Eng:April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day (also known as All Fools' Day) is a cultural holiday celebrated on April 1st by pulling pranks, telling jokes, creating hoaxes, and other humorous things designed to trick people. The Scratch Community will often make joke projects and trick others on April Fools' Day. The Scratch Team as well sometimes creates April Fools' pranks on the Scratch Website.

Before the Text-based Games Forums were removed, they had (independent) pranks, too, similar to but not the same as the Main Forums.

Common April Fools' Day Pranks Done by Scratchers

 * Making a bait-and-switch project, in which project looks something appealing but then ends up as something different, usually a rickroll
 * Changing the user icon to a Scratch Team member or a famous Scratcher's icon
 * Posting joke questions and suggestions in the Questions about Scratch and Suggestions forum.

2010

 * The Scratch Forums text at the top of the Scratch Forums was changed to say Scratch Forums - Still only $0.99 (USD) a post!.
 * There was a "suggestion" to eliminate all capital letters and use chatspeak.

2011
Many April Fool's jokes on the website in 2011 were held early, on March 31, for an unknown purpose, possibly to have the pranks ready for Scratchers in early timezones. "KajTheModerator has reported that he wants to spend more time with his family and has retired from the Scratch moderation team. We'll all miss him dearly."
 * Every user's icon changed to the rage face. There were many complaints.
 * KajTheModerator appeared, a Community Moderator that had 9003 ("over 9000") posts and supposedly joined the forums on April 1, 1999. On April 15, fullmoon announced that KajTheModerator retired from his position as Community Moderator to spend more time with his family.

- fullmoon, Community Moderator

On April 1, several word censors were added in the forums and on the main site.
 * Every instance of "Scratch Team" was changed to "a bunch of fluffy kittens". Soon afterwards, it changed into "a bunch of fluffy kittehs".
 * Every instance of the word "you" in forum posts was changed to "pikachu".
 * The Scratch Team member, Paddle2See, changed his signature to "Treat others as pikachu would like to be tricked ." (It was supposed to say "you" rather than "pikachu" but the prank forum filter changed it to "pikachu".) Several others changed their signatures as well.
 * Every instance of the words "April" or "Friday" in comments became capitalized and linked to the recent viral video, Friday.
 * Every instance of the word "awesome" in comments made a unicorn appear when clicked, or changes some text on a page to a pink, dazzling, sugarcoated style.

2012
Starting on late March 31st and ending around 10:45 PM on April 1st Scratch Time:

Text-Based Games Forum
Announcement: This is not a parking garage. This is mahogany. Mahogany hamsters have been found in the Scratch Server Room. We’re currently attempting to reverse the damage caused by them, but they’re not too malicious. In the meantime, please try to enjoy the TBHG Forums despite the recent change. Game on! -The Gamemakers All of this is in reference to the popular book and movie series The Hunger Games.
 * The Text-based Games Forum is renamed the "Text-Based Hunger Games Forum", with the TBGs forum being called "The District Square" and the RPGs forum being called "The Hob". TBGers were given the rank of "Citizen of Panem", New TBGers the rank of "Tribute", TBG Moderators the rank of "Capitol Gamemaker", and Scratch Team members the rank of "Capitol Cabinet". In addition, "TBG" was censored to "TBHG" and the following announcement was made at the top of the TBGs:

Scratch Forums
"Now 20% cooler!" "My Little Neigh Pony - Remixing is Magic" Word filters were added: All the modifications to the Scratch Forums are in reference to the television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the brony internet phenomenon surrounding it.
 * The mysterious KajTheModerator made another appearance on the Scratch Forums, with the brand new signature "trolololololol !!!".
 * The Scratch Forums were renamed to the "Neigh Forums".
 * Members of the Scratch Team were ranked "Neigh Herd Leader", while Scratchers were given the rank "Pony", and New Scratchers "New Pony". Community Moderators were changed to hold the rank "Pasture Monitor", and Retired Community Moderators "Retired Pasture Monitor".
 * The following announcement was made at the top of the forums:
 * The above was later changed to:
 * Every instance of "Scratch" was censored to "Neigh". This was removed after it was discovered it was interfering with links.
 * Instead, instances of "Scratcher" were censored to "Pony".
 * Instances of "everyone" and "everybody" were replaced with "everypony".
 * Instances of "somebody" and "someone" were replaced with "somepony".
 * Instances of "anybody" and "anyone" were replaced with "anypony".
 * "facepalm" was censored to "facehoof".
 * "Kaj" was censored to "Discord".
 * "yes" was censored to "eeyup."
 * "computer" was censored to "toaster".
 * "troll" was censored to "parasprite" and "trolling" to "paraspriting".
 * "only" was censored to "ponly"
 * "nobody was censored to "nopony"


 * A rumor was spread on the Announcements saying Scratch 2.0 would be renamed to "Neigh".

Scratch Team Blog
On the main site, an announcement was made: "Scratch 2.0 will have a new name: Neigh! Read about it on our blog!" This linked to this blog post, about how Scratch 2.0 will be called Neigh and will have a pony mascot.

Scratch Wiki

 * In accordance with the forums, the Scratch Wiki changed its name to "Neigh Wiki", and featured the Neigh logo on the homepage.
 * The featured article shown on the main page was an excerpt from the main page itself, but the "read less" link pointed to this article.

2013
With the approaching release of Scratch 2.0, most of the jokes were about Pico, one of the new default sprites.

Main Site

 * The images on the right side of the Front Page were all changed to a picture of Pico
 * There was a site announcement saying "Unfortunately, we are experiencing technical difficulties due to a rogue sprite." The words "rogue sprite" linked to this project
 * The Popular Tags were changed to "Pico, Pico is great, Pico is so awesome, Pico rules, I love Pico, Pico is much better than that old cat, Pico!!"
 * Any instance of "_bloop_" was shown as a picture of Pico's head, like with "_meow_".

Scratch Forums

 * The Scratch Forums title text at the top of the Scratch Forums was changed to say Pico's Scratch Forums.
 * The same text "Unfortunately, we are experiencing technical difficulties due to a rogue sprite" with the same link appeared as a forum announcement.
 * "and" was censored to "(Bloop!)", and then "(Bloop!!)"
 * "the" was censored to "(Pico Rules!)", and then "(Pico Rules!!)"
 * Several ways some Scratchers found to get around the censor were later censored as well:
 * "th3" turned into "(Pico rules - do not get smart!!)"
 * "4nd" turned into "(Bloop - very tricky!!)"
 * "th[b][/b]e" turned into "(Pico still rules!!)"

Scratch 2.0 Blog
A post was made on the 2.0 blog featuring pictures of Pico and the word "BLOOP!".

2014
The 2014 theme was LOLCATZ. A new language was added to the menu, Meow!, and kept as an easter egg. Much of the text was put in capital letters and changed. For example, the What's Happening? section was changed to "WHAT'S HAPPENIN RIGHT MEOW?". Love-its were changed to "paws", posts to "meows", and all of the forums were renamed. Most of the blocks in the project editor were renamed to include "meow" as well.

There was also a fake announcement from the Scratch Mentors in the featured bar. The project can be viewed here.

The semicolon was brought back to the bottom of every page on the Scratch Website. A giant semicolon emoticon could also be created by typing _;_. The giant semicolon no longer appears, but a normally-sized one does.

Some of this prank could be recovered by selecting "Meow" in the languages option.

2015
The theme of 2015 was "Edible Scratch". Starting March 31, 2015 at about 1:45 PM, the Front Page had 3 food-themed featured products and a large notification asking to try out Edible Scratch. If one clicked "see how", then it would take one to the bottom of the screen with the language that would be a new option under English called Edible Scratch. It also included new icons for Love-Its and Favorites, which were bananas and strawberries, respectively. The "What's happening?" was changed to "What's Cookin'?". One could comment " _pizza_ _apple_ _eggplant_ _taco_ _broccoli_ and _sushi_ " and they would turn into those emoticons. "Studios" was changed to "Cookbooks". "Scratch News" was changed to "Eaters' Digest". "See inside" was changed to "See Ingredients". "Explore" became "Graze", and "Create" became "Cook". In "My Stuff", there were lots of changes: "All Projects" was "All Meals", "Shared Meals", "My Cookbooks", etc. The buttons "New Project" and "New Studio" became "New Recipe" and "New Cookbook" and the remix tree became the mixing bowl.

A remnant of this prank can still be accessed by selecting "Edible Scratch" in the language bar, no matter what day it is.

There were three studios where people could submit projects relating to the studio. The following are the studios: Selected Scratchers were allowed to curate including the Scratch Team and SDS Curators.
 * What is Edible Programming?
 * Food Puns
 * Favorite Recipes

2016
On April Fools' Day 2016 the "Advanced Topics" category of the Scratch Forums was renamed to the "Advanced Off-topics" in response to the growing inability of Advanced Topics users to keep a focused discussion, which had become a community joke at the time. Five new emoticons were added, which were the camera, map, suitcase, binoculars, and compass, to go along with the theme of Scratch Cat leaving on a trip. The semicolon emoticon was re-added, and when a user's mouse hovers over the emoticon, "semicolon confetti" comes out. The semicolon was also added to the bottom of every page. The Scratch Team created a bot that responded with randomized "meows", "purrs", and "licks" whenever a user posted a comment on the profile of ScratchCat. The theme for the SDS starting on April Fools was "The Last SDS," and Scratchers made projects and pretended that it was the last SDS. Scratchers were able to submit projects on where they thought the Scratch Cat might be, what form of transportation the Scratch Cat used, and create postcards to send to the Scratch cat. People could guess them by clues posted on Scratch Cat's profile Scratchers could submit their projects to three main April Fools Day studios inlcuding:


 * Where in the World is Scratch Cat?
 * The Curious Transportations of Scratch Cat
 * Postcards to Scratch Cat

Also on April Fools' Day, some scratchers pranked the Scratch Team back by changing their icon to a Scratch Team members icon. This is the first 2.0 prank that did not have a direct theme.

2017
On this April Fools studio page, giant black snowflakes fall down. Also, at the bottom of some pages at the left corner, a semicolon appears. Many Scratchers attempted to "trick" the ST into thinking it was Christmas. The main target was ST Member Paddle2See. New mascots like charles were created. ScratchCat and Scratch-Bat on their profile started to respond automatically to comments again. Also, two new studios were created, Create Your Own Mascot and Mascots in Training. As an Easter egg, the Scratch Team added an Illuminati emoji, but later replaced it with the words "triangle eye."

Wiki (since 2014)
Starting in 2014, the homepage and some of the Scratch Wiki articles were replaced with satirical and parodic content often joking about the subject of the article and Scratch itself. There are also many references to popular culture and running gags about gaining energy units. For example, the Sprite article was replaced with content about soda and the Game Tree article about a tree which video games hang on. This prank repeats every year. To prevent anyone from taking content on the page seriously and causing damage, a disclaimer is added to the beginning and the original page is listed at the bottom.

All of the joke content can be accessed and edited here.

Re-enabling the censors
Using a userscript found here, one can re-enable all of the past pranks.

Who Chooses the April Fools' Pranks
Mostly the Scratch Team does, but sometimes the SDS Curators can, as well. The Community Moderators also had input while the program still was active.

2012

 * On March 14th (Pi Day as it is 3/14/2012 in the Gregorian date system), all instances of "pi" became "3.14159265..." on the forums.