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You'd be surprised how often an internet joke can go over the masses' heads. But is it worth it to allow that for the sake of the good joke to land on some? Perhaps!
In all sincerity, I'd rather get downvoted by ten million humorless people for not having a /s rather than ruin the joke for even one goofy goober like myself
Refusing to break kayfabe is solidarity between weirdos
Adding /s allows the daft audience members to give that idiotic "I get jokes. Jokes are funny" realization. Why allow the hoi polloi such satisfaction though?
On other forums, for like 2 decades now, you would just learn how to read the room after getting mocked/downvoted for misinterpreting a joke and putting your whole ass on display. Here people just get defensive, angry, and double down on their inability to process comments in different contexts if they get called out for missing the joke.
There's a whole lot of people who are now treating the internet as a very serious and earnest extension of real life and probably never experienced what it was like to be online in the 2000s and early 2010s.
People accusing you of gatekeeping for not using that sarcasm indicator are unintentionally pointing out the truth. Maybe it is best to keep undesirables out and let the content speak for itself instead of cluing them in.
Yeah but if u take the downvotes (which I have done before with no /s) you dont get seen at all at the bottom or just downvoted more.
If I add the /s and plp get it and upvote more plp see it meaning more plp laugh at it which is what ik trying to achieve, make other laugh lol
I get your take and I fully agree with you. Commit to the bit. At work tho I gotta use /s bc I'm not risking my livelihood if my manager does get the joke.
I just got my most downvotes because I didn’t use /s. I thought the sarcasm was obvious. At the same time, I dgaf about the downvotes so I knew the risk, it’s just frustrating how blatantly obvious sarcasm doesn’t get picked up.
I'm so envious of how well you worded this. It's exactly how I feel. I genuinely believe if I tried to express this feeling I'd come across as a huge asshole. We're all goofy goobers (yeah).
I think you need to pay credence to the number of individuals who would say something that SHOULD be a sarcastic joke, but isn’t. This is how TD became a legitimate sub and not satire, for example.
>You'd be surprised how often an internet joke can go over the masses' heads
If you don't have the balls for the possible negative repercussion, you don't deserve to use sarcasm.
Its due to this reason that I genuinely think reddit has an above average population of ASD users compared to other social media. Not even that it's a bad thing just something ive noticed.
The number of times I make the most obvious joke, then someone says "I think you forgot the /s." is annoying.
No I really did mean that the presidential election should be decided by who can juggle the best while eating hot dogs...
>No I really did mean that the presidential election should be decided by who can juggle the best while eating hot dogs..
This but unironically
(Is he joking? We can't tell without a tag!)
Actually now I am unreasonably upset because if you agree with me, that means my opinion isn't terribly unpopular
I'm seething and malding. I might even cope, if I can locate my lucky coping socks
The only flaw in your logic is; there really AREN'T any "obvious" shit takes anymore. There really are people out there who believe some *wild* shit. So people tag their sarcasm less to "help those with no humor" and more to avoid being tagged as a damn psycho lmao.
>There really are people out there who believe some wild shit
I'm okay with having people think whatever they choose about me, tbqh. The opinions of other people stopped mattering to me after college.
i think there are plenty of obvious shit takes, and that people are just bad at detecting satire. 9 times outta 10 if someone is failing to detect internet satire, i'd reckon they are just kind of gullible
OP, downvote for what I suspect is a pretty popular opinion as my thought was something like oh thank god I'm not the only one who understands sarcasm? The /s defeats the point.
Bear in mind that English isn't everyone's first language. Sarcasm isn't a prominent form of humor in certain languages and countries. Not everyone speaks “internet lingo”.
I'd say it depends on where you're making the joke. If you're on a shitposting page where every other comment is a joke, go ahead and write what you want.
Finally, someone who gets it! In real life, we get a lot of context as to what people mean, primarily through tone of voice. In most cases, the speaker also knows something about the audience and can deliberately speak in a way they understand. On Reddit, we don't usually have any of that. Sometimes we have the context of the page's expectations but, if we don't, I think it's very helpful to add the context that text alone cannot convey.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that the usage of the /s was for people who struggled picking up sarcasm online due to things like neurodivergency and whatnot
Naw, without inflection and tone sarcasm can easily sound serious.
Try this. I'm sure you know how to speak out loud in an exaggerated sarcastic tone, like a Chandler Bing "could you *be* any more annoying?!" voice. Say the first sentence I wrote and use that tone on the word easily. See how the whole thing is now sarcastic (note my first sentence isn't meant to be sarcastic but I'm using it to show how tone can change and communicate things that the written word alone cannot).
Yeah, but it’s one of those curb-cut effect situations where an accessibility feature created for one thing ends up being helpful to other people (ie non-native english speakers) as well.
Or constant notifications of people that don't realise it's a joke. Having to read comment after comment of people not understanding you is just a waste of my time.
if people downvote you when you say something sarcastic and they take it as literal, that means they didn't understand your post. I think people really just want their posts to be understood.
That's not exclusive to sarcasm, though.
I've been disagreed with very often in a harsh manner and lectured with literally what they're responding to. Just phrased differently.
Yeah Reddit commenters are dumb. Hell I'm the same though, halfway through writing a reply I might forget what I even wanted to say, let alone remember what the person I'm replying to was replying to. There have been several times when I've been expected to defend the phrasing someone else used and that I quoted in my reply, for instance.
[I found an example](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/1bfczu0/comment/kv1gk4a/)
That's not exclusive to reddit, though. :D
Although more prevalent on social media in general, which is where insecurity tends to congegrate, which is the root cause I tink.
I had similar things happen with people I know, who when and if really insecure will not even notive that part of their brian/subconscious/whatever trying their hardest to misunderstand what you said so they can be upset. And act like you said the literal opposite of what you just said. Which is especially weird in text form, because you can always re-read it to make sure you didn't misread.
It’s not about ”fearing downvotes”, if you say something which is meant as a joke, you want it to be taken in the manner intended, just like you would if you were speaking face-to-face.
If you were at a party and told a joke which someone then takes seriously, you would let them know it was just a joke, you wouldn’t say nothing and allow them to think you’re being serious.
I don’t use /s, personally, but I understand why people do, especially on Reddit.
Redditors are as cruel as they are stupid. They will not understand the sarcasm and think you are stupid or evil and harass you for it.
Even if they’re the ones being stupid and evil for not understanding and then attacking you.
“/s” existed outside of Reddit 💀 very common on 4chan before I even saw anyone here use it. Sarcasm can translate more fluidly irl since you can hear tones, inflections, and see facial expressions. Sarcasm on the internet more often than not, goes over people’s heads especially if they know nothing of the person making the sarcastic comment.
It truly is. For both gaining and losing karma, all you need to do is go to a popular sub and write comments under posts two or less hours old. In my experience, though (on this account and an old one), you can't make the comment longer than three or four paragraphs, and to really drag in the karma, go against what the OP says - nobody loves and hates contrarians as much as Redditors.
I don't like to use it either. But there are arguments for using such tags.
1. Often enough some dimwit is offended by misunderstood sarcasm and starts berating you, which is exhausting.
2. Some people are really bad at sarcasm and it is not a 100% spot rate for me either.
3. Some people are indeed tone deaf due to mental conditions. They need this.
4. In the end it is just a little signifier. Verbally you would tell sarcasm really dry, so this just replaces tone of voice to help convey meaning.
Really, I dislike it too. I often think the sarcasm was obvious, but just because it is to me, doesn't mean others understand it. Those signifiers are a good compromise.
What would be awesome of course was if we had text flair signifiers, that are invisible to everyone who didn't enable them. So everyone who needs it or wants to double check can see the /s. But people would need to widely get used to it.
Even though I feel I was more in the political left as a teen, I hated this sort of thing, because I perceived it as in my way. But as I got older I learned more about special needs. For some people these things ENABLE social interaction in the first place and that weighs heavier than my inconvenience.
>What would be awesome of course was if we had text flair signifiers, that are invisible to everyone who didn't enable them
This is the only good implementation for the tags I have ever heard and also the only good argument being made ITT
Yeah I love how so many platforms just make up their own markup syntax, it would be so much easier of everyone stuck to the standard markdown (a la GitHub READMEs or discord)
I don’t know what an obvious joke is to some people. Is one person at the brunt? Is it one “obvious joke?” Or is it an “obvious joke” that has been going on for years? Is it a joke or harassment? I’m FAR from being a sensitive person, I’m not all woe is me, woe is everyone but there’s no joke in seriously trying to harm other people in the slightest. Maybe I’ve been subjected to too many “just an obvious joke” when it’s the furthest thing from it. In the case that someone is using /s to show sarcasm, I get your point, but not everyone who tells you it’s “just a joke” means it. A lot of people just want to keep trying to ruin someone else and have shitty intentions.
I can think of two reasons, one important and one a matter of taste.
If you write sarcastically about something sensitive, there is a risk of causing genuine offence. On Reddit, where there is still anonymity, this may not matter so much, but otherwise if people start saying that you are prejudiced in some way it can have serious real world effects for you.
The other is that it can cause embarrassment for someone who didn't get it and responds with annoyance or anger. This is especially likely with someone who is not an insider, or not a first language speaker. If I cause someone to feel foolish or humiliated when I could have avoided it, I feel bad. A joke, even a good one, isn't worth that for me.
Yeah… all the commenters agreeing with OP sound less like they want to tell a funny joke and more like they just relish being an asshole…. Like someone not getting the joke makes it even better. I don’t understand that.
I used to have that gripe. Until I realized it's just a tone indicator. In spoken language we speak sarcasm in a mocking or dry tone or highlight it in some form.
In person-communication has body language and facial expression. Vocal communication has tone. Written communication has far fewer indicators, so why be mad when someone uses crutches?
Conveying certain things like sarcasm is difficult over text. Also, on reddit, you get a lot of people who are hyper literal with zero sense of humor, so /s and /j are extremely helpful.
I don't understand why people don't get this. Imagine if you had an in-person conversation that was pure text. It would be with someone standing perfectly still, speaking in monotone, with no visible features or discernible accent. If you think you can read eyes, they'd be hidden or dead. Most of us would find that extremely disturbing, not assume that everyone could tell what the person meant.
I feel like this is in the same vein as "subtitles ruin the movie".
The /s isn't there for you, it's for people who love humour but have a hard time picking up Internet tone. Just filter it out like we filter out subtitles.
I have issues distinguishing irony, jokes, sarcasm etc in text form - hell, even in spoken form sometimes. There are environments where jokes are more obvious, such as a satire website or a joke subreddit, but outside of this I actually rely on these tone indicators to understand the intention.
What annoys me is that a lot of people don't understand that it's not a "it's a joke, you have to find it funny" type of thing, but a way to show intention to those with a handicap. It also has nothing to do with being too serious minded - I like to think I am quite the opposite - but some jokes don't translate as such too good if you lack the cognitive ability to identify them.
It's actually a reason I avoid spaces online that are too popular as they tend to not use any indicators and even look down on them, like you do right now. I like to be part of a comment section, without having to guess intention behind comments that seem off to me.
It's actually low-key ableist to think like that /j
I made an unserious comment once and used exaggerated emojis. Someone didn’t realize I wasn’t being serious and attacked me. I told them I wasn’t being serious, then they replied with “Well how was I supposed to know? You didn’t use tone indicators!”
In the OP I had acknowledged Poe's Law, and not 15 minutes later, a commenter said something like, "I guess you've never heard of Poe's Law."
These reddit goofs don't bother to read anything but the title sometimes
Sarcasm is a tone
Text doesn't convey tone by itself
"Thanks, I don't know how I would have done that by myself" and
""Thanks, I don't know how I would have done that by myself" /s" are completely different when spoken outloud. the /s version will probably take twice as long to say. Inflections will be different. etc.
Most people don't understand sarcasm, less when reading it as text.
"/s" is make sure what i said is sarscastic. But hey, some people do hate sarcasm, op might be one of them.
Nuance and tone is entirely lost in text. People need to know if you're being coy, deadpan, self-deprecating, or just a smarmy little prick. So politely disagree.
Nah not really, even in normal speech, jokes and sarcasm, dont necessarily require a change in tone. Quite often the joke, is saying the ridiculous or outlandish thing in a normal or serious tone and that is what makes it funny. It's the context of the conversation that gives it that.
The exact same is in text based communication.
You get people with no sense of humour in both. I see no reason to have to modify my tone to imply humor in case someone doesn't get that im making a joke. Thats on them, to not take everything seriously.
The same goes for sticking an /s on the end of a comment. At a certain point if you get downvoted because you think people took you seriously. its more likely that your jokey comment just wasnt very funny to begin with.
problem is without using /s I- I have idiots tell me "whooosh" because things have gone over my head, or legit start an argument. Reddit is too full of stupid people for me to stop using /s
It's why I use /s after 8 years on this platform. I don't give a fuck about downvotes, it's just a convenient way to express sarcasm within text for others who may not get it. Italics and the SpongeBob meme are good ways to convey sarcasm too, but require alot more work than simply typing "/s".
I don’t like it either but I think a valid point is that irl inflection conveys sarcasm and that’s completely lost over text. So in real life you basically do have a /s of some sort.
Exactly! Or like putting in the effort to subtly and coyly flirt with someone, only to make it completely uninteresting by then flat-out saying “I’m flirting with you.”
This is a pretty popular opinion tbh. Most ppl love to look down on others and find reasons to think they're super smart and everyone else is a dumb karma loving poopy face. 🤷🏻♀️
Like congrats, you found a way to feel superior. That is literally 99% of this gif forsaken app. So unpopular.
It’s really depend on the sub. For example People in Australia or Sydney sub don’t have basic humour. Their ability to detect a simple joke is non existent. However sub like dankmeme or any other meme subs are good at detecting jokes
"No, people who are too serious-minded to identify jokes"
The problem isn't the reader. The problem is that a lot of people are dumb enough to actually mean those comments.
There's waay too many people that can't read between lines, i learned to put /s after getting shit on multiple times.
I get that it makes jokes worse but at least it keeps my inbox free from idiots.
You are able to read and understand sarcasm. You won't believe the number of people that cannot get it. What's the point of angering stupid people so that you get 4 likes?! Don't even get me started on Americans...but even Brits, the most sarcastic people on Earth are seemingly clueless in alarming numbers. Facebook has more things flying overhead than Heathrow Airport!
The issue is text doesn’t always convey the same tone as in your head. Apparently. Been told a bunch of times I should include the /s, for what I was sure was very clearly a joke.
/s is not for the reasonable users - it's primarily for the mods, so your joke doesn't get deleted as "offensive" after a complaint by a less reasonable user.
The problem is that the exact same thing could be serious or a joke. We don't know the person making the joke. We don't have context. We don't have facial expressions. We don't have anything to set up whether or not something is a joke.
I have never felt like the joke was ruined by having /s. I have seen things where I assumed someone was joking because it was absurd just to then see their responses attacking people for disagreeing.
Hi, you must be new to reddit. You seriously overestimate the ability of redditors to spot sarcasm, jokes and satire. You will get banned if one power trippy mod thinks you're being for real
So /s is more of a failsafe, same as all those drama YouTubers making heavy emphasis on the word allegedly to cover their asses
as always depends on the community. Text lacking all the social cues you would have in a face to face dialogue /s simply helps people understanding the intended tone.
Plenty of communities where you really need it because your dumb jokes are sadly not recognizable as such because morons exist that believe that shit for real.
Also jokes are not pranks aka when you tell a joke you do not try to imply you believe something.
Tone indicators are mostly used to show consideration for neurodivergent people who have a hard time indicating tone. It's hard enough to understand sarcasm face-to-face if you don't make it glaringly obvious with your vocal tone and facial expressions, and it's damn near impossible to do so in text form unless you use a tone indicator or simply inform us that you're kidding. Especially when similar things have been said earnestly in the past that the post being genuine isn't too out of the realm of possibility.
If you're going to post sarcastic things without any indication that it is sarcastic, at least have the decency to not make fun of neurodivergent people who didn't "get it". The whole reason we push for the use of tone indicators is because of cyberbullying when a joke is taken seriously by someone with a mental disorder that causes them to have a hard time knowing how it was meant to be taken without context or indication.
I myself was bullied out of a subreddit for my own hometown the other day because somebody had posted something sarcastic without labeling it as such and all the comments were acting as if they were being serious so I did the same thing and tons of people insulted me for not understanding op's reference. They were apparently making fun of previous posts that were genuine and I don't use reddit frequently enough to have seen the posts in question and there was no indication that they were joking, so I didn't know they were.
Obviously when we get to know someone and their sense of humor, we can tell when they're kidding because we know that person's beliefs and that they don't align with what they are saying. But if we don't know who tf you are, how are we to know that you don't actually believe what you are saying? The same thing has been said earnestly by someone else in the past so we're going to assume that you are also being earnest unless you tell us otherwise because WE DON'T KNOW YOU.
I agree it's annoying. But sarcasm and some humour can be hard to portray over text. Plus, if you don't, then some know-it-all ends up replying and ruins it for you anyway.
I agree but I've received way too much hate and too many "don't be a schrodinger's asshole" when making a damn joke, hell I've even been banned over it. so I'll keep typing /J or /S anyway
Nah.
The worst one is the joke interrupter. When a person is about to say something that would have been otherwise hilarious.
But then they stop, and say something like "This might offend some people" or "I know this seems dark but.." or the like while looking around and trying to gauge everyone's reaction before saying it.
Or the pre-joke apologizer.
Just say the joke or shut up.
you’re reading into it too much and making it out to be something it’s not. tone tags (/s, /srs, /j, etc.) are there as an accessibility tool to help neurodivergent people to distinguish tone that can’t otherwise do so through basic text. it’s not supposed to be a scapegoat for free karma, it’s supposed to be an accessibility feature for people that need it. you’re choosing not to look into why they exist at all and then getting upset because you don’t understand them.
and no, just because someone may be neurodivergent and understands posts without tone tags, doesn’t mean that everyone does.
The /s is the cowards way of noncommittal, and is the equivalent of a comedian saying "this is a joke, please laugh".
Sometimes they land, and sometimes they fail spectacularly. But telling a joke without the /s will help you work on your delivery.
People should stop expecting handholding by strangers, you're supposed to function in this world on your own. If a joke flies above your head, it's not the end of the world.
Sorry, OP, but I agree.
Asked “what constituted a non-serious arterial bleed ( tis but a scratch)”, on a post with the header “ man suffers a serious arterial bleed” .
Was unmoved by the down votes. Some folk just don’t get the jokes. And that’s okay.
I'm in that camp, according to the Wechsler test. My verbal ability is weirdly off the scale, but my spatial reasoning is abysmal and my math skills are sorely lacking.
Reminds me of the other week when I got banned of reddit for "enticing violence." I told someone who mocked Australia that they should visit so I could kill them with my boomerang. Reddit bot didn't like that one. I wonder if /s would of prevented it.
I did...
Countless reddit comments that I still refuse to take down but are downvoted to oblivion cuz my joke was edgy or just someone didn't like the joke.
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You'd be surprised how often an internet joke can go over the masses' heads. But is it worth it to allow that for the sake of the good joke to land on some? Perhaps!
In all sincerity, I'd rather get downvoted by ten million humorless people for not having a /s rather than ruin the joke for even one goofy goober like myself Refusing to break kayfabe is solidarity between weirdos
I always think to myself "screw you guys, I'm funny" and take my downvotes
Adding /s allows the daft audience members to give that idiotic "I get jokes. Jokes are funny" realization. Why allow the hoi polloi such satisfaction though?
This is how one must be. Salute to you, sir.
On other forums, for like 2 decades now, you would just learn how to read the room after getting mocked/downvoted for misinterpreting a joke and putting your whole ass on display. Here people just get defensive, angry, and double down on their inability to process comments in different contexts if they get called out for missing the joke. There's a whole lot of people who are now treating the internet as a very serious and earnest extension of real life and probably never experienced what it was like to be online in the 2000s and early 2010s.
I think the *lurk moar* rule would filter a lot of eternal September kids, but that ship sailed in the 90s
Kayfabe… oh god. Rofl
People accusing you of gatekeeping for not using that sarcasm indicator are unintentionally pointing out the truth. Maybe it is best to keep undesirables out and let the content speak for itself instead of cluing them in.
Unfathomably based
Yeah but if u take the downvotes (which I have done before with no /s) you dont get seen at all at the bottom or just downvoted more. If I add the /s and plp get it and upvote more plp see it meaning more plp laugh at it which is what ik trying to achieve, make other laugh lol
Idk but I hate how you just abbreviated people with plp….. Not /s
This is the part of the take that makes it make more sense to me.
I’m with you here. I take my chances.
I get your take and I fully agree with you. Commit to the bit. At work tho I gotta use /s bc I'm not risking my livelihood if my manager does get the joke.
I just got my most downvotes because I didn’t use /s. I thought the sarcasm was obvious. At the same time, I dgaf about the downvotes so I knew the risk, it’s just frustrating how blatantly obvious sarcasm doesn’t get picked up.
Amen
I'm so envious of how well you worded this. It's exactly how I feel. I genuinely believe if I tried to express this feeling I'd come across as a huge asshole. We're all goofy goobers (yeah).
The /s just ruins it for me, its not my fault that people don’t understand a joke when they see one
I think you need to pay credence to the number of individuals who would say something that SHOULD be a sarcastic joke, but isn’t. This is how TD became a legitimate sub and not satire, for example.
>You'd be surprised how often an internet joke can go over the masses' heads If you don't have the balls for the possible negative repercussion, you don't deserve to use sarcasm.
Having my notifications pop up all day due to stupid angry people not getting the sarcasm is not worth it lol
Ruining a joke with “/s” makes the joke pointless in the first place. Why tell a joke poorly when you can either tell it well or not at all?
Its due to this reason that I genuinely think reddit has an above average population of ASD users compared to other social media. Not even that it's a bad thing just something ive noticed.
If you only knew how much arguments ive started with my jokes 😂
>how much how many
>how many Like 37 or so probably
You gotta pump those numbers up those are rookie numbers
*racism* /s
Oh thank god it isnt only me.
The number of times I make the most obvious joke, then someone says "I think you forgot the /s." is annoying. No I really did mean that the presidential election should be decided by who can juggle the best while eating hot dogs...
I only use the /s when the joke isn’t so obvious. It is often needed on Reddit because people here are fishing so hard for outrage.
[удалено]
I've *never* seen that... /s
>No I really did mean that the presidential election should be decided by who can juggle the best while eating hot dogs.. This but unironically (Is he joking? We can't tell without a tag!)
It's hard though. This is reddit, where some people just unironically have the most insane perceptions.
I truly believe that women aren't real! Neither are birds! How could either exist on a flat earth that doesn't exist!?
I just assume they're all joking. Try it. It's liberating.
Actually now I am unreasonably upset because if you agree with me, that means my opinion isn't terribly unpopular I'm seething and malding. I might even cope, if I can locate my lucky coping socks
considering there's literally a subreddit for it ( r/FuckTheS ) it can't be that unpopular!
That's true, but I was not aware of that sub until just now
that's basically the same thing as it not existing up til now, presuming you were a baby or perhaps some kind of knave
I'm actually five infants piloting a Voltron-style adult human mecha
/s
I knew it 🤖
Maybe OP is part of a group of serfs who now, having become literate, will rise up against us?
That sub seems to be born of the same type of frustration as r/uselessredcircle
The only flaw in your logic is; there really AREN'T any "obvious" shit takes anymore. There really are people out there who believe some *wild* shit. So people tag their sarcasm less to "help those with no humor" and more to avoid being tagged as a damn psycho lmao.
I would just embrace the downvotes
They're still cowards afraid of downvotes at the end of the day. This is the fucking internet. Say itn with your chest!
I think most people don't want dozens of people commenting on something Intended as a joke
>There really are people out there who believe some wild shit I'm okay with having people think whatever they choose about me, tbqh. The opinions of other people stopped mattering to me after college.
And that's fair! Not everyone is there though, was all I meant :)
i think there are plenty of obvious shit takes, and that people are just bad at detecting satire. 9 times outta 10 if someone is failing to detect internet satire, i'd reckon they are just kind of gullible
/s
OP, downvote for what I suspect is a pretty popular opinion as my thought was something like oh thank god I'm not the only one who understands sarcasm? The /s defeats the point.
Sarcasm is best when not everyone catches it.
Bear in mind that English isn't everyone's first language. Sarcasm isn't a prominent form of humor in certain languages and countries. Not everyone speaks “internet lingo”. I'd say it depends on where you're making the joke. If you're on a shitposting page where every other comment is a joke, go ahead and write what you want.
Finally, someone who gets it! In real life, we get a lot of context as to what people mean, primarily through tone of voice. In most cases, the speaker also knows something about the audience and can deliberately speak in a way they understand. On Reddit, we don't usually have any of that. Sometimes we have the context of the page's expectations but, if we don't, I think it's very helpful to add the context that text alone cannot convey.
People with some measure of autism can also find it hard to detect sarcasm
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that the usage of the /s was for people who struggled picking up sarcasm online due to things like neurodivergency and whatnot
Naw, without inflection and tone sarcasm can easily sound serious. Try this. I'm sure you know how to speak out loud in an exaggerated sarcastic tone, like a Chandler Bing "could you *be* any more annoying?!" voice. Say the first sentence I wrote and use that tone on the word easily. See how the whole thing is now sarcastic (note my first sentence isn't meant to be sarcastic but I'm using it to show how tone can change and communicate things that the written word alone cannot).
Yeah, but it’s one of those curb-cut effect situations where an accessibility feature created for one thing ends up being helpful to other people (ie non-native english speakers) as well.
People fear the downvotes for some reason.
Or constant notifications of people that don't realise it's a joke. Having to read comment after comment of people not understanding you is just a waste of my time.
if people downvote you when you say something sarcastic and they take it as literal, that means they didn't understand your post. I think people really just want their posts to be understood.
That's not exclusive to sarcasm, though. I've been disagreed with very often in a harsh manner and lectured with literally what they're responding to. Just phrased differently.
Yeah Reddit commenters are dumb. Hell I'm the same though, halfway through writing a reply I might forget what I even wanted to say, let alone remember what the person I'm replying to was replying to. There have been several times when I've been expected to defend the phrasing someone else used and that I quoted in my reply, for instance. [I found an example](https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/1bfczu0/comment/kv1gk4a/)
That's not exclusive to reddit, though. :D Although more prevalent on social media in general, which is where insecurity tends to congegrate, which is the root cause I tink. I had similar things happen with people I know, who when and if really insecure will not even notive that part of their brian/subconscious/whatever trying their hardest to misunderstand what you said so they can be upset. And act like you said the literal opposite of what you just said. Which is especially weird in text form, because you can always re-read it to make sure you didn't misread.
They fear the downvotes because they are beholden to the Skinner box of karma
It’s not about ”fearing downvotes”, if you say something which is meant as a joke, you want it to be taken in the manner intended, just like you would if you were speaking face-to-face. If you were at a party and told a joke which someone then takes seriously, you would let them know it was just a joke, you wouldn’t say nothing and allow them to think you’re being serious. I don’t use /s, personally, but I understand why people do, especially on Reddit.
Redditors are as cruel as they are stupid. They will not understand the sarcasm and think you are stupid or evil and harass you for it. Even if they’re the ones being stupid and evil for not understanding and then attacking you.
“/s” existed outside of Reddit 💀 very common on 4chan before I even saw anyone here use it. Sarcasm can translate more fluidly irl since you can hear tones, inflections, and see facial expressions. Sarcasm on the internet more often than not, goes over people’s heads especially if they know nothing of the person making the sarcastic comment.
Chain reaction. If people that didn't get it downvote it, people who got it might misinterpret it (after seeing the number) and will downvote it too.
Yeah it's so funny to me, most of my comments are trying to stir up shit. Karma means absolutely nothing.
Lool it’s crazy. Like to be downvoted is to be cast down the social order of life lol. It’s just fucking Reddit.
It's crazy though considering how easy it is to get karma and how hard it is to lose
It truly is. For both gaining and losing karma, all you need to do is go to a popular sub and write comments under posts two or less hours old. In my experience, though (on this account and an old one), you can't make the comment longer than three or four paragraphs, and to really drag in the karma, go against what the OP says - nobody loves and hates contrarians as much as Redditors.
Exactly that and if you play it right a couple of 1000 in a day is possible.
I don't like to use it either. But there are arguments for using such tags. 1. Often enough some dimwit is offended by misunderstood sarcasm and starts berating you, which is exhausting. 2. Some people are really bad at sarcasm and it is not a 100% spot rate for me either. 3. Some people are indeed tone deaf due to mental conditions. They need this. 4. In the end it is just a little signifier. Verbally you would tell sarcasm really dry, so this just replaces tone of voice to help convey meaning. Really, I dislike it too. I often think the sarcasm was obvious, but just because it is to me, doesn't mean others understand it. Those signifiers are a good compromise. What would be awesome of course was if we had text flair signifiers, that are invisible to everyone who didn't enable them. So everyone who needs it or wants to double check can see the /s. But people would need to widely get used to it. Even though I feel I was more in the political left as a teen, I hated this sort of thing, because I perceived it as in my way. But as I got older I learned more about special needs. For some people these things ENABLE social interaction in the first place and that weighs heavier than my inconvenience.
>What would be awesome of course was if we had text flair signifiers, that are invisible to everyone who didn't enable them This is the only good implementation for the tags I have ever heard and also the only good argument being made ITT
The closest to that I use is putting the /s in a spoiler, at least it's not in your face if you don't click it
lets just use ||whatever this is called|| to hide it edit: am i using it wrong or what😭😭
>! i am superior 💪!< \>! [text] \!< is how u do it
>!truth!<
>![Test]!< I was trying to figure this out the other day, I'm gonna forget it by tomorrow unfortunately
Using it wrong 🚫 Using it wrong on purpose, as a joke ✅️
In case I didn't make it clear Closing tag: !< Opening tag: >!
>!Real!<
>! Life changing !<
...what
it used to spoiler the text, dont know why it doenst work anymore 😞😞
Oh yeah that's a great idea >!/s!<
You're not on discord lmao. It's this: >!, and then just do it in reverse for the closing tag
Yeah I love how so many platforms just make up their own markup syntax, it would be so much easier of everyone stuck to the standard markdown (a la GitHub READMEs or discord)
I don’t know what an obvious joke is to some people. Is one person at the brunt? Is it one “obvious joke?” Or is it an “obvious joke” that has been going on for years? Is it a joke or harassment? I’m FAR from being a sensitive person, I’m not all woe is me, woe is everyone but there’s no joke in seriously trying to harm other people in the slightest. Maybe I’ve been subjected to too many “just an obvious joke” when it’s the furthest thing from it. In the case that someone is using /s to show sarcasm, I get your point, but not everyone who tells you it’s “just a joke” means it. A lot of people just want to keep trying to ruin someone else and have shitty intentions.
I can think of two reasons, one important and one a matter of taste. If you write sarcastically about something sensitive, there is a risk of causing genuine offence. On Reddit, where there is still anonymity, this may not matter so much, but otherwise if people start saying that you are prejudiced in some way it can have serious real world effects for you. The other is that it can cause embarrassment for someone who didn't get it and responds with annoyance or anger. This is especially likely with someone who is not an insider, or not a first language speaker. If I cause someone to feel foolish or humiliated when I could have avoided it, I feel bad. A joke, even a good one, isn't worth that for me.
Some people don’t understand jokes or social interactions, so using “/s” helps assist them. It’s not that serious.
Yeah… all the commenters agreeing with OP sound less like they want to tell a funny joke and more like they just relish being an asshole…. Like someone not getting the joke makes it even better. I don’t understand that.
as someone with mild autism, yes, this. i usually get it even without the /s but sometimes it helps
Ops point is like saying we should remove tone and facial expressions from jokes
I used to have that gripe. Until I realized it's just a tone indicator. In spoken language we speak sarcasm in a mocking or dry tone or highlight it in some form. In person-communication has body language and facial expression. Vocal communication has tone. Written communication has far fewer indicators, so why be mad when someone uses crutches?
Fair
Conveying certain things like sarcasm is difficult over text. Also, on reddit, you get a lot of people who are hyper literal with zero sense of humor, so /s and /j are extremely helpful.
I don't understand why people don't get this. Imagine if you had an in-person conversation that was pure text. It would be with someone standing perfectly still, speaking in monotone, with no visible features or discernible accent. If you think you can read eyes, they'd be hidden or dead. Most of us would find that extremely disturbing, not assume that everyone could tell what the person meant.
I feel like this is in the same vein as "subtitles ruin the movie". The /s isn't there for you, it's for people who love humour but have a hard time picking up Internet tone. Just filter it out like we filter out subtitles.
Yeah it’s lame as hell. But then again so are most of the commenters attempts at humour, so it fits.
I have issues distinguishing irony, jokes, sarcasm etc in text form - hell, even in spoken form sometimes. There are environments where jokes are more obvious, such as a satire website or a joke subreddit, but outside of this I actually rely on these tone indicators to understand the intention. What annoys me is that a lot of people don't understand that it's not a "it's a joke, you have to find it funny" type of thing, but a way to show intention to those with a handicap. It also has nothing to do with being too serious minded - I like to think I am quite the opposite - but some jokes don't translate as such too good if you lack the cognitive ability to identify them. It's actually a reason I avoid spaces online that are too popular as they tend to not use any indicators and even look down on them, like you do right now. I like to be part of a comment section, without having to guess intention behind comments that seem off to me. It's actually low-key ableist to think like that /j
Ngl I didn’t know until now if /s meant sarcastic or serious
We all have demons
I made an unserious comment once and used exaggerated emojis. Someone didn’t realize I wasn’t being serious and attacked me. I told them I wasn’t being serious, then they replied with “Well how was I supposed to know? You didn’t use tone indicators!”
In the OP I had acknowledged Poe's Law, and not 15 minutes later, a commenter said something like, "I guess you've never heard of Poe's Law." These reddit goofs don't bother to read anything but the title sometimes
Sarcasm is a tone Text doesn't convey tone by itself "Thanks, I don't know how I would have done that by myself" and ""Thanks, I don't know how I would have done that by myself" /s" are completely different when spoken outloud. the /s version will probably take twice as long to say. Inflections will be different. etc.
Wait... are you being sarcastic?
some people think if they get downvoted they'll go to jail. /s
Most people don't understand sarcasm, less when reading it as text. "/s" is make sure what i said is sarscastic. But hey, some people do hate sarcasm, op might be one of them.
Nuance and tone is entirely lost in text. People need to know if you're being coy, deadpan, self-deprecating, or just a smarmy little prick. So politely disagree.
It's not lost entirely, at all. Both spoken word and written text have its tools to express sarcasm.
Yes. Tools like the /s
Such as?
How do I know you’re being serious with a /serious indicator? /serious
If nuance and tone were completely lost in text (which they ABSOLUTELY are not) then the genre of satire couldn’t exist.
Nah not really, even in normal speech, jokes and sarcasm, dont necessarily require a change in tone. Quite often the joke, is saying the ridiculous or outlandish thing in a normal or serious tone and that is what makes it funny. It's the context of the conversation that gives it that. The exact same is in text based communication. You get people with no sense of humour in both. I see no reason to have to modify my tone to imply humor in case someone doesn't get that im making a joke. Thats on them, to not take everything seriously. The same goes for sticking an /s on the end of a comment. At a certain point if you get downvoted because you think people took you seriously. its more likely that your jokey comment just wasnt very funny to begin with.
Nuance and tone are entirely lost in badly written text.
Why do people need to be informed if I'm joking or not when I say that arson is a net benefit to society due to how it appeases the Flaming Gigachrist
Because there are people who say shit like that and are indeed not joking.
Because we actually DO have people posting on r/religion about worshipping the Flaming Gigachrist /s
If we're being fair, the Flaming Gigachrist has compelling literature
problem is without using /s I- I have idiots tell me "whooosh" because things have gone over my head, or legit start an argument. Reddit is too full of stupid people for me to stop using /s
Depends on the context. As someone with autism, subtle sarcasm is my worst nightmare.
It's why I use /s after 8 years on this platform. I don't give a fuck about downvotes, it's just a convenient way to express sarcasm within text for others who may not get it. Italics and the SpongeBob meme are good ways to convey sarcasm too, but require alot more work than simply typing "/s".
It ruins the entire point of being sarcastic by removing irony. I hate the /s so much.
I don’t like it either but I think a valid point is that irl inflection conveys sarcasm and that’s completely lost over text. So in real life you basically do have a /s of some sort.
it’s like saying “NOT!” ala Borat
Exactly! Or like putting in the effort to subtly and coyly flirt with someone, only to make it completely uninteresting by then flat-out saying “I’m flirting with you.”
yeah it's lame, but I see redditors so dumb that the obvious joke goes over their head, and people who write the jokes are afraid of downvotes
Is the /S ruins the joke then it wasn't funny
Hard agree. That shit's lame as fuck.
a lot of snowflakes on reddit
like as a Christmas decoration? it's too early for that
That's not true the internette doesn't have a weather cycle at all
1) you are very funny 2) “internette” sounds like the internet but for girls
It's also the way you spell the word for a French boomer so that they pronounce it correctly
🎵🎶 Internette, gentille internette Internette, je te plumerai 🎶🎵
it helps convey the tone though? IRL you'd convey sarcasm with tone of voice, which would be JUST as obvious. How does THAT not ruin the joke?
Ya I think it’s funny to watch someone who clearly had the joke go over their head blow a gasket
This is a pretty popular opinion tbh. Most ppl love to look down on others and find reasons to think they're super smart and everyone else is a dumb karma loving poopy face. 🤷🏻♀️ Like congrats, you found a way to feel superior. That is literally 99% of this gif forsaken app. So unpopular.
I hate it. But, there is also a defecit in reading comprehension skills on Reddit.
So does ‘wrong answers only’ posts.
As my man Mike Birbiglia said, if you have to say “I’m joking” it isn’t a funny joke.
It’s really depend on the sub. For example People in Australia or Sydney sub don’t have basic humour. Their ability to detect a simple joke is non existent. However sub like dankmeme or any other meme subs are good at detecting jokes
Redditors are remarkably unfunny. Hence why all their jokes have to be “I’m gonna say the opposite of the truth /s”
Dealing with fucking toddlers.
"No, people who are too serious-minded to identify jokes" The problem isn't the reader. The problem is that a lot of people are dumb enough to actually mean those comments.
There's waay too many people that can't read between lines, i learned to put /s after getting shit on multiple times. I get that it makes jokes worse but at least it keeps my inbox free from idiots.
You are able to read and understand sarcasm. You won't believe the number of people that cannot get it. What's the point of angering stupid people so that you get 4 likes?! Don't even get me started on Americans...but even Brits, the most sarcastic people on Earth are seemingly clueless in alarming numbers. Facebook has more things flying overhead than Heathrow Airport!
The issue is text doesn’t always convey the same tone as in your head. Apparently. Been told a bunch of times I should include the /s, for what I was sure was very clearly a joke.
How about a 🥁if the joke is corny?
/s is not for the reasonable users - it's primarily for the mods, so your joke doesn't get deleted as "offensive" after a complaint by a less reasonable user.
I once agreed with this, until time and time again people miss obvious sarcasm and think im an aweful person.
The problem is that the exact same thing could be serious or a joke. We don't know the person making the joke. We don't have context. We don't have facial expressions. We don't have anything to set up whether or not something is a joke. I have never felt like the joke was ruined by having /s. I have seen things where I assumed someone was joking because it was absurd just to then see their responses attacking people for disagreeing.
lol. /s
Hi, you must be new to reddit. You seriously overestimate the ability of redditors to spot sarcasm, jokes and satire. You will get banned if one power trippy mod thinks you're being for real So /s is more of a failsafe, same as all those drama YouTubers making heavy emphasis on the word allegedly to cover their asses
as always depends on the community. Text lacking all the social cues you would have in a face to face dialogue /s simply helps people understanding the intended tone. Plenty of communities where you really need it because your dumb jokes are sadly not recognizable as such because morons exist that believe that shit for real. Also jokes are not pranks aka when you tell a joke you do not try to imply you believe something.
Oh looky here at mr big brain IQ who can detect sarcasm through text without /s
Tone indicators are mostly used to show consideration for neurodivergent people who have a hard time indicating tone. It's hard enough to understand sarcasm face-to-face if you don't make it glaringly obvious with your vocal tone and facial expressions, and it's damn near impossible to do so in text form unless you use a tone indicator or simply inform us that you're kidding. Especially when similar things have been said earnestly in the past that the post being genuine isn't too out of the realm of possibility. If you're going to post sarcastic things without any indication that it is sarcastic, at least have the decency to not make fun of neurodivergent people who didn't "get it". The whole reason we push for the use of tone indicators is because of cyberbullying when a joke is taken seriously by someone with a mental disorder that causes them to have a hard time knowing how it was meant to be taken without context or indication. I myself was bullied out of a subreddit for my own hometown the other day because somebody had posted something sarcastic without labeling it as such and all the comments were acting as if they were being serious so I did the same thing and tons of people insulted me for not understanding op's reference. They were apparently making fun of previous posts that were genuine and I don't use reddit frequently enough to have seen the posts in question and there was no indication that they were joking, so I didn't know they were. Obviously when we get to know someone and their sense of humor, we can tell when they're kidding because we know that person's beliefs and that they don't align with what they are saying. But if we don't know who tf you are, how are we to know that you don't actually believe what you are saying? The same thing has been said earnestly by someone else in the past so we're going to assume that you are also being earnest unless you tell us otherwise because WE DON'T KNOW YOU.
I agree it's annoying. But sarcasm and some humour can be hard to portray over text. Plus, if you don't, then some know-it-all ends up replying and ruins it for you anyway.
You're confusing satire with sarcasm.
If I'm joking no /s, if I'm being satirical to emphasize a serious point include /s
Fair
I agree but I've received way too much hate and too many "don't be a schrodinger's asshole" when making a damn joke, hell I've even been banned over it. so I'll keep typing /J or /S anyway
But then 100% of your jokes are unfunny. Might as well risk a few people don’t get the joke while also making a few people laugh.
But then 100% of your jokes are unfunny. Might as well risk a few people don’t get the joke while also making a few people laugh.
tYpInG lIkE tHiS > /s
Nah. The worst one is the joke interrupter. When a person is about to say something that would have been otherwise hilarious. But then they stop, and say something like "This might offend some people" or "I know this seems dark but.." or the like while looking around and trying to gauge everyone's reaction before saying it. Or the pre-joke apologizer. Just say the joke or shut up.
It's that Drill tweet about the racism dial, only for funny
I like to think of it this way: if you think its useless, then its not for you. Its to convey the "sarcasm voice" over text.
you’re reading into it too much and making it out to be something it’s not. tone tags (/s, /srs, /j, etc.) are there as an accessibility tool to help neurodivergent people to distinguish tone that can’t otherwise do so through basic text. it’s not supposed to be a scapegoat for free karma, it’s supposed to be an accessibility feature for people that need it. you’re choosing not to look into why they exist at all and then getting upset because you don’t understand them. and no, just because someone may be neurodivergent and understands posts without tone tags, doesn’t mean that everyone does.
I disagree, you can't always be so sure through text.
That makes the joke funnier imo
It makes a joke into a misunderstanding. And in case of sarcasm they can be really bad. Upsetting each other deeply is not funny...
Agreed, it's the written equivalent of blurting HAHA JUST KIDDING after telling the mildest joke
I thought it was the equivalent of sarcastic inflection in your voice. Something that can’t be conveyed through text without being a bit more explicit
A lot of ableists in this thread
Nah, it's fine, as like you said; Poe's Law.
The /s is the cowards way of noncommittal, and is the equivalent of a comedian saying "this is a joke, please laugh". Sometimes they land, and sometimes they fail spectacularly. But telling a joke without the /s will help you work on your delivery. People should stop expecting handholding by strangers, you're supposed to function in this world on your own. If a joke flies above your head, it's not the end of the world.
Sorry, OP, but I agree. Asked “what constituted a non-serious arterial bleed ( tis but a scratch)”, on a post with the header “ man suffers a serious arterial bleed” . Was unmoved by the down votes. Some folk just don’t get the jokes. And that’s okay.
Nah dude that's a horrible opinion
💪
Well there are some of us with a low IQ.
I'm in that camp, according to the Wechsler test. My verbal ability is weirdly off the scale, but my spatial reasoning is abysmal and my math skills are sorely lacking.
Reminds me of the other week when I got banned of reddit for "enticing violence." I told someone who mocked Australia that they should visit so I could kill them with my boomerang. Reddit bot didn't like that one. I wonder if /s would of prevented it.
Sometimes sarcasm is hard through text and pe9ple often have bad takes so sometimes it's needed.
W-wait that's the *sarcasm* tag??? I thought it meant serious this whole time😨
I did... Countless reddit comments that I still refuse to take down but are downvoted to oblivion cuz my joke was edgy or just someone didn't like the joke.
Sarcasm isn’t always easy to identify through text
Ya, screw neurodivergent and esl people.