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0 pointsbryanlarsen5y ago0 comments

IMO, the most important work that upvotes and downvotes do is to move comments up and down the page.

In that context, HN consensus on downvoting jokes makes more sense. I like a good joke, but they belong on the bottom of the page after the "serious" conversation. It's unfortunate that it's overloaded with karma, but complicating the upvote/downvote system has other drawbacks.

0 comments

inopinatus5y ago

Counterpoint: half my upvotes are from humour, and some topics cry out for a lightening of tone.

Unsurprisingly, I’ve found levity is best received when incorporating a kernel of fact or observation. Also, timezone matters.

Jokes are easy. Comedy is hard.

vagrantJin5y ago

Agreed. Humour is a good part of good conversation and an excellent way to provide insight without seeming to be condescending and/or obnoxious.

That being said,it does take skill to squeeze in a dad joke in a discussion of abstract computing problems related to 8081s and I'll go on a limb that HN not lenient on badly executed D-jokes as say reddit would for the attempt.

scott_s5y ago

I have a saying on this topic: you’re not as funny as you think you are. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

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