User:AlphaBeta135/Third rail
 | This is an essay on Rules for Fools. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Some users made April Fools' jokes that went a bit too far, resulting in deletion or even a block. |
On April Fools' Day, users in the Wikipedia community made goofy ahh jokes as forms of entertainment or to reflect on current events. Most jokes were quite amusing, some were simply ignored. There were a handful of jokes, however, that were soooooooooooooooooo unfunny that they were deleted. Dubbed The Third Rail of April Fools' Jokes (TRAFJ, codenamed Traffic Jam), this is an essay on why making obviously distasteful and/or policy-unfriendly memes is never a good idea.
Third rail?[edit]
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A third rail is an electrified rail that provides electricity to trains with contact shoes. Unlike overhead lines, third rails are situated next to other rails. This method of railway electrification is more dangerous than overhead lines as one can much easily make contact or get very close to a third rail, resulting in electrocution.
Third rail is also used in politics in reference to politicians facing political backlash as a result of their stance on a controversial topic. In the case of this essay, The Third Rail of April Fools' Jokes refers to users making obviously distasteful or policy-violating jokes to the point of having their jokes banished to the shadow realm and/or even themselves. Here are some jokes that are likely too offensive for April Fools'.
Prohibited materials[edit]
Controversial topics[edit]
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Jokes about controversial and/or politically charged topics, especially in recent events, are off-limits. Examples of such include, but is not limited to, The Holocaust, school shootings, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Since 2020, many jokes about COVID-19 were removed due to the topic's controversial nature.
Copyright[edit]
To ensure that Wikipedia is not held liable for copyright infringement over some April Fools' joke, using copyrighted content (e.g. non-free content and written works that were copied verbatim) is prohibited. Not only would copyright-infringing content be removed, but every revision that contains such content is removed as well. Two cases relating to copyright were both found in the deletion nomination of Whopper. The nomination ended up being fully protected (locked) due to these instances of copyright violations.
Disruptive editing and edit warring[edit]
Editing another's user page as a "prank" is not advised as it may result in a block. One user ended up getting blocked for pranking an admin's user page. Editing articles and/or their talk page as a "prank" is also not advised as it can be seen as disruptive editing.
Due to the catastrophes of 2019 and 2020, gross edit warring, vandalism, and other forms of disruption are strictly prohibited on April Fools' Day.
Living persons[edit]
Wikipedia has an extra set of policies pertaining to content on someone who is alive, especially high-profile figures. This policy was created in response to a libel incident in 2005. To avoid compromising Wikipedia's reputation and creating legal liabilities for Wikipedia (e.g. defamation), publishing false information or attack statements about someone (joke or otherwise) is prohibited. Examples of such incidents on April Fools include deletion nominations of Kyrie Irving and Kanye West.
Personal attacks and discrimination[edit]
As mentioned in § Living persons, personal attack statements are prohibited. Personal attacks can also take the form of blatant discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, sex, religion, etc., etc., etc. (see the non-discrimination policy). However, incidents of personal attacks on April Fools' Day very seldom occur, if ever. Regardless, do not post personal attacks or ad hominem statements.
Conclusion[edit]
Much like how trespassing on railways with third rail carries the risk of electrocution, pushing the boundaries of acceptability and unacceptability (i.e., being "edgy") for a joke carries the risk of having your joke in question deleted, or worse, getting blocked. Sure, "ignore all rules," but the main purpose of IAR is "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts",[a] not to justify 2b2t-style disruptions.
In short, don't make disruptive, offensive, and/or policy-unfriendly jokes that might get your jokes deleted or get you blocked.