April fool's day.

[SirDice]

The IETF usually releases great RFCs on this day.

Past awesome ones:

RFC 748: Telnet randomly-lose option

Telnet randomly-lose option (RFC 748, )

datatracker.ietf.org

IP over Avian Carriers (yes, IP using pigeons, best of all, it actually works!)

RFC 1149: Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams on avian carriers

This memo describes an experimental method for the encapsulation of IP datagrams in avian carriers. This specification is primarily useful in Metropolitan Area Networks. This is an experimental, not recommended standard.

datatracker.ietf.org

RFC 2549: IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service

This memo amends RFC 1149, "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers", with Quality of Service information. This is an experimental, not recommended standard. This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community.

datatracker.ietf.org

RFC 6214: Adaptation of RFC 1149 for IPv6

This document specifies a method for transmission of IPv6 datagrams over the same medium as specified for IPv4 datagrams in RFC 1149. This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

datatracker.ietf.org

RFC 2100: The Naming of Hosts

This RFC is a commentary on the difficulty of deciding upon an acceptably distinctive hostname for one's computer, a problem which grows in direct proportion to the logarithmically increasing size of the Internet. This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does not...

datatracker.ietf.org

RFC 2324: Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0)

This document describes HTCPCP, a protocol for controlling, monitoring, and diagnosing coffee pots. This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.

datatracker.ietf.org

RFC 2325: Definitions of Managed Objects for Drip-Type Heated Beverage Hardware Devices using SMIv2

This memo defines an extension to the Management Information Base (MIB) for use with network management protocols in the Internet community. In particular, it defines objects for the management of coffee-brewing and maintenance devices. This memo provides information for the Internet community...

datatracker.ietf.org

RFC 3514: The Security Flag in the IPv4 Header

Firewalls, packet filters, intrusion detection systems, and the like often have difficulty distinguishing between packets that have malicious intent and those that are merely unusual. We define a security flag in the IPv4 header as a means of distinguishing the two cases. This memo provides...

datatracker.ietf.org

RFC 9225: Software Defects Considered Harmful

This document discourages the practice of introducing software defects in general and in network protocol implementations specifically. Software defects are one of the largest cost drivers for the networking industry. This document is intended to clarify the best current...

www.rfc-editor.org

 

[Nyantastic]

I've spent some time dealing with a Perl module which had actually implemented one of these joke methods, RFC1924. https://metacpan.org/pod/Net::IPv6Addr#to_string_base85 The part in that documentation which points out it's an April Fool's joke was written by me. I am not 100% sure that the person who implemented it before I took that over had realised it was a joke.

 

[SirDice]

Same for the RFC about the 'evil' bit in TCP/IP. It was posted to a hacker/security forum at that time and people were vehemently debating the pros and cons of the implementation until someone pointed at the date. ?

 

[Crivens]

We should rig it so a major election will be on that day...

 

[_martin]

Along with the IP over Avian Carriers the IPv6 over Social Networks are my favorite.

 

[eternal_noob]

A bit late, but this is my favourite:

The spaghetti tree hoax is a famous 3-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current affairs programme Panorama.

It told a tale of a family in southern Switzerland harvesting spaghetti from the fictitious spaghetti tree, broadcast at a time when this Italian dish was not widely eaten in the UK and some Britons were unaware that spaghetti is a pasta made from wheat flour and water.

Hundreds of viewers phoned into the BBC, either to say the story was not true, or wondering about it, with some even asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees. Decades later CNN called this broadcast "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled."

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU