Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Pranks are difficult to do right. They easily can be experienced as frustrating, aggressive or plain idiotic by the receiver while the giver thinks it's totally hilarious. It requires a lot of empathy to create a good prank that doesn't hurt anyone especially when it's experienced online, ie. without being able to interact with a "WTH man?! - Sorry, tried to prank you but it misfired. You OK?"

In the good pranks category, I'm especially fond of new product announcements when it's clear it's a joke like Amazon shipping authors directly or the Google's "Clean screen" app. They are often refreshing and witty and it's just what I want from a good joke. And it's free positive marketing if done right. (Just don't announce your company bankruptcy, like Elon Musk.)

I'm still holding to my idea of swapping a font with https://hellveticafont.com/ for a day. I'll just make sure it's not obstructive and can easily be disabled.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: