- Rick Rolling is a verb that denotes the process of pranking someone online using the Rick Astley Internet meme. This meme began when Internet users sent links to others online that were disguised as a variety of legitimate hyperlinks but, when clicked on, all directed the pranked user to popular '80s singer Rick Astley's music video "Never Gonna Give You Up." The prank had no agenda or ill intent; it was simply used by a variety of Internet pranksters as an entertaining diversion.
- The prank did not stop there. Many Internet users put their own spin on the Rick Roll meme, from YouTube's April Fool's stunt in 2008, which redirected the link to every video on the site to "Never Gonna Give You Up," to users enamored with the meme voting the song as the New York Mets baseball team's soundtrack of choice during its home opener in 2008.
- As part of the trend, some Internet users created coding scripts that performed various Rick Roll related pranks. An Internet script is a series of code that performs a certain function when pasted into certain programs and coding languages. These scripts included everything from code that allowed programs to prank call specific phone numbers and play "Never Gonna Give You Up" to scripts that played the song when telemarketers called a phone number and then hung up on them.
- Rick Rolling had a couple of other high-profile appearances and homages. When computer hacker group Anonymous protested the Church of Scientology in various cities worldwide, crowds played the song as a tribute to the meme. Rick Astley himself even participated in a live Rick Rolling by making a surprise appearance at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in 2008 during another song.
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