On 3/7/06, The Cunctator cunctator@gmail.com wrote:
On 3/7/06, Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com wrote:
Steve Bennett wrote:
Not any slur against you, but I consider this basically lame. Being willing to post News of the Weird is not the same thing as Not Taking Ourselves Too Seriously.
Being willing to act like Uncyclopedia for 24 out of 8765 hours of the year is.
Kind of have to agree there. If major newspapers allow themselves to print non-factual stories on that day, I think we can forgive ourselves as well. Can we fudge up a hoax, new information on the flat earth theory, etc etc?
Well, I've been proposing this idea since last year, and I have to say that I think both of you will come around to my perspective on this once you reflect on it a bit.
There is *nothing* clever about having fake articles on the homepage for the day. This isn't about "Not Taking Ourselves Too Seriously" it's about being deliciously clever. Fake stories on April Fool's day? *yawn*
But *real* stories, carefully sourced, which people *think* are fake... now *that's* clever. It's a second-order trick, a meta-trick. Surely I'm not the only one around here geeky enough to consider that kind of hack to be infinitely more amusing than doing what everyone else does.
Some might consider the above argument to be a solipsistic defense of being stuffy and taking oneself too seriously.
Especially considering the source.
It's much like a parent telling their rebellious teenager:
"You think drugs and rock and roll are punk? What would be REALLY punk would be to eat vegetables and do your homework and go to Sunday School! That's how to REALLY break expectations!"
[[Straight edge]]
-- geni