Hoax Defined: Just In Case You Were Wondering...

Per wikipedia...

A hoax is a deliberate attempt to deceive or trick an audience into believing, or accepting, that something is real, when the hoaxster knows it is not; or that something is true, when it is false. In an instance of a hoax, an object or event is not what it appears to be or what it is claimed to be; for example, "snake oil," which was sold by 19th century traveling salesmen in the United States as a cure-all. A hoax differs from a magic show in that the audience is unaware of being deceived - whereas in watching a magician perform a magical act, the audience expects to be tricked.

It is possible to perpetrate a hoax by making only true statements using unfamiliar wording or context (see Dihydrogen monoxide hoax). Unlike a fraud or con (which is usually aimed at a single victim and are made for illicit financial or material gain), a hoax is often perpetrated as a practical joke, to cause embarrassment, or to provoke social change by making people aware of something. Many hoaxes are motivated by a desire to satirize or educate by exposing the credulity of the public and the media or the absurdity of the target.

The word hoax is said to have come from the common magic incantation hocus pocus.^[1] "Hocus pocus", in turn, is commonly believed to be a distortion of "hoc est corpus" ("this is the body") from the Latin Mass.

The essential characteristic of a hoax is that it convey information that is, although false, at least somewhat credible. The subjective intent of hoax perpetrators varies, with the intent determining the content the perpetrator chooses and/or the content affecting the perpetrator's intent regarding whom to deceive: A person seeking to deceive the public as a whole may propagate a hoax consisting entirely of objectively credible claims, often bolstering it by including claims that are true or have a basis in fact. A person seeking to deceive only a specific person or set of persons (as by means of a a practical joke) will likely select a premise that is subjectively plausible in the eyes of the victim(s), treating whether others will fall for the hoax as a secondary concern.

Thank you for posting these distinctions. In the sense of this being for a practical "joke" or "prank" (which would apply to a movie theory imo) I feel the reason for it is more along the lines of the last part:

The subjective intent of hoax perpetrators
varies, with the intent determining the content the perpetrator chooses
and/or the content affecting the perpetrator's intent regarding whom to
deceive:

Imo it is not the fans.

Red Velvet wrote:Thank you for posting these distinctions. In the sense of this being for a practical "joke" or "prank" (which would apply to a movie theory imo) I feel the reason for it is more along the lines of the last part:

The subjective intent of hoax perpetrators
varies, with the intent determining the content the perpetrator chooses
and/or the content affecting the perpetrator's intent regarding whom to
deceive:

Imo it is not the fans.

I agree.