Ever since 2007, Rick Astley has been rolling his glorious gingerhead in our whitespace wheel. Like a hamster, Rick's continuous rolololing generates the energy required to power dafk.net's servers & network. We wouldn't go green any other way.
Rickrolling is a bait-and-switch practice that involves providing a web link supposedly relevant to the topic at hand, but actually re-directs the viewer to Rick Astley's 1987 hit single "Never Gonna Give You Up." The URL is often masked or obfuscated as a randomly-generated shortlink to conceal its true source from the experienced users. Whenever someone clicks the link and unintentionally summons Rick Astley's song, he or she is said to have been rickroll'd.
Notable Rolls:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHpjcZNM8_k - Project Chanology, Feb 2008
In February 2008, during the Anonymous' Project Chanology protests against the Church of Scientology, "Never Gonna Give You Up" was played from boomboxes, performed, and shouted. The UK daily The Guardian called it "a live rick-rolling of the Church of Scientology."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fgY0CUubD0 - Youtube April Fools, Apr 2008
On April 1st, 2008, every featured video on YouTube’s front page redirected to the Rickroll music video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ErbVOfvqw - New York Mets, Apr 2008
In April of 2008, the New York Mets posted an online poll to select the song for the 8th inning sing-along. On April 4th, 2008, FARK users bombarded the poll with upvotes for "Never Gonna Give You Up." On April 7th, the Mets announced that the song had won with over five million votes. Rather than using the song for the 8th inning, it was apparently used during the home opener, much to the displeasure of Mets fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bfNgekJG4M - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Nov 2008
In November 2008, the Rickroll meme came to a full circle when Rick Astley himself appeared on a float during the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, lip synching to his classic hit from 14 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdfdZqHqh0Y - MTV Music Awards: Best Act Ever, Nov 2008
Rick Astley was nominated for the Best Act Ever award for the MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2008, when the voting forum was flooded by fans of the Rickrolling phenomenon. Astley has voiced his approval of the off-beat joke, stating "MTV was thoroughly Rickrolled."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZi4JxbTwPo - Oregon House of Representatives, Feb 2010
In February 2010, a bipartisan group of Oregon Representatives planned to pull off the "Rickroll" during House sessions. Each of the participants was given a portion of the lyrics of "Never Gonna Give You Up" to subtly plug into their statements during legislative discussion. This scheme was finally revealed on April 1st, 2011, when Representative Jefferson Smith and his co-conspirators edited and uploaded a video of various representatives making their statements, put in proper lyrical order of the song.