Really funny, now cut it out

OPINION: Hoaxes seldom charm, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.

So partial credit to whoever's behind the fake Department of Conservation signs, at least one of which passes muster as pretty darned funny.

Plausibly designed, and nicely worded to catch the departmental tone, it asks people not to defecate in our National Parks, as toilets in conservation areas are strictly for urination only. The sign then directs readers to DOC visitor centres for heavy-duty tramping nappies.

Yes, well. A tad scatological, a tad silly, but if you suppressed a grin you did better than most of us.

We do need to distinguish, though, between entertaining/teasing and deceiving.

It's something newspapers themselves need to bear in mind come April 1, when all sorts of ideas that are jolly in their conception, but galling, or worse, for the victims, may arise.

Granted, in this case the chances of anyone being quite so gullible as to show up, as directed, at DOC headquarters for the non-existent nappies, or to hit up hut wardens for emergency supplies, is surely remote.

This would make it all the more mortifying for any poor sap who did fall for it.

There are bigger pitfalls, in any case.

DOC Wakatipu programme manager Richard Kennett identifies one.

Among the bogus signs, one advertising an "effluent station" pointed people up a steep bluff.

Anyone unworldly enough to do as they were told – and remember, we might be talking about people with limited English and knowledge of New Zealand customs – could injure themselves.

Then there's the climate of suspicion the signs create. These realistic fakes have been appearing in Fiordland since last year. As word spreads, people may start to regard authentic signs mistrustfully.

If so, bad consequences threaten.

What, for instance, if someone who knew about the nappy hoax comes across a sign cautioning against drinking that beautiful babbling national park water because of something called giardia, which can cause – get this – explosive diarrhoea?

The point is, some of the legitimate signs don't just say something useful about looking after the park environment; they have a public safety component.

Given that the South Island's rugged wilderness is both magnificent and unforgiving, let's not subvert the usefulness of signs that really ought to be taken seriously.

So this is how it should work. If those behind the fake signs were to to post them for general amusement, but only in contexts where nobody was at risk of being misled, well let's just say the heavens wouldn't fall.

But posting them in settings where people might act upon them, to their own peril, or even acute embarrassment – that needs to stop.

The risks are probably faint, but cannot confidently be discounted entirely.

- © Fairfax NZ News