I have to tell you… pulling an April Fool’s Day joke is much more difficult when you have such an active forum.

But I still suckered my share of readers this morning. Read on…

At the stroke of midnight I posted an article explaining the sale of DobberHockey (click here for the article). I spent the next 30 minutes deleting a good dozen posts with headlines like “April Fool’s Joke!” in the forum. I left all posts that did not mention April Fools in the headline, with the reasoning that all new posts appear on the front page and I did not want to spoil it for fresh visitors that read about the sale – so “DobberHockey – Sold ” was okay.

Still, for the most part the feedback was along the lines of uncertainty or readers admitted that they fell for it for a little while before – once again this bites me in the ass – reading through the forum.

It was especially difficult to catch longtime readers, who remembered my prank last year (click here to see last year’s April Fool’s joke, and click here to read the feedback from last year).

Some tidbits from the past 12 hours:

Via Facebook:
“Nice April Fools Joke Darryl!….. it is a joke right?”

In the Forum:
“hook, line, and sinker – I wasn't around last year so I was totally unprepared.”

“i have to admit, i was reading that with my jaw lowering further and further and didn't pick up on it until i came in here (the forum) to see the reaction which i figured to be violent and venomous. got me!”

“way to go bud… im gonna be lost next year without the original dobber rankings”

“WOW he had me going. i wasnt around last yr so i didnt know if there was a sale or what, who knows. reading the forums that is one seriously funny joke, good one man. i was like NO WAY. i finally found a great site that had amazing articles not just focusing on the big players but young, prospects, ideas. and all. and the forums are active and with great advice. GREAT PRANK MAN”

…dozens more, the forum was really buzzing.

The best were the people who were too lazy to look in the forum and they went straight to email. My brother-in-law excitedly sent the link to my sister and she emailed me:

“Hey- whats up with this???  Does this mean I can’t wear my Dobber Hockey shirt anymore??  Congrats- I guess this is what you wanted..  Can’t wait to hear the details.”

Or the DobberHockey graphic designer, Peter Belanger, who was pretty pissed at me…but held his tongue until the second email back to him when I told him he was an April Fool. He responded:

“dude… you're an ass****.. haha. I was ready to go ballistic on you.”

I also suckered Eric Maltais (Croaks from the Fantasy Frog) and Jay Tetreault (French translator). Readers sent emails as well, here is a tidbit from the best one:

“Great news for you…. crappy news for me. PLEASE remember my e-mail address and advise me sometime after May of 2009 when you get back into Fantasy Hockey.   I'll want to know when you are back (and how to find you) ASAP!!!”

Anyway, I love pulling pranks and joking around, so this was a lot of fun. Maybe next year I’ll shut down the forum for a day. Too many people discovered the prank within minutes of being suckered. I prefer to string people along for a few hours haha.

To rant at me for suckering you so badly, visit this post in the forum …