) (20 months ago) by Adam Cuerden (refresh)

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3 April 2023

From the archives

April Fools' through the ages

Contribute —

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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Template:In_the_news&diff=3009374&oldid=3009333 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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard&oldid=11759440#Wikipedia_Has_Been_Hacked 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". Clyde changed "My watchlist" to "Stalked pages", and was blocked accordingly. Drini 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 coveage 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:

...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".

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.

**Original** - A single pixel, enlarged 800 times.

Finally, my favourite joke nomination at [[WP:FPC|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:

We briefly covered things, but, honestly, the only things worth speaking about is the main page fun:

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

Meanwhile, 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!

2011:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-04-04/News_and_notes

2012:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-04-02/Featured_content snake handling

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-04-02/WikiProject_report - goofy-ish?

2013:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-04-01/News_and_notes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2013-04-01/Featured_content https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Today%27s_featured_article/April_1,_2013

2014:

2014: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2014-03-26/Comment

FPC gets into it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2014-04-02/Featured_content

2015:

2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-04-01/News_and_notes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-04-01/Featured_content https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Wikivoyage:Joke_articles/Time_travel

2016:

2016: Our most controversial year, with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-04-01/News_and_notes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-04-01/Wikipedia_Weekly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-04-01/Technology_report

This was the last year for any real April Fools' celebrations up to now.

2017:

2017: Gap in articles from Feb to June

2018:

2018: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2018-04-26/Humour

2019:

2019: This year was kind of reeling from Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-02-28/Humour = a very bad attempt at humour. Hence, we apologised for april fools> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-03-31/From_the_editors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-03-31/Humour fares better.

2020:

2020=1: As COVID began devastating the world, we... did nothing humourous whatsoever for April Fools. We also skipped out on 2022, largely because the timing was off - late March and late April publication, and the War in Ukraine won out for coverage.

Optional: Give a short WP:LEAD-like introduction statement here.

Header 1

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Header 2

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

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

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@@ Line 118: / Line 118: @@
 === [[Wikipedia:April Fools/April Fools' Day 2010|2010]]: ===
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2010-04-05/News_and_notes
+[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2010-04-05/News_and_notes|We briefly covered things]], but, honestly, the only things worth speaking about is the main page fun:
+<gallery mode=packed heights=300px>
+File:Advertisement showing young woman with package of Loring's Fat-Ten-U.jpg|The picture of the day demonstrated just how much beauty standards change
+</gallery>
+Meanwhile, the article was [[wife selling]], which is kind of boring, but DYK once again ruled the roost:
+<div style="float:right;margin-left:0.5em;">
+[[File:Termitaradus mitnicki (dorsal view).jpg|100x100px|Termitaradus mitnicki |alt=Termitaradus mitnicki fossilized in amber]]
+</div>
+*... that [[paleontology|researchers]] have identified the pictured '''[[Termitaradus mitnicki|life form]]''' which no longer lives on this planet?
+*... that '''[[TSS The Queen|''The Queen'']]''' was captured by [[Kaiserliche Marine|the Germans]] in 1916?
+*... that a '''[[blood rain|rain of blood]]''' in Germany foreshadowed the coming of the [[Black Death]]?
+*... that '''[[James E. Brown III|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 Eysteinsson|Sigurd the Mighty]], a 10th-century [[Earl of Orkney]], as he rode home afterwards?
+*... that [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|the Duke of Edinburgh]] won a recorded 95% of the vote in a '''[[Greek head of state referendum, 1862|Greek head of state election]]''', but was never appointed?
+*... that '''[[USS Van Buren (1839)|Martin Van Buren]]''' was over twenty feet wide?
+*... that residents of [[Castleford]], [[England]], were incensed when their council tried to eliminate '''[[Tickle Cock Bridge|Tickle Cock]]'''?
+*... that the citizens of '''[[Picoazá]]''', [[Ecuador]], [[Write-in candidate|elected]] [[Antifungal drug|foot powder]] as their mayor?
+<div style="float:right;margin-left:0.5em;">
+[[File:Cliffecastlemus 063.jpg|100x100px|Wife-soothing cradle|alt=Adult-sized wooden cradle with "Henpeck'd Club's peace box" written on the side]]
+</div>
+*... that '''[[Cliffe Castle Museum]]''' in [[Keighley]], [[Yorkshire]], boasts a wife-soothing cradle ''(pictured)''?
+*... that [[Bertie Ahern]] speaks '''[[Bertiespeak]]'''?
+*... that '''[[Buxbaumia|humpbacked elves]]''' are rarely seen because their bodies are microscopic?
+*... that '''[[PRR 460|Lindbergh]]''' raced an airplane from Washington to New York in under three hours, without ever leaving the ground?
+*... that [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] took a [[Blind Pew|pew]] from '''[[South Leith Parish Church]]'''?
+* ... that '''[[Elvis Thomas (footballer, born 1972)|Elvis]]''' is still alive and teaching soccer at [[Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School]]?
+*... that the first [[Governors of Montana Territory|Territorial Governor of Montana]], '''[[Sidney Edgerton]]''', fought as a [[Cincinnati in the American Civil War#1862 invasion threat|Squirrel Hunter]] during the [[American Civil War]]?
+*... that '''''[[Tachyoryctes rex|T.&nbsp;rex]]''''' survives underground in [[Kenya]]?
+*... that two '''[[Jedward|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]]?
+<div style="float:right;margin-left:0.5em;">
+[[File:Škoda Fabia II 20090314 front.jpg|100x100px|Škoda Fabia II |alt=A red Škoda Fabia II car.]]
+</div>
+*... that the materials used in the production of '''[[Cake (advertisement)|a Škoda Fabia car]]''' ''(pictured)'' in 2007 included [[margarine]] and orange [[sugar paste]]?
+*... that '''[[Thomas Cruse|Tom Cruse]]''' was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] for gallantly charging hostile Indians?
+*... that the [[parody|cod]] [[Yorkshire dialect]], ''one on't cross beams gone owt askew on [[treadle]],'' in [[Monty Python]]'s [[Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)|"Trouble at Mill"]] sketch actually '''[[Bradford Industrial Museum|means something]]'''?
+*... that '''[[Guinness Black Lager]]''' is a new black [[lager]] which is being [[test marketing|test marketed]] in [[Malaysia]] ''by [[Diageo]]'' for sale in the west under its [[Guinness]] brand name?
+*... that the '''[[Morchella esculenta|yellow morel]]''' was once a '''''[[Phallus (genus)|Phallus]]'''''?
+*... that '''[[Leonid Malashkin]]''' was the true composer of [[Zoltán Kodály|Kodály's]] "[[Buttocks]]-Pressing Song"?
+*... that in October 1968, '''{{SS|Dumbo||2}}''' was arrested in [[Las Palmas]], [[Spain]]?
+*... that Wikipedia covers '''[[The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report|the whole shebang]]'''?
+*... that [[Perth, Western Australia]], got rid of '''[[Ugly Men's Association|ugly men]]''' in 1948?
+<div style="float:right;margin-left:0.5em;">
+[[File:Maria_Belville.jpg|100x100px|Ruth Belville, the "Greenwich Time Lady"|alt=Ruth Belville, also known as the "Greenwich Time Lady", who made money selling people the time]]
+</div>
+*... that '''[[Ruth Belville]]''' ''(pictured)'' and her parents had a business selling people [[Greenwich Mean Time]]?
+*... that the '''[[Prada Marfa|Prada Store]]''' in [[Marfa, Texas|Marfa]], [[Texas]], is never open?
+*... that Professor '''[[Dirk Obbink]]''' is an expert on material from [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri|garbage heaps]] and [[Villa of the Papyri|charred remains]]?
+*... that the '''[[Ilkley Toy Museum|Ilkley Museum]]''' in [[Yorkshire]], [[England]], is a notable habitat for ''[[Teddy bear|Brunus edwardii]]''?
+*... that the American television show '''''[[Glee (TV series)|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 dialect|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|stool of repentance]]?
+*... that '''[[William Shakespeare (American football)|William Shakespeare]]''' was nicknamed "The Merchant of Menace"?
+More next issue!
 === [[Wikipedia:April Fools/April Fools' Day 2011|2011]]: ===