User:Gfdgsgxgzgdrc
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On April 1, 2023, Gfdgsgxgzgdrc changed his userpage to the following text:
What are you doing here? You're looking for the annual userpage prank, aren't you?
Well, you won't find it on this page. Perhaps you ought to look... elsewhere.
Clicking the word "elsewhere" leads to a Pastebin link with the first clue.
Clue #1
If it's the userpage prank you seek,
heed my advice and you may take a peek.
On the only girl's page look for a word,
and make note of the eighteenth you've heard.
That object may have bovine overlaid;
add on the hour its article was made.
When you've combined both clues and feel swell,
type them after tinyurl.
The eighteenth word on The Only Girl page (not Marzipan — this misdirection is intentional) is "lampshade". A lampshade with "bovine overlaid" refers to the Cow Lamp, the article for which was created at 22:47. "Combining both clues" (the word and the hour) and "typing them after tinyurl" gives the link to the next page, https://tinyurl.com/lampshade22.
Clue #2
And so the prank hunt has begun;
don't leave yet, for it's not quite done.
Search the wiki's pool of grains
and there you may find someone's brains.
The numerical label of this Flash object
is part of the URL you should've checked,
preceeded by what you can glean
within image number sixteen.
At the time, the Sandbox ("the wiki's pool of grains") contained a selection of random Homestar Runner assets. One of them was the brain from Homestarloween Party, found within the Flash file as "382". The sixteenth image on the page was a chair. The URL https://tinyurl.com/chair382 leads to the next clue.
Clue #3
How many syllables are in the song?
One side of this talk page debate must be wrong.
An image was uploaded of musical notation;
count the number of pixels in its creation.
On a page with that number of bytes plus one,
remove all but consonants from its lede. Have fun!
The talk page debate in question is whether Feed the Childrens says "doo doot doo" or "doot doo". This image was linked in the discussion. Multiplying the dimensions of the image reveals a size of 34553 pixels. Special:LongPages reveals that the page "with that number of bytes plus one" (34554) is Store Front Page News 2008. The lede, "2008 news updates from the Yahoo Store." becomes "nwspdtsfrmthYhStr" when all but consonants are removed. The URL https://tinyurl.com/nwspdtsfrmthYhStr leads to the next clue.
Clue #4
The next clue was an image of a page history, with some letters highlighted and some blurred out. This page history is for F-Sack, where the letters can be seen unblurred. Following the arrow and entering the highlighted letters from the bottom up into the next URL, https://tinyurl.com/T1DDL2JRJ, leads to the next clue.
Clue #5
Ignore disambiguation templates and then
click the first internal link again and again.
From almost all pages this will end in a loop
between the pages of one man and a small group.
Type the template name on the page of this man,
then the number of orphans a month before M.Z. Pan.
If you click the first link on a page, then click the first link on the next page, and repeat this process while ignoring the disambiguation templates at the top of some pages, this will almost always lead to a loop between Mike Chapman ("one man") and The Brothers Chaps ("a small group"). The template name on Mike Chapman's page is {{sectionstub}}. Using the WayBack Machine on Special:LonelyPages reveals that in March 2010 ("a month before M.Z. Pan"), there were nine orphaned pages. The URL https://tinyurl.com/sectionstub9 leads to...
Clue #6
The next clue was an image of the page for File:homestar and marzipan dancing.png, with the linked pages and original filesize blacked out. This image is linked to on Women and Men and had an original filesize of 150 KB. The URL https://tinyurl.com/womenandmen150 leads to...
Clue #7
Here is where the paths diverge,
but after this, they all shall merge.
It doesn't matter with which you engage,
for they all lead to the same next page.
Choose the one most easy to have guessed;
after that will come the final test.
https://tinyurl.com/pathtotheend1
https://tinyurl.com/pathtotheend2
https://tinyurl.com/pathtotheend3
https://tinyurl.com/pathtotheend4
The seventh clue leads to four more clues, all of which lead to the same destination when solved.
Clue #7a
The first optional path leads to an image of holiday toons listed, followed by "Obvious exits:", which are cut off. Two bits of text are circled and blurred. The image is from Gfdgsgxgzgdrc's April Fools' userpage thing from two years prior, Thy Wikiuser 2, where the blurred text is revealed to be "Rotten Eggs" and "in July". Putting this together into https://tinyurl.com/rotteneggsinjuly leads to clue #8.
Clue #7b
The second optional path leads to an image of Stinkoman Level 1 sheet music from the Decemberweenvent Calendar. The lead and bass synth names for the original song are shown and partially highlighted, though the bass is blanked out. Some research will reveal the name to be "Arena Run". Putting the highlighted words together into https://tinyurl.com/cheerfularenarun will lead to clue #8.
Clue #7c
The third optional path leads to an image of a wiki page with the text mostly blacked out, only "in", "It is not known", "Appearances", and "Debut:" being shown. A search will turn up The Strongs' Capsela, where the highlighted words are revealed to be "capsela" and "2004". The URL https://tinyurl.com/capsela2004 leads to clue #8.
Clue #7d
The fourth optional path leads to a dark image that, when brightened, reveals a grid where black spaces are labeled "1" and white spaces are labeled "0". Putting the grid into binary and decoding it reveals the text:
Count how many times the word "beans" is used on the wiki. Then go to tinyurl.com/secretstyles256 (the beans thing is just for fun)
Clue #8
You've done very well to make it this far.
You must know your way around this wiki of Homestar.
Only one challenge remains before the prank appears;
all I require is that you lend me your ears.
Use the key from where the hunt began
to decipher the ending of my plan.
aaxua://giyqnva.vvq/yprtcmxyhxytforpcsgo
The key was found in an invisible comment on the userpage (<!-- thefinalstep -->). Using it in a Vigenère cipher decoder reveals the final URL, https://tinyurl.com/thetrueuserpageprank, which redirects to the following image:
The clue solvers
The day the prank was posted, DEIDATVM posted a message on the wiki Discord server:
This was a pretty good lack of a userpage prank. There were many points where the answer wasn't what i expected it'd be. I thought "the only girl" would be referring to Marzipan's page and wasn't sure which would count as the 18th word. Also took a while to figure out "wiki's pool of grains" and didn't expect to have to decompile the toon the object came from. Or to have to delve into the wayback machine. Also was expecting the hidden userpage text to be another tinyurl URL and thought that the word on the page it redirected to was the cipher key. With the four diverging paths, I found the redacted article easiest, and I figured one of the others was a previous Gfd April Fools goings-on. I tried doing the binary but it came out as garblemesh, and is the other one supposed to be the GarageBand instrument that was used in the Level 1 music?? All in all, a really,
really,
good one.
TMBGLOVER asked for help on Gfd's talk page, prompting HoveringSombrero and an anonymous contributor to give advice. The discussion continued on TMBGLOVER's talk page.
Anonny helped solve the first clue, which was ultimately solved by HoveringSombrero. Anonny also helped solve the second clue, though needed a hint from Gfd regarding what the "numerical label" was, and where to find it. TMBGLOVER decompiled the Flash file, helping Anonny solve the third clue. Another hint from Gfd, as well as The Knights Who Say Ni who was much further along, helped Anonny solve the fourth clue. Anonny also solved the fifth clue on their own. HoveringSombrero figured out the first part of the sixth clue, which was ultimately solved by Anonny through brute force. Anonny also solved the sixth on their own, followed by clue #7a through educated guesses. Meanwhile, Knights was attempting to decode the binary on clue #7d. TMBGLOVER recognized the Vigenère cipher in the final clue, helping everyone reach the end by May 8th.
They were all rewarded with a userbox:
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