section_path: Reception
section_name: Reception
paragraph_text: Reception
  
  The practice of April Fool pranks and hoaxes is controversial. The mixed opinions of critics are epitomised in the reception to the 1957 BBC " spaghetti-tree hoax ", in reference to which newspapers were split over whether it was "a great joke or a terrible hoax on the public".
  
  April Fools' can be good for one's health because it encourages "jokes, hoaxes... pranks, belly laughs", and brings all the benefits of laughter. Many "best of" April Fools' Day lists showcase the best examples of how the day is celebrated. Various April Fools' campaigns have been praised for their innovation, creativity, writing, and general effort.
  
  Negative views describe April Fools' hoaxes as "creepy and manipulative", "rude" and "a little bit nasty", as well as based on Schadenfreude and deceit. When genuine news or a genuinely important order or warning is issued on April Fools' Day, there is risk that it will be misinterpreted as a joke and ignored – for example, when Google, known to play elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes, announced the launch of Gmail with 1- gigabyte inboxes in 2004, an era when competing webmail services offered 4- megabytes or less, many dismissed it as a joke outright. On the other hand, sometimes stories intended as jokes are taken seriously.
  
  Either way, there can be adverse effects, such as confusion, misinformation, waste of resources (especially when the hoax concerns people in danger) and even legal or commercial consequences.
  
  In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, various organizations and people warned not to observe April Fools' Day, as a mark of respect due to the large amount of tragic deaths that COVID-19 had caused up to that point, the wish to provide truthful information to counter any misinformation about the virus, and to pre-empt any attempts to incorporate the virus into potential pranks. For example, Google decided not to do its traditional April Fools' jokes that year. Because the pandemic was still ongoing a year later in 2021, Google also decided not to do pranks that year.
  
  In Thailand, the police warned ahead of April Fools' in 2021 that posting or sharing fake news online could lead to maximum of five years imprisonment.
  
  Other examples of genuine news on 1 April mistaken as a hoax include:
  
  The practice of April Fool pranks and hoaxes is controversial. The mixed opinions of critics are epitomised in the reception to the 1957 BBC " spaghetti-tree hoax ", in reference to which newspapers were split over whether it was "a great joke or a terrible hoax on the public".
  
  April Fools' can be good for one's health because it encourages "jokes, hoaxes... pranks, belly laughs", and brings all the benefits of laughter. Many "best of" April Fools' Day lists showcase the best examples of how the day is celebrated. Various April Fools' campaigns have been praised for their innovation, creativity, writing, and general effort.
  
  Negative views describe April Fools' hoaxes as "creepy and manipulative", "rude" and "a little bit nasty", as well as based on Schadenfreude and deceit. When genuine news or a genuinely important order or warning is issued on April Fools' Day, there is risk that it will be misinterpreted as a joke and ignored – for example, when Google, known to play elaborate April Fools' Day hoaxes, announced the launch of Gmail with 1- gigabyte inboxes in 2004, an era when competing webmail services offered 4- megabytes or less, many dismissed it as a joke outright. On the other hand, sometimes stories intended as jokes are taken seriously.
  
  Either way, there can be adverse effects, such as confusion, misinformation, waste of resources (especially when the hoax concerns people in danger) and even legal or commercial consequences.
  
  In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, various organizations and people warned not to observe April Fools' Day, as a mark of respect due to the large amount of tragic deaths that COVID-19 had caused up to that point, the wish to provide truthful information to counter any misinformation about the virus, and to pre-empt any attempts to incorporate the virus into potential pranks. For example, Google decided not to do its traditional April Fools' jokes that year. Because the pandemic was still ongoing a year later in 2021, Google also decided not to do pranks that year.
  
  In Thailand, the police warned ahead of April Fools' in 2021 that posting or sharing fake news online could lead to maximum of five years imprisonment.
  
  Other examples of genuine news on 1 April mistaken as a hoax include: