April Fools Pranks
The 95 Degrees Staff have played many pranks on the community for April Fools Day each year.
April Fools' 2017
For April Fools Day 2017, Nath announced the server was shutting down, and rotated the server icon by 95 degrees:
@everyone Since I began the server in July 2016, 95 Degrees has grown to be a place where over 200 people can chat, play video games and meet new people around the world. We've introduced social media, Christmas events and even a Podcast - but unfortunately today I will be shutting down 95 Degrees. Thank you all for this amazing journey, I've loved every minute. Now the server is just too popular and busy to handle, so it's time to say goodbye. The server will be deleted permanently at some point today. Thanks again to everyone who participated. To celebrate the server before we shut down, I have rotated the server icon by 95 Degrees.
April Fools' 2018
At 12:42 on April Fool's Day in 2018, Nath posted the following to the #updates channel:
Hi @everyone. Due to the Internet and Discord becoming more and more widespread and is now becoming popular with older adults (and even elders in some cases), we've decided that we'd like to become more and more family friendly. The fact that YouTube has undergone a similar operation (dubbed the 'Adpocalypse') was also a large factor in making this decision. So, in order to make 95 Degrees more suitable for a wider audience, we have strictly removed ALL bad words from the entire server, and changed the channel order to better suit a mature and older audience. Thank you for understanding.
April Fools' 2019
| 95 Degrees Podcast Lite |
Multiple people were involved in 2019's April Fools prank.
Firstly, VoidInVoid announced the decision to "remove all music containing potentially offensive lyrics from the radio playlists", and replacing them with Kidz Bop music.
Next, Nath posted a link to a YouTube live stream titled "95 Degrees Announcement", showing only a countdown timer - and starting the timer again when it reached zero.
Finally, Jaetpa posted a YouTube video titled "95 Degrees Podcast Lite" - a 23-second video of the Podcast intro music, Josh reading the intro script, and a gnome meme.
April Fools' 2020
For 2020's April Fools prank, Nath posted a heartfelt message in the #updates channel announcing his resignation:
Hey @everyone. Today marks a big day personally for me. Most of you should know that I've had some personal problems in the last month or so, with me taking a break from Discord and social media - and after a lot of consideration, today I am resigning as Manager of 95 Degrees and handing server ownership to the Baristas. It's been a good run, but I believe now is a good time for me to depart and focus on my career. I believe 95 Degrees is in a good state right now, with a positive and closely bonded community as always. I'll miss joining a voice chat and walking right into a conversation about toilets. I'll miss streaming Jackbox to you all. And I'll miss hosting the 95 Degrees Podcast - but from now on @TagmanBeesley will host it each month. I've spoken to him about this beforehand and he says he's excited to take over. This was a bit of an impulse decision, as I was working on a project for the server just a few days ago - but I want to put 95 Degrees behind me and dedicate my time toward PixelTail Games and Tower Unite. Thanks to everyone that's supported me over the last 3 and a half years. -Nath
April Fools' 2021
On 1st April 2021, bot developer VoidInVoid added /paint commands to Guardian, allowing users to 'paint' images on a canvas using Discord's newly-implemented slash commands.
April Fools' 2022
| Introducing the 95 Degrees Server Mascot |
As an impromptu and rushed hoax, Nath scheduled a YouTube Premiere announcing Hatsune Miku would be the server's new mascot, appearing in most branding art - including the server logo and banner, Twitter profile picture and the join banner.
According to staff chat logs, the trailer was completed at around 23:20 the night before April Fool's Day, and 40 minutes before the YouTube Premiere was due to go live.