Talk:Computer prank

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Archive:

• Talk:Computer prank/Archive 1

Contents 1 External links 2 O Mai Gah! 3 Another screamer reaction video 4 Joke program page 5 Picture

[edit] External links

(Moved from User talk:Aaron Brenneman)
Re: your deletion of the external links section: I believe all the links except for the third and the last fall under the third category of "What should be linked to": "An article about a book, a musical score, a webcomic, a web site, or some other media, should link to the actual book, musical score, etc. if possible." Since the article deals directly with all these websites, it seems prudent to include links to them. They could be in-text ([1]) links, but having a separate external links section seems more professional.

The first link (Prank Flash and Scary Flash collection at Albino Blacksheep) is basically a "explore further" link. It contains most of the notable prank flashes on the internet. When spammers come along trying to add links to their own sites, we can say "Sorry, if you're not already in the definitive collection, you're not notable".

The last link (Victim of a sabotage flash) was added a little while back. It's harmless, funny, and a good documentation of the effects of a prank flash.

Finally, if you're concerned about the prevalence of Albino Blacksheep links, I simply chose to link to that site whenever possible because it is both well-known (most linkspammers aren't from well-known sites) and almost entirely ad-free. Λυδαcιτγ 15:33, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm at a very slow IP right now, so I can't re-examine the links straight away. Without recourse to that, when I looked at them previously, I had Wikipedia:External links open in another tab and simply felt that none of these provided a "unique resource." Since this is not a list of prank cites but instead a more general discussion of them, links to particular sites were right off my list. I'll have a second look and a good think about the points raised above. - brenneman ^{L} 05:54, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

In the meanwhile, I reverted this addition, but not this one. The first one is of little use, and is filled with popups. The second one I mentioned above. Λυδαcιτγ 03:48, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] O Mai Gah!

What happened to all the posts?!? There...there...gone!

Archived - see the link at the top of the page. Λυδαcιτγ 03:26, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Why is it archived?

See Wikipedia:How to archive a talk page. Λυδαcιτγ 03:02, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Ahem. That doesn't quite explain why you did it.

"It is customary to periodically archive a talk page when it becomes too large. Bulky talk pages are difficult to navigate and usually contain obsolete discussion. Additionally, large talk pages are a burden for users with slow Internet connections, and some users may not be able to edit pages larger than 32 kB because of browser page size limits." Λυδαcιτγ 17:45, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

I get your point now.

[edit] Another screamer reaction video

[2]

Description: A 12 year old kid (My guess of his age) got freaked out by LG's "Optical Illusions" sabotage. His reaction is funny.

To see Optical Illusions for yourself, click here.

It's a fake; the kid's acting. Look how he reacts instantaneously, as soon as it pops up on the screen, before he would have recognized anything. Λυδαcιτγ 03:41, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I've seen that before. It's too stupid and unrealistic. -Shinobi101

It's not even that scary of an image. It's just a wee mouse. --Stevefarrell 01:08, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Joke program page

I felt a need for a page more about computer prank "software" rather than websites, so I started a new page called Joke program. It focuses more on the software kind of pranks.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Destin (talk • contribs) .

Great work. Can I merge that article into this one? I agree that this article is heavy on online pranks, but if we add your content, it'll become a better overview of both types of pranks. Λυδαcιτγ

Hey, BlooWilt here. I just noticed the joke program part of the article is gone.

[edit] Picture

Maybe I'm just faint of heart, but upon loading the page, the image for the Screamer section of the article scared the shit out of me. Can we get a warning or something? Or at least not have the link to the article via screamer (disamiguation) link directly to that particular section..

My fault. I wanted to better illustrate the concept of 'screamers' with a picture taken from an actual screamer (in this case, Kikia, the one that started it all, and one most people will already have seen). Apologies if it scared you, but the image it replaced wasn't much tamer. --Stevefarrell 02:08, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

A warning isn't effective, since your eyes will be drawn to the picture before the text. I don't see a major need to prevent people from being slightly startled. And if you're searching for screamers, you're probably expecting scary stuff. Λυδαcιτγ 02:38, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

It did feel somewhat odd adding a warning there. I expected it would be reverted, and to be honest I'm quite glad it was. The picture isn't even that scary if you look at it for long enough. She looks slightly surprised, rather than evil. That's computer graphics for you, though. --Stevefarrell 16:09, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Aahh! That picture! Well, it may be late at night and I'm tired, but it still freaked the hell out of me. Can we put it at the bottom of the page or something? Actually, wait. Maybe not. Do whatever you want to do. Psychade 14:34, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

That also managed to scare the guts out of me, since I've got some nice underlying traumas about the infamous whatswrong.swf. But that's only me, I s'pose. (I did be stupid and listen to it with my headphones on FULL volume...) But so, I'd vote to move it more to the bottom. -- Shadikka 19:36, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree that the picture should be removed. In it's stead, we could use a screenshot of what you see before the face, subtitling it as such. Examples could be added at the bottom of the page under "External Links."

Another possibility would be keeping the image, but replacing the preview on the article page with a text link -- something like "Click here for an example of a typical screamer image." I don't know if that would be difficult to code, as I'm somewhat new here, but if it's possible, it's worth considering. It would be a good substitute for something like what this page does (scroll to the bottom).

By the way, Aucadity's assumption above -- that people who come to this page are necessarily "expecting scary stuff" -- is in error. This page is about computer pranks in general, and non-obvious links will sometimes lead to it. I got redirected from You Are An Idiot, for exa-- DAMMIT, I just paged back to check that and the stupid image got me again. Can we do something? Please? ~ CZeke 06:16, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, please do get rid of it, get that other picture that isnt zoomed in so much. And what the hell by "You should expect something scary"? Wiki is used to be informative, not to be scary.

I agreee. The other picture was better. It isn't scary anymore. In fact, if you view it a lot of times, it looks cool. --BlooWilt 18:12, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Graphic or overly startling pictures should not be used in an encyclopedic article. Being an unfortunate "victim" of one of the most disturbing and graphic screamers ever, I can attest that such images are not needed to convey the point. That is why there is an external links section. The current image from Fatal Frame is fine, but controversial/graphic images should not be used (they should be put in the external link section). It would be inappropriate and quite childish to include such images on Wikipedia, especially considering Wikipedia's already controversial status in many people's eyes. I have been with Wikipedia for quite a while and know its value to the community, and such images would be an affront to its purpose and would only attarct negative attention. The great kawa 21:45, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

"The current image from Fatal Frame" is the one we're talking about, or I was anyway. Does anyone know how to do what I suggested above, i.e. a text link in an the image box (or otherwise set off from the article) leading to the image for those who want to see it? ~ CZeke 03:41, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Holy crap! The new picture is a lot creepier then the last one.

Bowing to the delicate sensibilities of the people on this talk page, I have hidden the image. You can now surf Wikipedia without having to be worried about shocking greyscale images of women with their mouths open. Λυδαcιτγ 00:57, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I appreciate your doing it despite clearly finding our concerns laughable; I would have done it myself if I'd known how. ~ CZeke 01:59, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree that these are silly concerns. True, if one was faint of heart or not expecting the image to be there, it would be a little bit startling, but I will say this: 1)Wikipedia is not censored. Maybe when one is adding an image to an article, they should adhere to the fact that some people may be scared shitless of a truly frightening image (not like the mildly startling one on the above referenced page),and 2)The image on this page is not even remotely as frightening as the image appearing at the top of the page in the Rubber Johnny article. In my opinion, if you want to complain about startling images, that article's talk page is a much more fitting place to do so.Schprunkel 22:40, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

P.S. I totally agree with The Great Kawa that overly frightening or disturbing images should not be used in articles, but only in talk pages or external links with warnings. Those kinds of things can put someone in therapy for years.Schprunkel 22:51, 23 October 2006 (UTC)