Joe on the April 2nd, 2008 It’s April 1st. Of course, that means there will be all kinds of pranks being played all over the place, on and off the web. If you stopped by the site or happen to be subscribed to my feed, then you probably saw something like the image below.
JoeTech.com wasn’t hacked
I wasn’t hacked, but I sure fooled a couple people into thinking I was. I actually had another prank in mind, but today snuck up on me, so I decided at the last minute to hold that one for next year. Here’s what JoeTech.com looked like earlier today:
(image courtesy of http://www.i-tong.com/)
At least one person thought that my prank was in poor taste, while others didn’t seem as bothered. This is due, largely, to the fact that dozens (hundreds? I haven’t counted) of people have my Entrecard Slots and Ad Slots widgets on their blogs. I honestly hadn’t thought of that, but the widgets were loaded over 300,000 times in March, so I should have. In any case, it was all in good fun and I wasn’t hacked. I’m sorry if I scared a few people.
Others had some fun, too
I wasn’t the only one playing devious little pranks today. They ranged from brilliant marketing like Ades going RSS only to fake marketing like ShoeMoney’s post about how to make $1,000 in an hour and ProBlogger’s PayPerTweet Launch, to some more fun and creative ones like John Chow Cola. Don’t take my word for it. There’s a whole list of the top 40 April Fools pranks of 2008.
Where is the line drawn?
My prank and the mixed reaction to it leaves me asking where the line should be drawn. Had I anticipated the notion that it was in bad taste, I might have come up with something different and not just copied John Cow’s 2007 prank. I wonder, though. What about all the other pranks. Is it OK for TechCrunch to claim they’re suing Facebook for $25 million? I assume companies like Coca-Cola and FaceBook who are named in these pranks take it in stride because it’s clearly a joke, but what about those who believe it? Chime in, people.
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on April 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 am
well you got me worried, couldn’t think of something worse, than all those websites down due to an widget….
sebastiano’s last blog post..URGENT : Remove your joetech.com widget NOW
on April 2nd, 2008 at 5:37 am
sebastiano: It’s certainly a valid concern. Hopefully one we never have to worry about for real.
on April 2nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
You sure did fool us! LOL!
Kabalyero’s last blog post..A World Will End On April 30, 2008
on April 2nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
It will be an irony if FaceBook turns around and sues Michael Arrington for 25 mil..:) I wounder what he will say when he’ll have to pay up!
on April 2nd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Kabalyero: I was hoping for that.
Igor: It’ll never happen. Arrington’s post was that of satire and wouldn’t pass the requirements for libel.
on April 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
well, anyone who uses Entrecard and has tried to contact you, or anyone trying to collect any winnings from the aforementioned slots widget, probably thought you were hacked (for some time now) - since you haven’t been participating in any of those areas apparently. (or maybe I’m the only one who’s noticed…)
Somebodyunfamous’s last blog post..GIF’s for All Occasions
on April 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
Somebodyunfamous: True… I’ve been severely lacking. I need to finish automating the process and then I’m going to write a script that I can drop codes onto and it will generate a linked list of payees. I just need to find the time. The automation should happen in the next couple days, leaving only the old winnings to be caught up on.
on April 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I think a lot of jokes are harmless. If it didn’t hurt anyone, then people need to lighten up.
Saph -Walk with Me’s last blog post..Plastic Bag Keeper
on April 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
You had me for a minute but I looked at the source code and it just didn’t look “hackerish” enough.
Jason - GorillaSushi’s last blog post..Sleeper Caption Contest
on April 4th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Saph: Thanks for that thought. I tend to agree.
Jason: I stole the HTML source from a hacked site. =)
on April 4th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Ah, you do still live! heh, I know exactly what you mean about TIME! Started working again and haven’t posted in a full week; I feel like the few readers I had are probably deleting me from any bookmarks already… Best of luck to us both on finding more!
Somebodyunfamous’s last blog post..GIF’s for All Occasions
on April 4th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Somebodyunfamous: Yes… I’ve been a mess with time lately. I have literally had almost no time to do anything for JoeTech.com but that’s changing. I’m doing some changes and installing a couple things right now.
on April 28th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
[...] as I immediately began working with GoDaddy to recover my domain names. As you remember, I played a little trick on my readers on April first, and the result included a little bit of freaking out by people who were concerned [...]