When we told an April Fools joke on someone ("There's a spider on your shoulder"!), we always shouted "April Fool!" after the joke. The problem with these (sometimes) elaborate stories on RyPN is that the teller fails to say what the story really is. A simple ending line saying "BTW, you folks do know that today is April 1st don't you?" or something similar, would point out that the story is just that...an April Fool's story! Make it understood that folks have to do that, and the problem is solved.

Les

This is one of the few online forums that I read that has kept the April 1 tradition alive, and I still get a good laugh out of *some* of them. I think it was better when they were presented as articles or briefs though, rather than filling up the Interchange. Going back to that format might also help to reduce the quantity and raise the quality of the jokes, as well as make it easier to control what happens to them on April 2nd and beyond.

Also, before you post it, think about what unintended consequences your April 1 story might have. If you must include real people or organizations in the story, be sure to get their permission first. Fake names not only avoid the scenario of somebody who is not a party to the joke having to field annoying questions from the fooled, they can also be a good way to insert clues as to the true nature of the story too (like Lirpa Loof, or Tom Fullery and the Friends Of Olcott Locomotive Society).

With the exception of those having annoyances like those received by Mr. Melvin, I don't get the big deal. As I post this, 41 voted "nay" and I'm guessing only a few if any are sitting @ UP getting calls to see if the BEDT engine ever pushed the Big Boy or whether 844 will have a smile affixed to its smoke box.

There's an annoying streak of Puritanism amongst some on here (I'm thinking of the guy I met in 1995 throwing a fit on the Lackawanna Avenue bridge when a certain 4-8-4 appeared as "DL&W 1661") and they are way to eager to sanctify their rigid sensibilities with plebiscite-hoping that they and a few other wolves can carry the vote on dinner against a lesser number of sheep.

Anybody creative enough to post a prank, should be able to embed both a provocation to thought, plus something that will allow anybody with an IQ above 60 to figure out that they've been fooled by THEIR OWN GULLIBILITY.

Last year, I posted a ditty about the R&N shelving 425 for a couple QJ's. Anybody who knows the operation knows that isn't happening. The point of the post was to make people think about using non-legacy locomotives as operating assets; satisfying both those of us that think preservation is more than stuffed and mounted-while allowing some specimens to retain all legacy fabric.

This year's post was about the faux conversion of Steamtown's NKP-514 to a GP-22eco. The post was instigated by various posts about the availability of parts for older locomotives, specifically Strasburg's semi-retirement of its 44 tonner, and the ruckus when the impractical puritans wanted to reconvene Salem over Doyle M's decision to use a 12-251 over a 16-244.

A few people actually got the point of one or both posts.

In any case, for those that think April fool's is "unprofessional", what do you think of a bunch of adults voting on April 1 says? Hint: (Gladys Kravitz yelling "Abner")

I voted no, because "Present-This is a bigger waste than the pranks" wasn't an option.

For my fellow pranksters: don't make it difficult on those doing the heavy lifting.

April Fool's Day is stupid if you ask me. What's the point of it?!

Some of my best memories of this forum are the results of Aprils Fools jokes. While I agree that care should be taken to identify the jokes as such, and I wouldn't be heartbroken if they were deleted after a week or at the end of April, banning them outright would be a shame.

For me, Superheater's message represents the problem I have with the April 1st posts. Being a west coaster, I'm aware of the R&N and Steamtown but don't know the daily goings on that occur at those places. That's why I rely on this board to keep informed of what goes on in this hobby. If I'm out of town and don't read the April 1st messages until a few days later, I'm apt to believe that a couple of QJ's are running on the R&N and that Steamtown now has a converted GP-22eco. Not that my being misinformed would be a national tragedy, but this board would lose a lot of credibility with me.

Just my $0.02 worth. And meaning no disrespect to Superheater who makes a lot of good points in his message. Anyhows, gotta mail off another payment for the land I'm buying in Florida.

My only problem with them is that they many times push some really good and interesting threads down to the bottom of the page, or worse yet, to the second page.

Rick

I'm really starting to be reminded of those readers of Trains Magazine back in the 1950s and 1960s that insisted that diesels had no place in a magazine about railroading.........

I'm also being reminded about a "species" of human my father used to tell me about, where he would make a joke (one actual real-life example: walked into a restaurant with hardly anyone in it yet a very full parking lot, and he remarked "Wow, I guess everyone came in three cars!"), and a member of that "species" would simply not understand ("............ Now how could everyone come in three cars? Even if they had three cars, they'd have to go home, get another car....")

Bad jokes and humor are more a part of RRing than just about anything else.

When we first got a mother and slug set in our yard, the running joke was to inform the more gullible yardmasters that the slug was "out of fuel" or "wouldn't start".

Railway preservation is serious business--we have the neverending battle against rust, decay, and equipment failure, compounded by "never enough" money and workers. Those of us who are involved with operating railways know that "every page in the rule book is written in blood." But once the cars are tied down, the engines are turned off and the fires are dropped, a bit of after hours whimsey or "rawhide" won't hurt. I do agree that using real names can cause trouble, although names of defunct railroads should be fair game (I had a "don't we wish" story about the Pacific Electric ready to post, but at the last minute thought it needed a "rewrite", so I would like to see April Fool run for at least one more year).

IMO, the problem is that its not really funny if everyone *expects* there is going to be a ton of Aprils fools jokes..An april fools joke is only good if you genuinely fall for it..but knowing that there are going to a ton of lame postings, maybe only a few of which are actually original or clever, makes it all rather pointless and annoying IMO..

its like "next week is April 1st! be ready for lots of jokes!"
April 1st is two days away, be sure to check for lots of hilarious jokes!
Ok, its here, check out all the great jokes today!

its just too overdone now..
its gone beyond funny and clever, to just annoying and stupid..
and there are far too many people now who try to get in on the bandwagon, who dont really have the talent for it..which just brings the whole thing down..

this has happened on lots of forums, not just here..
I actually avoid most of my hobby forums on April 1st now..

I voted yes, they should go..then was actually surprised to see I was in the majority!
its not that we dont have a sense of humor..
its just that its no longer funny..

Scot

Also, because of the railfan rumor mill echo chamber, one LITTLE shred of bad info keeps circulating and growing, and the effort expended to "put the genie back in the bottle" is a complete and unnecessary waste of time.

There are enough of these rumors running around without a whole new crop popping up here each year.

That's one of the reasons I voted "stop", but Scot's post pretty much sums up the other reason. They USED to be funny, and were worth the potential problems, but not any more.

The arguments against joke posts would be funny, if it wasn't so ironic.

Take a look at what many organizations do: They take machines designed to haul freight and turn them into adult toys. Mainline engines designed to move 10,000 tons at 70 mph are hauling de-motorized MUs at 10mph on some backwoods branch line. Take power from different lines, put them with shiny freight cars and have "photo charters" which look as fake as fake can be. Groups that have long range plans that have as much possibility of becoming reality as UP converting back to all steam. Even a blue-loving group has members that elevate a certain EMD model locomotive to near god-like status, and are almost brought to tears when one of "their" machines is painted another color.

Does anyone take this preservation thing 100% serious? And if they do, is that maybe why numbers are declining? There's a ton of humor on the real RR. So if you truly want to preserve RR history, then yeah, you have to preserve that, too.

And there will always be railfan rumors. But they were around long before internet message boards. Same concept, new media.

PS. I thought the Steamtown 514 one was pretty damn imaginative, funny, AND believable. It *is* the Federal Gov't, after all...

Good points for and against. But I too, stay away from web sites on the 1st just to avoid the idiotic postings that some think is funny. And just because someone puts a lot of thought and time into it doesn't make it any more poignant or funny! It is just so childish, like taping a kick me sign on someone's back. That went out in high school as should the April's fools jokes on this site. And since at this writing, the poll shows more want it banned than those that want it to continue, maybe it should go away.

Later!
Mr. Ed

This is where forums like Vbulletin have an advantage. They let you create discussion categories. For example, this forum would probably have Steam, Diesel, Trolleys and Inturbans, Track and Structures etc.

Every forum I run has a category for chatter, jokes, off topic discussion etc. We ban religion and politics, but most subjects are allowed as long as they're family friendly. Topics range all over, sports, family, news, and in my garden forum weather is a constant topic wiith over 7,000 replies! (of course for gardeners weather is actually on topic).

The beauty of that system is that you can choose whether not to read that topic. Don't like chatter and jokes? Ignore the topic. Want to post the one about the Dyslexic who turned into a bra? You know where it should be posted. You also know, by definition, that anything and everything posted there is to be taken as humor and/or rumor. "Don't believe everything you read here" is the order of the day every day.

It's an elegant solution, since it offers everyone choice. You can have fun, or just be serious, your choice, without also taking that same choice away from others.