5 ms·

Guess I'm not a hacker? It's like watching a rerun I've seen twice over with the laugh track turned up to 11 (just to clarify, someone said it was a repost but

Guess I'm not a hacker? It's like watching a rerun I've seen twice over with the laugh track turned up to 11 (just to clarify, someone said it was a repost but I haven't seen it before).

garybernhardt 15y ago
There's no laugh track; that's the audience.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
dmansen 15y ago
Yeah count me in the "not a hacker, I guess" crowd, this stuff isn't very funny.
- Zancarius 15y ago
  "Wat" at the start really turned me off. I realize that was probably (?) part of the shtick, but it's one misspelling in particular that really drives me nuts. Real hacker humor is fairly dry (the story about magic comes to mind); this felt more like script kiddie-level humor. I can see valid points (and humor) raised with the Ruby interpreter, but the delivery could have been better--at least more adult-ish. I managed about halfway through. I did have the audio turned off, so I'm assuming I missed out on some of the redeeming qualities it may have had. Given the liberal usage of "wat" throughout what I did watch, I suspect that my gut feel is likely correct.
- billpatrianakos 15y ago
  Right. It was marginally informative, the meme pics were chuckle-in-my-head worthy but what really got me laughing was that it's on the front page of HN. Its so sad you have to laugh to keep from crying. Anyway, guess I'm not a hacker either.
  - lucisferre 15y ago
    Not even close to as sad as the fact that two most upvoted comments and their children (pun intended) are just a bunch of pompous whining.
    - Zancarius 15y ago
      "Pompous?" Perhaps, but I think you'll agree that there are far more redeeming and clever ways to construct a humorous commentary on the behavior of (for example) an interpreter. To address your particular concern which I feel is somewhat misplaced: I think it would be more pertinent to classify individuals like myself and the others who have complained about the delivery of this particular piece as suffering from less patience, especially with the usage of "wat" throughout. There are reasons for this, and it likely depends on an individual's preferences, how one feels about the (mis)usage of language, or the (ab)use of memes to attempt the creation of a witty informational exchange. Note: I realize that I'm probably just slightly outside the target demographic of this video, which probably appeals more to individuals who are in their mid-twenties or younger, and I'm fully aware of this fact. I apologize if I personally came off as a pompous whiner. This particular misspelling of "what" is a personal pet peeve that drives me absolutely insane, and it greatly reduces my mental perception of an item's quality (or the quality of an individual's speech). I suppose other complaints probably derive from its delivery as a meme-inspired video, which probably appeals to younger audiences as I've mentioned. In other words: There are legitimate gripes about this form of video. I've seen similar ones that were indeed humorous, but they had a fantastic delivery that was well thought-out. Including a dozen absurd pictures that appear to be sourced from sites like Imgur with "WAT" emblazoned on them does not appeal to everyone, and I don't think it's useful to criticize others' opinions of this video as sorely lacking in humor as "sad" simply because we all have greatly different tastes and preferences. Moreover, these tastes and preferences are malleable; something you found hilarious when you were 22 might be head-shakingly awful by the time you're in your 30s. I suspect this video is one of these. Save it and watch it again in ten or fifteen years. Also, if you want a good example to serve as a useful benchmark for classical "hacker humor," I present to you this piece: http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html
jh3 15y ago
Really? You don't think this is funny at all? Maybe it's because I'm in my mid twenties, but I think my father would even find this funny and he knows little to none about programming.
- bphogan 15y ago
  My (non programmer) wife found this hysterical. It reinforced her belief that programming is stupid. :)
- dmansen 15y ago
  If there were jokes formed around the nonsensical behavior of these languages, then it might be funny. But I don't find it very entertaining to just point them out.
- flatline 15y ago
  The humor is playing on an inclination to laugh at things we don't understand, which seems counter to the hacker ethos. Software is hard, and there may be deep reasons in the dynamic type systems that cause these languages to work like this, or there may not be, but either way this type of thing is interesting and seems to demand some further explanation and/or justification. I find it interesting but don't get the humor. Perhaps, as you implied, I'm just too old.
  - michaelfeathers 15y ago
    > The humor is playing on an inclination to laugh at things we don't understand I think is simply laughing at absurdity: the gulf between intention and actuality. We have quite a bit of that.
tlrobinson 15y ago
I didn't laugh because I was so worried that if I didn't laugh I wouldn't be considered a hacker :(
- firefoxman1 15y ago
  I didn't laugh until the end. Partially, I'm sure, because I didn't want to lie to myself by intentionally laughing just to feel like a hacker. But when I saw NaNNaNNaNNaN...(etc) coming, I couldn't help it.
- bfrs 15y ago
  Your comment made me laugh a lot! Thanks.

Guess I'm not a hacker? It's like watching a rerun I've seen twice over with the laugh track turned up to 11 (just to clarify, someone said it was a repost but I haven't seen it before).

garybernhardt 15y ago

There's no laugh track; that's the audience.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

dmansen 15y ago

Yeah count me in the "not a hacker, I guess" crowd, this stuff isn't very funny.

Zancarius 15y ago
"Wat" at the start really turned me off. I realize that was probably (?) part of the shtick, but it's one misspelling in particular that really drives me nuts. Real hacker humor is fairly dry (the story about magic comes to mind); this felt more like script kiddie-level humor. I can see valid points (and humor) raised with the Ruby interpreter, but the delivery could have been better--at least more adult-ish. I managed about halfway through. I did have the audio turned off, so I'm assuming I missed out on some of the redeeming qualities it may have had. Given the liberal usage of "wat" throughout what I did watch, I suspect that my gut feel is likely correct.
billpatrianakos 15y ago
Right. It was marginally informative, the meme pics were chuckle-in-my-head worthy but what really got me laughing was that it's on the front page of HN. Its so sad you have to laugh to keep from crying. Anyway, guess I'm not a hacker either.
- lucisferre 15y ago
  Not even close to as sad as the fact that two most upvoted comments and their children (pun intended) are just a bunch of pompous whining.
  - Zancarius 15y ago
    "Pompous?" Perhaps, but I think you'll agree that there are far more redeeming and clever ways to construct a humorous commentary on the behavior of (for example) an interpreter. To address your particular concern which I feel is somewhat misplaced: I think it would be more pertinent to classify individuals like myself and the others who have complained about the delivery of this particular piece as suffering from less patience, especially with the usage of "wat" throughout. There are reasons for this, and it likely depends on an individual's preferences, how one feels about the (mis)usage of language, or the (ab)use of memes to attempt the creation of a witty informational exchange. Note: I realize that I'm probably just slightly outside the target demographic of this video, which probably appeals more to individuals who are in their mid-twenties or younger, and I'm fully aware of this fact. I apologize if I personally came off as a pompous whiner. This particular misspelling of "what" is a personal pet peeve that drives me absolutely insane, and it greatly reduces my mental perception of an item's quality (or the quality of an individual's speech). I suppose other complaints probably derive from its delivery as a meme-inspired video, which probably appeals to younger audiences as I've mentioned. In other words: There are legitimate gripes about this form of video. I've seen similar ones that were indeed humorous, but they had a fantastic delivery that was well thought-out. Including a dozen absurd pictures that appear to be sourced from sites like Imgur with "WAT" emblazoned on them does not appeal to everyone, and I don't think it's useful to criticize others' opinions of this video as sorely lacking in humor as "sad" simply because we all have greatly different tastes and preferences. Moreover, these tastes and preferences are malleable; something you found hilarious when you were 22 might be head-shakingly awful by the time you're in your 30s. I suspect this video is one of these. Save it and watch it again in ten or fifteen years. Also, if you want a good example to serve as a useful benchmark for classical "hacker humor," I present to you this piece: http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html http://catb.org/jargon/html/magic-story.html

jh3 15y ago

Really? You don't think this is funny at all? Maybe it's because I'm in my mid twenties, but I think my father would even find this funny and he knows little to none about programming.

bphogan 15y ago
My (non programmer) wife found this hysterical. It reinforced her belief that programming is stupid. :)
dmansen 15y ago
If there were jokes formed around the nonsensical behavior of these languages, then it might be funny. But I don't find it very entertaining to just point them out.
flatline 15y ago
The humor is playing on an inclination to laugh at things we don't understand, which seems counter to the hacker ethos. Software is hard, and there may be deep reasons in the dynamic type systems that cause these languages to work like this, or there may not be, but either way this type of thing is interesting and seems to demand some further explanation and/or justification. I find it interesting but don't get the humor. Perhaps, as you implied, I'm just too old.
- michaelfeathers 15y ago
  > The humor is playing on an inclination to laugh at things we don't understand I think is simply laughing at absurdity: the gulf between intention and actuality. We have quite a bit of that.

tlrobinson 15y ago

I didn't laugh because I was so worried that if I didn't laugh I wouldn't be considered a hacker :(

firefoxman1 15y ago
I didn't laugh until the end. Partially, I'm sure, because I didn't want to lie to myself by intentionally laughing just to feel like a hacker. But when I saw NaNNaNNaNNaN...(etc) coming, I couldn't help it.
bfrs 15y ago
Your comment made me laugh a lot! Thanks.