SmashWiki:April Fools'
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This page documents an unofficial SmashWiki policy, a widely accepted standard that people should expect (like the Spanish Inquisition). Slightly more importantly: This page contains material that is kept because it is considered humorous. Please do not take it seriously. |
SmashWiki enjoys April Fools' Day. To us, it is a day of shenanigans where most rules are optional and the only goal is to have fun.
Guidelines
Any autoconfirmed user is free to participate in the festivities. Note however that while the rules are much more lax, they do still exist. When making an April Fools' edit, apply common sense, and think about whether the page still presents information that it is supposed to, despite the changed wording of the paragraphs you are going to edit. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in a block (depending on severity, a warning may be issued first) for the rest of the April Fools' festivities. Attempts to circumvent this block will result in a permanent one.
What makes a good April Fools' joke
- A piece of readable satire, preferably built off what is already in the page, that would be considered funny by users with a half-decent sense of humor.
- Jokes that connect with the theme of the main joke. NIWA wide jokes are also great where possible.
What makes a bad April Fools' joke
- Violent, sexual, or otherwise inappropriate content, especially pertaining to real people (including SmashWiki contributors and professional smashers).
- Blatant removal of relevant information or replacing large amounts of text with one-line jokes.
- Short, nonsensical trivia points or sentences which are notoriously difficult to find and remove without scrutiny of the Recent Changes.
- Replacing one word with another, or replacing all instances of a word or phrase with another.
- Ruining the format or readability of the page. This includes:
- writing illegible "engrish" or using unreadable fonts such as Wingdings,
- using color in a way that makes text hard or impossible to read,
- using obnoxiously large or small font sizes, and
- breaking templates.
- Overly complex or inside jokes.
Other considerations
- DON'T be a spoilsport. Don't interrupt or overwrite others' jokes; synergize them instead if possible.
- DON'T do anything that would take significant effort to clean up afterwards. Anything more than a few undos is probably too much. Everyone is expected to clean up their own mess.
- DON'T start anything new once most of the day is over. The average April Fools' joke is most visible in the morning.
- DON'T prank this page in any way.
- DON'T make prank reports on the Administrators' noticeboard
Specific prank targets
Main page
Traditionally, the main page is where the "main" joke of the wiki is done by the administrators. While the main page itself cannot be edited by other users, some of its constituent templates can be.
News
Adding fake news items is a simple joke, such as fake Smash Bros. characters being revealed, or fake games being listed in the "upcoming games" section. However, note that simplicity leads to over-saturation, and these sections can end up quite inflated after a few hours. If the list is already rather large, consider not adding to it any more.
"Did you know" section
Chances are, this section will be converted to match the main page's theme, but others may add to it as appropriate. As above, it is easy for this to become too large, and discretion is advised.
Mainspace
It is acceptable to make joke edits in the mainspace. However, there are some restrictions on doing so.
- Joke edits should be major and obvious. Re-writing a paragraph to turn it from "serious" to "parody" is okay. Changing a single word from "Mario" to "Wario" is not.
- Joke edits should fit a theme, preferably the theme of the wiki's main joke, though it can also be a theme that the user spreads across several similar pages.
Userspace
Users are free to do almost whatever to their userpages.
Other namespaces
Generally, the functionality of the wiki should remain mostly intact. Therefore, no jokes are allowed in templates or categories, and admins may not alter the MediaWiki namespace outside of changes to the wiki's stylesheets.
Timing
Generally, the main wiki joke as done by staff is launched between European midnight and American midnight, and can be considered a "go!" signal for other users to begin. In the same way, once the main page is back to normal (probably about 24 hours later), everything else should be put back in order.
Past April Fools' jokes
Note that users making fools of their own userpages are in general not important enough to be listed here. This is more meant for wiki-wide pranks.
2013
In 2013, it was announced that the wiki would be turning into a French-language wiki. The main page and all its constituent templates were translated to suit. In addition, several of the links were replaced with links to either the Wombo Combo page or the related video.
2014
In 2014, several pranks were pulled by various users:
- The wiki's main skin was modified to resemble the Hot Dog Stand skin of Windows 3.1, with garish red and yellow backgrounds with red, yellow, white, and black text. Earlier iterations surrounded links in a black background, but this was removed after usability complaints.
- The main page's featured article focused on one of the least useful stickers in Brawl (the Panel sticker, Food Effect +2), focusing on useless technical information.
- The Smash Bros. News section claimed that Wreck-It Ralph would be playable in the upcoming SSB4 with Vanellope Von Schweetz as an Assist Trophy; the news item claimed this was from a Nintendo Direct and linked to a Rickroll.
- Another news item linked to another site's April Fools' joke: a SSB4 website spoof that claimed to reveal Nester as playable.
- The NIWA News' "upcoming games" section was expanded to include several (in some cases, at the time) nonexistent games, mostly of reputable fan demand: Majora's Mask 3D, Pokémon Generation III remakes, Mother 4, Super Mario Sunshine 2, Star Fox and F-Zero games for Wii U, Elite Beat Agents 2, and Banjo-Threeie. "Pokémon Rose and Lily Versions" was later added to match with Bulbapedia's joke about the next Pokémon games occurring in a Canadian-styled region. Later in the day several other users added increasingly more ludicrous titles.
2015
In 2015, the wiki became SmashRiki in honor of Riki, a character from Xenoblade Chronicles who appears as an Assist Trophy in SSB4. The main page was changed to match Riki's speaking style, and the color scheme changed to Riki's colors.
- Like the year before, the NIWA News' "upcoming games" included several nonexistent games.
- "Did you know" was replaced with some made-up facts from Riki.
Due to a Nintendo Direct set to air later in the day, the wiki was put back to normal ahead of schedule, and the news template remained untouched throughout the day.
2016
In 2016, SmashWiki joined the Super Mario Wiki and Pikipedia in announcing a fake Nintendo Cinematic Universe, with "The Smashers" being one of its films. Aside from these pages and typical unusual things being added to the main page and articles, no major stunts were pulled.
2017
PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale is the main featured article. No other aesthetics were shown.
