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The word "hack" comes from the tradition of elaborate practical jokes at MIT. I can't think of anything more hacker-like than April Fools stories.
by randrews 17y ago
The word "hack" comes from the tradition of elaborate practical jokes at MIT. I can't think of anything more hacker-like than April Fools stories.
- gn 17y agoI can't think of too many things less hacker-like than "today we try very hard to be funny in a really formulaic way because that's what everybody else does".
- DannoHung 17y agoSo, uhhh, did anyone play any jokes at MIT today?
- alextgordon 17y agoSpeak for yourself. Clearly many people do find the jokes worthwhile or amusing, otherwise they wouldn't be voting for them. If you do not, then that's fine, but I don't see why this difference transcends the HN voting system more than any other. I can understand how some might feel this is turning HN into reddit, but have a little faith - it's only for one day.
- raganwald 17y agoI agree that there is such a thing as a lame, formulaic April Fool's story. So, let's raise the bar. Only upvote April Fool's stories that have an interesting twist to them. Don't upvote lame April Fool's submissions.
- bobbyi 17y agoIf somebody actually pulls off a great MIT-style April Fool's hack, then a news story talking about it or an explanation of how they did it would be a great submission. But there's nothing hack-like about unfunny people trying their hand at being The Onion. If that sort of story belong on HN, then I suggest that we also start voting up LOL cats since they use the clever hack of overlaying macro text on top of an image file.