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I agree with you, but in agreement with OP, April Fool jokes just aren't funny. They're inherently mean. You can be funny without tricking someone, and everyone

I agree with you, but in agreement with OP, April Fool jokes just aren't funny. They're inherently mean. You can be funny without tricking someone, and everyone is already on an emotional knifepoint at the moment.

jmkd 7y ago
What about easter-egg style April Fools' like Google's 8-bit maps? Not an ounce of meanness https://maps.googleblog.com/2012/03/begin-your-quest-with-google-maps-8-bit.html https://maps.googleblog.com/2012/03/begin-your-quest-with-go...
- midgetjones 7y ago
  Fair enough, good ones can exist. But every year April 1st becomes such a barrage of PR stunts, mostly not of that quality, that I'd rather companies didn't waste the resource.
  - jmkd 7y ago
    I definitely agree there is typically a lot of chaff to sort through.
kd5bjo 7y ago
The traditional april fool’s joke (on the internet) is fundamentally satire, which is notoriously hard to do well. It needs to be something plausible enough to get people to start reading, but be absurd enough that people know it’s not real by the end without being told.
- paulgb 7y ago
  It's especially hard to do well when it's forced through the filter of a PR team. It's not humor for humor's sake, it's humor to improve a brand. I don't think this is impossible to do well, just very rarely done in practice.
  - threatofrain 7y ago
    Like Geico.
adventured 7y ago
> I agree with you, but in agreement with OP, April Fool jokes just aren't funny. They're inherently mean. This entire debate is mostly going to be heavy on the subjective and is largely pointless accordingly. It's opinion tossing, people hoping their opinion somehow magically weighs more. I like pizza. No, pizza sucks, it's too hot. Pizza isn't hot enough. Only cold pizza is good. No all pizza is inherently evil. Pizza is hand delivered by the saints. Only pizza with pineapple is good. Pizza with pineapple is the worst thing ever. Seinfeld sucks, he isn't funny at all. Seinfeld is a god.
- midgetjones 7y ago
  The only people that think April Fools jokes are funny are the ones performing them, or PR departments. I have no idea what sort of pizza that would be, but I don't think it's that subjective. All the people disagreeing with OP in this thread are misreading them as wanting to somehow ban jokes and humour.
mcv 7y ago
Yeah, we need to get rid of "jokes" that mislead people, mock them, or otherwise hurt or disadvantage people. Especially since fake news and misinformation has become a serious problem online. Jokes that are actually fun are great. But those don't need to be restricted to April Fools either.
- anonsubmit2671 7y ago
  Either you're joking or don't appreciate humor. What a sad and dreary life.
  - johannes1234321 7y ago
    Issue with April's Fools jokes are that many of those aren't funny. Some are trying too hard, some are just company-ads hoping to "go viral". Sometimes there are good ones, but 90% are not.
    - thanatos_dem 7y ago
      Humor is subjective.
  - neotek 7y ago
    Seems much more sad and dreary to be the kind of person who can only find humour when punching down.
dkersten 7y ago
I agree. I haven’t found a single April fools prank funny in years. It’s just an annoying day where even more fake news is passed of as fact only this time tolerated by all because lols. In the past few years I’ve tried to simply stay offline for the day. Joke all you like if that helps you stay sane through the pandemic, but leave those who don’t wish to out of it and don’t play pranks on people.
- jhanschoo 7y ago
  While they rarely hit the mark being funny, I still find that AF projects can be fun, and the ones by bigger companies don't seriously intend to prank people beyond the standard format of passing off creative writing in a factual format.
  - dkersten 7y ago
    Sure, and many of the ones like Google’s, which are just fun things you wouldn’t normally expect, but aren’t so much pranks or anything, are totally ok. It’s the pranks, fake news and what not that’s not amusing or funny.
anonsubmit2671 7y ago
Wow, that would be really sad. When or if you've lost your sense of humor, then you've ceased living. Either that or someone is so fragile, crybully, or politically-correct that they can't handle a good joke. And people without a sense of humor are usually drama-oriented.
- midgetjones 7y ago
  I totally agree with your second sentence. Nobody's saying "ban jokes, I hate humour". Just this specific type of joke, at this specific point in time.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
greenhatman 7y ago
I kinda hate April fools in any case. I'd be up for banning it indefinitely going forward.
elcomet 7y ago
And while your username seems funny to you, i find it offensive.

jmkd 7y ago

What about easter-egg style April Fools' like Google's 8-bit maps? Not an ounce of meanness https://maps.googleblog.com/2012/03/begin-your-quest-with-google-maps-8-bit.html https://maps.googleblog.com/2012/03/begin-your-quest-with-go...

midgetjones 7y ago
Fair enough, good ones can exist. But every year April 1st becomes such a barrage of PR stunts, mostly not of that quality, that I'd rather companies didn't waste the resource.
- jmkd 7y ago
  I definitely agree there is typically a lot of chaff to sort through.

kd5bjo 7y ago

The traditional april fool’s joke (on the internet) is fundamentally satire, which is notoriously hard to do well. It needs to be something plausible enough to get people to start reading, but be absurd enough that people know it’s not real by the end without being told.

paulgb 7y ago
It's especially hard to do well when it's forced through the filter of a PR team. It's not humor for humor's sake, it's humor to improve a brand. I don't think this is impossible to do well, just very rarely done in practice.
- threatofrain 7y ago
  Like Geico.

adventured 7y ago

> I agree with you, but in agreement with OP, April Fool jokes just aren't funny. They're inherently mean. This entire debate is mostly going to be heavy on the subjective and is largely pointless accordingly. It's opinion tossing, people hoping their opinion somehow magically weighs more. I like pizza. No, pizza sucks, it's too hot. Pizza isn't hot enough. Only cold pizza is good. No all pizza is inherently evil. Pizza is hand delivered by the saints. Only pizza with pineapple is good. Pizza with pineapple is the worst thing ever. Seinfeld sucks, he isn't funny at all. Seinfeld is a god.

midgetjones 7y ago
The only people that think April Fools jokes are funny are the ones performing them, or PR departments. I have no idea what sort of pizza that would be, but I don't think it's that subjective. All the people disagreeing with OP in this thread are misreading them as wanting to somehow ban jokes and humour.

mcv 7y ago

Yeah, we need to get rid of "jokes" that mislead people, mock them, or otherwise hurt or disadvantage people. Especially since fake news and misinformation has become a serious problem online. Jokes that are actually fun are great. But those don't need to be restricted to April Fools either.

anonsubmit2671 7y ago
Either you're joking or don't appreciate humor. What a sad and dreary life.
- johannes1234321 7y ago
  Issue with April's Fools jokes are that many of those aren't funny. Some are trying too hard, some are just company-ads hoping to "go viral". Sometimes there are good ones, but 90% are not.
  - thanatos_dem 7y ago
    Humor is subjective.
- neotek 7y ago
  Seems much more sad and dreary to be the kind of person who can only find humour when punching down.

dkersten 7y ago

I agree. I haven’t found a single April fools prank funny in years. It’s just an annoying day where even more fake news is passed of as fact only this time tolerated by all because lols. In the past few years I’ve tried to simply stay offline for the day. Joke all you like if that helps you stay sane through the pandemic, but leave those who don’t wish to out of it and don’t play pranks on people.

jhanschoo 7y ago
While they rarely hit the mark being funny, I still find that AF projects can be fun, and the ones by bigger companies don't seriously intend to prank people beyond the standard format of passing off creative writing in a factual format.
- dkersten 7y ago
  Sure, and many of the ones like Google’s, which are just fun things you wouldn’t normally expect, but aren’t so much pranks or anything, are totally ok. It’s the pranks, fake news and what not that’s not amusing or funny.

anonsubmit2671 7y ago

Wow, that would be really sad. When or if you've lost your sense of humor, then you've ceased living. Either that or someone is so fragile, crybully, or politically-correct that they can't handle a good joke. And people without a sense of humor are usually drama-oriented.

midgetjones 7y ago
I totally agree with your second sentence. Nobody's saying "ban jokes, I hate humour". Just this specific type of joke, at this specific point in time.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

greenhatman 7y ago

I kinda hate April fools in any case. I'd be up for banning it indefinitely going forward.

elcomet 7y ago

And while your username seems funny to you, i find it offensive.