I have had one request to delete a April 1 post. And have deleted that post.

I will entertain other requests, but may look at any discussion... if discussion is solely concerning our annual spring rite of fantasy it will likely disappear...

Jokes are funny once... repeated too many times and not so much...

Your currently friendly moderator... Randy

I just added "April fool post" to the title of my 4/1 post. Should be obvious to anyone searching that it's not legit.

I've always been a fan of keeping everything archived, even if a little off-topic. My preference is to move them over to the Railfanning board which, IIRC, was created for lighter, yet still on topic, posts. Explicitly tag the title with something along the lines of "[April Fools]" so that someone scanning the board will know that the thread shouldn't be taken seriously.

My vote would be to either delete the obvious ones or segregate them someplace off the main board very soon after April 1st. Also, if they stay, they should be marked as an April Fool post. That way, folks trying to read valid posts would not be forced to wade through the nonsense for an extended period. I read this board and others because they have serious information that I want to keep abreast of. I do have a sense of humor, but not so much when it comes to the April Fool thing. I only have so much time to devote to reading internet posts and I would rather not spend it running down false information.

Many of the "April Fools" posts border on really misleading and those not acquainted with the proper details could actually be mislead. Probably just the effect the April Foolers want, but maybe not the atmosphere that RYPN is trying to promote.

RYPN has a world-wide audience. Can we assume that a tag like "April Fools" is a sufficient way to inform all of our readers that a joke is being made?

Regards,
Bob Milhaupt

First of all April Fool's ends at Noon. You are a bigger fool if you try to fool someone AFTER that time.

Here is a suggestion: April 2nd ALL April 1st posts are DELETED by moderator.

End of problem.

Except for those posts that start/continue into a meaningful discussion about something. Then DON'T delete them.

I would like to see all April First posts deleted no later than the next day.

I would like to see all April First posts deleted one minute after they are made.

April Fools posts are just like throwing trash on the floor. Someone has to clean up the mess. With trash its the janitors, with April First posts its the moderators. The mentality is the same. Thanks for littering RyPN, folks. Your posts serve NO useful purpose and they cause work for others.

Next year there will be a change in policy regarding these posts.

I like the policy change, but this year, the policy permitted April Fools posts, so I would not blame the people who made those posts. The blame belongs to the current policy.

I'm hoping that this policy change still allows these April Fools posts to take place. This is one of the few places that I enjoy seeing these satirical and humor-filled (for the most part) posts.

the level of anger is because they are not humor..
they are an annoying pointless failed attempt at humor..

Much as I enjoy a good satire, humorous, wishful thinking or "what have you been smoking lately?" article, it looks like enough of the RYPN readership has turned "thumbs down" to indicate that the idea of "April Fools" postings has "passed its sell-by date" and should become part of the past. There's another rail-oriented website I belong to that had a posting by its moderator saying in no uncertain terms that "April Foolishness" would not be tolerated.

Okay, if all the folks who gave me support back-channel--by direct e-mails, FB messages, and RyPN messages--would like to make their support public (or even privately with the moderators), here's your chance and time.

As a side point, it seems on average that the hatred for these posts runs inversely proportional to the complainer's level of participation in this forum......