MicroWiki:April Fools'

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April Fools' Day hoaxes are perpetrated by members of the MicroWiki community every year. Individual micronations often play jokes, and all eyes are on MicroWiki itself every year when the MicroWiki administrators usually play a joke on the community.

2011

MicroWiki

  • Operation Electrolight: St.Charlie, A1 and Sirocco declared war on each other to make fun of micronational "wars".[1]
  • Strange newsfeed items: Items in the MicroWiki newsfeed adopted somewhat peculiar titles.
  • Forum games: The MicroWiki Forums had its logo changed to incorporate a trollface and had the default font changed to Comic Sans MS.

2012

MicroWiki

  • BoratWiki: MicroWiki was inaccessible on 31 March 2012 due to a "403 error" suspiciously rendered in Cyrillic. The next day all was revealed: MicroWiki (and the MicroWiki Forum) had re-emerged as BoratWiki, a website (rendered in faux Cyrillic) devoted to "Boratnations". The MicroWiki Forum also took on a very different appearance.

Community

A1

  • A1 forum graffiti: A1's forum was replaced by a replication covered with black graffiti reading "somebody help me" [2].

Austenasia

  • Revolution: Crown Prince Jonathan of Austenasia announced in several Skype rooms that the TPA had launched a Theodorist revolution and successfully taken over Wrythe. It was revealed as a joke a few minutes later, but not before some who heard had issued diplomatic responses having assumed it was a genuine announcement.

Koss

  • Disestablishment of the Kossian Empire: Lucas I released a video called "Disestablishment of the Realm", in which he dissolved the Empire, before revealing in the last minute that it was a joke.

Sirocco

  • Soviet Party of Sirocco: The Sirocco Times reported[3] that relatively unknown Siroccan citizen Rani Lope had formed a Marxist-Leninist party styled the "Soviet Party of Sirocco" as opposition to the ruling Federal Party. Anagrams relating to the date were inserted into the article three times.
  • National Capital District renamed: Siroccan Premier Daniel Anderson reported on Facebook and Skype that Sirocco's National Capital District province was to be renamed to "Chatgo", an anagram of gotcha.

2013

MicroWiki

  • MCRIOWYKY: MicroWiki changed themes and adopted LOLZSPEAK on the Main Page and sidebar.
  • Nyan Cat: Nyan Cat was featured in a video on the Main Page set to play automatically when the page loaded.
  • This Month in History: The "This Month in History" section on the Main Page was changed to LOLZSPEAK for March and conspicuous historical summaries for April.
  • Good Article change: The featured Good Article was changed to "Shinee Shining Lightning", widely agreed to be the worst article ever published on MicroWiki.
  • Forum shenanigans: The MicroWiki Forums adopted a Minecraft theme with a Nyan Cat logo, with audio from the Portal game series played on the main page.

Community

Skype

  • Micropolitan 5: The Micropolitan 5 Skype room was renamed to become the "Micropolitan 4.01".
  • Yellow Bear Micronational: The "Music of the Day" in the YBM Skype room was set to Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, a "Rickroll" which has so far been repeated on every 1 April since.

Sirocco

  • Closure of MicroWiki: The Sirocco Times reported that MicroWiki was to close and shift to the Wikia platform.[4]
  • Sirocco Times logo: The Sirocco Times reversed its logo and changed its slogan to read "Established 1948".

Urbonia

  • Presidential resignation: The Voice of Urbonia reported President Migs Caldeo's resignation from office.[5]

2014

Community

Austenasia

  • New South Scotland invasion: An entry on the MicroWiki newsfeed was posted reporting that New South Scotland had been invaded by Zealandia, with a link redirecting to a Rickroll. (Ironically, Zealandia would actually invade New South Scotland just a month later.)

Sirocco

  • Micro High movie: The Sirocco Times reported on the midnight premiere of a fake Micro High movie entitled "The Micro High Cinematic Televised Movie Thing".[6]

Adammia

  • Communist coup: The Adammic Express reported that Billy, the mascot of the Adammic Army, had led a coup against the Adammic government and had installed a communist dictatorship, renaming the nation to the "People's Republic of Adammia". The new leadership supposedly threatened to attack several micronational cities with nuclear missiles, a reference to North Korea. Elements of the article also served to parody the Veritum Sandus.[7]

2015

MicroWiki

  • ErusiaWiki: MicroWiki apparently came under the jurisdiction of the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia. Administrators were allegedly arrested by the Republican Guard on charges of counter-revolutionary activity, and all flags and media titles on the main page were changed to their Erusian counterparts. All links on the Main Page newsfeeds were redirected to the "Nyan Cat" YouTube video.

Community

Adammia

2016

MicroWiki

  • No prank was made by the administrators this year due to a serious technical issue affecting the site on 31 March and 1 April (which some users assumed was a prank itself).

Community

Adammia

  • Memes: The Adammic Express reported that a decree had been passed "declaring Memes to be the official state religion of the Empire of Adammia" and requiring citizens to worship a meme of their choice at least twice a day, with various Adammic landmarks having been renamed after memes. The article also served as satire of New Israel's religious fundamentalist policies. [9]

Delvera

  • Cyber-attack: The Lavrada Bannerman reported that the Grand Republic of Delvera had caused recent technical problems with the wiki by launching a cyber-attack with "superhaxxors". [10]

Sirocco

2017

MicroWiki

  • MicroWiki became MichaelWiki, "The internet's top fan forum for all things George Michael", after webmaster Jonathan I the previous day announced that he was selling the wiki to a mysterious new owner. The music video of George Michael's 1984 single Careless Whisper played on the front page, the wiki's typeface was changed from Arial to a handwriting style, and the logo was replaced with one for "MichaelWiki".

Community

Sirocco

  • Merger of Sirocco and Uskor: The Sirocco Times reported that Sirocco and Uskor had merged into the Commonwealth of Sirocco and Uskor. References to the date were added throughout the article.[12]

Adammia

Essian Commonwealth

  • Mystic Jubbia of the Harrifans: The Messenger reported that a royal decree had renamed the Essian Commonwealth to the "Mystic Jubbia of the Harrifans." Lord Henry's title was now His Harrifanatic Majesty, and the flag and coat of arms had been changed to feature George Harrison. The article parodied Esse's strong music culture.[14]

2018

MicroWiki

MicroWiki did not do anything for April Fools this year.

Community

Adammia

  • Insomnia Festival invasion: The Adammic Express reported that the Adammic government had seized control of the Insomnia Gaming Festival and had made a number of changes to "improve" the event. For context, the Insomnia festival is regularly attended by many Adammic citizens, and it has an important cultural role within Adammia. The theme was chosen as the Insomnia festival happened to be taking place that very weekend.[15]
  • LAN Imperial: In a similar theme to the Adammic Express article mentioned above, Adam I, Emperor of Adammia announced on Twitter that due to problems with Insomnia, he would be setting up his own, new LAN called the LAN Imperial; however, a link to the "ticket page" instead led to a mashup of Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up and Shooting Stars by Bag Raiders.[16]

2019

MicroWiki

The main page's language was changed to "gnome speak", and there were various images of gnomes on the site.

Community

Adammia

  • War with Wazakhstan: The Adammic Express reported that Adammia had declared war on neighbouring Wazakhstan due to a dispute over the territory of Goodbold. References were made to Goodbold's status as the centre circle of a football pitch, and to the Storm Party's accusations of "cider corruption" against the Liberal-Moderate Party. The article also featured the much-loved picture of the Adammic Humvee.[17]

Aenderia

  • Andrew Scheer Takeover of the Aenderese Republic: The Aenderese Government leased the country for a day to someone in an Andrew Scheer profile picture. The person renamed the country to the Abeldane Republic, changed the flag to an inverted version of the flag of the Abeldane Empire, banned the use of Surface Area, and legalized Manga. At the end of the day, the lease ended, Scheer gave back the micronation to the Aenderese Government, some guy in a Trudeau profile picture tried to intervene but instead fell down the stairs.
  • Succession to the EU: Earlier during the month, there were rumors that the Aenderese Government planned to apply for the EU, in a chance to replace the United Kingdom's seat. The Government verified this, however always used the term "EU" instead of its full name, and never mentioned about the seat replacement within the United Kingdom. Finally, the Aenderese Government announced that it successfully joined the EU, and announced that it was named the "Epic Union."

2020

MicroWiki

A screenshot of MicroWiki main page on April Fools' Day 2020

The language of the entirety of MicroWiki was changed to an unreadable font called Precursor Alpha Font, and the MicroWiki logo in the corner was slightly titled sideways, for a wacky appearance.[18] This change gained notable criticism from MicroWiki users since it was on every wiki page, coupled with the font couldn't be changed without third party plugins.[19]

Community

Adammia

Ponderosa Hills

  • On 31 March, Ponderosa Hills became a khanate known as the Khanate of Ponderosa Hills, as an absolute monarchy. The usage of the English language was banned, and the Mongolian language was made mandatory.

Lytera

  • Wadiya: The Royal Lyteran News announced that Lytera had gone to war with the fictional nation of Wadiya. The article claimed that the two nation's 'Nuclear Scientists' - Nuclear Nadal (Wadiya) and Ballistic Boov (A Local Lyteran Meme) had argued over who was a better scientist, ending with Duke Matthew getting shot. References were also made to the recently released Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and the nation of Eritrea, the real life nation which Wadiya is partially based on, claiming Lytera and Eritrea were working together to overthrow Aladeen.

Vlasynia

  • On 01 April 2020, Despot Ested I of Vlasynia announced his nation's reorganization into the 31st Dynasty of Egypt, with himself becoming Pharaoh Idenhotep I, son of Ra. Moreover, taking advantage of his position as President of the Reformed Intermicronational Confederation, he assumed dictatorial powers and transformed the RIC into the Golden Confederacy.

2021

MicroWiki

Matthewopia article screenshot on April Fools 2021.
The article Grand Republic of Cycoldia covered in advertisements on April Fools 2021

Large adverts blocking the view of content popped up on most pages approximately every minute. Some adverts promoted supposedly "advertisement-free" versions of MicroWiki, or promoted micronations and micronational political campaigns. Others served no purpose other than to annoy. One advertisement jokingly included "MicroWiki Premium", which included both an ad-free experience as well as "access to #suggestions" on the server MicroWiki@Discord, however as per the fine print, anyone who signed up would become the "legal spouse and property" of fictional character Papa Lazarou.

Community

Adammia

Vlasynia

  • On 01 April 2021, Despot Ested I of Vlasynia announced that his nation has been overthrown in a coup by the Lupists, an underground group in Vlasynia which sought to abolish the monarchy and replace it with a fascist republic. He then announced the creation of the National Democratic State of Lupis, and said his last goodbye.

Indradhanush

Gradonia

Picture of Tweet released from Dracul
  • An article released by the Charlington Press reported that the "Gradonian Revolutionary Guard" had forcibly overthrown the Gradonian government and captured King William, who later transferred his legislative and executive power to Luis Medina and dissolved the Gradonian legislature. The legislature, as reported in the article, "...was responsible for the cause of the COVID-19 virus, as confirmed by top Gradonian epidemiologists". While in captivity, the monarch renamed the nation from the Kingdom of Gradonia to the Gradonian Union of the People’s Revolutionary Soviet Democratic Socialist Republics (GUPRSDSR). Luis Medina, which the article states had named himself President-for-Life, declared all items in the Gradonian Natural History Museum "public properties for management and use by private individuals". The article later reports that the President was interviewed outside the Museum with a burlap sack.
The article also reported the creation of the "Ministry of Justice" which was intedned "...to provide for the common domestic defense of the integrity of the Gradonian state and of the people…and to pursue and enforce the equality of each Gradonian in every metric". The first reported project of the Ministry was ‘Direction Effemination and Emasculation’, which was reported to create more Tomboys and Femboys in Gradonia, however was beset with setbacks due to lack of licensed medical practitioners and funds to pay for French Maid costumes.
  • There were multiple reactions to the article. One such was by Jonathan I, Emperor of Austenasia, who stated: "We shall implement measures to reorganise Oribrazorian territory into the Crown Dependency of Gradonia to provide shelter and exile for the Gradonian monarchy, and provide the utmost support to the rightful King of Gradonia."
Another reaction was by the Commonwealth of Dracul, who released a statement on their twitter account stating: "Dracul is currently monitoring the situation unfolding in Gradonia, as communists have taken control of the government, leading to King William abdicating the throne".
The Grand Republic of Cycoldia released a statement as well on twitter saying, "The Cycoldian Government is currently observing the situation unfolding in @SGradonia in which William I has been ousted by communists, the Grandeur Print is expected to report on this later today"

Saspearian

Lytera

  • Wessex: The Royal Lyteran News announced that Lytera had been hexed - a reference to Wandavision, and ended up stuck in 920s Britain with Alex as monarch. The article claimed that with the technology devolving, Lytera was able to oust Boris Johnson from power and killing him in a duel. References were also made to the recently released Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the flag made the Kingdom of Wessex's flag, and the language Anglo-Saxon. Further jokes were made on discord that the reason they had internet access was due to Amorbahia being unaffected by being in Iberia. Reports claimed that the Kingdom was now at war with Scotland and that they planned to invade Normandy as revenge for 1066. [21] Further jokes were made on the Kingdom's twitter.[22]

Timonoucite Empire

Great Emperor Eshaan I allegedly renamed his empire to the Blakonire Ya Empire. It should be reverted by 2 April.

Vishwamitra and Snagov

Flag of the Grand and Amazing Kingdom of Sna
Flag of the Socialist Human Republic of Friendmitra

Ela'r'oech

Charles stepped down from the throne on April 1st, 2021 and left the Ela'r'oech Discord Server, giving ownership to Anthony - a friendly rival - for the server. He claimed it was not a joke and also had allegedly allowed Ela'r'oech to be annexed by Alaria. It is unknown whether or not if this is a joke.

Republic of Cubia

Cubia became DaCountry, a nation led by DaBaby.

2022

MicroWiki

The MicroWiki website was flipped upside-down.

Community

Adammia

  • The untied micro nations - The Adammic Express claimed that Adammia was joining a new micronational organisation, The untied micro nations (TUMN). The article satirised YAMOs and the poor grammar and graphic design skills frequently exhibited by inexperienced micronationalists. The article ended with TUMN's Discord server being hacked, effectively destroying the organisation; this is a subtle criticism of micronations that exist entirely online.[23]

Novus Hierosolymis

Dear friends,

As you all may know that this is not sudden and was being planned for a long time. In a late night deliberation with HM Jayden I and other officers of the State, it has been decided that he shall abdicate and that in order to replace him in the affairs of the state, a junta government shall be established.

With immediate effect, the powers of the King and Queen shall be removed and they shall be an ordinary citizens of the state. The junta government shall be administered under my leadership as Senior Chairman of the State Council and be assisted by my junior officers including the Duke of Christophus and the Duchess of Bernardus who shall be the Deputy Chair of the State Council.

The State Council further approves the renaming of the nation to "Most Glorious State of Novus Hierosolymis" and that the abdicated King be a prisoner for his abuse of power during his reign. The State Council has also implemented a ban on public speech, human rights and other fundamental rights and violation of the ban could lead to serious punishment and problems. All are asked to be loyal to the Council and its members.

Further updates will be provided soon.

Long Live Novus Hierosolymis!

Issued for public interest

Pinang

Flag of Roselian Pinang
Ribbon for Roselian Annexation of Pinang
  • His Majesty Chandrachur I of Roselian Kalos, invaded the Pinangese Discord Server and announced the following.

Special Broadcast from the Government of the Federation of Roselia

Dear friends,

The Federation of Roselia has annexed the Discord server of Pinang.

Long Live Roselia!
Further updates will be provided soon.
रोसेलिया सरकार द्वारा जनहित में जारी
রোসেলিয়া সরকার দ্বারা জনস্বার্থে প্রচারিত

Then Chandrachur I gave a speech to the general Pinangese people.

All fellow Pinangese citizens, Our brave army has easily routed the weak defence of the metaverse-filled, online nation of Pinang and has conquered it. Today I will mention our plans.

1. We will give independence to Larvotto.

2. Pinang will be a part of the Roseliwealth Realm with Chandrachur I as King of the Pinangese (similar to Queen Elizabeth II or King Felipe VI),

3. I create a commemorative ribbon called the Ribbon for Roselian Annexation of Pinang, in which I award:-

a) Chandrachur Basu

b) Esty Carpentieri

c) May Junkin

d) Joshua Braithwaite

e) Daniel Quintero

f) All other ministers of the Joshua Cabinet

g) Tobey W

h) Lorenzo Marquez

With this, I end my speech.

Long live Roselia!

A news article was made by David Brooke:-

GLORIA PINANG!!!!!

On April First of 2022, Pinang was invaded by a right wing terrorist organisation, knows as the Roselian Nationalistt Front. The terrorist leader, in hopes of securing more territory, sent Larvottan forces to the Pinangese border, and quickly routed the unarmed and ineffective military.

Yusienia

The Princess announces the lifting of all sanctions against J. K. Rowling, a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and appoints her as ambassador to the country.

Saspearian

Anthony I announced the adoption of the nation's full name as the Saspeariard Empire.

2023

MicroWiki

The main page of MicroWiki mirrored its previous design in October 2008, and the website's skin switched to MonoBook.

Community

Adammia

Liahonia

Liahonia.gov put the template Brown-E into the talk pages of 100 users.


Marquette

1,000 dinar note claimed to be used during april fools

Bobrov coup: a supposed coup by Serbian nationalist Stefan Požtevišećišovitč Bobrov the name of the nation was changed to Serbian Republic of Marquette along with several other details being altered.


Saspearian

Anthony I announced that he had appointed himself as the Prime Minister of Saspearian.

Kaltarsia

Tsar Aaron I changed the logo of the Discord server to the flag of the Sprinske Communist Republic, the nation that he overthrew in the Sprinske Revolution in 2020, along with changing the server name to the Sprinske Communist Republic. He then changed his username to ‘Prime Minister Aaron’ which was a reference to his title within the nation, and added the word ‘comrade’ before everyone else’s. That day, the server was filled with communist memes, the rules were changed to a set of rules from the Sprinske Communist Republic which many consider to be ‘larpy’ as part of the joke, such as the death penalty being technically legal despite never being used due to macronational law. Many in the server posted sarcastic praises of the nation, but after 12:00, those turned to insults.

State of Hokoria

The Head of State of Hokoria announced that the State of Hokoria had disolved following threats from the United Provinces of Bog Soma.

Archives

Web archives of the main page in which every April Fool's occurred. All archives are on the Wayback Machine

  • 2022 - Website flipped upside-down.
  • 2020 - Unreadable font called Precursor Alpha Font, and the MicroWiki logo in the corner is slightly titled sideways.
  • 2019 - Main page in "gnome speak", and various images of gnomes on the site; as well as a large number of joke articles in the news sections.
  • 2017 - MichaelWiki, "The internet's top fan forum for all things George Michael", with the MichaelWiki logo in the corner.

References

  1. "A1, St.Charlie at war, Sirocco joins in" The Sirocco Times. Retrieved 2 April 2016
  2. Image of A1 Forum on 1 April 2012, FRA1, Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  3. "Sirocco gains socialist party" The Sirocco Times. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  4. "MicroWiki to shut down, community to move to Wikia" The Sirocco Times. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  5. "President Migs Caldeo resigns from office" Voice of Urbonia. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  6. "Micro High movie proves hit for SBC" The Sirocco Times. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  7. "Billy seizes control of government, installs military dictatorship" Adammic Express. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  8. "PM resigns, snap election called" Adammic Express. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  9. "Memes Announced as Official Adammic Religion" Adammic Express. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  10. "Delvera is Responsible, Everyone Else is to Blame" Lavrada Bannerman. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  11. "Eighties Week opens in Sirocco" The Sirocco Times. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  12. "Sirocco and Uskor complete merger" The Sirocco Times. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  13. "Adammia votes to Leave in GUM Referendum", Adammic Express. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  14. "Mystic Jubbia of the Harrifans", Messenger. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  15. "Adammia invades Insomnia Festival, nationalises Multiplay", Adammic Express. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  16. Adam Belcher, Twitter.com. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  17. "Adammia at war with Wazakhstan!", Adammic Express. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  18. 2020 Micronational April Fool’s Report. Orblian Observer. PDF
  19. Lycon, Jayden (31 March 2020) How to remove new MicroWiki font. Nacre by Cupertino. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  20. Adorama: The Cider Corruption Scandal, Adammic Online Broadcasting. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  21. https://rln.home.blog/2021/04/01/kingdom-of-wessex-restored/ The Royal Lyteran News
  22. https://twitter.com/KLytera Lyteran Twitter
  23. Adammia joins The untied micro nations, Adammic Express. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  24. "Adammic Air Force recruitment ad", Adammic Online Broadcasting. Retrieved 1 April 2023.

Notes