AN APRIL FOOL!
I had no part of this at all but part of me was thinking that this would be true, the other part thought falsely.
Well it's no matter that SiF have succeeded in this joke but hey, it was a genius one wasn't it?
The 42nd Railway Series book hits UK book shelves on July 4th 2011.
Any chance of a more positive spin on the actual intentions of the April Fool's day joke?
ReplyDeleteWe gave everyone a huge amount of hints it was an April fools day joke this last week, to the extent that the words "this is not true" were italicized in the original announcement (which I note, you have not referred to once).
Ask yourself what our actual aims were - was it to anger everyone by not actually having any news?
Or, the more likely (and true side of the story) - we wanted people to still have The Railway Series, Book 42 in mind, in the build up to the 4th July.
This last season of Thomas & Friends has been so dire, people need hope, and I feel more than ever, the fanbase needs to get behind the series of books which started it all.
What better way than to keep the RWS no.42 in the limelight as a light hearted April Fool's day joke?
Which, by the way, has some truth in it, as Sodor Castle will be appearing at the Battlefield Line's "Day out with Thomas" soon.
The positive spin is at the bottom of the post where it reads, "Well it's no matter that SiF have succeeded in this joke but hey, it was a genius one wasn't it?".
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I half of me thought it was true and the other half false, some fans might be displeased over the joke, the other half, pleased at the April Fool.
I thought it was a good prank as I said.
Simierski, while SiF's aims may have been to keep people's minds on RS #42, I feel that they've lost a lot of credit as a news source stooping to lying about something people are already hyped up about. (Emphasis on the last six words.)
ReplyDeleteCall it an April Fools joke to clear your conscience if you must. But no matter how you look at it, it's still a bold faced lie.
Fair enough Top Hatts.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - the fact of the matter was that it was set up as an April Fools day stunt, and was designed from the outset to give maximum publicity towards RWS no.42, nothing more, nothing less.
The "lie" as you put it, has been well received by forum members and youtubers alike. Given that we stated the announcement would be on Friday 1st April in the first place, you'd have thought people would have guessed from the outset...?
Feel free to contact me via the Copley Hill blog if you'd like to further your complaint.
SiF just failed miserably at making a joke I don't how pissing off an entire fanbase is even CLOSE to being funny
ReplyDeleteNow you're trolling. Entire fanbase? Please...
ReplyDeleteJust to state it, but I (the original Anonymous) am not the same as the one who last posted.
ReplyDeleteQuite honestly, if this has 'pissed off the entire fanbase', then perhaps 'the entire fanbase' need to learn how to take a joke, and stop taking this thing so seriously. What's the big deal? So no-one knows who the little blue train's new friend is going to be right now - but you'll know by July!
ReplyDeleteSiF saw an opportunity, took it and ran with it. They fooled a lot of people, and a lot of people have laughed with them. To both 'Anonymous' users and people like them, try learning to do the same.
Hullo. OA (Original Anonymous) here.
ReplyDeleteTNT, it's not that we don't know who the new character is or that we have to wait. It's that SiF - considered by many as THE Thomas news source - decided that they had nothing better to do than promote RS #42 with a lie. (Any form of purposeful deceit is a lie and 'pranks' fall under this banner.)
If this had happened on any other day of the year, truly everyone would be upset with SiF. But just because it's labeled as an 'April Fools prank', it's suddenly OK! Call me old fashioned, but that seems like a double standard.
That's pretty much the aim of an April Fools gag though, you can hardly 'fool' someone with the truth now can you?
ReplyDeleteThis is really just coming across as another excuse for people to go SiF-bashing.
It was an April Fool, a big April Fool, Now there's an end to it thank you.
ReplyDeleteOA again.
ReplyDeleteTNT - Uh, of course you can't fools someone with the truth. But that's just it! You shouldn't do it at all!
April Fools Day does nothing but reinforces lying in our culture. You can't honestly say that lying is something we need to further, now can you?
Sorry, but the "lie" as you keep putting it was nothing of the sort.
ReplyDeleteThe text had italicized "this is not true" in the same paragraph. Several people picked up on it instantly. I know, I was PM'd by two within minutes of it airing!
I do feel you are grasping at straws if you are making out that April Fools day - one of the few days a year where people actively look out for insane and unbelievable stories to appear, is encouraging lying.
If anything, it's trying to encourage people to read between the lines...!
Both sets of anonymous users need to get their priorities straight. The April Fools day joke got people talking on the 42nd railway series book, no bad thing, and as far as I am concerned, given I have only encountered two complaints out of about a hundred positive ones, clearly the April fools did its job in spades and was on the whole well received.
Yes, April Fools Day jokes and pranks have their place. People get to let off a little steam once a year, and we get to put RWS no.42 firmly in the minds of those we would hope would buy it, in the run up to its release. It seems to have worked, and that's what counts.
Quite frankly, you're blowing up what was a light hearted prank with good intentions, all out of proportions into something it never was.
Oh yes. Because hiding the truth in the lie makes it OK. Sure. NOT!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know how people were supposed to know that this was an April Fools joke BTW. The original post said 'end of the month' - meaning March. So how was anyone to know it was going to be April 1st when SiF said it was March?!
You state that April Fools Day 'encourages people to read between the lines'. But they wouldn't have to if it wasn't for liers! There'd be no point in looking for something between those lines if there weren't people lying!
You also say that you've seen hundreds of positive responses to this. But don't you think that perhaps some are just afraid of being banned from SiF? I've heard that they have a reputation for being mean spirited.
The good intentions don't change the fact that it was what it was. And anyone who has even a smidgen of moral ethics in them should know it was a lie.
And you say I'm grasping at straws, yet you haven't put up any sort of argument other than 'It was April Fools Day, SiF had good intentions so they did it.' Ever hear that giving into peer preasure was a BAD thing?
Dude, you seriously need to lighten up, get a life and quit the SiF bashing - what you've heard and what goes on are two totally different things. Try going on 'fact' before the YouTube butt-hurt bull-crap.
ReplyDeleteAnd have you never thought for a second that people might actually appreciate the gag for what it was? Unlike you, some people have the emotional maturity to handle this kind of thing, and actually laugh with the SiF guys over it.
Never mind, you'll make a fine soccer mom one day with your inane rantings, fighting for moral justice!
TNT has pretty much summed up my feelings on the matter. Your posts have little understanding of the facts of the matter, nor a wish to understand a different point of view.
ReplyDeleteYou are therefore wasting my time, and others as a result, by going overboard on a simple April Fool's day prank.
Good day to you.
TNT, this isn't all about SiF. I'd be doing this to any other place that claims to be a news source and had the audacity to do something like this.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd like to go on your 'facts' about SiF, but when the 'facts' come from the site in question, there's no doubt they'll be biased.
I appreciate the gag, but not from the source. Any news site should have the good sense to not play tricks for fear of their reputation - which they've lost a good bit of from me and I'm sure others.
I'd like to know how I'll be a 'soccer mom' when I'm a guy though. :P And I don't really care about moral justice. It's just that certain places - news media, governments and similar organizations - shouldn't play jokes like this on their veiwing public/critics/whatever.
Simierski, I'd more than happy to listen to your point of view if you brought it in an unbiased and unpretentious manner. But because SiF can obviously do no wrong, I don't see that happening.
Dude, as I've said before - get a life, honestly, and stop butt-hurting over something so damn trivial.
ReplyDeleteIt was an April Fools gag, big deal! Get over it FFS!
If it's as unimportant as you say, then why do you feel the need to defend it and discredit me?! (In short, you have the right to voice your opinions and I don't?!)
ReplyDeleteAll you've done is further proved the point that SiF is a place for snobs who have nothing better to do than look down on non-members and say 'We're in the elite! We have connections and inside info that we'll never share with you common fans!'
I 'feel the need to defend it' because it's not exactly a life threatening thing is it? That, and I find your behaviour amusing.
ReplyDeleteAll you've done is prove you care too much about stuff that goes on online and that you seriously need to get out more.
"All you've done is further proved the point that SiF is a place for snobs who have nothing better to do than look down on non-members and say 'We're in the elite! We have connections and inside info that we'll never share with you common fans!"
ReplyDeleteMethinks the gentlemen doth protest too much. Anti-SiF indeed, and rather baseless. The whole point of the April Fools Day joke was that we didn't have any news to share...!!!
You two just made me LOL!
ReplyDeleteTNT, that made NO sense! By that logic, if something is life threatening, then it's not worth defending?! LOL! Wat?
And FYI, I get out plenty enough. I wouldn't be able to defend myself and my opinions so well if I didn't now would I?
Simierski, you obviously don't know me. I never criticise something without the facts. And friends (who shall remain nameless; both current and former members of SiF BTW with the minority in the latter) have gladly provided me with all the info I need.
Let's just face it people, you know what they say; 'a joke is a joke' and that's how it is for whatever it getting people to join in for some laughs or not. (I never saying it's cruel)
ReplyDeleteAnd I knew it too, but back then ever since I heard that SiF will be showing the new character from the 42nd book for April, which had me felt like "Ok... that's seems to be some good news". (Although little I'd know what happened when 1st of April came until I have found out)
On that same day when expecting the news that have arrived... I have been fooled, but clearly understood now that it is a very good joke. :)
I mean come on, SiF community were good at April Fool pranks
back then since 2009 when they were about to sell the
forum to Ebay. (And yet again, it is all a joke)
Lastly I have ordered the 42nd book from Amazon in March
and was now ready to wait. :)
So hopefully this should sums the whole thing up. :)
Dan5589
"Simierski, you obviously don't know me. I never criticise something without the facts. And friends (who shall remain nameless; both current and former members of SiF BTW with the minority in the latter) have gladly provided me with all the info I need".
ReplyDeleteAnd yet you are clearly getting worked up over nothing more than an April Fool's day prank?
Don't know what "facts" you have to hand, but I've been patient enough to read your view, and find nothing but disdainful viewpoints put over that don't reflect the situation as it is.
---
Dan5589, that's precisely what we were going for. My apologies for the disappointment, but I am delighted to hear you've ordered the book, and the good news is of course, Sodor Castle appearing in person at the Battlefield Railway in the future.
'TNT, that made NO sense! By that logic, if something is life threatening, then it's not worth defending?! LOL! Wat?'
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, is the world really going to end because some desperate morons want to know who the little blue train's new friend is? No.
'And FYI, I get out plenty enough. I wouldn't be able to defend myself and my opinions so well if I didn't now would I?'
Believe me dude, if you were defending yourself and opinions so well, people wouldn't be disagreeing with you. You're justifying nothing, you're just being a complete dick because you didn't get what you want, and now you're griping about it. Seriously, if this is such a huge concern to you, I feel very sorry for you.
'Simierski, you obviously don't know me. I never criticise something without the facts. And friends (who shall remain nameless; both current and former members of SiF BTW with the minority in the latter) have gladly provided me with all the info I need.'
Wow, second hand information from whiny teenagers who don't get their own way...
From what I can see here, this is pure sour-grapes against SiF - typical YouTube mentality. Dude, just let it go. Simierski and Dan5589 have got the right idea - lighten up!
Hmm. My last comment was removed. I can only imagine who had it removed...
ReplyDeleteThis can only mean that SiF wields too much power off of their own site(s). And they claim they're not authoritarian. *eye roll*
@TheTopHatts: I'm not upset with you for removing my comment; I understand why you did all too well. But SiF has no jurisdiction here. You can do and allow anything you want on any site that isn't one of their's. It's not as if you said it! To paraphrase the trucks in 'Percy's Predicament', 'SiF's got no right to poke their funnels up here and push us around.'
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, managed to misspell "unsavory".
ReplyDelete---
This can only mean that SiF wields too much power off of their own site(s). And they claim they're not authoritarian. *eye roll*
---
Anonymous, the more you post, the more you reflect on yourself badly. For the record, no one on the SiF staff had seen your previous post, myself included, and this is the first I've heard of it.
In any event, TheTopHatts can post or edit comments as he pleases - it is his blog after all. If he deemed your comment unsavory, he is well within his rights to delete it.
No one is pushing anyone around - you on the other hand, are doing your utmost to make yourself look bad. Bravo.
"In any event, TheTopHatts can post or edit comments as he pleases - it is his blog after all. If he deemed your comment unsavory, he is well within his rights to delete it."
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I'm not upset with him. If you didn't notice, I wrote basically the same thing you did.
"No one is pushing anyone around"
No one? I seem to remember SiF having a previous post (not comment) on this very blog removed...
"...you on the other hand, are doing your utmost to make yourself look bad. Bravo."
Make myself look bad to whom? The 'SiF staff'? Then I could care less!
*I look to your very first comment here and notice that you immediately picked out the negative in TheTopHatt's post.*
So you have the authority to make TheTopHatt's look bad but I can't (supposedly) do it to myself?
----
You Sir need a good long think about where your alliances lie and how what you say (no matter the intentions) reflect badly on them.
I've seen a good many messages from you on various sites, and very few weren't either pretentious or worded in such a way where negative connotations could be extrapolated.
Anonymous, seriously, give it a break. Everything appears to be a big conspiracy with you. Either put up, or shut up - you keep making statements and have absolutely no evidence to any of it.
ReplyDeleteI note you ignored my response to the TopHatts where I understand his point of view in his reply.
Picking and choosing the facts to relay seems to be a habit of yours, eh?
At least I do not hide behind an anonymous tag so - if on those rare occasions, I make a mistake - I can be held accountable for them.
And if you have a problem with me - email me. Copleyhill@live.co.uk - state your beef, discuss, sort it out.
Or don't - but frankly, given your sincere desire to turn an April Fools day joke into a long running anti-establishment battle against SiF, I have no doubt you'll not only not email your "concerns", you'll also keep hiding behind your anonymity.
Oh - and by the way - "So you have the authority to make the TheTopHatt's look bad but I can't do it to myself?"
Are you proud of that sentence?
You are more than welcome to keep making yourself look bad. Please, feel free.
"Everything appears to be a big conspiracy with you. Either put up, or shut up - you keep making statements and have absolutely no evidence to any of it."
ReplyDeleteI never said anything about a conspiracy. You said that none of the 'staff' members saw my post, so I have no other choice than to believe you.
Haven't we been through where I get my evidence from? If I have none (as you so say) then why are you so upset?
"I note you ignored my response to the TopHatts where I understand his point of view in his reply."
You mean the line 'Fair enough Top Hatts'? The way I read that, it means the same as 'So you say.' No feeling. No remorse. It's as if you just said it to get it out of the way.
"Picking and choosing the facts to relay seems to be a habit of yours, eh?"
And you don't? 'Let him without sin cast the first stone.'
"At least I do not hide behind an anonymous tag so - if on those rare occasions, I make a mistake - I can be held accountable for them."
Trying to shame me into giving you the upper hand, eh? Quite a cowardly move, don't you think?
"...given your sincere desire to turn an April Fools day joke into a long running anti-establishment battle against SiF..."
I am against certain actions SiF has performed, but I'm not opposed to them as a whole. If they changed their position on a few fronts then I'd stand with them wholeheartedly.
"Are you proud of that sentence?"
Why would I be proud of a sentence I didn't write? By removing a word you change the meaning of a sentence. Didn't you learn that at University?
And, as you've missed the point of the sentence, I'll have to explain it. That being, you have no authority to humiliate others. I can humiliate myself, you can humiliate yourself, and TheTopHatts can humiliate himself, but none of us should humiliate the other.
You're doing a great job of humiliating yourself Anonymous. Keep feigning intelligence - you'll get there eventually...!
ReplyDelete"Trying to shame me into giving you the upper hand, eh? Quite a cowardly move, don't you think?"
ReplyDeleteEr...no?
Simply that you know my name and where to find me, and can hold me accountable for my actions.
But no one can do that with you.
Hiding behind an anonymous tag whilst making rather scurrilous and baseless accusations,
is being cowardly, frankly. You are free from retribution whilst also being free to post erroneously.
The rest of your post astounds me. The level of intelligence shown is to be applauded: I have never come across a troll who so steadfastly and resolutely shoots himself in the foot with every new post he makes.
We're now 26 days from the original post, nearly a month since the April Fools Day Joke. You didn't find it funny - good for you. I'm done with this now - everyone else has moved on, I suggest you do the same.
Or continue to have a circular argument with me and one other poster on an old blog entry.
Either way, feel free to have the final word - I am sure it will be as hilarious as the rest...!
@Original Anonymous SHUT THE FUCK UP! It was just a joke ok. god you are an idiot.
ReplyDelete