Pikipedia:April Fool's Day procedure

Shortcut: P:AFDP

When April Fool's Day rolls around, staff should follow this procedure before, during, and after the event, to make sure everything goes smoothly.

• Preparations before the day:
  1. Write down the final article's text somewhere.
     • Make sure it is not categorized. If you want, use nocat=y on the templates, or replace them with raw calls to {{box}}.
  2. Write down the front page's text somewhere.
  3. Write down the tweet text somewhere.
  4. Write down the text for the joke explanation section in Pikipedia:April Fool's Day somewhere.
• When April Fool's Day begins:
  1. Upload all relevant articles, images, and wiki changes.
     • Files should be labeled with the type "Wiki image".
  2. Update the front page so that it somehow shows the joke. Featured article, News, etc.
     • Note: Because April Fool's lands on one of the days the wiki's front page gets updated, do not update the front page like normal. Save the first of April for just the joke, and do the standard updates on the second of April.
  3. Tweet something related to the joke to lure people in.
• To finish the joke:
  1. Revert the affected pages.
  2. Move all created articles to subpages under Pikipedia:April Fool's Day, with redirects.
  3. Create sections on Pikipedia:April Fool's Day explaining this year's jokes.
  4. For each made-up article:
     1. If not already there, add a {{page title}} template to the top that sets the page title, as to remove the "Pikipedia:April Fool's Day/" part.
     2. Add an {{afd}} template above everything in the page.
     3. If there is a possibility that users can stumble into this page while searching for something similar, place a disambiguation template.
     4. Check what links to the old page name, and make all links point directly to the new page's location. This includes other April Fool's Day articles as well.
  5. Update Template:News to mention the fact that we made a joke, and link to Pikipedia:April Fool's Day's respective section.
  6. Tweet about how the joke is over, and link to its section in Pikipedia:April Fool's Day, for all those that missed it.