April Fools! Although you already guessed!

[Roy Karrde]

I really got tired of waiting for this to be moved so I am going to go on and move it.

I would assume, after all of these years of TPM providing the best April Fools entertainment around. That everyone would make sure to avoid taking anything too personally over the period of days ranging from March 30th - April 2nd. Anyway yes all of the topics marked with *s were jokes. We have been creating them in the past month and used the *s to identify them as the April Fools topics.

To tell the truth our secret forum isn't a place where we go to pick on members as many of you seem to be assuming. It's nothing more than a board filled with discussion topics of various forums on here, in which we discuss future events. Such as the RPG Newsletter. We would not discuss and attack individual members like you have seen in the past day's topics for the very reason that they could become public by a disgruntled mod.

So just to reassure everyone. No I do not want to Mod Blade just so that he can be a scapegoat. No I do not want to use his idea with out him being the first to implement it. It was a joke. The entire Mod Staff did have fun posting like ass holes for the last month, but just like in a RPG or Fan Fic, those posts were characteractures, and not a realistic representation of the mod.

I hope everyone has had a Happy April Fools, we did try our hardest to provide some quality entertainment this year.

If anyone got hurt in this we apologize. It was created out of fun, and a bit of 2 am posting. NONE of these topics were ment to be taken seriously.

[Jeff]

I honestly didn't think so many people would fall for this. I figured that most of the people here would recognize it as an April Fool's prank and at least play along, enjoying the lulz. I guess we did a better job than I thought!

I should probably point out that this joke was supposed to go on well into the evening (Gabi's time), but because people were being offended, we decided to pull the plug early. I have thoroughly enjoyed helping with the prank, including spamming up the fake threads. I would have loved to see it go on longer but in the end what we decided to do was for the best. I hope that now those who were offended can just look back at this and laugh.

[Dark-San]

Blade if you are looking at this, I just like to say sorry if you are offended with any of the replies I made. It is just that we go with flow and has to pick someone with an outstanding 'personality'.

The bad thing is that we didn't expect you to be real upset about it. It's just a little joke we made and we hope you have a big heart to forgive us all. Come on, you know I wouldn't do anything that cruel to a friend of Faiz. =)

[Lady Vulpix]

I would like to apologize for all problems and concern my posts have caused. This got out of hand, I didn't really expect anyone to fall for it. As Roy said, the moved topics were fake and this was organized by the whole mod team. I was chosen as the catalyst this time, but upon seeing the results I'm really sorry about what happened.

I'm NOT leaving TPM, and I won't be stirring up fake drama anymore. My apologies to everyone, and if anyone wants to talk to me about this, I can be reached via IM or PM (although my MSN account isn't working very well).

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Although I get the humor of an april fools prank, I didn't get the humor in this one, but that's maybe 'cause it got out of hand.

Anyway, although it didn't really appeal to me, respect has to be given were it belongs. It was very thought-out april fools joke, although next time, you should watch it some more

[Chris 2.1]

Nice to see this is a prank, but it's clear a lot of people have been seriously offended and humiliated by it. Maybe not make it so personal next time?

[Rossymore]

FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU.....

I'm seriously fine. Just don't call me a girl again.
God I hate April.

On another note: WTFH is a gimmick?

EDIT: I did get suspicious when I noticed that all the threads had been done in the past month.
I hate you lot so much...yet I love you all as well.

Just never do that again. Ever

[Roy Karrde]

I do want to explain that because of the well... distance that the two Editors of the Board "Chris and Kevin" are from us. We can no longer really create a "DigiMasters". Or as Andrew wanted "AndrewMasters". So we did try our best to work with the best tools we had available.

[Blademaster]

So let's see who you guys got a laugh out of:


-starjake


...OK, and who you pissed off:


-Me
-Rossymore
-Crystal Tears
-Mew Master
-Chris 2.1


...And who you confused:


-Mikachu
-MLG
-Asi


... and who you banned:


-firepokemon


...and who you failed to amuse:


-EVERYBODY.


L. O. L. Great work, TPM. I'm really proud.

[Heald]

In all seriousness, it did get out of hand, although I was forced to abstain from interfering, so no blame can be sent my way. However, for those who did get offended, that honestly was never the intention of this "prank", so it'd be a lot easier for everyone if people just sucked it up and put it behind us. Seriously, if you want to get pissed off by a stupid prank on a fairly inactive Pokemon forum, go right ahead. Just don't lose any sleep over it.

[Roy Karrde]

... and who you banned:


-firepokemon

I think Lady G can answer this one. I believe some one wanted to answer this problem in one of the discussion threads we had about this.

[Mew Master]

So we did try our best to work with the best tools we had available.

And you did a piss-poor job.

[Roy Karrde]

And you did a piss-poor job.

We can always try PolkaMasters or AndrewMasters next time.

[Lady Vulpix]

Firepokemon's banning was legitimate, it wasn't part of the prank. He was making posts with nothing but insults all over the forum, and our warnings only encouraged him to post more.

[Dark-San]

He posted an obscene topic twice with warnings given to him. That would account for 2 spammings and also the multiple flames he included in some of his posts. 3 staffs, including Me, Gabi and Gavin, had given him sufficient warnings not to do that. But he chose to ignore them. Overall his ban is clearly well- deserved.

So his ban wasn't due to the April Fool Joke but rather his inability to listen to others.

[Mew Master]

We can always try PolkaMasters or AndrewMasters next time.

That would have more taste than this years debacle.

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

I can understand your point of view Denny, but I can also relate to the mods who tried to do something to amuse us on a grand scale (although it turned out badly). The intent was good, but the action could've worked out better, so lets all just try and forget about it for now and wait until next year's prank can ban us all at the same time

[Magmar]

Aww, I'm going to miss firepokemon. Even though he's a bit obsessed with TPM I'm sure he'd loosen up if people would just stop yelling at him when he flips his lid (fueling his fire) and give him a lapdance or something.

I say we all give him a lapdance.

[Heald]

I say we all give him a lapdance.

That's your response to everything! Lapdance this! Lapdance that!

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Maybe that's a creative input for next years prank.

Lapdances shouldn't be offending. Unless I give them in my goat-uniform. Oh the times..

[Magmar]

That's your response to everything! Lapdance this! Lapdance that!

it's April Fool's day so I'm being nice, lol

[Houndoom_Lover]

Hmm, glad I blacked out yesterday and whatnot- Kind of a stupid idea from what I gathered. Usually, when people prank them, they avoid personally mentioning names.
Which, you know, is illegal and called Hazing, I'm pretty sure.

I could be wrong but that's usually not funny.

Then again, I wasn't here to see the trainwreck.

[Lune the Guardian]

It would have worked better if you'd let in on the secret those who would potentially have been offended, especially star players like Blademaster. I'd assumed from his actions that you had informed him beforehand of the joke, and that he was just playing along. I actually kind of admired the setup you guys had that required weeks of planning in advance, for that reason. But to see that Blade was not informed at all about this, well, that was a little bit of poor insight on your part.

When stuff shows up to frustrate people, they don't really keep track of the date. If I may make a suggestion for future pranks, you should tell the sacrificial lambs in question about the prank beforehand so that they can play along and not overreact. Not everyone is aware of April Fool's Day, especially not when something inflames him/her. When I quit my modding job and left the forum I posted my goodbye (accidentally) on April Fool's Day and nobody believed me - the converse is also true, if someone sees something personally offensive he/she is not going to think "Hey, it's April Fool's Day. That's probably a prank."

*shrug* I applaud the elaborate planning, but perhaps take people's feelings into consideration next time?

It's a pity though, I had to leave for school after I made that long post so I didn't get to see the results before you guys removed the threads. I was hoping to see some mods play along and argue a bit. It was rather unrealistic and difficult to believe that every single mod would turn on Gabi and not a single person would support her so I tried to add some balance to that =/ But I think you made the right decision to end the joke early, considering that Blademaster was seriously thinking about leaving. Really, it would have been a great prank if only you had told the people you used about it.

[Ultimate Charizard]

Yeah i kinda braced myself to ignore anything and everything posted around the 1st but this was a little harsh. Jokes are one thing but basically public humiliation (and im sure thats what Blade felt to think so many people hated him) for a joke is just not funny.

Some of you guys, (the mods) specifically the ones that came up with the idea and thought it was funny need to seriously take a look at yourselves and think what the people of this forum now think of you and your attitude/opinion of the rest of us.

I understand the nature of the stunt. An inter-mod war would have been 'interesting' but mostly harmless because obviously you would have all been in on it. Singling out a couple of normal posters by name and ridiculing them without having the decency to let them in on it is just out of order.

[Lady Vulpix]

Thanks for your thoughts, Karin, I think you're right. I'm sorry we didn't think about that.

And I offer my apologies to Rossymore, the only non-mod I mentioned in my fake posts. Although I was expecting him to either get the joke or assume I was dumb for calling him 'she' and 'gimmick' (fake account) when he obviously was neither, but if he thought I was insulting him, I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention.

[Andrew]

So...

Guys. What would you have done for April Fools instead?

[Lune the Guardian]

So...

Guys. What would you have done for April Fools instead?

As I mentioned in my post that you might not have read properly, this would've been an incredibly well-thought-out joke if certain non-Fight Club members had been informed about the joke beforehand. So, in simpler terms, I would have done this, except I would have told Blademaster and such about the joke. By the way, my post is not that long.

[Andrew]

If you were informed before hand, it wouldn't be April Fools now, wouldn't it.

[Roy Karrde]

As I mentioned in my post that you might not have read properly, this would've been an incredibly well-thought-out joke if certain non-Fight Club members had been informed about the joke beforehand. So, in simpler terms, I would have done this, except I would have told Blademaster and such about the joke. By the way, my post is not that long.

Problem because who you should and shouldn't tell. Blade was the most vocal but he wasn't the only one that we hit. You can check out the two "Who would you snog"/"Sexually inappropriate" topics for that. As well as "Who would you make a Mod" and "Which TPMer is pissing you off"

Is Dark Sage, Shuppet Master, Chobi Chibi, Rossymore or anyone else less important even though we mentioned them in a joking way in one form or the other?

Not to mention you begin to widen the circle beyond mods, and you have a greater chance that something we have been putting together for over a month would get out.

[Lune the Guardian]

I did state it in the plural. I didn't know who the other people were that were hit off hand, so I just used Blade's name and added "and such" to pluralize it. No, the others are not any less important. I didn't say that they were. I said you should have told all of the sacrificial lambs.

How about using people who would not tell the secret? Or using people whose personalities you are sure would be able to handle the joke even without being told that it is a joke? If you can't find such people, perhaps personal pranks are not the best way to pull an April Fool's joke. I remember freaking out about the Digimasters thing a while back when I was like thirteen. It may not be what you think is the "funniest" option, but if you believe that keeping a joke a secret is more important than considering the feelings of others, I would be highly concerned about your priorities.

[Andrew]

But if we expanded out of the mod forum, there would be the problem compounded:

-Who would be trustworthy enough to tell?
-Who wouldn't?

You'd have a whole lot more people pissed off then knowing they weren't mods and other people who aren't mods are held in higher regard to know the truth.

[Roy Karrde]

I did state it in the plural. I didn't know who the other people were that were hit, so I just used Blade's name and added "and such" to pluralize it. No, the others are not any less important. I didn't say that they were. I said you should have told all of the sacrificial lambs.

Ahh yeah sorry about that I should have re read it ^^;;

Anyway your part about priorities, the truth is that we didn't know how anyone would act. I don't know about anyone else but I would figure the topics would be taken as a joke, and be viewed as such.

You brought up Digimasters, but you have to remember that ALL the TPM Jokes tend to piss people off originally. The 404 graphic pissed people off, the merger pissed people off, the Porn Hacker pissed people off. Usually with April Fools Jokes you get one of two reactions "Oh that was stupid" or "OMG ITS REAL I AM SO PISSED".

Anyway I dont wanna turn this into a debate, everyone has their own opinion on it. And it was ALOT of fun setting it up.

[Lune the Guardian]

Like I've been saying, if you are going to use certain people as a joke, then only tell those people. Nobody else needs to know. It's your job to figure out if your sacrificial lambs are trustworthy or not. If they are not, then don't use them as sacrificial lambs. If you really don't want to expand the information beyond the private forum, then pick sacrificial lambs that would not take things so seriously. If you are going to perform personal pranks, it's your responsibility to understand the personalities of the people that you are picking on.

[EDIT]: Sorry Roy Karrde, I was responding to Andrew and typed too slow. I understand that the intentions were good, and I really do admire the preparation and work that went into the prank. It was pretty clever to start the threads weeks in advance to make the thing look more genuine than a last-minute April Fool's thing. I am just making suggestions for the future pranks. As for the merger, HELL YES that pissed me off. That scared me to no end. But I still think that there's a difference between personal pranks, and pranks of that nature. There's nothing wrong with pissing everyone off as a unit, it's singling people out to piss off that steps across a dangerous line. When people are singled out, survival instincts kick in - and they don't necessarily remember that it's April Fool's day, so keep that in mind. I'm rather unobservant at times, and it took me quite a few years to remember to be wary of pranks on April Fool's day. If I was threatened, I might have reacted the same way, and become completely unaware of the date. When you're making personal pranks, you - cannot - assume that people will remember that it's April Fool's day.

[Andrew]

I still don't agree with your argument for the points I've outlined above.

It's an April Fools gag - Get over it.

[Roy Karrde]

There's nothing wrong with pissing everyone off as a unit, it's singling people out to piss off that steps across a dangerous line.

Yeah I can see that, I guess I kind of hoped that people would take the opposite reaction. That the mods thought enough of you to include you in what was/is a event on TPM that has tons of history behind it. That really speaks to the person's popularity and stature on the boards.

[Ultimate Charizard]

So hang on...Roy, your basically saying that Blade (i know he wasnt the only one but hes my example) shouldnt feel angry that he was publicly humiliated, but infact should feel flattered becasue it means he's popular and has good stature on the board?

Well of course when you put it like that its obvious....

[Lune the Guardian]

It's fine to say that after the gag has been revealed, Andrew, but have you thought about what could have happened before? What if a person that was pranked was having a horrible day and was an overall unstable person, and then took the joke too seriously? What if he/she did something awful like committing suicide? This is an unlikely thing to happen, but would you be so cold-hearted as to say that the person deserved to commit suicide for being a fool, because he/she should have just gotten over the "harmless" April Fool's joke?

Roy - I'm sure that different people would have reacted differently. It may be a compliment for some people to have been included. Maybe Blademaster and the others are happy about it now that they know, maybe they are not. However, to avoid a similar fiasco next year, maybe it would be better to really think about each person's personalities and consider their reactions before using them in a prank that they do not know about. I know that you guys did not intentionally want to hurt other people's feelings, and I commend such elaborate planning for the joke. But the things I've been saying about human nature are true, as far as I can tell. We are animals. We are. And when threatened, our survival instincts kick in, even if it takes just a moment to realize that we have been pranked. Some will laugh about it. Some won't realize that it's a prank. It doesn't matter that it's April Fool's day, it doesn't matter that this is a pokémon forum, humans will be what they are. And that's where the danger lies.

[Thanksverymuch]

Yeah go get fucked. I asked several times was this an April Fools Joke because I was convinced it was. But no you then banned me. For what spamming? When it was April Fools? Yeah nice one. Useless fucking cunts. Perhaps you should have thought, tell me in the PM when Lady Vulpix, Dark-San or Gavin Luper all infracted me for spam. Because I did think it was an April Fools. But when you lot kept infracting and then ultimately banned you. I really couldn't figure out was this an April Fools or what. I still don't see how my spamming is anything worse than your April Fools Joke. The fact one of you couldn't get a fucking clue and warn me. Hell I actually thought I was playing into it by posting the spam in the first place. If anytime one could post spam you think it was April Fools.



And I still think its unfair I got banned.

[Andrew]

Lune - If someone's going to commit suicide over a Pokemon board....

Well.... Lols.

It's not our problem to worry about the mental health of each and every person on a Pokemon board. You should also be skeptical on April Fools of anything.

Edit - FP, I understand your POV. I think they took offense with the more explicitly sexual nature of your posts.

[Ultimate Charizard]

If im honest its just a case of poor judgement.

While your discussing and planning in Fight club it might have seemed hilarious and the funniest thing in the world but from the outside looking in there was no hint of a joke other than the date and it started before the first for half the board.

And on another note, some of the mods at least have the class to apologise. Im aware theres some that dont care and are amused to see the peasants panic but a little diplomacy goes a long way.