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'<noinclude> {{Information page|WP:FOOLS|WP:R4F}} <!-- Do not add a {{humor}} tag here, as this page itself is not humor. --> {{Nutshell|April Fools' Day jokes are a controversial practice on Wikipedia. Such jokes '''must''' be kept out of mainspace and should be tagged with {{Tl|humor}} or similar templates.}} [[Image:Narr haustuer.jpg|thumb|While April Fools' Day can be fun, there are several rules you need to follow to avoid disrupting the encyclopedia.]] [[April Fools' Day]] has historically been a contentious day on Wikipedia, and the limits on how editors may play jokes and pranks on other users and the encyclopedia have been disputed for some time. While there is no consensus on a complete April Fools' Day joke ban, editors are advised to use common sense.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools'#Ban all April Fools jokes]]</ref><ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 2#Just get rid of them - proposal (by AlasdairEdits)]]</ref> To help settle the debate on what is and is not allowed on April Fools' Day, several '''rules''' have since been established based on [[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools'|this request for comment in 2013]], [[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 2|this request for comment in 2016]], and [[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 3|this request for comment in 2020]] for users who choose to play jokes on April Fools'. </noinclude> == The rules == {{see also|Wikipedia:Disruptive editing#April Fools' Day}} {{shortcut|WP:FOOLR}} ===General=== Wikipedia policies and guidelines still apply on April Fools' Day, especially the policies on [[WP:EW|edit warring]], [[Wikipedia:No personal attacks|no personal attacks]] and [[WP:BLP|biographies of living persons]].<ref name=Abcom2016>In 2016, [[Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Gamaliel and others|a dispute]] involving, among other things, an April Fools' Day joke in ''[[WP:The Signpost|The Signpost]]'' reached the [[WP:ARBCOM|Arbitration Committee]], which passed [[Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Gamaliel and others#April Fool's Day|a principle]] affirming that {{tq|April Fool's Day jokes are not exempt from the biographies of living persons policy}}.</ref><ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 2#New section at Wikipedia:Disruptive editing (alternative text)]]</ref> The [[Main Page]] is exempt from rules No.{{nbsp}}1, and No.{{nbsp}}2:<ref>Affirmed at [[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 2#Revoke the Main Page's exemption from the restriction on articlespace jokes (by Rhododendrites)]]</ref> # '''All jokes and pranks must be kept out of the "article", "help", "talk", and "help talk" namespaces.'''<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools'#April Fools' jokes should stay out of article space]]</ref><ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 2#Exclude the Help namespace from April Fools (by Rhododendrites)]]</ref><ref name='talk'>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 3#No pranks on mainspace talk and help talk pages or Wikiproject pages]]</ref>{{efn|There is consensus against extending this ban to other types of talk pages.<ref>[[Wikipedia talk:Rules for Fools#RfC: Ban April Fools pranks on all talk pages]].</ref> There is also consensus against placing a blanket ban on Wikiproject pages.<ref name='talk'/>}} Jokes that affect articles, ''including files, categories and templates'' that are used in the article namespace,<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 2#Limit jokes to userspace and non-essential project space (by Ansh666)]]</ref> will be treated as [[Wikipedia:vandalism|vandalism]]. Depending on the nature, you risk having your account possibly [[WP:BLOCK|blocked]] from editing.{{efn|[[Wikipedia:Vandalism|Vandalism]], including inappropriate joke edits in article space, should be treated in the usual manner as vandalism on other days of the year. A vandal should not be [[Wikipedia:Blocking policy|blocked]] immediately simply because the vandalism occurred on April Fools' Day.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools'#Automatic sanction for article-space vandalism]]</ref> If an editor is blocked, the excuse "but it's April Fools' day{{nbsp}}..." is not considered a [[WP:GAPB|valid reason]] for unblocking. Administrators should use their best judgement on the severity of the situation and give warnings as needed.}} # '''All jokes must be tagged''' using {{Tl|Humor}} or similar templates, or the inline template {{Tl|April fools}}.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools'#Require all jokes other than the main page to be tagged]]</ref> # '''All jokes must be acceptable.''' Jokes that are hateful, discriminatory, and/or intended to make others feel unwelcome will not be tolerated.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Civility]]</ref>{{efn|Administrators should use their best judgement on the severity of the situation and give warnings and/or blocks as needed.}} (This should go without saying: If you think that the joke you're about to publish '''''might''''' be taking it a bit too far, you should assume that it is, and ''do not publish it''.) ===Other rules=== * '''Do not edit war or vandalize individual years' April Fools pages.''' These pages are meant to document pranks, not have pranks performed on them.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 3#Edit warring and vandalism on individual years' April Fools page]]</ref> * '''There is a precedent for deleting COVID-19 joke pages.''' These pages have been described as bad taste due to the sensitive nature of the topic which falls under rule #3 above.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Coronavirus_disease_2019&action=edit&redlink=1|title=Coronavirus disease 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome_coronavirus_2&action=edit&redlink=1|title=Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/COVID-19&action=edit&redlink=1|title=COVID-19}}</ref> ===Joke deletion nominations=== To minimize disruption of Wikipedia, please keep the following rules in mind if you consider creating an April Fools' Day joke [[Wikipedia:Deletion process|deletion nomination]]: # '''You must immediately remove the line''' {{tlx|REMOVE THIS TEMPLATE WHEN CLOSING THIS AfD}}. Otherwise, a bot will add a deletion notice to the mainspace article.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive247#How to keep AfDs off the actual articles]]</ref> # '''Do not use [[Wikipedia:Twinkle|Twinkle]]''' to create the deletion nomination page because that adds a tag to the mainspace article.<ref>[[Wikipedia talk:Rules for Fools#Use of WP:Twinkle on April Fools' Day]]</ref> # The deletion log for 1 April will have a separate section for joke nominations.<!--{{clarify |date=August 2019 |post-text= What does "is to contain" mean?}}--><ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools' 2#Separate XfD log sections (by Ansh666)]]</ref>{{efn|In the past, joke deletions with low participation have been deleted per [[WP:G6|CSD G6]] after April Fools' Day is over.<ref>[[Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Archive 70#Relisting AfDs that were created 1 April]]</ref>}} This is to avoid disrupting the regular business on AfD. Please do not create a joke nomination outside of this section. # Make sure the general formatting in deletion log pages is not changed, to prevent automated or semi-automated processes from breaking. In particular, the "<nowiki><!-- Add new entries to the TOP of the following list --></nowiki>" comment at the top of the deletion log must not be changed or removed.<ref name=log-talk>See the [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Log/2017_April_1&action=history history] of the [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2017 April 1|2017 1 April AfD log]].</ref> ==Tips and advice== ===Conduct=== *New editors who are unfamiliar with April Fools' Day on Wikipedia may see these jokes as vandalism, while other editors may find the jokes (no matter how innocent) unwanted if placed in areas such as their [[WP:USERPAGE|userpage]]. It is a good idea to find out whether the recipient of a joke is open to this type of humor before playing the prank. In general, editors should avoid reverting jokes that comply with the above rules and are made in the spirit of April Fools' Day. *Editors who revert non-harmful jokes should be assumed to be acting in [[Wikipedia:Assume good faith|good faith]], and should not be sanctioned.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools'#Ban interference with non-harmful jokes]]</ref> *As [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]] is still in effect, avoid jokes that are directed at or reference living persons. Think carefully before nominating a BLP article for deletion. *Please do your best to make your joke visible towards others. Hey.... if you have a joke then share and tag it, don't change some obscure redirect page that isn't visible towards others and expect a happy response. *Posting jokes on the [[WP:PNB|Noticeboards]] is not advisable. ===Material=== *For the main page, there is a consensus for "[[WP:DYK|Did you know]]" entries to include "clever puns rather than [[Off-color humor|poop jokes]] and sexual innuendos".<ref>[[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/April Fools'#More creative DYK hooks]]</ref> *Please double-check [[Wikipedia:Current date and time|the current time]]. April Fools' Day starts at 00:00 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] April{{nbsp}}1 and ends at 00:00 UTC April{{nbsp}}2. Please do not play April Fools' jokes outside of this time, even if it is April Fools' Day in your own time zone. *Since no April Fools' Day jokes may appear in the Talk: namespace, please do not create joke merge proposals, requested moves, or other proposals that would ordinarily appear in the article talk namespace. *It is discouraged to repeat jokes from previous April Fools' Days, especially when they have been excessively reused.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Earth (21st nomination)]] resulted in a ban on future Earth AfDs due to becoming unfunny.</ref> == See also == * [[User:The Herald/How to celebrate April 1 in Wikipedia?|How to celebrate April{{nbsp}}1?]] * [[Wikipedia:April Fools]] * [http://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/Uncyclopedia:How_To_Be_Funny_And_Not_Just_Stupid How To Be Funny And Not Just Stupid] on Uncyclopedia * {{tl|AprilFoolsNotice}} * {{tl|Not April Fools}} ==Notes== {{notelist}} == References == <references /> {{BJAODN}} [[Category:Wikipedia April Fools' Day]] </noinclude>'