At the beginning of March, the staff discussed ideas for our traditional April Fool prank(s). Quite quickly, Shell B came up with the idea of the staff creating fake "troll" accounts and spending the entire day trolling everyone. This was quickly agreed upon, and planning went underway to ensure that the infestation of trolls wasn't too obviously a prank.
So, for the last three weeks or so, the staff have slowly been creating sockpuppet accounts and posting as them, building up their reputation as weird and wonderful characters. On April 1st, we turned up the trolling to maximum, and unleashed ourselves onto you poor unsuspecting members. We were quite surprised at how many people actually believed the amount of stuff going on yesterday, so over the course of the day we got more and more ambitious, pushing the boundaries of reasonable doubt, and yet most of you still believed.
On top of the trolling, we created a number of distractions in order to keep the main event going. Synackaon provided much entertainment with his homage to Star Trek, but perhaps the most effective distraction was the one Shell and I came up with. Yes, I'm sorry to disappoint you all, but Shell and I currently have no plans to get married, although hopefully we will meet up one day. That said, it was very nice to hear all the well wishes, even if some of them were doused in skepticism. Also, if you haven't read the poem that NoMoreFaith penned for us, go and read it (and give much kudos).
The outcome of the trolling exceeded all our expectations, with the final post count of the day up at 1,407 (average a day is around 500). You may also wish to know that 14 separate reports were issued over the course of the day to our troll accounts, and we ignored every single one of them (yeah, the excuse about the report system being down was a hoax as well, sorry!). It was clear that everyone had a great time, but unfortunately the farce must end now, and I'll let each staff member reveal themselves through their troll accounts.
Thanks in advance for no hard feelings. Even intelligent people like yourselves can get fooled.
- Atheist Forums Staff
So, for the last three weeks or so, the staff have slowly been creating sockpuppet accounts and posting as them, building up their reputation as weird and wonderful characters. On April 1st, we turned up the trolling to maximum, and unleashed ourselves onto you poor unsuspecting members. We were quite surprised at how many people actually believed the amount of stuff going on yesterday, so over the course of the day we got more and more ambitious, pushing the boundaries of reasonable doubt, and yet most of you still believed.
On top of the trolling, we created a number of distractions in order to keep the main event going. Synackaon provided much entertainment with his homage to Star Trek, but perhaps the most effective distraction was the one Shell and I came up with. Yes, I'm sorry to disappoint you all, but Shell and I currently have no plans to get married, although hopefully we will meet up one day. That said, it was very nice to hear all the well wishes, even if some of them were doused in skepticism. Also, if you haven't read the poem that NoMoreFaith penned for us, go and read it (and give much kudos).
The outcome of the trolling exceeded all our expectations, with the final post count of the day up at 1,407 (average a day is around 500). You may also wish to know that 14 separate reports were issued over the course of the day to our troll accounts, and we ignored every single one of them (yeah, the excuse about the report system being down was a hoax as well, sorry!). It was clear that everyone had a great time, but unfortunately the farce must end now, and I'll let each staff member reveal themselves through their troll accounts.
Thanks in advance for no hard feelings. Even intelligent people like yourselves can get fooled.
- Atheist Forums Staff
