The April Fools DYKs are pretty tame compared to the ones we used to get from Bedford (which eventually led to a wheel war). I just wish the April Fools ones were actually funny.

Ryan Kaldari

On 1/15/13 11:23 PM, Risker wrote:
On 15 January 2013 21:09, Sarah Stierch <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

    http://thewikipedian.net/2013/01/15/wikifoolery/

    " April Fools' Day
    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day>is still about 2
    1/2 months off, butWikipedians are already planning
    
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Today%27s_featured_article/requests#Icelandic_Phallological_Museum_on_April_Fools.27_Day.3F>for
    the big day. Every year, editors who maintain the front page
    arrange for silly, sometimes misleading, and even mildly offensive
    articles to run during the 24-hour period covering April 1st. But
    aswe noted in April 2011
    <http://thewikipedian.net/2011/04/01/wiki-fools/>, not everyone is
    happy that such a serious project as Wikipedia, one focused on
    curating the world's knowledge, spends one day per year kind of,
    sort of, doing the opposite. And as of today, there's athread on
    Jimbo Wales' Talk page
    
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales#April_Fool.27s_Day_-_an_opportunity_about_to_be_squandered_again>hosting
    a debate on the practice. This time in the mix: whether the
    juvenile pranks contribute to Wikipedia'snoted gender imbalance
    
<http://thewikipedian.net/2012/11/08/all-the-women-who-edit-wiki-throw-your-hands-up-at-me/>.
    Best comments so far: from female editors defending standing up
    for "women's ability to both use and appreciate dirty or
    giggle-inducing language"."


I don't know that they contribute to the gender imbalance - although in fairness the women who make it as far as adminship and discussions on Jimbo's page tend to be unusually thick-skinned (I mean it as a compliment!). I think that the puerile proposals being bandied about are likely to make Wikipedia look like it's run by, well...juvenile geeks who haven't got past giggling every time they hear someone say a "bad word". It would be different if these things were actually funny, but they aren't.

Although I think it probably says something about the general mentality of a significant portion of our editorship what was being proposed for April Fool's day - sex, body parts, and swearing. Hmmm.


Risker/Anne


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