While April Fools' Day jokes may have become more sophisticated with the advent of the Internet, Pittsburghers are still pretty low-tech when it comes to playing pranks on this centuries-old holiday.

Lots of toothpaste on door handles, rubber cement on chairs, missing telephone wires and fake contest winner notifications were among the fondest memories described by readers responding to a Post-Gazette survey.

Still, some came up with fairly original ways to indulge their love of April Fools' Day. Betty Sims, 49, of Brookline, used her skills as an artist to tease her next-door neighbors, who were close friends. She designed a "for sale" sign duplicating the familiar local real estate company Howard Hanna's logo, except it said: "House for Sale by Neighbor," and put her phone number on it.

"I got three calls from people who didn't get the joke and were actually bidding on the house," she said.

On a more global scale, Alex Boese, founder of MuseumofHoaxes.com, actually believes that April Fools' pranks have accelerated in the Internet era, and today he will be announcing the addition of two Web-related hoaxes to his top 100 "best" list.

One is a joke perpetrated by a photography magazine, which ran a famous Dorothea Lange photograph of a weatherbeaten migrant worker -- a mother with her children -- in a story ostensibly about "problem photos where people didn't look too good," Mr. Boese says. "They airbrushed the photo, erased her wrinkles and got rid of the kids. She ended up looking like a soccer mom, and readers were horrified."

His second addition is a Web site created by an advertising agency last year touting a planned tunnel under the Atlantic Ocean, from the United States to Europe. "It was incredibly slick and well-done, and people actually fell for it."

Fine, but what's No. 1 on Mr. Boese's list? Why, the famous 1957 Swiss Spaghetti Harvest, when a BBC show announced that "thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop."

The announcement was accompanied with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees, prompting hundreds of calls from viewers wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. To this question, the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Mr. Boese has made something of a career studying hoaxes, whether particular to this date or any other. He notes that the origin of April Fools' Day dates to the 16th century, shortly after France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian.

Those not in the know -- or in denial -- continued to celebrate the new year on April 1, prompting others to devise elaborate pranks on them, resulting in the name "April Fools."

These days, if you work in an office, you are especially susceptible, according to CareerBuilder.com, which reports that 33 percent of 2,500 workers surveyed last month say they have played a practical joke on a co-worker and 17 percent say they are planning office tricks for this year's holiday.

On the other hand, a survey of 150 senior executives by Accountemps, a temporary job placement firm, said most consider it unusual to have their employees play jokes on each other. Still, some do, the bosses said -- from stuffing offices with sawdust to covering a cubicle opening with plastic wrap and stuffing the workspace with foam balls.

Presumably the senior executives weren't targeted, since they described these tricks as "funny."

For its part, Careerbuilder.com's survey responders cited their own tricks. One changed the caller ID on a co-worker's phone to read "Mr. Kitten" every time he called someone. Another placed random objects from people's desks in the vending machine.

Then there's the fellow who sat on a copying machine, had the machine copy his posterior, and placed the copies back in the paper bin so that when co-workers made copies, they had the image of the prankster's backside as background.

Kind of makes you glad that this year's April Fools' falls on a Saturday, doesn't it?

Actually, security firms are cautioning companies from making any serious policy announcements today, since people might not take them seriously. On April 1 last year, Google announced its new free Internet e-mail service, Gmail, and many Internet users thought it was an April Fools' joke. On the other hand, in 1996, many people were angry when Taco Bell issued a fake press release announcing it was buying the Liberty Bell and renaming it the "Taco Liberty Bell." They admitted to the ruse at noon that day, but the company says the stunt prompted a spike in sales and $25 million in free publicity.

In the end, sometimes it pays to just keep it in the family, where people are more inclined to forgive -- and never forget.

Perhaps the gooiest trick was played years ago by Craig Bauer, 29, of Overbrook, on his parents and sister, when he decorated the family bathroom with Crest toothpaste on the door handles, faucets, towels, toilet and shower, as well as the kitchen's refrigerator, coffee pot and pans. There was plenty of vocalized frustration, especially on the part of Mr. Bauer's sister, but the best part, he says, was that "my dad was being blamed for setting up my mom."

"After this episode I pretty much retired from April Fools', although on occasion I will 'train' the latest girlfriend," said Mr. Bauer. "But it's never quite like the first time, is it?"