The Top 10 (Over)Reactions to Yesterday’s April Fools’ Joke

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Got ya, didn’t I?

Yeah, yesterday’s article, “The Future of Nerd Fitness,” was an elaborate April Fools’ Joke by yours truly.

Initially, I thought It was a bit too silly and probably wouldn’t make people laugh:

It turns out, I gave at least a thousand Rebels a heart attack, and those were just the thousand I heard from!  500+ comments, 200+ emails, 130+ facebook comments, and hundreds of tweets.

Did you pick up on these TV and film references?:

• If you Google the name of the company that “acquired” Nerd Fitness (or any of its parent companies), you’re lead to a wikipedia page for Arrested Development.  Same goes for Teamocil, the fabulous drug that I was promoting that lowers your sex drive 🙂
• I was moving to Scranton, PA, home of the TV show, The Office.
• My boss’s name was Lumberg, the name of the evil boss from Office Space.

On top of that, I sure had fun adding increasingly ridiculous dystopian changes to Nerd Fitness, changes that go against every fiber of my NF Rebel being:

• Ads for supplements and popup ads!? I hate ads more than you do. Yeah, I know.
• A focus group of people who hadn’t seen Star Wars: Do these people even exist?
• The Rebellion would be renamed “the Fun Fit Squad” to be less controversial. Never!
• I’d have to stop writing nerdy articles!  That’s the whole point of this site: I get to write about nerdy stuff and call it a ‘job.’
• The stuff I’d sell on QVC? See-through yoga pants, protein vodka, low-fat microwave meals! I almost vomited just typing that.
• Shorter articles and the Steve-Algorithm-Article-Generator? Wait…that actually sounds amazing.

If you happened to be one of those duped by my clever trick, I’m mostly sorry. Hopefully you can forgive me, but you have to admit…it was pretty damn good 🙂

I wanted to share with you some of the favorite (over)reactions I received from distraught readers who panicked when they thought I actually sold Nerd Fitness!

Top 10 (Over)Reactions to Yesterday’s Joke

Here are my 10 favorite reactions and comments from yesterday:

10)  Jamilyn121, who is still here thanks to her mom:

9)  Corey D absolutely owning me on Facebook:

8) One dude got so fired up, he sent me messages me on every single possible mode of communication available to him (email, twitter, facebook) to let me know what a mistake I was making.  When he found out it was a joke, he apologized and immediately bought a NF hat!

7) One reader going through the stages via email without a single response from me:

Email 1: #2 is way worse than #3.  Focus groups?  People who haven’t seen Star Wars?  Did you really start Nerd Fitness to worry about alienating people who ‘feel threatened’ by alternative thinking?  Weak dude.  Tea-bag in the ocean weak.  Congrats on  fulfilling your life long dream of selling-out.  Please unsubscribe me, I no longer wish to receive any e-mails from Nerd Fitness.

3 minutes later…

Email 2: Wait, is this an April Fools prank?

3 minutes later…

Email 3: Wow.  Well done sir.  Excuse me while I clean the egg off my face.

6)  Jason AKA Admiral Ackbar:

5) All of you who tried to send supportive, congratulatory emails even though you could tell they were pissed at me.  Even when you’re angry, the NF community is supportive 🙂

4)  Drew ‘The Real’ Lumbergh (and the follow-up):

3) Too much info Josh! 

2)  Dak-Attack:

At first I was like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?…

Then I was Like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?…

But after reading your p.s I was like:https://www.youtube.com/watch?…

1) It turns out, the jokes on me. Oops:

Over 400 Rebels gave up on Nerd Fitness because they thought I actually sold the Rebellion to the Empire! Never!!

If you happen to know one of those homeless rebels wandering about the internet, feel free to tell them they can rejoin us at JoinTheRebellion.com.

What I learned yesterday

I learned two big things yesterday: 

1) The Nerd Fitness Community might just be the most passionate community on the internet.  I have never seen such emotion displayed by a group of so fiercely loyal individuals than I saw yesterday.  It’s good to know that you believe and feel as strongly about Nerd Fitness as I do.  Honestly, the angry “how could you do this?” emails just let me know that I’m part of something special here, and I’m glad you can feel it too.

2) If I ever sell Nerd Fitness to a conglomerate, I need to flee the country immediately.

TOTALLY KIDDING.  

First of all that wouldn’t work, as the Rebels have reminded me in the comments below that I’ve been training my own hit squad for years to track me around the world.

Here’s the truth: I love Nerd Fitness; this is my baby.  I love this community more than anything, and I’m not selling the site, ever.

And why would I? I get to wake up every day and surround myself with people who are helping each other live better lives.  It would certainly take more than $5,000 and a DeLorean to make me give that up.  Maybe a jetpack. Or a time machine.

Joking aside, this isn’t about building a company to flip for a profit.  That was NEVER the plan and isn’t in my future plans.

Instead, I truly believe this community is our chance to make a dent in the universe.  Thank you for being a part of it.

Always and forever, FOR THE REBELLION!

-Steve

PS – So, be honest, did I get you?  If you figured it out, which part gave it away? Leave a comment and let me know!

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photo source: delorean