# Would this prank bother any of you? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 26, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680 "2005-01-26T01:46:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/61 "2005-01-27T02:16:44Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > For starters, I’m skeptical that “everyone hates you,” and if they do it’s not because of this thread. All the details we’re hearing now set up one situation; just saying “there’s this guy in my class” and “some girl from IU” and then getting all defensive and calling everyone “Babies” sets up an entirely different situation. > > Didn’t sound like the guy was your friend, didn’t sound like you could tell whether the guy had enough self-confidence that when the joke played out he’d say, “Ah, you got me!” instead of “I thought she was the one I’m going to go kill myself.” It sounded like you were playing up some poor chump in your class as a big loser. > > And seriously, know your audience, man: this is an internet message board populated with a lot of people who like to talk about science fiction, divulge personal sexual information, and read and/or answer trivial, pedantic questions about science and history. In other words: nerds. (Myself included). A lot of us are going to identify too much with the guy who got picked on for not having any luck in the dating department. If you wanted people to say “Do it! Haha, sucker!” then you should’ve asked on [somethingawful.com](http://somethingawful.com) or somewhere like that. I really wasn’t going to do it maliciously though. I am not trying to be defensive or apologetic right now, and I am honestly not much concerned if people who insult me publically for their own enjoyment and vaguely threaten to beat me up on a message board ‘like me’ as much as i’m concerned that people think I planned to humiliate this guy for my own private entertainment. I should work on how I present myself if I come across that way. > [@SolGrundy](#): > > For starters, I’m skeptical that “everyone hates you,” and if they do it’s not because of this thread. Well not everyone, just about 30 people of the 1300 or so clicks i’ve gotten. But as a wanna be buddhist I try to go with the flow of events instead of resist them. This thread is a nice wakeup call telling me I really am pretty blind as to how I present myself. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/62 "2005-01-27T02:17:55Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > And for the record, before any of you all say ‘how would you feel if I/we did that to you’, (maybe some of you did, **I didn’t really read the thread** ) that is different. You guys are malicious and want me to suffer so you can make a point to yourselves. I would’ve been playing a prank on a friend with the same warped sense of humor that I have. Different situations. **Wesley** , honey – if you ask our opinions, we will give them to you. You may or may not like our opinions, but it behooves you to read them, having solicited them. We’re not malicious. On the contrary – it’s because we empathize with the nastiness of being on the receiving end of such a puerile “prank” that we recommended that you reconsider. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/63 "2005-01-27T03:21:27Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > \But as a wanna be buddhist I try to go with the flow of events instead of resist them. This thread is a nice wakeup call telling me I really am pretty blind as to how I present myself. I assume you are saying that you want to be a Buddhist - I’m no expert by any means, but I understand that a large part of Buddhism is compassion for others, and not hurting other people or yourself. I’m not sure where practical jokes fit into this - maybe you should ask someone at a local temple or a Buddhist message board. And let me say that I agree with **twickster** - why did you start a thread and then not read the responses that people give? If you didn’t want our opinions, wouldn’t it have been easier and quicker to just have not asked for them? ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/64 "2005-01-27T03:23:48Z")
I don’t think the majority are saying that playing a joke on a good friend who will ‘get it’ is necessarily a problem, and you are in the best position to judge if that is the case. Certainly the scenario you gave us was not clear on the set-up. If you were already confident on the way the joke would be received, then perhaps you asked the wrong question. in terms of points for originality, creativity and wit, the consensus is that it falls pretty low too. Nothing wrong with playing a joke, but perhaps you need to do a little more plotting to come up with somehing thing a little less purile, and a little more devious. I’m sure it’s possible, and the execution will be all the more worthwhile for it. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/65 "2005-01-27T10:32:53Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Didn’t sound like the guy was your friend, didn’t sound like you could tell whether the guy had enough self-confidence that when the joke played out he’d say, “Ah, you got me!” instead of “I thought she was the one I’m going to go kill myself.” It sounded like you were playing up some poor chump in your class as a big loser. Yeah, that’s the real point. Sounded like you were planning to fuck with some innocent person who hardly knew you by trashing his self confidence. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/66 "2005-01-27T14:30:10Z")
Yay! I’ve finally found a question that I can answer from personal experience! I pulled a very similar version of this stunt on a good friend a couple of years ago, in our last year of high school. Although he is perhaps a sensitive soul, he was never short of female interest, particularly relative to the rest of us - perhaps this motivated us slightly! Anyway, there was this girl who (IIRC) he had seen only once or twice, and things had gone pretty well, he really liked her and wanted to take things further, but then she didn’t respond to his calls/text messages for a couple of days, which got him thinking. The whole saga was annoying the rest of us a little since he could hardly talk about anything else. So, one day when he left his bag unattended for a minute in the common room, I got one of my other friends to “borrow” his mobile phone for a second without his knowledge. I then changed the stored name for my mobile phone number to the girls name, and (for symmetry) put my name under her number. Returning the phone to his bag undetected, I then waited for him to go to class before sending him a text message asking if he wanted to go on a date (I even asked a female friend what wording to use to make it convincing). Now, first of all I hardly expected it to work since I assumed that although he would see that it was from “xxxxx”, the actual number would be mine. However, he completely overlooked this and we got a positive (almost desperate) response. So we carried on the charade for a couple of hours, to the point of arranging a place and time. It could have been REALLY funny if we had kept quiet, and then gone to meet him at the time we had arranged. Surprise! But, not being quite that heartless, we confessed (after first asking how it was going with xxxxx, are you going to the cinema at 7.30 tomorrow night? :D) that lunchtime. As I say, the funniest thing was not his obvious disappointment, but how perfectly the whole thing worked, and the fact we could have taken it further had we wanted to. He wasn’t exactly mad, but it really knocked his confidence with this particular girl, despite our exhortations that no damage had been done since she was unaware of the incident, and he should carry on as before. For some reason, though, I don’t think he ever saw her again! This was probably partly down to her, though. This didn’t prevent him venting his frustration on me, of course; he didn’t speak to me for about a week (though of course I apologised profusely - I hadn’t realised he’d take it so badly) and I think the revenge involved a beating, and soaking me with water. However, he did eventually see the funny side and we are still best of friends. The story has a happy ending, too - a couple of weeks later he met his current girlfriend of almost two years. So maybe we did good! Anyway, my advice to the OP would be - go for it! Because it WAS very funny. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/67 "2005-01-27T16:29:27Z")
Honestly what’s the fucking point? I don’t think it’s the cruelest prank played; the real problem is that it isn’t funny or creative. The funny/cruel ratio is too low. Stupid idea. Don’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/68 "2005-01-28T15:01:05Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > Honestly what’s the fucking point? I don’t think it’s the cruelest prank played; the real problem is that it isn’t funny or creative. The funny/cruel ratio is too low. Stupid idea. Don’t do it. Pfffft. So my pranks aren’t ‘creative’ enough (thats the best insult people can come up with I guess) eh? How about this. I send him an email pretending to be his father who walked out on him when he was 2. I say ‘I miss you and want to see you, meet me at the park’, etc. etc. etc. Then when he at the park and nobody is there to meet him I drive by and take pictures. I mail him the pictures pretending to be his dad saying “I was going to meet you but after I saw you I decided I made the right decision 22 years ago”. THen i’d post some [mr. yuck](http://rileychildrenshospital.com/images/pic_mr_yuck.gif) stickers over his face on the pictures. That should be funny as hell. And I could also always ‘accidentally’ set his hair on fire. -Wesley “class clown” Clark ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/69 "2005-01-28T17:45:59Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Pfffft. So my pranks aren’t ‘creative’ enough (thats the best insult people can come up with I guess) eh? Oh, i’ve got plenty of insults, but this is in IMHO, not the Pit. Just a suggestion for next time: if you don’t like people’s criticisms, then don’t post a thread asking for their opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/70 "2005-01-28T18:29:28Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Oh, i’ve got plenty of insults, but this is in IMHO, not the Pit. > > Just a suggestion for next time: if you don’t like people’s criticisms, then don’t post a thread asking for their opinions. Feel free to pit me sheep. I haven’t been pitted yet and i’m looking forward to it ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/71 "2005-01-28T18:37:08Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Feel free to pit me sheep. I haven’t been pitted yet and i’m looking forward to it You’re actually not worth the effort. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/72 "2005-01-28T19:26:18Z")
**Wesley** – I think you’re misreading the mood here. Do we hate you? Despise you? Have contempt for you? No. Do we think you’re clever or funny? No. I’m pretty sure not a single person who’s posted here has strong feelings about you as a person, though. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/73 "2005-01-29T17:46:19Z")
Why don’t you children go play in The BBQ Pit? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/74 "2005-01-29T18:37:23Z")
**Wesley,** check out the article “U Want Me 2 Kill Him” in the 2/05 \*[Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/050110roco01?page=1). \* You might find it very entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/75 "2005-01-29T19:04:05Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > My imaginary cabana boy is named Sergei. That just means you fantasy vacation in Odessa instead of Puerto Vallarta. I mean, no accounting for taste. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/76 "2005-01-29T19:46:38Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > **Wesley,** check out the article “U Want Me 2 Kill Him” in the 2/05 \*[Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/050110roco01?page=1). \* You might find it very entertaining. Wow, I never would’ve taken it that far. This thread is a nice wakeup call, because I guess I am different from alot of people. I find being attacked and pitted kindof fun, and I find being pranked on kindof fun too. I suppose I naively assume other people are the same way which could get me into trouble in real life. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/77 "2005-01-29T20:00:02Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > **I didn’t really read the thread** Wes, a word of advice. It’s one thing to have started 517 threads in the past year, like you have. Perhaps you really have that many great topics to share with the rest of us. But if you’ve gotten to the point where you’re not even reading the threads you start, you may find yourself better off with a Livejournal account to transfer more of your “this is what I’m thinking about right now” threads. -lv ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/78 "2005-01-29T20:10:11Z")
> [@LordVor](#): > > Wes, a word of advice. It’s one thing to have started 517 threads in the past year, like you have. Perhaps you really have that many great topics to share with the rest of us. But if you’ve gotten to the point where you’re not even reading the threads you start, you may find yourself better off with a Livejournal account to transfer more of your “this is what I’m thinking about right now” threads. > > -lv I was a little intimidated by all the insults I was getting when I first opened it so I just skimmed it at first. I normally read my own threads, so not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/79 "2005-01-29T21:04:41Z")
> [@](#): > > There is a guy in one of my classes, I am thinking of sending him emails from one of my accounts pretending to be an attractive girl in one of his classes (a class i’m not in) and trying to seduce him, maybe sending him pics from an IU girl just to screw with him. Is that likely to get me socially segregated when the truth comes out or is seducing men ‘in’ now? Under no circumstances should you do this. Even assuming he is a friend with your same sense of humor (something you neglected to mention earlier), you would really be pulling a prank on the “attractive girl in one of his classes”, and there is no reason to get her involved. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680/80 "2005-01-29T21:06:54Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > **Wesley,** check out the article “U Want Me 2 Kill Him” in the 2/05 \*[Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/050110roco01?page=1). \* You might find it very entertaining. That is a bizarre story. With a little help from Google, I found the article that actually shows a picture of “John”. (The Vanity Fair people goaded me into it!) I can’t believe the boys both got probation as a sentence. **Wesley** , it seems that you’ve already made up your mind not to go through with this, and I think that’s the right decision. This happened in my circle of friends once, a situation similar to **Dead Cat** , with the exception that the person upon whom this joke was played was not confident about guys wanting to date her. The results were, predictably, not good. She was very upset with our mutual friend, who’d played the joke on her as a reponse to us "TP"ing his car. After his revenge, we all lost heart for those types of jokes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-prank-bother-any-of-you/286680.md?page=5)