Sorry, guys.

[gstark]

In case you've not noticed, we enjoy April Fools' Day, and the Admins here are not immune. Take 2006, for instance, and the failed attempt by the moderators and a few other souls to try to outwit Leigh and myself.

It should be noted that this message is being posted into a hidden area of the board, but it will retain its original timestamp of around 8:30 - 8:45 pm on March 28, and the hidden area into which it has been placed will be made public sometime on April 1.

I'm doing this to provide irrefutable evidence of the fact that we were well on top of this very early in the piece.

Here's the story of the setup as we saw it. Peter, please feel free to add your end of this as and when you're ready. Nice try, but better luck next time.

On March 24, Stubbsy started to lay some foundations by posting a question on the differences between FF and DX sensors.

He then tried spreading the manure further on the morning of March 28, with his posting of a semi-believable post informing everybody that he was abandoning Nikon and had just taken delivery of his new Canon 5D, together with an impressive array of glass.

He made mention of having secured a great price, and the thread continued from there, with Glen chipping in that he was expecting his 5D on Friday.

One person moving to a Canon? Maybe. Two? In the same week? No way in the world.

A couple of early posters in the thread also happenned to make mention of checking the date, but I noticed that those posts were very quickly edited to remove those date references.

At that point we decided that this was an attempt to out-AFD us, and it was, from our perspective, game over.

I queried Peter, asking for details of the specifics of his new toy, wondering if it included features such as Canon's (already discontinued) Eye Focus system. I alluded to the possibility that the new model might be called the 5D-AF.


AF was not going to be standing for Auto Focus, however.

Leigh also called Peter and spoke with him on the phone, asking him all manner of questions about the camera, and hopefully sounding believeable.

One point that Leigh raised was that of there being two different models of the 5D, with either a black, or a silver, shutter release. The earlier ones were of one colour, but sufferred from some banding issues, Leigh claimed.

In the interim, the thread continued throughout the day, with quite a number of members getting trapped along the way, but as I said, it's already game over on this one, as far as catching us was concerned.

Nice try, and we certainly enjoyed the battle, short-lived as it was.

Who's game to admit to getting hooked on this one though?

[Nnnnsic]

In fact, I even gave a nice big clue to Stubbsy over the phone saying to him that I'm surprised no one has even tried throwing a joke back at the admins after all the crap that we pull.

Still, we play along and act like we're annoyed and irritated and fooled just to make those of us trying to fool us get caught in their own little game.

[gstark]

Nobody's noticed that Stubbsy has a new rank yet, either.

It looks like they're shaping up for a pretend fight at the moment.

Ah well ...

[Nnnnsic]

I notice that Stubbsy still hasn't sent me a photo from his JasJar of the Canon 5D box.

There's a reason why I asked for it in that form:

1. If he hasn't opened it, it'll be easy for him to snap a photo on his phone and then send it to me.
If he was faking it, it would take a lot of time (obviously) and the person who he was faking it with would have to dig up and put their box back together again.

2. The EXIF from the JasJar would have been the first give away.

[gstark]

I notice that Stubbsy still hasn't sent me a photo from his JasJar of the Canon 5D box.

There's a reason why I asked for it in that form:

1. If he hasn't opened it, it'll be easy for him to snap a photo on his phone and then send it to me.
If he was faking it, it would take a lot of time (obviously) and the person who he was faking it with would have to dig up and put their box back together again.

2. The EXIF from the JasJar would have been the first give away.

I hope you're not holding your breath on that one.

I think his 5D done a runner.

[stubbsy]

OK guys.

We'll try harder next year.

I had everything prepared - test pics and everything, but Leigh's request for a pic taken with my Jasjar stumped me. I had asked Sheila Smart for some help (which she kindly said she'd assist with), but getting a phone pic of a 5d was VERY hard at short notice.

I figured we pretty much had everything covered. We all had a copy of the "offer from Canon" with details of what lenses were in the deal and so on (and BTW all mods, plus a few other senior members like sheepie & Matt K were in on it). I even had a timeline for what was to happen.

A couple of early posters in the thread also happenned to make mention of checking the date, but I noticed that those posts were very quickly edited to remove those date references.

I know of one case where this happened (Paul) since he PMd me and said he'd posted and deleted cos he thought we might be planning something and he didn't want to spoil it. AFAIK we didn't get anyone to remove comments.

The AF comment from Gary (AF as in April Fools) was an early sign that something was up as was Leigh's attempt to confuse me over the silver vs black shutter button, but I thought we'd sailed past OK and allayed your fears.

I have but one more thing to say - since you've caused us to fold our cards early you'll never know what we had planned for Saturday

Roll on 1/4/07

[sheepie]

I don't know what you're talking about guys

FWIW, there's been a few PM's headed my way wondering what the 'rumours' I refered to were

[stubbsy]

I don't know what you're talking about guys

FWIW, there's been a few PM's headed my way wondering what the 'rumours' I refered to were

Leon I've waved the white flag. Let them have their gloat.

and PS. My new rank Poisson d'Avril - if my schoolboy French is correct it means April fish

Surely imbécile d'Avril would be better

[Greg B]

I would, however, like to relive my personal finest moment in this valiant AF attempt....

..... since I've never seen one with a silver shutter button.

Perhaps you could use one of the thirty pieces that came with the deal to make your own silver shutter button?

[stubbsy]

I would, however, like to relive my personal finest moment in this valiant AF attempt....

..... since I've never seen one with a silver shutter button.

Perhaps you could use one of the thirty pieces that came with the deal to make your own silver shutter button?

yep - that one was a gem Greg.

There are two other things that stood out to me and that is there were a few people who are closet switchers (you know who you are - Darryl ) and, more importantly, the number of people who made comments in the thread along the lines of both Nikon & Canon (or should I say Canon & Nikon) were makers of fine cameras and either could help a good photographer take fine images. Refreshingly there was no brand bagging and no pissing contests. I think that reflects well on the members of the forum as a whole.

[gstark]

We'll try harder next year.

Please do. We certainly enjoyed this.

I had everything prepared - test pics and everything, but Leigh's request for a pic taken with my Jasjar stumped me.

Busted!

and BTW all mods, plus a few other senior members like sheepie & Matt K were in on it)

Great stuff.

A couple of early posters in the thread also happenned to make mention of checking the date, but I noticed that those posts were very quickly edited to remove those date references.

I know of one case where this happened (Paul) since he PMd me and said he'd posted and deleted cos he thought we might be planning something and he didn't want to spoil it. AFAIK we didn't get anyone to remove comments.

I think I saw two references very early in the piece, and saw their removal equally quickly.

I didn't know the reason for the removals, but it certainly piqued my interest.

The AF comment from Gary (AF as in April Fools) was an early sign that something was up as was Leigh's attempt to confuse me over the silver vs black shutter button, but I thought we'd sailed past OK and allayed your fears.

Not a hope in hell!

WhileLeigh was talking to you on the phone yesterday evening, I was almost doubled over in laughter at some of what I was hearing. Especially the bit about not throwing a joke back at us.

I have but one more thing to say - since you've caused us to fold our cards early you'll never know what we had planned for Saturday

Roll on 1/4/07

Let me have a guess - in looking at the KM thread, Leon and Greg are both miffed that they were'nt privvy to this great deal, and you were defending it. My guess is that this was working up to some sort of a climax, probably on Saturday.

[gstark]

and PS. My new rank Poisson d'Avril - if my schoolboy French is correct it means April fish

Which, according to Andre (Radar) is how it's referred to (and celebrated) in France.

So now you've learned two things this afternoon.

[gstark]

Refreshingly there was no brand bagging and no pissing contests. I think that reflects well on the members of the forum as a whole.

I agree. Well done all!

[gstark]

I would, however, like to relive my personal finest moment in this valiant AF attempt....

..... since I've never seen one with a silver shutter button.

Perhaps you could use one of the thirty pieces that came with the deal to make your own silver shutter button?

My favourite bits were where you (or by this time, we) had others joining in with, for instance, better suggestions for your lens, and of course some of the Canon experts querying our sources of knowledge for the newer AF models.

Of course, as we're writing this, this thread is still not open to the masses, and I encourage the public continuation of this joke until Saturday.

Of course, this is your call, not ours.

[Glen]

I thought you had it on the AF issue Gary, but you played along well on the EOS issue I wasn't sure. When the joke is dead came up I knew it was time.

This was Stubbsy's elaborate masterpiece so all credit, he should decide how to play it out.



Now I am wondering what the admin team will have in store

[the foto fanatic]

.

A couple of early posters in the thread also happenned to make mention of checking the date, but I noticed that those posts were very quickly edited to remove those date references.

I know of one case where this happened (Paul) since he PMd me and said he'd posted and deleted cos he thought we might be planning something and he didn't want to spoil it. AFAIK we didn't get anyone to remove comments.

I think I saw two references very early in the piece, and saw their removal equally quickly.

I didn't know the reason for the removals, but it certainly piqued my interest.

Yep, I did that. I didn't have specific knowledge of the gag, but had been warned that something was on. I was meant to be in Hobart to the end of next week, but that didn't eventuate, so was not aware of the sting.

So, I fell for Peter's post H,L& S and posted some nebulous reply.

Then I thought "that would be a really cool April Fool's joke" and started to post that I had to check the date. Half-way through the post I saw a PM from stubbsy warning me that this was the sting. So I edited my post so as not to have an early reference to AFD.

Good fun while it lasted!

[gstark]

I thought you had it on the AF issue Gary, but you played along well on the EOS issue I wasn't sure. When the joke is dead came up I knew it was time.

From our part, the most difficult part was trying to decide when to call "game over". I put the lead post in this thread here last evening to establish some evidentiary groundwork, and I also hedged a few bets by letting a few otherwise unsuspecting members in on the joke.

This was Stubbsy's elaborate masterpiece so all credit, he should decide how to play it out.

Indeed. as I said, well done, but better luck next time.

Now I am wondering what the admin team will have in store

Let's just say that, no matter what you had in store for us, what we have planned would have made anything that you had in mind very difficult to complete with any degree of comfort.

And no, it does not involve any sort of banning, or pretend banning.

[gstark]

So, I fell for Peter's post H,L& S and posted some nebulous reply.

Had Glen not made his post saying that he too was switching, I suspect that there would have been a far greater chance o catching us.

Peter's initial post was very good and held quite a bit of credence; Glen's "defection" was just too unbelievable, on top of Peter's, and that's what blew this one out of the water for us.

Leigh and I both saw that at about the same time, and we had exactly the same reaction.

[Glen]

I was worried two would seem a big number, so tried to play mine down as a financial call, still with a foot in both camps. Not succesfully unfortunately

[sirhc55]

Fun whilst it lasted but one cannot out fox the masters

[gstark]

I thought you had it on the AF issue Gary, but you played along well on the EOS issue I wasn't sure. When the joke is dead came up I knew it was time.

From our part, the most difficult part was trying to decide when to call "game over". I put the lead post in this thread here last evening to establish some evidentiary groundwork, and I also hedged a few bets by letting a few otherwise unsuspecting members in on the joke.

Oh yes,

Has anyone else noticed my oblique references to this in a couple of other threads?

I asked Leigh to start this thread on editing EXIF data when we thought we had Peter by the short and curlies on the taking a photo of the camera with the Jasjar, and at about the same time, Craig wanted an image of his photoshopped, and so I thought a little swipe in his thread wouldn't go astray either.

[stubbsy]

Of course this could have been our ploy all along. To have an apparent April Fools Day joke that you'd smoke out so the real one slips under the radar and gets you on Saturday (what's paranoia ).

And thanks for the french lesson Gary.

I don't really think it was my "elaborate masterpiece" since (a) the idea to try a joke of some sort came from phillipB and (b) the setting up of said joke once I worked out what the joke should be was very much a team effort. Everyone take a bow.

[birddog114]

Peter,
Good work at last.

[stubbsy]

Oh yes,

Has anyone else noticed my oblique references to this in a couple of other threads?

I asked Leigh to start this thread on editing EXIF data when we thought we had Peter by the short and curlies on the taking a photo of the camera with the Jasjar, and at about the same time, Craig wanted an image of his photoshopped, and so I thought a little swipe in his thread wouldn't go astray either.

Hadn't noticed, but I was using Opanda Power EXIF to convert some test pics so they had 5D metadata ready for posting. The reality is I really have been snowed under with work since I cam back on Monday and haven't had a lot of free time.

[Nnnnsic]

To help things along a bit here:

1. The JasJar idea was mine. I had a feeling it would stop you in your tracks and the amount of time you were taking to send it to me would've, had I believed you, only increased my suspicious.

2. I just checked the EXIF on images from my Smartphone and it doesn't appear to exist so, had you added EXIF to the JasJar image in the form of it saying "JasJar" and had it not matched the resolution that it sends out, I'd have been notified that it was a hoax (had I still believed you).

3. In talking to Geoff today (who let me on to nothing, just to tell you), the following bit was part of our conversation:

[14:32] http://www.specialmomentsphotography.com.au: well, I think it's legit - as long as they're happy with their new CANONS and it doesn't disrupt the greatness of the forum (which I think it may) then good on them, but at the same time it infuriates me that we all weren't informed. So much so that I might just take some further action on this - I need a few days to rationalise what's going on.
[14:33] Loco Leigh! - http://www.leighlo.com: what action could u take
[14:33] http://www.specialmomentsphotography.com.au: I havent' decided yet.
[14:34] Loco Leigh! - http://www.leighlo.com: you dont own the forum
[14:34] Loco Leigh! - http://www.leighlo.com: you cant do jack shit
[14:34] http://www.specialmomentsphotography.com.au: hahaha...
[14:34] http://www.specialmomentsphotography.com.au: I don't own the forum no - there's a lot I can do to show my protestations to this though - without harming the forum.
[14:35] Loco Leigh! - http://www.leighlo.com: like what
[14:35] http://www.specialmomentsphotography.com.au: let's just see what happens with this.

That's suggestive of me that there would've been yelling arguing, and maybe a resignation of sorts.

Hopefully some female nudity.

No?

Okay, well that first bit anyway.

Still, nice try.

A couple of other pointers on what gave it away:

• While I imagine that it would've been a logistical nightmare coordinating this in such a short time, one of the problems with getting something like this to work is everyone following a timeline and a story... and it all has to be set from the beginning...
  
• Glen's post gave it away, but other things that did it were in an SMS to Peter to try and confirm if he really had one, I said "I guess I won't be borrowing your lenses anymore" and he replied "you could always convert too!".
  
• Photographers are known braggers. We buy a new piece of glass or a body and we just have to tell everyone.
  Well, Glen was at the mini-meet on Saturday and he didn't.
  While he very well could've had the offer made on any of the three days in between, it seemed likely that he would've known for such a large amount of money in my mind by Saturday.
  
• Birdy used the idea of selling Canon gear too often.
  
• It doesn't seem logical to buy a camera for that much money without having a play of one.
  Even for ya'll.
  Especially when it's a Canon.

[birddog114]

So you finally changed your mind to come up to BH for a try on Canon gears which I offered you earlier?

[stubbsy]

THanks Leigh I understand completely now.

It's all Glen's Fault

[Glen]

Thats how I read it too Stubbsy I tried digressing many times to make it seem low key, discussing cars, AF systems, the origin of the word mortgage but all to no avail.



Stubbsy, its your choice to decide the next step

[Geoff]

Secret out, the admins are just tooo clever! This was fun while it lasted indeed!

[birddog114]

Actually, they got hooked from the start but escaped at last! Damm it!

The Starks! we have to get them another time

[fozzie]

I was so looking forward to tonight's and consequent nights story telling

[gstark]

I was so looking forward to tonight's and consequent nights story telling

Sorry, Foz.

[gstark]

Meanwhile, Matt K is continuing the joke here.

[Matt. K]

Well done Gary! Now...it's back to the drawing board.

[birddog114]

Gary,
Ban him!!!!!!!!

[gstark]

Well done Gary! Now...it's back to the drawing board.

Matt,

Your post is drawing quite a few into the web.

I'm truly sorry if my posts in that thread do nothing to discourage anyone who might otherwise be doubting the veracity of this offer that you've recieved.


Truly sorry.

[gstark]

Well done Gary! Now...it's back to the drawing board.

Matt,

Your post is drawing quite a few into the web.

I'm truly sorry if my posts in that thread do nothing to discourage anyone who might otherwise be doubting the veracity of this offer that you've recieved.


Truly sorry.

Craig is in, H,L&S.

And the whole bloody boat, I suspect.

Sorry Thanh, but I just couldn't resist putting that element of doubt in there.

[birddog114]

Well done Gary! Now...it's back to the drawing board.

Matt,

Your post is drawing quite a few into the web.

I'm truly sorry if my posts in that thread do nothing to discourage anyone who might otherwise be doubting the veracity of this offer that you've recieved.


Truly sorry.

Craig is in, H,L&S.

And the whole bloody boat, I suspect.

Sorry Thanh, but I just couldn't resist putting that element of doubt in there.

Gary,
I'm alright, just laugh and laugh!
Called you few times, since I first saw Matt's new thread (8:04pm) but your line was engaged till.
Let the game continues.

[gstark]

Leigh was talking to a friend.

[gstark]

From Loz ...

Now that the cat is out of the bag why don’t we storm Canons stand and demand a trade-in on a 5D .

I wonder what their dealers would think if Canon are going direct ?. I will give Greg Lee a call tomorrow and see if he will trade in my D70.?

In all serious I think this deal may back fire and heads may roll .How stupid not to look at the possible repercussions or a marketing exercise if that is what it is. Let’s see how long it takes them to retract their offers. LOZ

ROTFLMAO.

Who wants to tell him the good news?

No, let me do it ...

[birddog114]

Seen it and expecting more fun to come @ AF

[gstark]

Done.

[birddog114]

The new thread (Matt.K) may stir Canon Users up and ready for AF.

[Glen]

Matt, beautiful, we may have an April Fools after all

[birddog114]

Look at the user logged onto forum, 34 and I think Craig (Alpha_7) just dragged Potatis into to have a lookt at the special deal.
A big surge is coming.

[gstark]

We have a few members in Matt K's thread expressing suspicion. I've tried to hose that down. We'll see if I'm believable or not in due course.

[Glen]

We could always ask for expression of interest in Matt K thread?

[gstark]

There's still a couple of naysayers, but it's largelystill on th boil.

FWIW, leek, daveb and wile-e are all in on what's happenning.

Thaddeus seems to be unsure, big-pix seems to definitely be one of the sceptics.

[birddog114]

Fill it up with more fuel

[gstark]

Thanh,

Perhaps sometime later today might be a suitable time for you to "admit" to skimming email addresses?