How to (responsibly) prank your friends

Happy April Fools’ Day, Gators! The time for humor, jokes and, of course, pranks both large and small is upon us. While I enjoy the merriment of the holiday as much as anyone else, this column is not a joke. In fact, it is a serious column on a somewhat serious issue: how to prank responsibly.

For as long as anyone can remember, one of the few constants on April Fools’ Day has been companies and websites pranking their viewers in various ways. The website “April Fools’ Day on the Web” lists 215 pranks by companies and internet personalities in 2018 alone, and I’m sure today will bring even more pranks of all shapes and sizes. Some of them are quite amusing, such as a Google adding a "Where’s Waldo" game to Google Maps, the video game Rocket League making its car toppers huge, or the chat platform, Discord, launching an @Someone feature which pings a random person on Discord. Users can have some fun with these pranks and have a good laugh before moving on with their day. After all, we still need to get our work done.

Others, however, cross the line from amusing to irritating, as they make it harder for non-celebrants to go about their work. Perhaps the most notable example of this is Google’s Gmail, which on April Fools’ Day 2016 added a "send and mic drop" button, where users could use a Minions gif to close out an email thread. Unfortunately, that "mic drop" replaced the "send and archive" button, so "send and archive" users who instinctively pressed the button found that they were unexpectedly closing threads involving coworkers, bosses, future employers, etc. Google apologized later in the day and removed the joke, saying the feature should not have been located near important buttons.

In light of Google and other over-eager prankster companies’ mistakes, Microsoft sent out an internal memo prohibiting employees from conducting any public April Fools’ Day pranks this year, according to The Verge. Many have praised this, but personally, my feelings are mixed. I’m supportive of it if it means Microsoft won’t release any bad pranks. However, another part of me feels like this is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If done right, an Aprils Fools’ Day prank. whether by a company or by an individual, can be fun and can brighten up people’s day.

So, how do you craft a good April Fools’ Day prank? How do you craft a practical joke that is both funny and doesn’t interfere with people’s normal activities? Here are my guidelines:

1. Don’t take away features people use. This is pretty self-explanatory. Just because it’s April 1 doesn’t mean people will stop working and won’t need to use a certain feature, and the people who use the feature you’ve taken away will be quite upset. Even if it makes things a bit more cluttered, you’re better off adding more than taking things away.

2. Don’t make it too intrusive. This one can be a bit tricky. You need to find a middle ground between making the prank so apparent that people who don’t want to take part will be annoyed by a prank dominating their vision, but also not so subtle that people can barely see it. Examples could include a small symbol on the web page or a link in a blog post.

3. Don’t be malicious. This one is more for people than companies. Whatever you do for a prank, just remember they’re supposed to be fun practical jokes, not chances to hurt someone or make their day harder. If it’s done in good fun and the other person will appreciate the joke, then go for it.

That’s all there is to it. I hope this column gives you some tips on responsible pranking because this will be my last column. Ha! April Fools! I’ll be back next week!

Jason Zappulla is a UF history junior. His column appears on Mondays.

Toilet paper hangs from trees in front of Broward Hall on Wednesday. The incident followed pranks pulled in the residence hall earlier this semester that led to security cameras being installed.