internet halloween pranks

What prompted me to write this is that I just fell for my first (and last as far as I'm concerned) internet Halloween scare-prank of 2008. It was a video posted on a blog and needless to say I won't be reading that blog anymore.

I hate scare-pranks. Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em. They're not funny, never have been funny and never will be funny. I'll put it to you this way: It's a sure-fire way of having me stop being your friend and fast. I'd rather be Rick Rolled than scare-pranked.

My reaction to pranks is always the same. Yeah, I get frightened but I don't say "Oh ha ha, you got me" afterwards. Instead I get outright fuming mad about it, say "screw you" and then put you on my list of people I will never accept links from ever again.

Usually when people find this out about me they say "Oh, lighten up!" No. I won't "lighten up" and never will because the joke is only funny to the one playing it and not the recipient.

Fortunately most scare-pranks are easy to spot. It's any video that says "Watch closely and turn the sound up" or "Wait until [this happens], keep watching!" In that instance I always turn the sound down.

I will post once - and only once - an example of a scare prank. This is not the one I fell for but it's almost exactly like this.

TURN YOUR SOUND DOWN when watching it.

This video has over 7 million views of people who fell for this - including me a few years ago.

I hate these videos.