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The best sort of jokes are those that are (a) funny and (b) implicit in some substantive comment. Unfortunately most jokes here, as on most forums, fail on bot
by pg 14y ago
The best sort of jokes are those that are (a) funny and (b) implicit in some substantive comment.
Unfortunately most jokes here, as on most forums, fail on both counts. The most common way to fail (a) seems to be to recycle overused catch phrases in insufficiently novel ways.
- tokenadult 14y agoThanks for the reply. I was wondering, because of a rather bizarre comment I saw (and replied to) earlier today. I thought the most charitable interpretation of the comment was that it was an attempt at a joke.
- orangethirty 14y agoThere many jokes here, though they are disguised inside serious comments. My take is that you should humor to make a point, and not as the point itself. Good: A joke that is relative to the subject. As in replying with code one liners when another member posts one. This one is quite enjoyable. Bad: One liners like "That's what she said!". Though I think a thread about hacker jokes could come in handy from time to time. We are quite the uptight community.
- 10dpd 14y agoA British psychologist called Richard Wiseman spent a year conducting a "scientific search for the world’s funniest joke". Here is his conclusion: "Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, “My friend is dead! What can I do?”. The operator says “Calm down. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says “OK, now what?” However! In the context of Hacker News, where the goal seems to be knowledge transfer, (b) is important as the joke should be a way to frame the knowledge transfer process.