If that is the case, then the downvotes are misplaced. The HN Guidelines say nothing about humour (good or bad) in comments. HN Guidelines do specifically say

If that is the case, then the downvotes are misplaced. The HN Guidelines say nothing about humour (good or bad) in comments. HN Guidelines do specifically say don't talk about downvotes. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html HN Guideline: Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. It's all about signal to noise ratio here. You weren't the only one that posted the same obvious joke and all the comments were downvoted. No big deal. On the topic of HN guidelines, the following can be construed as particularly snarky: If someone got offended because they don't like people joking on HN, well, guys, are there more of you than my karma? If not, tough. HN Guideline: Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say face-to-face. Don't be snarky.