Exactly. It’s like people are going out of their way to be upset. The message itself was kinda lame (sorry, Idle Thoughts), but the end result is comic gold.
“Don’t contact me again, for any reason,” “I await a formal apology to the board,” etc.
Were these people so emotionally invested in an unsolicited PM from a Mod, where the subject / reason for contacting them was dubious at best, that they won’t ever be able to trust anyone, ever again? If it was a long and drawn out exchange, then, yeah, maybe I could see a violation of trust, but this was a single message, and the joke was “revealed” less than 6 hours later. Hardly enough time to get emotionally invested in the saga.
If anything, I want to thank Idle Thoughts, because now I know how to handle certain Dopers - which ones are hypersensitive, which ones can take a joke, etc.
This 100%. The message itself was a bit of a head-scratcher, but some of the ensuing gasps and vitriol that it inspired make it-- well, not quite Kaufmanesque, but still pretty awesome.
Wasn’t it April 1st about 8 or so years ago that pretty much all the rules were suspended for a day? People goin’ crazy then for sure. That was the first time I ever was fooled into clicking on a link of goatse. I’d much prefer getting PM’d to BM’d.
Huh. I went away for a bit to get some lunch and when I come back, I find this thread has exploded.
First of all and most importantly, I apologize sincerely to anyone who I might have pissed off. That wasn’t my intent. I’m very sorry to anyone who didn’t like it.
That being said, I also have to agree that it wasn’t the greatest idea in the world. As far as pranks go, it was pretty lame, yeah. I just didn’t put a lot of thought into it. I admit those who said the best pranks are ones that make the person laugh instead of feeling misled.
Lastly, I just wanted to say that none of this had anything to do with my capacity as a moderator. It was totally free and clear, unconnected from the fact that I am one. It’s something I’ve have done as well, even if I wasn’t a mod (although I do have to admit that being able to PM at least 300 people without having a PM flood control was nice).
So basically, it was totally done as me, the poster…although whether anyone agrees/disagrees that someone who is also a mod shouldn’t be doing things like that is probably a whole other discussion.
I’ve got at least 45 PMs I haven’t read yet since I’ve been having lunch. The first few were posted here, and I plan to update it with all the PMs I’ve gotten since, although if you don’t want your reply in it, just let me know in PM (or in here works too).
I obviously won’t include anyone (by default) who has posted in here who is (or seems) upset. Again, I apologize to those of you who didn’t like it.
Quoted for truth. Seriously? In the other thread, there’s someone whining that it was a huge violation of trust or some such. Geezus. Get over yourselves.
I fell for it and posted a brief compassionate response, although I had a bit of doubt since I have seen a picture of IT, although, who knows what’s true on the internet?
I’m glad I erased the part stating my unrequiting love for her and the picture of my schlong.
It was a good joke. I laughed when I realized I’d been had.
This is why I am upset. I did not get a PM and I have not been having much luck with online dating so I haven’t had much chance lately to send out pics of Mr. Winky and now I missed out on another chance.
I don’t think that was an April Fool’s thing - I think it was a server or software upgrade that meant we were going to lose a day or two’s worth of posts, so for those two days people could do whatever, since it was all going to be erased anyway.
I’ve been a member of this Board for 16 freakin’ years, I have more than 18,000 posts and no one thought to even include me in their April Fool’s Day prank???
FWIW, I totally fell for it, responded seriously and my response was quoted in the other thread, and I laughed. Some don’t seem to understand the concept of April Fools day.
(Heh)