It's not that jokes aren't well-tolerated on HN; it's that cheap jokes aren't well tolerated. The humor styles prevalent on other fora, in particular Reddit and

It's not that jokes aren't well-tolerated on HN; it's that cheap jokes aren't well tolerated. The humor styles prevalent on other fora, in particular Reddit and Slashdot, are often very formulaic, and folks here tend to respond negatively to that kind of thing. I've seen (and made) funny comments that get plenty of karma here, though, so I know it can be done.