Does ANYONE read comments…?
April 4, 2005
I must admit, my April Fool’s Day joke went over a thousand times better than I thought it would. And what an interesting series of comments. Some of you played along, others were totally sucked into the joke, and yet others — well, you certainly let your colors be shown…very interesting. I’ll have more thoughts on that later, in addition to links to all the places my April Fool’s prank was listed, and some segments from ‘concerned’ friends who had emailed me, wanting to support me. Too good.
Ha.
But until then, the sabbatical must continue for a few more days, while I continue to work on this website. Also, here’s a little shout-out to my readers at IWU. More later…
Posted in Technology
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
April 4th, 2005 at 1:41 am
I prefer, I think, to leave a spoiler at the end of joke posts such as yours, so people don’t continue to believe by the time they’ve finished reading (if they read to the bottom.)
I’ll be interested to see your compilation of links and responses.
Be
April 4th, 2005 at 1:43 am
Hahahahahaha….oh, the inner joy of revelation. ‘Twas a joy and a pain to watch all the reactions, buddy, but I’m still with you. Well done indeed!
“The Oracle”
April 4th, 2005 at 1:47 am
Suckers! Thanks for the fun.
April 4th, 2005 at 2:12 am
I certainly feel hook line and sinker.
April 4th, 2005 at 4:10 am
A little nonsense now and then
is cherished by the wisest men.
(Ogden Nash)
I must admit, I was 90% certain it was a hoax from the off. I thoroughly enjoyed being Pastor Paul MacFarlane and his cohorts — thanks for playing along with that little twist, Adam! ;¬¨)
April 4th, 2005 at 6:29 am
okay, so was the ryan dobson part real or part of the joke too?? that was hysterical!
April 4th, 2005 at 7:09 am
Yeah, I was wondering if the comment from your old pal Ryan was real too. Based on that comment, I sure hope not.
April 4th, 2005 at 7:40 am
Heh, I was sucked in until the “see you at the potluck” comment, largely because the critique you shared was plausible (and even helpful) - some of the people who played along are wonderfully creative, and truly twisted. The people who kicked at the Emerging Church while they thought you were down…well, good night people WWJD??
April 4th, 2005 at 8:17 am
David! You were Pastor Paul! Beautiful man - yah, thanks for playing along with that. Ryan Dobson — well, I saw him online that night and asked him to go and post - so the comment was a joke-comment, but it was really from Ryan Dobson. Fun times…
April 4th, 2005 at 8:54 am
Yikes . . .
April 4th, 2005 at 10:21 am
I was fooled, I admit it!–though it was a matter of discussion among the various people around here who spend time on your blog, and others took the opposite position.
That doesn’t mean that some of the things you said aren’t true, Adam, like your mention of the “cyclical arguments with fundamentalists.” I would say that it’s not true that nothing is changed by all the commenting that goes on, but it does seem that nothing is resolved.
That’s why Chris P. is so popular, actually. He makes the emergent “conversation” possible by disagreeing.
Mike
April 4th, 2005 at 11:22 am
Gee Mike, I didnt know I was “popular”. I did not comment on the April Fool’s post as I knew from the start what it was. The comments were interesting, but for me the most telling part was not those who were glad to see Adam go, it was those who “reached out”,(I hate that term), to him in sincerity, and those who support him, that were “sucked in”. If I were them I would be hurt and confused at the very least, and wanting to choke him at the most. This is why I find such pranks, not funny. Please don’t accuse me of having no sense of humor. I comment here don’t I? :-) If Adam needs attention this bad ,well… Apparently this is incredibly hilarious for PTS students with way too much time on their hands.
April 4th, 2005 at 11:39 am
we PTS students like to enjoy ourselves, thank you very much. you should come out here sometime and give it a try.
April 4th, 2005 at 11:57 am
I am a newbie to the us emergent conversation and was sucked right in. It was all in good fun and i don’t feel upset about it. In fact, it was a great joke! Thanx for your great sense of humor. To the above poster, Charles P., thanx for your concern, but i was not hurt or confused by the prank. It was genius! i forgot it was April 1st even though my birthday is the 2nd.
April 4th, 2005 at 12:04 pm
dude, i thought that was great. i don’t know if this is a compliment to you or a statment about my pathetic existence, but this was the best april fool’s joke i’ve ever witnessed.
hey i’m coming to pts in a couple weeks for the youth ministry forum. i’d love to to buy ya a cold one and chat a bit {except about blogging of course :)}
April 4th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
All I can say is you rock, man. That was sooooo believable…even the comments from pastor what’s-his-face were chilling, although the comment from the wife took it a little bit far. That may be where I started to wonder.
Thanks for a great joke and I hope it’s an encouragement to see how many concerned brothers and sisters you have!
April 4th, 2005 at 12:23 pm
Great gag. I didn’t comment because I wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but I didn’t want to risk sounding stupid (cough, cough). There were some “interesting” comments, to say the least.
April 4th, 2005 at 2:11 pm
Great prank! You pretty much had me going!
Now, if only Mitch Hedberg would come back from the dead and also say “April Fools!” … I’d be much happier :(
April 4th, 2005 at 4:14 pm
i think you are a dirty mocker and should be spanked!
April 4th, 2005 at 5:33 pm
Dude, that was wrong…
April 4th, 2005 at 6:19 pm
“dirty mocker” would be a good name for a blog
April 4th, 2005 at 9:34 pm
Here’s to ADAM. Although I wasn’t as fooled as you suckers (due to my LOVE for the holiday), I must admit your prank did out do mine and for that, YOU DA MAN!!!
And you should be spanked…
April 4th, 2005 at 9:42 pm
…and after the spankings…the oral SEX!
April 4th, 2005 at 9:44 pm
Ummm. Okay, let’s just leave it at that…thanks. Hmm, yEah. Okay, perhaps it’s time for a new post…
April 4th, 2005 at 9:48 pm
uhhh, ewwww.
April 4th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
so there’s this line, that is there to separate appropriateness from inappropriateness. Often times it is unspoken, and people need to use internal filters to help them realize what is and is not appropriate in certain situations. Sometimes, however, the line needs to be vocalized, and someone needs to say that all jokes on this side of the line are appropriate and all jokes on that side of the line are not so much. Perhaps this was one of those times.
Good prank, by the way, and if more than 5 people read my blog, I might have tried to pull the wool over their eyes in a similar manner. Instead I just told my neighbor that I hit her cat with my car. It received comparable reactions to many of your comments.
April 4th, 2005 at 10:38 pm
and my comment about inappropriate vs. appropriate was directed at the comment by the venerable mr. Terry Gilliam. I was in no way commenting on the appropriateness of your joke…
April 5th, 2005 at 1:09 am
i read the first 3 sentances and realized it was a lie and then i posted a comment, “you are not a good liar.” Amazingly, it was never posted. I wonder who deleted it???
norm
http://blogsdosuck.blogspot.com/
April 5th, 2005 at 5:45 am
I missed out on the fun - tried to not read any april fools posts. i see i spared myself the embarrassment. all’s good.
April 5th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
Mark: “Instead I just told my neighbor that I hit her cat with my car.”
Dude, that was cold!
April 5th, 2005 at 9:42 pm
cold? maybe
a joke? perhaps
hilarious? indeed
real? heck no