Top 100 Hoaxes of All Time

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Posted by ryuzaki0 on Tuesday April 1, 2003 @12:53PM from the slashdot-not-a-winner dept.

Kaz Riprock writes "Did you know that Taco Bell bought the Liberty Bell? Or that Spaghetti grows on trees?? Here is a pretty interesting website that compiles 100 of the best hoaxes perpetrated through the ages."

25 of 244 comments (clear)

Obviously..... by sogoodsofarsowhat · 2003-04-01 12:55 · Score: 5, Funny

/. should be at the top of this list :)

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. I love the sound of burning women and screaming rubber....
1. Re:Obviously..... by Politburo · 2003-04-01 12:57 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  No.. these are meant to be good hoaxes.
The biggest Hoax of them all! by Ishkibble · 2003-04-01 12:55 · Score: 3, Funny

Micro$oft OS's are secure!
1. Re:The biggest Hoax of them all! by Anonvmous+Coward · 2003-04-01 13:25 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "Micro$oft OS's are secure!"
  
  Linux, the Gamer's Choice!
2. Re:The biggest Hoax of them all! by houseofmore · 2003-04-01 13:47 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "You couldn't hack a properly configured windows box if someone put a gun to your head."
  
  Anyone would have to have a gun to their head to 'claim a properly configured windows box'.
  
  "Oh, and installing redhat from a bootable cd and typing ls and startx all day does NOT make you a linux user."
  
  Installing windows XP from a bootable cd and typing <CTRL><ALT><DEL> does make you a pretty typical moron.
3. Re:The biggest Hoax of them all! by lpontiac · 2003-04-01 14:31 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  You couldn't hack a properly configured windows box if someone put a gun to your head
  
  But if Halle Berry was blowing me at the time I think I'd stand a chance.
4. Re:The biggest Hoax of them all! by houseofmore · 2003-04-01 18:06 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Is it on?
Morons! by NetMasta10bt · 2003-04-01 12:56 · Score: 5, Funny

#17: The Left-Handed Whopper
In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."
1. Re:Morons! by unicron · 2003-04-01 13:09 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Bah, amateurs.
  
  In college pulled one that people still talk about. Me, mostly.
  
  A friend of mine had taken a real liking to online trading through Datek. I had the great idea to spoof their security division's email address and send him one accusing him of insider trading. Guess he didn't pick up on the fact that most emails of this type wouldn't contain the sentence "stick around there so we can arrest you when we get there."
  
  He comes rushing into my dorm room(at a REALLY, REALLY bad time, mind you) screaming up and down about FED's and insider trading and this and that. My girlfriend and I can barely contain ourselves and luckily he took off again to call his father before we lost it. I go downstairs, and a mutual friend that was in on it tells me I've gotta tell him the truth, because he just called his father. Turns out his father is some fat cat attorney back in Cali. I come clean, he takes a swing at me, it was all in good fun. To this day I still say to him "remember that time I made you think you were going to spend the rest of your life in prison?"..good times.
  
  --
  Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
2. Re:Morons! by Anonvmous+Coward · 2003-04-01 13:32 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."
  
  Reminds me of the Kodak 'Weekender' Camera. People kept calling up asking if it was okay to use during the week. (note: That's not an April Fool's hoax.)
3. Re:Morons! by Anonymous Coward · 2003-04-01 14:32 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Thats similar to a prank that was done on a friend of mine.
  
  He has just got a "demo" copy of windows XP and had just connected to the net. His boss then sent him an email from "legal@microsoft.com" with the subject "Illegal copy of XP detected". Gave him a heart attack of course, but once he realised it was fake he replied to the email. It wasn't until just after he clicked the send button that he realised he hadn't changed the reply to address and he had just sent that email to MS.
4. Re:Morons! by Tablizer · 2003-04-01 15:57 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich.
  
  Shoot, I would charge them 30 cents extra, give them a regular whopper, and pocket the 30. I am for "taxing" the really stupid. Hell, palm readers do it all the time.
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
It's about time by seinman · 2003-04-01 12:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Finally, an April Fool's Day post that isn't annoying as hell!
One of the biggest hoaxes that site missed: by Tofino · 2003-04-01 12:59 · Score: 5, Funny

One of the biggest hoaxes that site missed:
"News for nerds. Stuff that matters."
1. Re:One of the biggest hoaxes that site missed: by neurostar · 2003-04-01 13:01 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  One of the biggest hoaxes that site missed:
  
  "News for nerds. Stuff that matters."
  
  Well part of it's a hoax, part of it isn't. Here's the breakdown:
  
  News for nerds. - Definitly not a hoax.
  Stuff that matters. - HOAX! HOAX! HOAX!
  neurostar
well... by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · 2003-04-01 13:01 · Score: 4, Funny

at least it wasn't:

1) Slashdot posts story regarding IPv4 evil bit.
2) Slashdot posts story regarding IPv4 evil bit.
3) Slashdot posts story regarding IPv4 evil bit. ...
etc

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Notice what's NOT there? by wdr1 · 2003-04-01 13:09 · Score: 2, Funny

Notice that NOWHERE in the list is Slashdot's April 1st editions?

Take the hint guys. Please.

-Bill

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SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
Hoax and Myth by fm6 · 2003-04-01 13:25 · Score: 4, Funny

In 1976 the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.
I'm reminded of that persistent myth about drains and the Coriolis Force. I'm told that in equatorial contries, tourists can find entrepreneurs who will "demonstrate" the precise location of the equator with a tub that drains clockwise in one location, and counterclockwise a few feet away. If you ask one of these guys about another entrepreneur that lives a few miles north or south that has the same demo, he'll gravely inform you that the other guy is a fraud!
It can be pretty hard to tell the liar from the true believer!
Re:#1 Hoax by rjamestaylor · 2003-04-01 13:27 · Score: 1, Funny

Actually, the best Hoax TODAY was the announcement that Saddam Hussein would address his (temporarily and dwindlingly so) country . . . Those wacky Iraqis!

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-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
As long as RFC 3514 isn't on the list... by Znonymous+Coward · 2003-04-01 13:27 · Score: 3, Funny

I'll RTFA.

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Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
Slashdot IPO by JWSmythe · 2003-04-01 13:39 · Score: 4, Funny

That was a joke? Cmdr Taco! Give me back my money!!! :)

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Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Re:Copied directly from the article... by localghost · 2003-04-01 13:58 · Score: 4, Funny

So register, post each of the 100 individually, get each modded to 5, and instantly you have +500 karma! Then sell the account on ebay. Then submit a story about it to slashdot. Then submit the story half a dozen more times.
bah. you're the Amateur by geekoid · 2003-04-01 14:28 · Score: 4, Funny

I pulled a similiar joke, but my friend is still sitting in prison. I can't wait for his release so I can see the look on his face when I come clean..
aahhh, good times.

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The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re:What about the 100 best trolls? by Skiboo · 2003-04-01 15:45 · Score: 3, Funny

There was a slashdot user named Trollback, who's journal may interest you.

It was an automated system, that would rate various troll posts on certain criteria, including number of replies and moderations, to give an overall score. Unfortunately, it seems to have been discontinued.
Re:The BEST in my book by fucksl4shd0t · 2003-04-01 17:19 · Score: 4, Funny

That's exactly the one I was looking for. I thought it should be #1, How could you beat the War of the Worlds?
Dudley, Bob, and Debra on the KLBJ morning show spent like 3 hours one morning talking about how Metallica got struck by lightning and they were all dead. Guys I worked with were calling their girlfriends and crying on the phone at them. It was funnier than shit. :)

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