Important Announcement

[MHD]

Hurryup Midday!

So what are these "benifits"

Maxwell stock at Poon prices?
free invites for all members to product launches/model shoots?

Prizes for the comps?
(Which they should do anyway! The comps are great show pieces for the cam)

[stormygirl]

Well, something weird is going on around here......

With the Maxell index page it says I am already logged on, but says I need to log on anyway to post anything

I can only get on via the 'old' index page. Weird


Yes! Indeed hurry up midday......

[AlistairF]

Yes... after having my coffee and realizing the date.

HA-HA-HA-HA... Good bloody one!!!

I'm an APRIL FOOL!

[Manta]

I can't believe anyone actually fell for this!!

But, to be fair, it's one of the most well thought out, elaborately executed and downright brilliant scams I think I've ever seen on this auspiscious day of the year.

Congratulations to Gary and I assume a handful of others who had to be in on it in order to perpetuate the myth.

I took a day off work today 'cos I was just too crook to go in - Thanks VERY MUCH for curing me!!! Now I feel guilty about staying home!

Well done all.

[xorl]

It would be even funnier if I logged in to see Canon Australia sponsoring this forum

Shhhh.. Save that one for next year

[gstark]

For those having trouble logging in, you'll need to clear your browser's cookies.

For those paying attention, yes, today is April 1, and this is our way of having a little bit of fun with y'all.

Quite a few picked up on this right away, while many others' posted reactions were simply classic; exactly the sort of mayhem we were looking for. MCWB's initial posting is beautiful, and I commend you all to read it very carefully.

Everything is set to return to normal around 11:30 Sydney time; I'll need to make a minor adjustment on the server around then too to help this along, but otherwise all should be fine.

And for those who may be interested, this was all Leigh's idea. Seriously.

We were looking for ideas, and he came up with this concept. I liked it because of its elegant simplicity, and full credit for both the idea, and the execution, should go to him. How many of you noticed the link to the forum in the Maxwell section of that page?

But as Greg observed to me earlier this morning, given my stated feelings about some of Maxwell's policies, perhaps that should have triggered a few more queries as to what was happening.

My apologies to all who sufferred heart attacks this morning, and for any inconvenience. We'll keep the "damaged" site on line for a while, so that those who have missed this (after it reverts) can still see what we did.

Enjoy the day, and watch out for crazy web people!

[Geoff]

A big thank you to Gary and Leigh for setting this up...look how many of us it 'got' . I can imagine a bit of work went into pulling this off with as much success as it did .


Geoff.

[Nnnnsic]

My ego just got boosted by Manta's post.

[huynhie]

Gary,


that was not very when I first logged in this morning, who do I sent the bill to for the recolouring of my grey hairs

[MHD]

yes I did not post my first reaction... I think I would have been banned

I read a bit first and saw the 1/4 mention and promptly when and pinched and punched Louise

[Nnnnsic]

Uhhh...... Maxwell.

[gstark]

Congratulations to Gary and I assume a handful of others who had to be in on it in order to perpetuate the myth.

Thanx, but this was pretty well 90% Leigh's work, and 100% Leigh's idea.

And to set the record straight, we didn't tell any of the mods, nor Birddog, what we had in store. Birddog's anger and indignation expressed in his earlier emails was actually very touching to me; I appreciate his patience and good humour in accepting what we've done in exactly the spirit in which it was prepared.

As I've said before: this forum is about having fun!

[gleff]

This is like free market research.. if Gary ever thinks about doing this for real.. he now has the user reactions to allow him to think twice.

I was initially dumbfounded myself, but was going to wait until after 12 noon before posting in case it was a joke.. Now the cat's out of the bag.. whew! Talk about relief.

Well done..

Geoff
Ps. Now I know why I hate April Fools Day

[Geoff]

Classic - I just called the customer support no. felt like I was calling London . I was like 'what the hell is this' I was too 'angry' to post actually .

Geoff.

Geoff,
Hope you understand my feeling at first! I'm not saying that I'm a patriot but I don't like to be betrayed as I got it 30 years ago as same our slogan: "Don't leave anyone behind".

Birdy - I think you had every right to be upset about it, and it goes to show just how passionate you are about this awesome forum! .

[gstark]

Gary,


that was not very when I first logged in this morning, who do I sent the bill to for the recolouring of my grey hairs

Your grey hairs ???

I have to live with Leigh: look at what that's done to me!

[huynhie]

[Nnnnsic]

Some of the ditched ideas include making a user called "Maxwell" or "MaxwellFoto" and making him an admin and also having a different number for people to call which would have been 1-800-277-3665 (1-800-APR-FOOL)... we did check, it goes to nowhere.

The current one does go somewhere, however... so try it.

[huynhie]

The "Maxwell" Admin would have been the icing on the cake. Like George Orwell's Big brother

[gstark]

The "Maxwell" Admin would have been the icing on the cake. Like George Orwell's Big brother

I thought that that would have been overkill, so I nuked the idea, as good as it was.

As it is, the poor server's been in overdrive this morning ...

[Manta]

My ego just got boosted by Manta's post.

You deserved it Leigh!

I had a feeling you were up to your armpits in this but didn't realise you were the mastermind.

Note to members: Future messages to Leigh: c/- The Home For The Criminally Inane

[Nnnnsic]

Note to members: Future messages to Leigh: c/- The Home For The Criminally Inane

I've been telling people that for years. No one ever believes me.

Least of all my shrink.

[stormygirl]

Ha! My suspicions in my half asleep state were right!

Mind you, I've been had on another forum....should have realised!

Well done Gary and Leigh for your brilliant execution....God help us all next year!

[Nnnnsic]

Yes... mwahahahahaha... (it may already be in planning...)

[MHD]

This does raise an interesting point though...
when you click on Maxwell's camera clubs link there is no mention of d70users

[MCWB]

Congrats Leigh, excellent plan, and brilliantly executed! I'd have enjoyed a MaxwellFoto admin making controversial posts though, that would have been mental haha!

[Nnnnsic]

That was part of the idea.

On another note, someone just called up and hung up upon hearing the answering machine message. I just burst out laughing.

[MCWB]

On another note, someone just called up and hung up upon hearing the answering machine message.

 ROFL, after that I just had to call, superbly done!

[Nnnnsic]

On another note, someone just called up and hung up upon hearing the answering machine message.

 ROFL, after that I just had to call, superbly done!

You see... ya'll who now "get" that it's a joke might want to put the icing on the cake and call and see what sort of... ahem... "special provisions" we allowed for the people who might have actually believed us.

[MHD]

clever.... should have rung...

[Nnnnsic]

The worst thing about the extent that this joke plays is... now you're all going to be expecting something.. SOMETHING... happening next year.

We might as well not do anything.

Ya'll all be like... "Okay.. so the buttons don't work" or "You've turned the word censors on again, haven't you? Mr. Squiggle, Mr. Squiggle, Mr. Squiggle!"... and we just don't do anything.

Or will we?

[birddog114]

Of course you and Gary will get the blame

[gstark]

Of course you and Gary will get the blame

I certainly hope so.

One other comment I might offer is that I think I've deleted more posts today than I have in the piror 8 months that we've been up.

That's not to say that it's been a lot of posts, it's just that a few of you were quite astute and picked up on what we were doing, but posted messages to this thread far too early for our liking. We needed to let the thread - and the joke - get a life of its own before we released control of it, and when Deano posted a note at about 1 this morning (he's in Singapore at the moment) telling us that we nearly caught him, I really had to kill it.

So, to those of you whose posts were deleted, my humblest apologies, and my thanx for your cooperation and understanding. I really hated doing that, but, just this once, it needed to be done.

[ajax]

[gstark]

For those of you currently online, the site is scheduled to automatically revert to its normal self in just a minute or two.

I'll also need to make a couple of minor adjustments to help it along the way, so please bear with us.

At the very worst, clear your browser's cache and cookies ...

[BBJ]

Well i was sucked in now i am home from work and well Gary if u ever get thoughts like this for some reason to ever think about joining hands wif maxwell, just remember what has been said here today as i am sure some one will be looking to kick your A$$ if u ever decided to go down this path. LOL

[huynhie]

Things are looking better now

[bago100]

hehe I've been got!

Well and truely

They'll be talking about this one for years to come! Congrats to all concerned.

Cheers

Graham

[MHD]

sigh... much better!

[the foto fanatic]

Years ago (in the early 70's, well before internet bulletin boards!) when I was working in Mt Isa, the local radio station's breakfast announcer told his listeners that a Qantas jumbo had landed at Mt Isa airport for emergency refuelling purposes. He said that it would be on the runway for about 2 hours before leaving.
Jumbo jets were relatively rare in those days, and they had certainly never been seen in Mt Isa, because the runway was not long enough to allow one to take off. (That should have been a clue!)
The Mt Isa airport is about 5km from the town centre, so when I dressed hurriedly, grabbed my camera and drove out there, I was in a line of traffic that extended for the full 5km. I passed a workmate who was coming back (the returning traffic was just as thick) and asked him what it was like. He grinned and said "Any idea of the date today?" It was 1st April!
Until now, that, and the BMW press ad that recalled all BMWs with the propellor in the badge on the bonnet inadvertantly reversed (everyone had to look - got me again!) were the best scams for getting a large number of people that I have seen.
Today there is a new champion! Well done Leigh & Gary!
And it does show how important and valued this forum is to people.
It does you good to laugh, doesn't it?

[birddog114]

But we can see the reactions of our community from the joke finally
Great Guys and thanks

[Bruno]

Very nice work guys! I couldn't believe it when i saw it early this morn!

Have a good one,
Cheers

[gstark]

Until now, that, and the BMW press ad that recalled all BMWs with the propellor in the badge on the bonnet inadvertantly reversed (everyone had to look - got me again!) were the best scams for getting a large number of people that I have seen.

I recall that BMW did two of those, one year after the other. The one I recall was the ad where they said that there were some counterfeit BMWs being sold, and the way that you could check was to look at the propellor badge; the counterfeit ones were 90 degrees out of phase, and the published in their ad a picture of an out of phase badge, stating it to be the correct one.

Everyone who then checked would find their badge to be wrong; they were given a hotline number to call, where they could talk with a Mr Uwe Benhaad, or something along those lines. That's where I got the idea of the hotline from, btw.

Chris, I think you can enlighten us on a couple of classics too, can't you?

Today there is a new champion! Well done Leigh & Gary!
And it does show how important and valued this forum is to people.
It does you good to laugh, doesn't it?

I'm not so sure that our's rates with the BMW one, but we do appreciate the comments and compliments. More importantly, we also appreciate that you can all join with us and share in the fun.

[leek]

One other comment I might offer is that I think I've deleted more posts today than I have in the piror 8 months that we've been up.

The funny thing was, even though you quickly deleted the messages that gave it away, most of them still appeared in my RSS feed...
I was therefore really confused about why people kept adding messages of disgust and doubt to the thread (why didn't they get it???)...
Birddog's message was so good that I thought he must have been in on the joke...

[gstark]

John,

One other comment I might offer is that I think I've deleted more posts today than I have in the piror 8 months that we've been up.

The funny thing was, even though you quickly deleted the messages that gave it away, most of them still appeared in my RSS feed...
I was therefore really confused about why people kept adding messages of disgust and doubt to the thread (why didn't they get it???)...
Birddog's message was so good that I thought he must have been in on the joke...

Interesting post; thanx.

You've highlighted one area we didn't even think about - the RSS feed. I think that once the post has been made, it'll get into the feed, at least for a while: do you see one from Deano at around 1 a.m. this morning? As we meandered into the day proper, it became harder to keep the genie in the bottle of course, and so there would have been a greater amount of time passing between when the "offending" message was posted, and when we were able to kill it.

But no, Birddog's reaction was a genuine, heartfelt reaction, and I actually PMed him to remind him of the date when I saw how upset he was getting.

And for those who have made the observation regarding the reaction to this "news" of everyone here ... yes, I've made the same observation, and while I cannot see the likelihood of this sort of thing ever happenning, it's good to know in advance what the reaction might be.

[huynhie]

Gary,

This is one time that I think you owe Birddog a beer

[dooda]

I followed this one all day at work and was baffled at first. then as I saw the April 1st reference, I thought "well of course..."

Then others were coming on here like they didn't even see it, and I thought, "wait, could it be true?" then finally I some concedings. An emotional rollercoaster to me, even though I've never dealt with Maxwell.

[jethro]

how did maxwell take it or is there a connection? bloody well done had me going. leigh sucked us all in.

[gstark]

how did maxwell take it or is there a connection? bloody well done had me going. leigh sucked us all in.

Dunno.

We're not going to ask, and apart from the fact that we use products that they import, there is no connection.

[sheepie]

*(^*&^#I&(&$*&^U*&^(*^*()@ !!!!

[Neeper]

All I know is, I couldn't login!! I was really choked about that. I really didn't care about the new site layout, I thought it was cool. I didn't know who or what Maxwell was.