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April Fools Day jumps the shark
April 01, 2006
Internet overkill claims yet another victim. Remind me again what was so bad about scarcity.
UPDATE: This one, though, is funny.
UPDATE 2: The Wikipedians provide the blow-by-blow. Meticulously.
UPDATE 3: What I particularly like about that Wikipedia entry is the first sentence: "April 1, 2006 is an April Fool's Day falling on a Saturday." The more you read it, the better it gets. I really hope nobody edits it.
UPDATE 4: You know, I have to start writing more of these short, stupidly titled posts. This one has already earned both an award and a cartoon! It's a great example of the virtuous circle of user-generated content generating more user-generated content. Like that serpent that swallows its own tail.
UPDATE 5: Wikipedia has now split its list of April Fools pranks onto two pages, one containing just "notable" pranks and the other containing a complete list of pranks. A heated debate has also broken out between a group of Wikipedians who believe the complete list should be deleted because it contains "non-notable" pranks and another group of Wikipedians who believe the complete list should be maintained for posterity. "Captain Cornflake" (probably not his real name) writes, "Does having it here hurt anything? I'm positive that at least for the next week, this article is going to be getting thousands of people, wanting to check out various jokes. I know I will. It will also serve as a handy guide of the events that transpired yesterday to future generations." I'm with Cornflake on this one. What seems like a non-notable prank today may seem like a notable prank to those future generations. I think it's better to err on the side of caution.
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Comments
Jumping the shark has jumped the shark.
Now what?
Posted by: John at April 1, 2006 08:29 PM
You can say that again.
Posted by: Nick at April 1, 2006 09:41 PM
nick,
thanks for being smart enough to put the spotlight on the silliness. it's like the blogosphere turned into a stand-up comedy club. sure, some of it was funny but the piling on on the april fool's bandwagon got out of hand.
Posted by: mark evans at April 2, 2006 12:16 AM
"Meta" it. What we considered "notable" and "non-notable" is valuable in itself for cultural historians. Just like in some cases, the advertisements in old publications can now be more interesting and informative than their official content.
Posted by: Seth Finkelstein at April 3, 2006 12:07 AM
John -
Best comment I've read in months--perhaps ever.
Posted by: Dan Ciruli at April 3, 2006 12:24 AM
Ouroboros
Posted by: tailswallowingsnake at April 4, 2006 02:21 PM
No no - not "Jump the Shark"
Instead . . .
Dolphins using Opera mini to surf the Internet
http://my.opera.com/djysrv/blog/show.dml/203690
Posted by: Dan Yurman at April 5, 2006 09:29 PM
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