It might be too late for this year (if people don't start using time machines for important stuff like this) but it's not too late for the future.
DESTROY APRIL FOOLS' and the ridiculously low quality "humor" that accompanies it.
I already have a physics diploma so there, there...

Nice April fool joke, I almost thought it was serious!

It bloody *IS* serious.

Wow, you are really in the act. Congrats!

I remember the time April Fools jokes weren't over the top ridiculous and instantly recognizable as pranks. Therefor, it's not so bad anymore.

It has never been bad, you just needed 24 hours to check. It always went like this: wake up; check the calendar XXXX.04.01; read news do your life; go do sleep; wake up; double check news from the day before...

While a noble effort there is a long list of useless fucking holidays and this one is kind of low on it.

We need priorities here.

1st. Columbus Day. How the fuck do you discover some place people are already living!?

2nd. Groundhog Day. Next time he comes out of his hole grab that little fucker and roast him. Serve him with a fine Merlot.

3rd. Valentines Day. A naked baby shooting people with arrows. Yeah. Sounds legit to me.

Once we knock off these three we can consider working on April 1st.

The first two don't really concern me since they're US local. The third one should either die or be about Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. Hm, come to think of it, the second one could also mutate and become about the film, which is awesome.

Actually, let's ban all idiotic DAYS and just keep the important one: Steak & Blowjob Day.

About 3. it is still more reasonable than beings you cannot see, perceive, or have any effect on the world. Yet, those imaginary rulers are mentioned everywhere.

Voters?

It's fine, we don't have to ban it. At least those who make the jokes are enjoying it, I guess.

re: OP: Pretty much. As far as copywriter thinking goes, the options are:
- post a plausible lie, laugh at people who believe it ("the Dow fell 1.5% -- lololololol april fools, it actually only fell 1.2%").
- post something blatantly stupid, laugh at people who don't find it funny ("today, we at Google introduce what the world has been waiting for millennia -- a way to accurately count the hairs on your ass").
- alert people about a fake threat, laugh when people (rationally) check if they're safe ("terrorists attacked the subway, check if your loved ones are safe!").
- alert people about a positive event (so, as above multiplied by -1, the threat is missing on something important), laugh when people (rationally) take steps to be valuable, happy and productive members of society ("Pfizer is looking for volunteers to test the most promising cure for cancer yet").

The best joke -- the only good joke I should clarify -- I've seen today is a letsplayer posting himself playing through a remarkably but plausibly underwhelming and abrupt ending for a game (think Dark Matter, except fake).

but April Fools is not idiotic, you just haven't got a sense of fun young man. You are a Pirate!

On the contrary, it is because I have a sense of fun that this day offends me. All of a sudden a lot of people that don't have any sense of fun or what a joke is think that they miraculously do, somehow, because it's April 1st. :P

No I don't think they're trying to be funny... just mean. I like being mean on April 1st. :D