> Maybe that's just my "prank ethics" though.

Upvoted. It's not just you. "Pranking" someone while lying through your teeth is something I'd expect my 6y.o. to do, not grown ups.

I think lying turns it from a prank and into a scam. A prank shouldn't require fraud to work.

It's like the show Punked, the best ones (thinking the kid from Malcolm in the Middle) relied entirely on the victim getting tunnel vision. If Franky had just been "yeah this is a prank" and it required someone to say "no, no its not" it kills the funny.

Remember those shows are edited, though.

Yes definitely, but it'd be hard to edit out a guy looking around for the cameras, and IIRC there was an episode of Punked where exactly that happened and they got called out, someone shouted "where the fuck is Ashton?" and ran around until they found a camera man.

That was the main reason they stopped. There was a hidden camera show in the UK (all I remember is a guy with a huge phone shouting in awkward public places like a library) that the same happened. Their third season was in random places in Europe because they kept getting called out.

Hm - a lot of comments here seem to suggest that your prank ethics are sound- but I think a lot has changed in recent years. With the proliferation of Nathan for You, #goating, College Humor prank wars, youtube shows, etc - when weird things begin to happen, my reflexive response is almost immediately "This must be a prank." and to start accusing possible culprits in a spray and pray attempt to "figure out" the situation. If the pranker fessed up immediately, then there wouldnt be much of a prank.

With prankees increasingly guarded, maybe there should be some leeway in this rule.

Yes. In general I still don't think it's fair play to not admit when confronted, but the fact that the prankee was also a pranker, and ultimately said "well played" and characterized the earlier denial as "OP and gf played it cool" means that OP was just calibrated to the prankee's expectations.

It's a white lie that became apparent to the roommate as soon as the next ad was shown. It added comedy to the joke, in my opinion. Did the lie hurt anyone?

It didn't sound like it became apparent to the roommate shortly thereafter. According to the article, it was at least a week later, after the Snowden news broke and the roommate apparently became paranoid.

I'm assuming that the report of paranoia and the sentence "I was afraid that if I didn’t end the torture he might need psychiatric treatment" is comedic hyperbole, but I cease giving any "prank credit" after the roommate explicitly and correctly called the author out as the source of the ads.

It isn't about hurting anyone, it is about having some pride as a trickster/troll. You played a good prank, your roommate figured it out. Time to move on. Anyone can lie through their teeth, that's not clever at that point.

It may not have hurt anyone. But a good rule to live by is: If you find yourself considering lying, then you have made some poor choices somewhere along the line. Every time you find yourself wanting to lie, think about it, and you may come to realize this is a solid rule to try to live by.

I'm actually not opposed to lying as part of a prank. The issue I have is lying when the target essentially says "oh, haha, you're pranking me, right?" At that point, the prankster should just say "yep, I got you good, the end."

or if you're committed to the bit, play it coy and deny it in a way that makes it obvious you're lying.

Your grandmother buys you an ugly sweater. Six months later, close to death, she asks you if you like the sweater she got you.

I don't like this prank.

Thanks for the honest response.

Well, it's not for sure, but arguably. The author seems to think he was on the cusp of it, at least:

>> I was afraid that if I didn’t end the torture he might need psychiatric treatment.

On the one hand, yeah in general I would agree. But if you care to re-read the introduction of the story, these guys were made for each other, and knew they could take it that far.

Better might've been to not flat-out deny it, but rather take his side in amazement and bewilderment, "OMG that is creepy", ignoring the accusation and then change the subject.