Does humor have a place in the questions we post on the site. Occasionally I see it in comments or questions in reference to pets actions and want to know what other users think.
Does it have a place in answers? If it does, what place does it serve?
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4 Answers
Why not? I think humor helps to personalize responses and make them more accessible to people in general. The use of it, when appropriate and not over the top, creates a more welcoming environment in my opinion and that's pretty helpful for bringing more users to the site.
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1This answer sufficiently describes my view on the topic, so I'm leaving this comment instead of duplicating John's answer.– user105Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 11:59
As long as the bulk of the post is still on-topic and contains useful information there is no reason that a joke or funny limerick can't be included.
The important thing here is to make sure that it is not a joke post - a post only created to get a reaction from users.
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5That post should be read to children as a bed time story, in the womb. It is classic literature that will save thousands of generations from madness and despair. I credit Earth's continued existence to that very post and I dare anyone to prove me wrong. Did you know it was written by a cat? See I bet you didn't.– user105Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 12:01
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@tim - I was under the impression that it was originally written by a shrunken-head-cookie-monster...oh well... you live, you learn...– LixCommented Oct 10, 2013 at 12:19
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Cookie monsters have cats too, you know.– user105Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 12:28
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2@tim - Pics or it didn't happen!... I'm quite liking this whole internet business...– LixCommented Oct 10, 2013 at 12:36
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Humor is fine as long as
- your question is valid and understandable
- your answer is valid and understandable
- your comment is... well, it's a comment; if it's abusive, someone will flag it away
- you aren't being mean or derogatory or could be misinterpreted
- you aren't being sarcastic because no one on the internet seems to be able to comprehend sarcasm, and when you use sarcasm-specific emoticons to indicate you're using sarcasm, you defeat the entire purpose of being sarcastic in the first place
Can't believe I'm saying this... it has no place here.
The Stack Overflow people have a strict guideline on this: "There’s no way we’re sacrificing our core Q&A mission to turn into a brainless LOL-fest like Reddit or Digg."
(Source: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/01/stack-overflow-where-we-hate-fun/)
I think the same should hold for Pets. This site should be the place to go when you have a serious concern about the well-being of your animal friends. If you just want to have fun, there's LOLcats and LOLdogs all over the net.
Keep Pets a place for serious issues.
answered Oct 10, 2013 at 5:21
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6While I appreciate your point, and appreciate the linking of that particular blog post, I don't think that any sort of humor anywhere (as it sometimes appears in comments, for example) should be frowned upon - if you look at M.SO or any other site, it is common to see humor used there.– user53Commented Oct 10, 2013 at 6:49
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1The blog link is more about questions, so yeah "What makes this LOLCat picture funnier than that one" is something we'll want to massively discourage, but some humor in comments or answers kept to reasonable moderation should be seen as a positive.– Joanne CCommented Oct 10, 2013 at 12:48
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I am frequently humorous on SO while still maintaining appropriate answers and questions. It makes them digestible, IMHO.– JoshDMCommented Oct 10, 2013 at 22:25
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I don't mind fun on Meta. But how will we keep the main Pets site from being overrun with LOL posts when it becomes popular? Commented Oct 11, 2013 at 5:20