My annual message...

Tradition suggests that tomorrow (April 1) will find the list inundated with a variety of creative posts. Some of these may be works of fiction… Some may have a hint of truth hidden by humor. So may be close enough to truth to hurt.

Enjoy the day, and the very creative thinking found on the board. Try not to take anything personally or too seriously.

Tomorrow we can return to discussions of park locomotives, rivets, faded paint and all those things which so excite us on a regular basis.

Your (occasionally) friendly moderator, Randy

Sigh..... I hate this day.

I do too. I get a kick out of the more ingenious things like what Google normally does but on forums it's normally people putting out fake posts that might be slightly humorous but generally aren't.

But at least for today:

Not an April Fools joke: On Ebay right now you can bid on an original slide of the Colorado Eagle pulled by an E6 (7002), but it's going to cost you hundreds.

http://r.ebay.com/E5LpvH

I wonder if this loco was a victim of EMD's crappy trade-in program.

At least they still allow April Fools Day posts. ;)

Sigh..... I hate this day.


Buzzkill.

Then take the day off and go do something fun (whatever you think that is). Come back on the 2nd and things will be back to normal. Who knows what wonderful things you can accomplish with a day off of the web.

If you ask the moderators nicely, they'll extend your subscription an additional day to credit you for not using the site on April 1st. Simply send in your log files on CD as documentation.

You and me both.
As if the internet wasn't shaky enough for real facts as it is. I really have no idea what the appeal is for all these forum false 'news' reports on forums like this.

The problem is, several April Foolers don't know how to design a proper parody. They simply say things that are believable and declare victory, when it needs to be either an outright or escalating set of clues, so even the most gullible person ends up going "Waidaminnit…"

Robert -
I liked your phony Rypn paywall from last year. That was a good one.

My 2 cents. The moderators should remove all of the fake posts at the 12:00am on April 2. I can live with you having your fun, but I would prefer to avoid it, and after the 1st is past it should be done.

We like "preserving the evidence." ;-)

(At least one actual preservation effort was reportedly inspired, in part, by propositions made in April Fool's posts in years past.)

This is a case where a more sophisticated forum software would be helpful.

I run several forums, and they all have an "off topic" category. Members can choose which categories they view. Don't like the chatter in the off topic area? Simple enough, block that category. We also use moderators to tidy up the place, so if somebody posts a joke or comment about the weather, it gets moved there.

The system works well, and while you can never keep everyone happy, it is a good solution for most members.

How about slide them over to the Railfaning board and tag the title with "[April Fools]" or something similar?