One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. “Oh, no,” I said. “Disneyland burned down.” He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late. Jack Handey

This year there seems to be a stronger anti-April Fools day sentiment than ever before - especially on the ‘net. It’s not just your April Fool’s joke sucks anymore, but “don’t trust anything lets just get through this god damn fuck your fucking April Fool’s bullshit” straight-up rage.

I’ll admit that in a way the more anarchist-part of me keeps me from getting that angry, I guess. I still can’t help but feel a little exited about the way that the Internet - the great enabler - can become so poisonous so quickly. It does, after all, democratize pranks - both the good ones and the bad ones. Instead of playing laborious jokes on your sister you can play them on the whole world instead without much more effort than embedding a Rick Roll.

And it really is that easy to compose an April Fool’s prank. You just have to make people go “BUWhhaaAaaa OMG WTF WOOOO?!?!” Defy their expectations. Rock their world, basically. Not that hard - unless they’ve been rocked that way before (and that’s when you’re joke sucks). But originality isn’t the hard part. The hard part is making it not seem like your a jerk. Most people don’t get this right. In fact, most people don’t get that idea at all. Trying to just point out what jokes suck and what jokes don’t is ineffective. So, maybe we should change April Fool’s Day and take out the tricks et. all - and up the surprises.

What if The New April Fools Day wasn’t exactly to trick people, but instead to just do something really great for people. After all, this “great enabler,” aka The Internet, makes it so easy to do so. Bands could release some crazy cover song as an .mp3 on their websites. Flickr could allow anyone unlimited uploads for the day. Offline, supermarkets could give away free cookies, coffee shops free coffee, etc.

Some people understand this idea already. That free Rock Band track of “Stay Alive” coming out tomorrow, for example, is the right idea. It’s still a “BUWhhaaAaaa OMG WTF WOOOO?!?!” kind of surprise that doesn’t end with a knee-to-the-crotch - no matter how witty everyone seems to think that knee is*. It’s something that people will enjoy, will blow their minds, and make them happy, and that only Xbox can do.

This idea might spiral too. Imagine how crazy of a holiday this would be each year if every business in the world tried to do something better for everyone else every year - not just come up with a better prank.

I mean this in a business sense, but it works on a more personal level too. Change April Fool’s day into a good excuse to do something really, really cool for everyone you know and the thousands of people you don’t. That will be better.

*”Witty knees,” hmm? I promise I’m not that drunk.