As Mike Darwin pointed out above, we can’t reliably tell if a joke comment is a joke.
But you know, this isn’t my strongest objection. It’s the noise-to-signal ratio. What I’m really concerned about is the opportunity cost of recognizing a joke as a joke, and having to work harder to find the serious branches of discussion.
How much effort did it actually take you to recognize that the comment “GRYFFINDOR!” by a user named “SortingHat” is a joke? It is silly to be worried about the opportunity cost here.
GRYFFINDOR!
No.
This cannot be allowed to continue. These novelty accounts are cute, but you and the others are standing in the way of actual discourse.
I strongly recommend LW put an end to all novelty/roleplaying accounts, or limit them to some corner of the site.
Seconded.
That is simply not true. We have discussion trees here. We can appreciate a joke comment as a joke and continue discourse in a more serious branch.
As Mike Darwin pointed out above, we can’t reliably tell if a joke comment is a joke.
But you know, this isn’t my strongest objection. It’s the noise-to-signal ratio. What I’m really concerned about is the opportunity cost of recognizing a joke as a joke, and having to work harder to find the serious branches of discussion.
How much effort did it actually take you to recognize that the comment “GRYFFINDOR!” by a user named “SortingHat” is a joke? It is silly to be worried about the opportunity cost here.
I imagine someone said a similar thing during Reddit’s infancy.
I was there when someone said a similar thing in Everything2′s infancy.
This seems like a question which should be considered in a top-level post.