The tradition of 'April Fools' dates back to the Early Modern Era. In the dark ages of pre-internet times, it was much more complicated to have discussions with random people on the anonymously, as you know. Many great thinkers attempted to provide a medium for this, and one particularly innovative German, Johan Jokingspiel, inspired by the recent nailing of his Theses by Martin Luther, envisioned a large "board" where anyone would leave a message nailed to, and other passers by could leave their own in response. He would periodically clear out conversations once they went stale. Called "Lesenit", it quickly became popular, and many nearby towns began to imitate, which in turn were connected by a series of couriers, called "servers" as they were providing a service that would copy messages and duplicate them for everyone.^1

A number of communities developed his "message board" and each had their own flavor. Some you might talk about your horse, another you might ask silly questions, and a few even shared bawdy drawings!^2 One particular community on this "message board" revolved around history, run by local scholars who answered the musings of the interested laypersons in the town. It was a very popular and well regarded community, but every so often, getting a bit tired of how stuffy they felt day in, and day out, the scholars would leave jokes as responses instead^3 Soon, quite popular with many of those who followed them, it became regularized to the First of April, although in honor of the recent discovery of "Timezones" they agreed that being inclusive to those across the globe was warranted, so for some it appeared to start on 31 March.^4

In any case, this amusing past-time quickly spread, and by the end of the 16th century was the worldwide phenomenon that we now know!^5

Works Cited

1: Ohanian, Alexis. Can You Digg It?: The Connected World of Early Modern Communication Networks. Conde Naste Publishers, 2005. 342-348.

2: Watson, Brian. "Gone Wanton: Self-Production of Pornographic Imagery in a 16th C. German Town". Journal of Super Serious Discussion. Vol. 13, No. 2 (Summer/Fall 2012).

3: Ohanian, 372-373.

4: Crosby, Robbin. As The World Goes Round: A Global History. Global. Get It?! Some Second Rate Academic Press That Takes Anything, 2001. 127-129.

5: Ohanian, 380-381.

Edit: Do I need to point this out, or was it META enough to be obvious? Anyways, it is an April Fools joke.