Sunday 9 November 2014

The Broof Pirate: A childish facebook prank

The Broof Pirate, happy to help with all your facebook questions...


Most pirates carry a pirate sword like this one pictured,
but the Broof Pirate instead carries a bottle of Broof.
In the past on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog I've featured a few daft childish pranks to play on facebook, and once again I thought I would mention an amusingly childish facebook prank. Most people will probably find this extremely childish, and also a bit surreal, so it'll only appeal to people who are extremely immature and easily amused, like myself for example.

The prank involves a link shortener to disguise the actual website link, and the link is www.smarturl.it/InfoPage468. The 'InfoPage468' reference makes it appear as if it links to some useful information, but in actual fact the link sneakily redirects to the 'Broof Pirate' website which is a ridiculous website featuring a pirate who makes funny 'broof' noises.

To play the prank, just wait until one of your facebook friends posts a question asking for advice, and then post a reply providing an allegedly 'helpful' link. However, instead of posting a helpful link, you instead post the disguised link to the Broof Pirate.

Here are a few examples based on questions posed on my own facebook feed...

1) Passport problems


The Broof Pirate assists with passport problems.
"Anybody got any advice about getting in contact with Durham Passport Office. I need to fast track a passport application. I'm getting absolutely no answer from their phone number, just a lot of waiting and listening to rubbish music. They even put you in the queue when the office is closed!!"

And my prank reply:

"Yes, I had similar issues with my passport, but I managed to make progress after consulting the following website:
www.smarturl.it/InfoPage468"

Broof!!!




2) Broken baby monitor


"Does anyone have a baby monitor we can borrow for a few days please? Ours is broken so we need one until we get ours changed! Thanks."

And my prank reply:

"If it's only for a few days, then the following website may be of use:
www.smarturl.it/InfoPage468"

Broof!!!




3) To buy or lease, that is the question.


The Broof Pirate offers advice on whether to buy or hire a car.
"Can anybody out there recommend any car leasing firms for self employed/business? I've always bought in the past but I think I could be better off leasing."

My prank reply:

"When I was looking to hire a car I consulted the following website:
www.smarturl.it/InfoPage468"

Broof!!!


If you post a Broof Pirate reply too often then it can become quite a repetitive prank, but that's no problem if you're easily amused like me!

Please note, by default, facebook automatically includes a preview of the destination link. This can give the game away that all is not what it seems, so you have to remember to click the 'Remove preview' option after you post your reply.  Once you click the 'remove preview' option your comment will then appear with just the www.smarturl.it/InfoPage468 link which redirects to the Broof Pirate.

As a final note, please only use the Broof Pirate link in situations where you think your facebook friends will find it amusing, and if they ask a sensitive question then of course don't trivialise their question by posting a link to the Broof Pirate!

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I'll probably create a few more daft disguised links at some point, so if anyone knows any other weird websites similar to the Broof Pirate, then please leave a comment below with a link.




Update: Sadly, the Broof Pirate website no longer appears to be working. However, you can recreate the same type of prank using any alternative weird website with a link shortener.

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You can find more childishly silly pranks below:
Pranks on facebook and twitter
Funny pranks: Rickrolling

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