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> Everyone who memes long enough on the internet knows there's a meme about [...] As a counterpoint, I was working at a company and one of the guys made a joke

> Everyone who memes long enough on the internet knows there's a meme about [...] As a counterpoint, I was working at a company and one of the guys made a joke in the vein of "I hope you get cancer". The majority of the people on the Zoom call were pretty shocked. The guy asked "don't you all know that ironic joke?" and I had to remind him that not everyone grew up on 4chan. I think the problem, in general, with ironically offensive behavior (and other forms of extreme sarcasm) is that not everyone has been memeing long enough to know. Another longer anecdote happened while I was travelling. A young woman pulled me aside and asked me to stick close to her. Another guy we were travelling with had been making some dark jokes, mostly like dead-baby shock humor stuff. She told me specifically about some off-color joke he made about dead prostitutes in the trunk of his car. I mean, it was typical edge-lord dark humor kind of stuff, pretty tame like you might see on reddit. But it really put her off, especially since we were a small group in a remote area of Eastern Europe. She said she believed he was probably harmless but that she just wanted someone else around paying attention and looking out for her just in case. There is a truth that people must calibrate their humor to their surroundings. An appropriate joke on 4chan is not always an appropriate joke in the workplace. An appropriate joke on reddit may not be appropriate while chatting up girls in a remote hostel. And certain jokes are probably not appropriate on Facebook.

giancarlostoro 3y ago
Fully agreed, Facebook used to be fine for those jokes, only your relatives would scratch their heads, but nobody cared. Of course, there are way worse jokes one could make on 4chan.
- zoogeny 3y ago
  Your point about "worse jokes [...] on 4chan" is important. Wishing cancer onto someone is almost embarrassingly mild on 4chan. The idea that someone would take offence to that ancient insult is laughable. Outside of 4chan and without that context, it is actually a pretty harsh thing to say. And even if I personally see and understand the humor, I would definitely disallow that kind of language in any workplace I managed. I'm just pointing out that Facebook is setting the limits of its platform. You suggest that if a human saw your joke, they would recognize it as such and allow it. Perhaps they wouldn't. Just because something is meant as a joke doesn't mean it is appropriate to the circumstances. There are things that are said clearly in jest that are inappropriate not merely because they are misunderstood.

giancarlostoro 3y ago

Fully agreed, Facebook used to be fine for those jokes, only your relatives would scratch their heads, but nobody cared. Of course, there are way worse jokes one could make on 4chan.

zoogeny 3y ago
Your point about "worse jokes [...] on 4chan" is important. Wishing cancer onto someone is almost embarrassingly mild on 4chan. The idea that someone would take offence to that ancient insult is laughable. Outside of 4chan and without that context, it is actually a pretty harsh thing to say. And even if I personally see and understand the humor, I would definitely disallow that kind of language in any workplace I managed. I'm just pointing out that Facebook is setting the limits of its platform. You suggest that if a human saw your joke, they would recognize it as such and allow it. Perhaps they wouldn't. Just because something is meant as a joke doesn't mean it is appropriate to the circumstances. There are things that are said clearly in jest that are inappropriate not merely because they are misunderstood.