Looks like this is the only way we're going to settle this question.........

I'm happy to break the tie (thus far!).

I HATE April Fools Day. I used to love it, before it became Internet Annoyance Day:
http://www.internetannoyanceday.com/ <= Definitely worth a read.

Voted No in the poll, I think they are generally funny and by now everybody should realize that any post on April 1 is a joke

Even if they come upon it around Christmas time? This years garbage is still to be found in the message archives.

Here is the best reason to do away with this nonesense, as expressed by one who had to deal with it:



I just copied that from the still active thread.

Some professionalism.

I can certainly see both sides of this one...

I find them to be entertaining and amusing. It's fun to read the creative writing and see what folks come up with. Done correctly, they're an intellectual challenge for the writer.

On the other hand "folks should know they're not true" doesn't work well on the internet. Remember, these are the same "folks" who send you e-mails saying "FORWARD THIS TO 100 PEOPLE AND BILL GATES WILL SEND YOU $1,000!"
If they're stupid enough to believe stuff like that, getting them to believe that W&LE is going to run freight with a B&LE steam loco is mere childs play. (Hey, they only have to change one letter on the tender and she's good to go, so they bought it!)

The main problem here is the same with any "un-truth" that gets posted on the net. Once it's out there, it just keeps spreading and there's no getting it stopped.

Anyway, I've got to run, I need to mail a postcard to some kid who's dying of Nigerian laundered money disease...

Like Bob said. April 1st is my favorite day to spend online. Look forward to it every year. All those that don't like it need to get the board out of their a$$ and get a life. And those are the same people that pacified the ones that started the 202 threads a while back.

I like fooling the fools, but maybe there should be protocol... no real firms or agencies mentioned. An announcement about a Hiawatha streamlined steam locomotive found in a barn is a classic example. Or if real firms/museums are mentioned, get so ridiculous by the end of the post it is totally obvious. Or add a footnote: "Brought to you by the April 1 committee" at the end of every new post that day. I would be OK with deleting the day's new posts on April 2.

The historical record is a problem with these posts. The posts remain in the system to be found by uneducated viewers months and years later. Perhaps if there is an agreement to delete the April 1 posts a week later?

In another thread, concerns were expressed that this forum needs to remain professional and avoid topic creep. Generally, I believe maintaining a professional tone and content is more important than the amusement benefit of the April 1 posts.

Another solution would be to lock April Fools messages with the note that they are April Fools messages. Sometimes some really out there stuff shows up at the same time but when nothing more is said, you can't be sure. Still, the humor is fun and the what if is interesting too.

Otherwise we can just be an old and staid bunch pining over the efficacy of lap seam boilers.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

Quoting things out of context is always a problem.

Even if a post is clearly identified as an April Fools' joke, that label can be removed (either by accident or deliberately) and the joke will appear to be true if the reader cannot trace it back to its source.

If we delete April Fools' jokes after a week, the damage has already been done if somebody has already quoted it, and then even the original source is gone.

Much as I like a good joke, I don't think this is a good forum for them.

Wait a second. You mean to tell me that the photo I posted of U.P. 3985 with the "Thomas" face is something you might take as serious? A couple of years ago, Alex #4 posted something about a Krauss-Maffei diesel being found in a quarry, after we suffered through the hysterics about a Pennsy B8 under water. These are nonsense posts, meant to pass along a smile, not to confound facts. If people posted well crafted fabrications about NS going back into steam, that would be problematic for me, but otherwise, hardly.

As one of the surviving moderators.... I developed my April 1 message some years ago as a warning...

I would probably allow them, but delete the posts some number of days later... either 7 or 10. They are a release... the good ones are very good... They speak in a sarcastic way to what we do, and how we occasionally fail...

The allowance could be match with a similar restriction on some of the not April 1 posts...

I voted 'yes' to do away with them. I've seen some clever ones, but (no offense) the creativity and originality seems to have gone downhill over the past year or two. Also, I suspect most of us look at more than one RR forum on a regular basis, so there are plenty of other sources of April 1 humor.

I also agree they should be gone. I have browsed the Interchange for a while now (even though I have been a member for 10 days) and find them quiet annoying.

I look forward to them every year. Some of them are very creative and a lot of thought went into crafting them. I would like them kept on here and not deleted, ever. If they annoy you that much, don't log on April first.

Steve