5 ms·

TBH, I didn't get the joke until I read your comment. A small "/s" at the end wouldn't hurt.

by amenod 7y ago

cyborgx7 7y ago
Pointing out it was indeed a joke, was part of the reason I wrote the comment in the first place.
- amenod 7y ago
  Just to be clear - I think your parent should have put '/s' at the end, not you. :)
skrebbel 7y ago
To be frank, "/s" would have totally ruined it for everyone else. I'm assuming that you simply didn't read past the first paragraph? (That's fine, I bet we all do that way too often here) I mean, I have a hard time believing that you really can't tell that a post that states that everybody uses FORTRAN isn't serious. I care because HN has a way of ruining satire and sarcasm this way. These are only the delightful stylistic devices that they are when you don't say that it's satire (resp sarcasm). I truly wish we'd all "/s" a little less, not more :-)
- warp 7y ago
  I'm sad to admit I downvoted after the first paragraph. I was glad HN let me undo that after I read the second :) (also, hey skrebbel! :)
  - skrebbel 7y ago
    small world!
- amenod 7y ago
  No, not really, I read the whole post. And the FORTRAN reference was weird, but there are weirder things people post (and believe), and when writing, people do make mistakes. Thinking back, it should have been the clue, but it wasn't. And judging by the other answers, I am not the only one who was fooled by the tone. That said, if you feel like `/s` is ruining the sarcasm for you, the solution is pretty simple. GreaseMonkey [0] should be able to remove it very easily, while adding it would be _a bit_ more challenging. [0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    > No, not really, I read the whole post. And the FORTRAN reference was weird, but there are weirder things people post (and believe) True. I'm sometimes a source for similarly controversial statements. However, the following line should suffice to indicate the facetiousness of the post: > This is the same reason that everyone uses FORTRAN. Everyone does not use FORTRAN, and in fact it is so uncommonly used that it is ridiculous anyone would think otherwise. There are probably quite a lot of people in this industry who've never even heard of FORTRAN. This is a common form of sarcasm in English, to counter an argument (programming languages should be English-only because there'd be too much fragmentation otherwise) by presenting the same argument in the context of something obviously untrue (that's why everyone uses FORTRAN).
    - amenod 7y ago
      Did you read my comment? I also said: > ...and when writing, people do make mistakes. Maybe he meant Python, who knows? If only there was a way to signal you are being sarcastic to avoid misunderstandings. Oh wait... /s
- Torwald 7y ago
  > To be frank, "/s" would have totally ruined it for everyone else. Yes and no. Here on HN I see it everyday: good on-topic jokes get downvoted. I suspect this happens because when people are in "HN mode" there comes a sort of earnestness into their state that makes it hard to detect other tonalities. P.S. I needed the FORTRAN bit until it dawned on me…
  - brlewis 7y ago
    We need a committee to form standards for sarcasm indicator use in various contexts.
    - shrimp_emoji 7y ago
      Autism and humor are two irreconcilable elements; attempts to bridge them fare as well as for matter and antimatter.
      - journalctl 7y ago
        I don’t think it’s fair to assume that there’s a higher incidence of autism on HN than elsewhere (bad social skills can also occur in neurotypical people), but hot damn does it really bug me that HN has such a hard time with snark.
        shantly 7y ago
        It's not just snark—try dropping a colloquial "all" or "none" in a context where that's clearly what it is, and watch ten people rush to correct you that "well, technically..." Or even carefully qualified statements! I think folks here drop "most" and "typically" and similar words as they read. You have to write poorly, qualifying everything three times and disavowing a bunch of stuff you obviously aren't saying or even implying anyway, to make sure you don't get a bunch of pointless comments.
        therealcamino 7y ago
- Stratoscope 7y ago
  I have run into this a few times when I've posted a link (where it seemed amusing and relevant to a discussion) to this classic video of Australian Senator Bob Collins discussing an environmental mishap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM Invariably, someone replies with a comment like "People should be aware that this is not actually an Australian senator, it is the comedian John Clarke impersonating one." Every. Single. Time. As if it wouldn't be obvious after watching the first few minutes of the video! What ever happened to the fun of not realizing something is satire until you're partway into it?
monoideism 7y ago
"Fortunately, programmers collectively decided to all use the same language." That zinger didn't tip it off to you?
- temp1999 7y ago
  Totally went over my head. I thought he was talking about programming languages uses the same language for their keywords.

TBH, I didn't get the joke until I read your comment. A small "/s" at the end wouldn't hurt.

by amenod 7y ago

TBH, I didn't get the joke until I read your comment. A small "/s" at the end wouldn't hurt.

cyborgx7 7y ago

Pointing out it was indeed a joke, was part of the reason I wrote the comment in the first place.

amenod 7y ago
Just to be clear - I think your parent should have put '/s' at the end, not you. :)

skrebbel 7y ago

To be frank, "/s" would have totally ruined it for everyone else. I'm assuming that you simply didn't read past the first paragraph? (That's fine, I bet we all do that way too often here) I mean, I have a hard time believing that you really can't tell that a post that states that everybody uses FORTRAN isn't serious. I care because HN has a way of ruining satire and sarcasm this way. These are only the delightful stylistic devices that they are when you don't say that it's satire (resp sarcasm). I truly wish we'd all "/s" a little less, not more :-)

warp 7y ago
I'm sad to admit I downvoted after the first paragraph. I was glad HN let me undo that after I read the second :) (also, hey skrebbel! :)
- skrebbel 7y ago
  small world!
amenod 7y ago
No, not really, I read the whole post. And the FORTRAN reference was weird, but there are weirder things people post (and believe), and when writing, people do make mistakes. Thinking back, it should have been the clue, but it wasn't. And judging by the other answers, I am not the only one who was fooled by the tone. That said, if you feel like `/s` is ruining the sarcasm for you, the solution is pretty simple. GreaseMonkey [0] should be able to remove it very easily, while adding it would be _a bit_ more challenging. [0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  > No, not really, I read the whole post. And the FORTRAN reference was weird, but there are weirder things people post (and believe) True. I'm sometimes a source for similarly controversial statements. However, the following line should suffice to indicate the facetiousness of the post: > This is the same reason that everyone uses FORTRAN. Everyone does not use FORTRAN, and in fact it is so uncommonly used that it is ridiculous anyone would think otherwise. There are probably quite a lot of people in this industry who've never even heard of FORTRAN. This is a common form of sarcasm in English, to counter an argument (programming languages should be English-only because there'd be too much fragmentation otherwise) by presenting the same argument in the context of something obviously untrue (that's why everyone uses FORTRAN).
  - amenod 7y ago
    Did you read my comment? I also said: > ...and when writing, people do make mistakes. Maybe he meant Python, who knows? If only there was a way to signal you are being sarcastic to avoid misunderstandings. Oh wait... /s
Torwald 7y ago
> To be frank, "/s" would have totally ruined it for everyone else. Yes and no. Here on HN I see it everyday: good on-topic jokes get downvoted. I suspect this happens because when people are in "HN mode" there comes a sort of earnestness into their state that makes it hard to detect other tonalities. P.S. I needed the FORTRAN bit until it dawned on me…
- brlewis 7y ago
  We need a committee to form standards for sarcasm indicator use in various contexts.
  - shrimp_emoji 7y ago
    Autism and humor are two irreconcilable elements; attempts to bridge them fare as well as for matter and antimatter.
    - journalctl 7y ago
      I don’t think it’s fair to assume that there’s a higher incidence of autism on HN than elsewhere (bad social skills can also occur in neurotypical people), but hot damn does it really bug me that HN has such a hard time with snark.
      - shantly 7y ago
        It's not just snark—try dropping a colloquial "all" or "none" in a context where that's clearly what it is, and watch ten people rush to correct you that "well, technically..." Or even carefully qualified statements! I think folks here drop "most" and "typically" and similar words as they read. You have to write poorly, qualifying everything three times and disavowing a bunch of stuff you obviously aren't saying or even implying anyway, to make sure you don't get a bunch of pointless comments.
        therealcamino 7y ago
Stratoscope 7y ago
I have run into this a few times when I've posted a link (where it seemed amusing and relevant to a discussion) to this classic video of Australian Senator Bob Collins discussing an environmental mishap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM Invariably, someone replies with a comment like "People should be aware that this is not actually an Australian senator, it is the comedian John Clarke impersonating one." Every. Single. Time. As if it wouldn't be obvious after watching the first few minutes of the video! What ever happened to the fun of not realizing something is satire until you're partway into it?

monoideism 7y ago

"Fortunately, programmers collectively decided to all use the same language." That zinger didn't tip it off to you?

temp1999 7y ago
Totally went over my head. I thought he was talking about programming languages uses the same language for their keywords.