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So serious! I think we can make jokes and still have a serious discussion.
by jdblair 11y ago
So serious! I think we can make jokes and still have a serious discussion.
- bryanlarsen 11y agoHow? If jokes were encouraged, they'd naturally float to the top, pushing serious discussion to the bottom. On Hacker News, we might appreciate your joke, but we'll still downvote, because we prefer the serious discussion on the top with the jokes on the bottom.
- dang 11y agoPeople here mostly react adversely to lame/predictable jokes. Exceptionally good ones get the opposite treatment. A current example is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11124967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11124967, which currently has over a hundred points. Personally I don't care for it, though pierrec's reply is amusing. But as an example of how the community responds to humor, it's typical. I think scott_s got it right (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7696013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7696013). HN isn't against humor, it's against stock humor. Stock humor is internet crabgrass.
- mey 11y agoHN's community generally doesn't joke and tries for informed discussion or constructive criticism. It isn't Fark or Reddit. It's the community norm and is enforced by the people visiting the site.
- Lawtonfogle 11y agoI have seen quite a few well received jokes on HN. I've even made one or two myself. But as far as I can remember, those jokes tend to continue towards relevant discussion. A relevant point that can be made without humor, to which humor is added, is continuing the discussion and has a far better chance of being accepted than a joke that, if you took away the humor, leaves nothing to be discussed.