Hoaxes

It is a special tradition in fandom to fake things, e.g.

• Clubs
  • Society for the Prevention of Wire Staples in Science Fiction Magazines
  • LASFL Revival
• People
  • Dorcas Bagby
  • Carl Joshua Brandon
  • John A. Bristol
  • Joan W. Carr
  • Peggy Gillespie
• Fanzines
  • Ploy #1
  • Nirvana
• Conventions
  • InVention
  • Sydcon
• Bids
  • Columbus in 1985
  • Say Da to Moscow
• Deaths
  • Bob Tucker "died" several times

Some hoaxes are harmless and funny, like the Norwegian Nuts and Berries Hoax or the Scithers SFL Hoax. Others are cruel, such as the libelous fanzine one fan put out under someone else’s name.

Hoaxes should be done with care. Death hoaxes, not at all; they're not funny and are often harmful – one Tucker Death Hoax brought about the end of the Great Staple War, and another nearly cost him his job, while the Willis Death Hoax almost ruined the WAW With the Crew in '52 campaign.

There was an apa devoted to hoaxes, APA-H — and a hoax apa, The New York Feud.

Hoax Bids

A bid for a convention, like a Worldcon, which is done for the fun of it (sometimes as an excuse to throw bid parties) and with no intention of winning, such as the first, NWT in '53, or Highmore in '76.

A hoax bid is different from a Joke bid: The people running a hoax bid never expect to win.

Hoax Newsletters

It’s traditional at Worldcon for fans to create one or more parody newsletters which are issued under a name which is an amusing riff of the official convention daily newsletter's. The hoax newsletter tries to be funny (and frequently succeeds) while also satirizing that which needs to be satirized (usually the committee).

See Hoax List for more. See also Mock Feud, Pen Name.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

Since most of the contacts in fandom are by mail, it is very easy to put something over on the fans for a while, tho almost impossible to keep a secret permanently, or for as much as a year. The most successful hoaxes in fandom have been establishment of penames, like Carl Brandon, Joan Carr, and John A. Bristol‏‎, as being an actual person. Such tricks have made fans wary, so that each newcomer is scrutinized suspiciously to see whether he looks phony in any way, or whether his address or writing style suggests some known fan. On occasion quite genuine people like Boyd Raeburn and Dick Eney have been accused of nonexistence. Other hoaxes in fandom have included the pseuicide, Tucker and Willis Death Hoaxes, and Odd Tales. Not exactly hoaxes are things like Lee Hoffman's pre-Nolacon existence.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

Since most contacts in fandom are by mail, it is very easy to put something over on the fans for a while, tho almost impossible to keep a secret permanently, or for as much as a year. The commonest kind of hoax is to establish a pename like John A. Bristol‏‎ or Peggy Gillespie, as being an actual person. Such tricks have made fans wary, so that each newcomer is scrutinized suspiciously to see whether he looks phony in any way, or whether his address or writing style suggests some known fan; sometimes quite genuine neofytes find themselves accused of nonexistence. Other hoaxes in fandom have included the pseuicide, the Sydcon, and Odd Tales.

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