I've grown so tired of sarcasm. Online and in real life people are often saying the exact opposite of what they mean. We have to pick up the sarcasam to truly understand.
The real issue with sarcasm is that it actually places the burden of subtleness on the speaker, whereas people will usually blame the listener for not understanding. If the tone and wording isn't just about perfect, then it's obviously easy to miss sarcasm, let alone the humorous intent. And that is sometimes very hard in writing, hence the "/s" which ruins the fun for everybody. Likewise if the listener isn't educated about the object of sarcasm, little can s/he get the irony of the statement... I think missed sarcasm has more to do with failed cultural fit than fault of anyone involved. Which is probably why it's much more common and accepted within social circles than in general discussion. HN clearly fits the former, though; sarcasm is just about yet another norm here!
> HN clearly fits the former, though; sarcasm is just about yet another norm here!
Agreed, this is why I didn't want to take a hard position on downvoting someone for missing the sarcasm. We're in a public forum which crosses cultural boundaries. I see the argument for both sides.
Although I lean more towards downvoting as the majority of people on HN will get the joke and it's an opportunity to learn for those unfamiliar with the mainstream culture.
