When I was a teenager, April Fools was my favorite holiday.

I loved playing pranks. I enjoyed trying to locate gullible people, and I was challenged to fool people who were a little more resistant to such jokes.

But those days are long gone. It's not that I don't enjoy the fun of April Fools anymore, it's that it has become a very busy day for me answering e-mails and debunking some of the chicaneries that take place that day.

I do want to be clear. One thing you will never, ever find in Inside Blip or any of our other BlipNetwork sites like Airlock Alpha and Rabid Doll are fake stories in the same place you find real news.

Is it because I'm a boring, miserable old man? No. It's actually something that is rooted in journalistic ethics. The most valuable asset a reporter has is his integrity. If any of that integrity is threatened, then you're entire career as a journalist could be threatened.

You, as a reader, come to our BlipNetwork sites looking for the latest news, and read facts we believe to be as accurate as possible at the time we post it. Our sites are read in hundreds of countries all over the world, many that don't even know what April Fools is. The last thing we want is for readers to come here and not be able to tell what is true, and what isn't -- no matter what day the calendar says.

Think about it. When you pick up your morning paper on April 1, are there stories on the front that are fake? Do you turn on CNN and see Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper sharing things that never happened, only to follow with "April Fools!"

No, it doesn't happen. Yet, on April 1, the Internet explodes with fake stories found in the same place they typically put real stories. Sometimes they make it obvious the stories are fake, many times they don't. Either way, my e-mail box is flooded with questions and tips based on these fake stories, and many of them linger for weeks if not months.

It just isn't necessary for news sites to post fake stories. It's not ethical. And it's unfair to readers.

So as I assure you that BlipNetwork will not post fake stories, I hope to reach out to my fellow colleagues across the Internet to find alternative ways to joke on April Fools, and stay away from confusing readers. Not only will your readers thank you for it, but I will, too.