I think everything you're saying is a reasonable interpretation of the behavior you observe, but I don't think it's the only possible nor the only plausible exp

I think everything you're saying is a reasonable interpretation of the behavior you observe, but I don't think it's the only possible nor the only plausible explanation, so it might be worth diving into what assumptions you might be making, especially considering that you're aware of what I think is one of the core issues - we don't know each other. Text is hard to see through sometimes, and language is often vague. It's not always obvious when something is a joke, and it's not always guaranteed that something said in jest will be received the same way, nor that it's actually funny. Also downvotes are given for a wide variety of reasons (same as upvotes) so downvotes don't even necessarily indicate that a joke was interpreted as unfunny- it might simply be detracting or not relevant. It's best to not take downvotes personally, because they're often not given for the reasons you assume. (BTW I see good jokes on HN getting upvotes all the time, so make sure to avoid jumping to conclusions based on incomplete information.) > Even your comment is offensive, with the passive aggressive "Let's not do X," as if we're part of some kind of collective, or I'm some kind of child that needs to be gently chided for my remark. Sorry to say so, but this is off the mark. Your comment is explicitly offensive toward people who are actually autistic. This is a sort of collective, it is a community of hackers, and gentle encouragement to keep things civil and in line with the guidelines is allowed and encouraged. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html