4 ms·

Well, I didn't see a rule against humor in the guidelines, so I foolishly assumed it was allowed...

arkitaip 9y ago
It's one of those unofficial community rules which is tragic and really funny at the same time. Like what kind of boring and ultimately cold community do you get when your community policing doesn't allow humor?
- DanBC 9y ago
  You're allowed humour. Good jokes get upvotes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609289 scott_s: > I agree with what people have already said, but I think there's one more point to add: people usually over-estimate how funny their own comments are. We have a tendency to think, "This idea of mine is hilarious! And different! Surely this witticism is the exception." And we are usually wrong. When you have N people all doing that, there's a lot of noise. > I try to gently point this out to people who complain when their attempt at humor has been downvoted by the community. It's not that we don't like humor. We just don't like banal attempts at humor, which becomes noise. Or, put in a less charitable fashion, "You're not as funny as you think you are."
  - Frenchgeek 9y ago
    And since different people have completely differents ( and often incompatibles ) ideas of what a good joke is, it happen once in a blue Moon?
    - minimaxir 9y ago
      A very large part of comedy is knowing your audience.
  - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
    People's standards get really skewed by Reddit, where any half-assed reference to a current meme or popular movie will usually wind up top-voted.
- berberous 9y ago
  Humor is allowed, but low effort memes and cultural references tend to crowd out interesting substantive discussion and are so predictable as to not add much value. Look at popular Reddit threads, you can often guess the top voted comment.
  - Frenchgeek 9y ago
    On the other hand, this IS the Internet: expecting an original and intelligent joke here isn't exactly realistic. ( Beside I did check if buying a hose was simpler. Some are surprisingly expensive... )
    - mustacheemperor 9y ago
      This community is not meant to reflect an average of the Internet, it's specifically intended to be a place to expect original and intelligent discussion - including the humor.
      - Frenchgeek 9y ago
        Or lack of one apparently... ( Two hours and I'm somehow still submitting too fast. ) If I am not allowed to fail, how can I learn what is considered "intelligent" humor here? I guess that's why I don't remember having seen a joke here beyond my few attempts... edit:( anyways as unoriginal and stupid my joke may be, it can also be seen as a comment on the subject of overchoice of the submission by a reference to its opposite too )
falsedan 9y ago
Humour has to have a joke & be funny, references to other things with the same words is neither.
- Frenchgeek 9y ago
  humour ˈhjuːmə/ noun noun: humor 1. the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech. "his tales are full of humour" synonyms: comical aspect, comic side, funny side, comedy, funniness, hilarity, jocularity; More antonyms: seriousness the ability to express humour or amuse other people. "their inimitable brand of humour"
  - thesmallestcat 9y ago
    3. Each of the four chief fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile (melancholy)) that were thought to determine a person's physical and mental qualities by the relative proportions in which they were present.
    - falsedan 9y ago
      Now, this is comedy I can appreciate!
PhasmaFelis 9y ago
You didn't really make a joke, though. Just mentioning a pop-culture thing in reference to the topic isn't automatically funny. BTW, regarding one of your dead posts, "You are posting too fast, please slow down" means that your post rate has been silently and permanently limited. HN is very cagey about its post quality/spam control measures, to the point of not actually telling people that they're being disciplined.

It's one of those unofficial community rules which is tragic and really funny at the same time. Like what kind of boring and ultimately cold community do you get when your community policing doesn't allow humor?

DanBC 9y ago
You're allowed humour. Good jokes get upvotes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609289 scott_s: > I agree with what people have already said, but I think there's one more point to add: people usually over-estimate how funny their own comments are. We have a tendency to think, "This idea of mine is hilarious! And different! Surely this witticism is the exception." And we are usually wrong. When you have N people all doing that, there's a lot of noise. > I try to gently point this out to people who complain when their attempt at humor has been downvoted by the community. It's not that we don't like humor. We just don't like banal attempts at humor, which becomes noise. Or, put in a less charitable fashion, "You're not as funny as you think you are."
- Frenchgeek 9y ago
  And since different people have completely differents ( and often incompatibles ) ideas of what a good joke is, it happen once in a blue Moon?
  - minimaxir 9y ago
    A very large part of comedy is knowing your audience.
- PhasmaFelis 9y ago
  People's standards get really skewed by Reddit, where any half-assed reference to a current meme or popular movie will usually wind up top-voted.
berberous 9y ago
Humor is allowed, but low effort memes and cultural references tend to crowd out interesting substantive discussion and are so predictable as to not add much value. Look at popular Reddit threads, you can often guess the top voted comment.
- Frenchgeek 9y ago
  On the other hand, this IS the Internet: expecting an original and intelligent joke here isn't exactly realistic. ( Beside I did check if buying a hose was simpler. Some are surprisingly expensive... )
  - mustacheemperor 9y ago
    This community is not meant to reflect an average of the Internet, it's specifically intended to be a place to expect original and intelligent discussion - including the humor.
    - Frenchgeek 9y ago
      Or lack of one apparently... ( Two hours and I'm somehow still submitting too fast. ) If I am not allowed to fail, how can I learn what is considered "intelligent" humor here? I guess that's why I don't remember having seen a joke here beyond my few attempts... edit:( anyways as unoriginal and stupid my joke may be, it can also be seen as a comment on the subject of overchoice of the submission by a reference to its opposite too )

falsedan 9y ago

Humour has to have a joke & be funny, references to other things with the same words is neither.

Frenchgeek 9y ago
humour ˈhjuːmə/ noun noun: humor 1. the quality of being amusing or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech. "his tales are full of humour" synonyms: comical aspect, comic side, funny side, comedy, funniness, hilarity, jocularity; More antonyms: seriousness the ability to express humour or amuse other people. "their inimitable brand of humour"
- thesmallestcat 9y ago
  3. Each of the four chief fluids of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile (melancholy)) that were thought to determine a person's physical and mental qualities by the relative proportions in which they were present.
  - falsedan 9y ago
    Now, this is comedy I can appreciate!

PhasmaFelis 9y ago

You didn't really make a joke, though. Just mentioning a pop-culture thing in reference to the topic isn't automatically funny. BTW, regarding one of your dead posts, "You are posting too fast, please slow down" means that your post rate has been silently and permanently limited. HN is very cagey about its post quality/spam control measures, to the point of not actually telling people that they're being disciplined.