So we're round to April fools day again, and I'm once again struggling to get any amusement or joy out of the efforts people have gone to today to create content for it. I always remember April fools day as being a day for quick gags and jokes, aimed at a small number of people, who invariably see the funny side of it when the joke is revealed; but nowadays, the jokes seem to be about who can construct the most believable story to take in the widest audience, but that is actually completely made up.
The days when it was school kids pranking their teacher by adjusting the classroom clock seem to have been replaced with people making up elaborate stories filled with names like Oli Farlop as the only real hint that something is amiss. There also felt like more "joy" to the stories in the past, flying penguins are always going to be fun, but "traffic lights to be changed to red, amber, blue to appease colour blind users" is neither fun or particularly unbelievable.
So, is it just me, am I just being old and grumpy about it, are people trying too hard and missing the point, or is it something that just doesn't really work on the internet? Is it just that we've become too used to people making stuff up all the time on the internet that the fun has gone out of it?
The days when it was school kids pranking their teacher by adjusting the classroom clock seem to have been replaced with people making up elaborate stories filled with names like Oli Farlop as the only real hint that something is amiss. There also felt like more "joy" to the stories in the past, flying penguins are always going to be fun, but "traffic lights to be changed to red, amber, blue to appease colour blind users" is neither fun or particularly unbelievable.
So, is it just me, am I just being old and grumpy about it, are people trying too hard and missing the point, or is it something that just doesn't really work on the internet? Is it just that we've become too used to people making stuff up all the time on the internet that the fun has gone out of it?