eDoug

A Q&A with Doug about his 2008 April fools prank.

Q: Ok, to catch up, what was your prank this year?
Well, this year was a last minute thing. I haven’t really done a proper April Fools prank in the past beyond just stupid office pranks so it was around 11pm on sunday night and I came up with the idea. I had about 12 hours before I’d activate the prank so I got ahold of my brother who runs a webhosting company and he got my new domain set up (www.manutdpresswire.com). We installed Wordpress 2.5 and over the next 3 hours I changed the template and added some real content from the Manchester United site to make it look like a press release portal. I wanted it to look real but since I didn’t have all night I had to put just enough content that was current so people wouldn’t question it. I then added a small press release that had the crux of my deception on it.

I basically told everyone that I was heading to Europe to work for the legendary football club Manchester United. People knew I wanted to leave and I played into that knowledge and wrote a nice email thanking everyone for their support and how excited I was to get this job. I fooled my own brother for a few minutes before he knew what I was up to. He set the thing up and he was fooled!

Q: What was the reaction from your peers and associates.
I only sent it to friends that I knew pretty well. Not my clients (they’d be happy for me but not get it). I got a lot of nice messages from some of my close friends. It was kind of tough because I was torn between the awesomeness of the prank and on the other hand my friends were sending heart-felt congratulations and sentiments and it was because of a stupid prank. In order for the ruse to work I came up with fake “Out of Office” messages which I think is what saved me a bit. I didn’t have to respond to them and make it “real”.

I also had some people who figured it out quickly. My soccer buddy Jaon was the first to call me out. Either they knew it was AFD or were skeptics and did a bunch of internet detective work and found out that the website was fake. The website was really good. They couldn’t discount it on content. They had to dig deep to find the truth.

Q: Speaking of your friends. Did you feel guilty? Did you get any odd confessions or anything?
No, no “Please do go! I am in love with you…etc…” I mean, that would have really been a great AFD joke to play on me. I mean, there are some people who could have really reversed the tables and smashed me by counter-pranking me. But again, maybe that’s just me projecting what I’d do ;)
To answer your question. Yea, at first I did. I am not one who lies and it felt like a lie even though it’s really the one day you can get away with it. I was cringing all day from the emails. Some were tough to read but I appreciated seeing them. I wasn’t doing this to fish for compliments but it was starting to feel like the guy that fakes his death to see how people felt about him. Well, not that drastic but at times I felt that kind of guilt.

Q: Did anyone get bent out of shape over it?
Not that I am aware of. Some people were shocked when they heard the news and were equally shocked when they knew it was a fake. That website really sold it. I got a lot of props on the quality of the prank. Again, I think the joke backfired on me a little in that I felt the worse for wear because it wasn’t true and I’d love it if it were. The odd thing was the people that didn’t respond at all. I mean, did they get the message and just think it was a prank and not acknowledge it or did they not care or did they not get the message. I guess I won’t know in some cases. It really keyed me in on who my real friends are versus acquaintances.

Q: Did you make any mistakes that could have blown it? What would you do different if you can do it again?
hmmm, if I had to do it again… and I am not sure I would at this point, I’d have 2-3 fake websites with?Ǭ† .co.uk domains?Ǭ† that were registered overseas instead of using my brothers company. That’s how my friends Jason and Chris figured it out. I’d seed the information out there a few weeks in advance to get google involved. I’d also use a lessor soccer club like Motherwell in Scotland or Everton or something. I’d also include some fake photos from a “trip” over there and also actually plan a trip out there as a vacation to make it real for the last minute doubter. I mean, there are a 100 things I could do to make it real but at what point do yo just enjoy the joke and make a day of it.

Q: Are you going to do something again next year?
It’ll be hard because people won’t forget this one and they will expect it next year. I have to do something that is completely different and is very hard to fake. Even by saying that people will expect something odd. I may have to take a year off. I expect people will prank me next year and I deserve it!