In the age of the Colbert Report, I would hope that Penn State students can tell the difference between parody and reality.

In her column, "Practical joke may be lost on students" (Jan 26), Erin James claims that Phroth's publication of the Phaily Phollegian is "something to take seriously," because the staff of the Collegian values its "credibility."

The fact is that Phroth produced a near-perfect mockery of the Collegian, which (last time I checked) is the definition of parody.

Needing a "double-take" is what makes satire funny. Sometimes I need to look twice to make sure that Will Ferrell isn't actually George W. Bush, but I get there. The Phollegian did everything necessary to let students know that they weren't reading a paper in any way affiliated with the Collegian; what more could the Collegian ask for than a disclaimer on the front page? By the way, there's probably a good reason that it isn't uncommon for Collegian staff to kick around the idea of an April Fool's edition, full of fake news: Phroth does it every year. Any phone calls wondering whether the Phollegian was actually a version of the Collegian were made by people who didn't make it past the front page, above the fold. Besides, any faithful Collegian reader would have spotted the difference between the Phollegian and the campus periodical when they failed to spot any spelling or grammar mistakes.