NationStates Jolt Archive

Does anyone else think this new Regional Moderator business might be an April Fools joke? I mean this in all due respect to the hard working MODs and I am most certainly not complaining, but it is odd that it should happen today. It seems a bit too good to be true. My brother was born on the 1st of April. My dad thought it was a joke when my mum said she was going into labour, so I suppose I could be wrong.

They want u to think its a joke, but its real :eek: :eek: :eek:

I'll be issuing you a warning for illegal polling options.

You know darn good and well "Ruffy" "Option 9" or "Myrth" must be included in all polls.

Don't force me t take further action!

I'll be issuing you a warning for illegal polling options.

You know darn good and well "Ruffy" "Option 9" or "Myrth" must be included in all polls.

Don't force me t take further action!


lol:D

Has anyone noticed the Cybernations hoax? They say that the site is down because someone stole the source code. Check it out at www.cybernations.net and be sure to read the message from the Admin.

Google has also launched a few pranks this year.

http://www.google.com/tisp/
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_hoaxes

Be sure to check out the history of April Fools too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_fools

NEWSFLASH FROM WIKIPEDIA!

"NationStates runs an annual hoax on April 1st.

In 2004, the hoax was that there was a population bug and all nations' populations would be reset to 5 million people.

In 2005, there was a message (supposedly from the United States Department of Homeland Security) that NationStates was illegal by US law.

In 2006, 'NationDates' was created. It used a quiz similar to the one taken at the sign-up page, and matched that nation with a random country in the same region.

In 2007, all users received "Regional moderator" icons with the promise that they would be able to "wield their awesome power" over other users. "

What a shame!

1. It didn't happen "just today".
2. Citing Wikipedia as a credible source of information is like praising a tabloid newspaper for their dedication to the truth. Anyone can edit Wiki and this is a bit elaborate for a prank.

http://www.google.com/romance/
http://www.google.com/googlegulp/
http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html
http://www.google.com/mentalplex/
http://www.google.com/tisp/index.html

2. Citing Wikipedia as a credible source of information is like praising a tabloid newspaper for their dedication to the truth. Anyone can edit Wiki and this is a bit elaborate for a prank.

You've been rather inundated by the media. Wikipedia is highly credible. You should look for "references" at the bottom of each article. If you don't see any, don't take anything too seriously.

In 2007, all users received "Regional moderator" icons with the promise that they would be able to "wield their awesome power" over other users. "

What a shame!

That's not true anyway, not all nations were made a "Regional Moderator." My main nation (this one) wasn't while 3 of my puppets were.

1. It didn't happen "just today".
2. Citing Wikipedia as a credible source of information is like praising a tabloid newspaper for their dedication to the truth. Anyone can edit Wiki and this is a bit elaborate for a prank.


1. It did just happen today. It wasn't there yesterday and it clearly says on the announcement, if you click news you will see, that it was introduced today.
2. Wikipedia is perfectly credible. If you look at the article history, you will see that it was edited several times and no one has corrected it thus far. Not to mention the article is lock to those without an account and new accounts so not just anyone can edit it. Don't believe me? Try to edit it yourself.
3. Elaborate? And NationDates isn't elaborate? Resetting everyone's population to 5 million isn't elaborate? They've done a prank every year since 2004 and each prank has been elaborate.

It is, of course, possible that this is real and they have given up their pranking tradition. However, it is not plausible. Even google has introduced new products on 1 April just so people will think it's a prank and it will get publicity, but as you can see, they will not be offering free internet through the toilets.

My regions government set up a committee to regulate the power of RMs in my region. What a waist of time.

You've been rather inundated by the media. Wikipedia is highly credible. You should look for "references" at the bottom of each article. If you don't see any, don't take anything too seriously.

How would you consider an open book website that can be edited by anyone at anytime to say anything they want it to say, a "highly credible" source of information. I'm sorry that I prefer to get my information from somewhere less open to manipulation and jokes. You don't have to verify anything to put it in Wiki.

That's not true anyway, not all nations were made a "Regional Moderator." My main nation (this one) wasn't while 3 of my puppets were.

Exactly.

There are quite a few people who weren't given the title but I'm sure Wikipedia covers that, right? :)

I don't think the RM feature is a joke or they would have made everyone in the game a RM.

I think the over-whelming number of RM in a region is the joke. Through abuse and moving/ejection, the number of RM will go down.

We will all find out one way or another tomorrow.

Regardless of the credibility, there actually were elaborate pranks every year and I don't need wikipedia to tell me that. The pranks listed above were pulled by the mods of NS. There has been a prank every year. Why should this year be any exception? We shall see tomarrow. I wish I could change my vote to Yes instead of possibly.

Considering that Wikipedia articles must be verifiable and there is no source nor way to "verify" that RMs are an April Fools prank, someone should really pull that down.

After all, how can you verify a falsehood? RMs are here to stay.

If they made everyone a RM then everyone would know it's a joke. They wanted to make it more believable. I also can vouch that the RM selection process is random. They say activity is taken into account. We have a RM in my region that has yet to post a message... EVER!

Another thing to think of is why doesn't the secret Mod portal communicator thing work? People have been trying all day and can't figure it out! And what about the people who joined after the selection process or the people who moved to a new region? Are they SOL? Or will the mods select new RMs ever other week? What happens when all the RMs nations cease to exist? Surely they will select more? I also used puppets to send a test warning. The puppet never recieved a warning.

Considering that Wikipedia articles must be verifiable and there is no source nor way to "verify" that RMs are an April Fools prank, someone should really pull that down.

After all, how can you verify a falsehood? RMs are here to stay.


The 2007 part of the prank may not be verifible yet, but the other pranks did happen and it should remain to tell about those at least. It may still be April Fools in America, but here in England it is 2 April, 2007. 2:07 in the morning. The joke is over.

NEWSFLASH FROM WIKIPEDIA!

"NationStates runs an annual hoax on April 1st.

In 2004, the hoax was that there was a population bug and all nations' populations would be reset to 5 million people.

In 2005, there was a message (supposedly from the United States Department of Homeland Security) that NationStates was illegal by US law.

In 2006, 'NationDates' was created. It used a quiz similar to the one taken at the sign-up page, and matched that nation with a random country in the same region.

In 2007, all users received "Regional moderator" icons with the promise that they would be able to "wield their awesome power" over other users. "

What a shame!
That is not a quote from Wikipedia, it is from NSwiki.

That is not a quote from Wikipedia, it is from NSwiki.

It may be on NSwiki, but I found it at wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_fools

Found under hoaxes, by websites.

I keep waiting for them to let us in on what the real deal is.

I'm like, "okay, you had your laughs. Back to reality."

yes, i does seam like a prank, but then it doesn't, well i dont know, if this is a prank it does seam pretty mean for the mod, and admin to do:sniper: :mp5:

So New Britannian kingdom, what will you do if RM is a real deal? There are arguments for and against this being a joke. Call me a fool, but I'm incline to say this isn't a joke. However at the same time I will not be surprised if this is a joke.

Yes, and New Delfur, an active cybernations player, will be pleased to know that it was not shut down. It was a prank. I hate April Fools day...

Look at the news section, and scroll back to april 1st and 2nd last year. on the 1st, it said that there would be a dating service, and it sounded real, but then the next day it says that there wont be a dating service. so its has to be a prank.

Has anyone noticed the Cybernations hoax? They say that the site is down because someone stole the source code. Check it out at www.cybernations.net and be sure to read the message from the Admin.

Google has also launched a few pranks this year.

http://www.google.com/tisp/
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_hoaxes

Be sure to check out the history of April Fools too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_fools

well, i think the WHOLE internet is making pranks, though i dont think
cybernations is pulling a prank, because cybernations was down lastnight also, even though it may be a prank it has me very freaked out caus im a member of cybernations

So New Britannian kingdom, what will you do if RM is a real deal? There are arguments for and against this being a joke. Call me a fool, but I'm incline to say this isn't a joke. However at the same time I will not be surprised if this is a joke.

What will I do? Use the power to run my region properly and make sure my government has control over the use. This random selection business is rubbish. That power in the wrong hands is bad. I am always happy to have more power. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. It's not that big of a deal. The facts are on my side. There is so much evidence to support my opinion, I don't think I can be wrong, but if I am, can you blame me? I mean, look at the facts! Elaborate pranks just like this since 2004 and now this?

ok, well then, idk if cybernations IS a real prank, caus ethe forums have been down for days, but......ill check the cybernations website to see if they have been discovered yet...damn prankers:upyours:

Sat, 01 Apr 2006
NationDates

by SalusaSecondus


In an effort to keep from going broke and needing to take down the game, we've decided to change the game to NationDates. It's the same game that you know and love, except now we're moving into social networking and hoping to help you meet someone that you know and love.

The data that we've collected from your issues and play style place us in a unique position to accurately match you up with a fellow player and not need to worry about political incompatibility. We are working on effective ways to monetize NationDates in the near future.

We hope that you like this new direction.

SalusaSecondus
NationDates, Chief Minister of Hookups

Sun, 02 Apr 2006
The Great Disk Space Disaster of 2006

by SalusaSecondus


A disaster occurred in the main record keeping office of NationStates earlier this morning. Upon arrival, I quickly found panic in the streets, fires in the hills, and scraps of paper fluttering down from the heavens. I caught one and examined it; it was our core file on a nation. I rushed into the headquarters. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw. I stepped into the secretary's office and found that the door to his records closet had blown off its hinges and papers were everywhere. There wasn't room to breathe in that closet. As soon as the secretary had regained consciousness, I tried to find out what happened. No, he wasn't sure why our alarms didn't go off. I went to fetch our logs to recreate the time-line.

"Excuse me? What's this?" I pointed at a single pile of paper that filled over half of the room.

"That's the log!" He looked very proud of this.

I picked up the top piece of paper, "February?" I tried to look at the bottom piece of paper but couldn't lift the weight. "You know that you're supposed to use a fresh pad every month right?"

"Aha! I knew that I forgot something."

So that's the story of The Great Disk Space Disaster of 2006. We've lost about 16 hours of data, and that includes telegrams, region moves, etc. Hopefully there won't be a sequel and the replacement secretary will be very carefully instructed on how to use more than one pad of paper for all of his notes. Now, I'll go get a forklift to move these logs.

P.S. I've also rewritten our instructions that the secretary may not run a dating service in his spare time.

Sat, 02 Apr 2005
Nothing to see here

by Max Barry

There was no April Fool's joke. You did not see anything. Move along.

Found by clicking "April Fool's Joke" above:

Forbidden by the Department of Homeworld Security
This website was found to be in contradiction to HR 3162 (FREEDOM Act), § 15b (Providing Material Assistance to Terrorists). Infractions include:

The establishment of virtual "nation states" which promote values inconsistent with those of the government (Section 4(g)).
The promotion, discussion, and demonstration of alternative systems of government, which imply explicitly or otherwise that the current system of government is imperfect (Section 99(a)).
Use of the word "freedom" without proper authorization (Section 24(b)).
If you have used this site, please expect our agents to contact you for questioning. Thank you.

Case #: 10356-8035B
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

Thu, 01 Apr 2004
Just kidding

by Max Barry

And, of course, that was an April Fools joke. Nobody's population has been changed. You can stop writing me e-mails now!

[Permanent link to this news item]


National populations reset

by Max Barry

Good news! A long-running bug that allowed some nations to grow much faster than they deserved has now been fixed. This means nations can no longer benefit from abusing the so-called "population bug."

Because it's impossible to tell who exploited the population bug and who didn't, all nation's populations have been reset to 5 million. This way we can ensure a level playing field.

Look at the news section, and scroll back to april 1st and 2nd last year. On the 1st, it said that there would be a dating service, and it sounded real, but then the next day it says that there wont be a dating service. So its has to be a prank.
Oh come on, no one believed NationDates.

Besides, they really didn't change any code that day and everything happen on April 1st. The RM feature really came out on March 31st (check the thread) and there are REAL system changes.

Another thing to think of is why doesn't the secret Mod portal communicator thing work? People have been trying all day and can't figure it out!

Players' inability to realize that IRC is not the same as HTTP is not a flaw in our game. I've been watching regional mods chat in that channel for a couple days now, and I can assure you that it's quite active. There are about 50-60 RMs in there right now.

I'll grant you that it even took me a while to figure out that I needed mIRC or some other IRC client to get there at first, and I'm still not well versed in the command language. With simple clients like Chatzilla and mIRC, you don't need to be an expert to connect. It's harder than pointing a web browser by clicking a link, but not all that much. There's an old FAQ posted here (http://rpstudios.ian-justman.com/junk/how.html).

You seem very determined to vindicate your claim. If it's not a joke, you'll know tomorrow. If it is a joke, you'll know tomorrow. In the meantime, all you're proving is that your senses of adventure and humor seems to be missing.

Oh come on, no one believed NationDates.

Besides, they really didn't change any code that day and everything happen on April 1st. The RM feature really came out on March 31st (check the thread) and there are REAL system changes.
There's a funny thing about this supposed code change, if you look at the about page (http://www.nationstates.net/62709/page=about) it still says that the current version of NS is 1.9 as does the changelog (http://www.nationstates.net/HISTORY).

There's a funny thing about this supposed code change, if you look at the about page (http://www.nationstates.net/62709/page=about) it still says that the current version of NS is 1.9 as does the changelog (http://www.nationstates.net/HISTORY).
I notice this too, but I never said that this was definitely not a joke.

I notice this too, but I never said that this was deafeningly not a joke.

Deafeningly? :confused:

It wasn't there yesterday

Yes it was because that's when I discovered I was one these new RMs. Not today, yesterday.

I just wish they would stop wasting their time with crap like this(prank or not)
and would make a darn NS 2

I just wish they would stop wasting their time with crap like this(prank or not)
and would make a darn NS 2

Patience is a virtue ;) and plus everyone working on NS2 do have actual lives they have tend to...

Players' inability to realize that IRC is not the same as HTTP is not a flaw in our game. I've been watching regional mods chat in that channel for a couple days now, and I can assure you that it's quite active. There are about 50-60 RMs in there right now.

I'll grant you that it even took me a while to figure out that I needed mIRC or some other IRC client to get there at first, and I'm still not well versed in the command language. With simple clients like Chatzilla and mIRC, you don't need to be an expert to connect. It's harder than pointing a web browser by clicking a link, but not all that much. There's an old FAQ posted here (http://rpstudios.ian-justman.com/junk/how.html).

You seem very determined to vindicate your claim. If it's not a joke, you'll know tomorrow. If it is a joke, you'll know tomorrow. In the meantime, all you're proving is that your senses of adventure and humor seems to be missing.

are the IRC chats still going to work even after April Fool's Day is over?

Well, I still have an hour and a half left for AF day, and even longer on the West Coast. My opinion is that if it's an AF joke, we get a good chuckle out of it. If it turns out to be real, I've got an RM puppet in a spam-filled feeder that will love it! :)

I just wish they would stop wasting their time with crap like this(prank or not)
and would make a darn NS 2

Says he who joined less than a month ago. :rolleyes:

and would make a darn NS 2Indeed. Who the hell does Max think he is? He needs to stop advancing his career by going on book tours and devote all his time to this free game!

Has he ever done a book on tape or cd for any of his books? Or perhaps in mp3 format?

Looks like Jennifer Government was released on tape.

Sun, 02 Apr 2006
The Great Disk Space Disaster of 2006

by SalusaSecondus


A disaster occurred in the main record keeping office of NationStates earlier this morning. Upon arrival, I quickly found panic in the streets, fires in the hills, and scraps of paper fluttering down from the heavens. I caught one and examined it; it was our core file on a nation. I rushed into the headquarters. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw. I stepped into the secretary's office and found that the door to his records closet had blown off its hinges and papers were everywhere. There wasn't room to breathe in that closet. As soon as the secretary had regained consciousness, I tried to find out what happened. No, he wasn't sure why our alarms didn't go off. I went to fetch our logs to recreate the time-line.

"Excuse me? What's this?" I pointed at a single pile of paper that filled over half of the room.

"That's the log!" He looked very proud of this.

I picked up the top piece of paper, "February?" I tried to look at the bottom piece of paper but couldn't lift the weight. "You know that you're supposed to use a fresh pad every month right?"

"Aha! I knew that I forgot something."

So that's the story of The Great Disk Space Disaster of 2006. We've lost about 16 hours of data, and that includes telegrams, region moves, etc. Hopefully there won't be a sequel and the replacement secretary will be very carefully instructed on how to use more than one pad of paper for all of his notes. Now, I'll go get a forklift to move these logs.

P.S. I've also rewritten our instructions that the secretary may not run a dating service in his spare time.

Ahem, are you implying that we didn't run out of disk space on April 2nd causing me countless amounts of stress cleaning up disks, running restores, and generally killing my Sunday? We lost 16 hours of data and numerous nations ended up with the dreaded 0 of 0 bug.

Has anyone noticed the Cybernations hoax? They say that the site is down because someone stole the source code. Check it out at www.cybernations.net and be sure to read the message from the Admin.

Google has also launched a few pranks this year.

http://www.google.com/tisp/
http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_hoaxes

Be sure to check out the history of April Fools too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_fools

I'm pretty sure somone did steal the soarce if you know what a /b/tard is and and invaision is then well you know what im talking about i saw them planning a invaision on cybernation (bandwidth exeding) and they were also downloading something i don't know what it was though

Ok looks like I was wrong.

:headbang:

;) it was a good one, especially since those who got the RM status wanted to believe even if they smelled something wrong. :p

I TOLD YOU ALL! It was obvious! It is rather amusing, but next year, I shall be prepared....

AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darn it! I should have ratted out everyone in my region, just for fun. And now, my time is up.

Darn it! I should have ratted out everyone in my region, just for fun. And now, my time is up.

Meh, I figured it was a joke, but I couldn't resist sending one of HotRodia's guhzillion puppets a warning that read: "You have far too many bloody puppets." :D

Has anyone noticed the Cybernations hoax? They say that the site is down because someone stole the source code. Check it out at www.cybernations.net and be sure to read the message from the Admin.
that was not a hoax /b/ quit the game and some members wrecked the forums and hacked the game. there methods of forums wrecking was VERY inappropriate.

I wish I would have used it more.

1. It did just happen today. It wasn't there yesterday and it clearly says on the announcement, if you click news you will see, that it was introduced today.
2. Wikipedia is perfectly credible. If you look at the article history, you will see that it was edited several times and no one has corrected it thus far. Not to mention the article is lock to those without an account and new accounts so not just anyone can edit it. Don't believe me? Try to edit it yourself.
3. Elaborate? And NationDates isn't elaborate? Resetting everyone's population to 5 million isn't elaborate? They've done a prank every year since 2004 and each prank has been elaborate.

It is, of course, possible that this is real and they have given up their pranking tradition. However, it is not plausible. Even google has introduced new products on 1 April just so people will think it's a prank and it will get publicity, but as you can see, they will not be offering free internet through the toilets.

My regions government set up a committee to regulate the power of RMs in my region. What a waist of time.

Wikipedia is not credible. It's full of biases and falsehoods. Don't ever use it in school reports and don't cite if you are doing a major paper for a government agency. Doing so will get you fired.

1. It didn't happen "just today".
2. Citing Wikipedia as a credible source of information is like praising a tabloid newspaper for their dedication to the truth. Anyone can edit Wiki and this is a bit elaborate for a prank.
LIAR:eek: