So what did you do for April Fools day?

[Corriewf]

I sent the following email out to my members:

Hello ,

I am sad to say that Saltcreep is shutting down. I hoped to avoid this, but
with all of the costs to maintain the site and everything going on in my
life, I can no longer keep it going. I have put so much work into this site,
coding and sharing, this is really a tear jerker for me. For the first year
of the site, I put in 12 plus hours a day. It became like a child of mine. I
also made so many friendships and really enjoying interacting with everyone.
Everybody became like an online family to me. I could of never overcame some
of the problems I experienced in my non internet life without you guys. I
just wish the board would of been more successfull, but it seems that we
cannot compete with the larger boards.

Please visit this thread to get more details of the closure and exchange
contact information. I want to give everyone some time to exchange contact
information so we can all stay in touch.

Again sorry:
http://www.saltcreep.com/forums/sho...33711#post33711

I don't think the full effect has hit yet as people havn't checked their emails and so on. I got people that never posted before posting that I got them good.

Anyone see http://slashdot.org/ ? AHAHA!

[corn dog]

LOL! well what I did was (my sites a Toontown online fansite) and people are looking forward to the new cog Hq "Lawbot HQ" so what I did was make an announcement for the testers and it said the lawbot Hq was out I had evedryone running to test

[KTBleeding]

Eh.. I didn't have a lot of time this year, so I just had everything translated to German.

[Mark.B]

The old 'site is shutting down' one is a huuuuge risk. I have in previous years seen people lose a LOT of members over doing that because it isn't really a 'joke', it's just a straight lie. Because it sounds convincing people tend to take it at face value. Steer clear of that one.

I created a php file called ban.php that simply called a template called ban_joke. I then put a 'ban' button in all posts with an alt tage saying 'Ban <username> for one hour. When the button was clicked it simply took you to a page (created by ban.php & the ban_joke template) that appeared to confirm the user was banned for 60 mins, and asked them to make a note of the date for our records. I then announced this as 'a new feature to liven up the forum'.

Most people got it pretty quickly, but a few were left with lingering doubts as to whether it WAS a hoax or not, until I 'revealed all' at midday.

[Paul M]

We used a little plugin that I made - which caused all the mods and admins accounts appear as though they had been deleted, and then hid a busy section of the forum from sight as well. Most people caught on pretty quick but a few were taken in, even if only for a few minutes, before they realised the date.

[Suiko Jin]

I did mine at work. I work at Treasure Island in las vegas and I work the grave shift, so right when I get on it is April fools day... so here is what I did.

Ok, so I am at work right? And I find this little strip of a torn off 20 on the ground, so I pick it up and have an idea. So I get one of our "Las Vegas Site" maps, that folds like a brouchure. So I take this little strip of the 20 and I tape it on the inside, so that when you close it it looks like a whole 20 is inside, then I taped a note saying "APRIL FOOLS!" and made a mean smilie, so I put it on the counter and the first person comes up and she is all "Hey... somone left this 20 in this map..." and I laugh and say it is a joke and for her to look inside. So the first person was a good person. But the next person...So I set it up again and put it on the counter and this older lady, like her early 40s I guess, asks where we have our 2 for 1 drink coupons. I point to them and they just so happen to be right by the "trick" she notices, and she pockets it and grabs some coupons. I see her open it on the way out and she got all mad and threw it in the trash with the note falling to the ground.

Awesomeness. :banana:

[Corriewf]

Originally Posted by Mark.B

The old 'site is shutting down' one is a huuuuge risk. I have in previous years seen people lose a LOT of members over doing that because it isn't really a 'joke', it's just a straight lie. Because it sounds convincing people tend to take it at face value. Steer clear of that one.

I created a php file called ban.php that simply called a template called ban_joke. I then put a 'ban' button in all posts with an alt tage saying 'Ban <username> for one hour. When the button was clicked it simply took you to a page (created by ban.php & the ban_joke template) that appeared to confirm the user was banned for 60 mins, and asked them to make a note of the date for our records. I then announced this as 'a new feature to liven up the forum'.

Most people got it pretty quickly, but a few were left with lingering doubts as to whether it WAS a hoax or not, until I 'revealed all' at midday.

If I had a larger community and not such a close community that I knew would check the april fools thread, I would of stayed clear......


Hell I got people saying that they were gonna pay for hosting and the domain name....... Dang!

It actually made me feel really good to have such a large turnout beyond the regulars whom normally show up.

[Tony G]

I did nothing, and that's the way I like it.

[Roms]

LOL, you got me for a second when I went to your site!!!! I even sent you a PM!!!

Good one!

[chiptz]

I changed the style of my site to pink, daying it was a new sponsor to be announced later on... it seems that slashdot and ubuntu had the same ideas