this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 82 points 1 year ago (8 children)

/s is an excellent modifier for sarcasm. There's no tone in text and bold/italic can only do so much. And with how many absolute crackpots are posting all over the internet, I'd prefer to be sure to not lump in a jokester with the absolute nutjobs.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Also helpful for people with trouble reading tone in text cuz of things like autism.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

It wouldn't be the first time I get myself into a trouble because of that :(

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

...and writing tone... for the same reasons. 😬

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s the only legitimate defense for having to tag your sarcasm I’ve ever read.

Back in MY DAY, nobody tagged their sarcasm on BBS or IRC and we ALL UNDERSTOOD AAAAA (but srsly for folks who have trouble with tone you’re fully right.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What are you talking about? Even usenet in the 80s recommended using emoticons to mark sarcasm/joking remarks.

Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.

Without the voice inflection and body language of personal communication these are easily misinterpreted. A sideways smile, :-), has become widely accepted on the net as an indication that "I'm only kidding". If you submit a satiric item without this symbol, no matter how obvious the satire is to you, do not be surprised if people take it seriously.

Source

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

This. I remember having a text file of emoticons back in the day because I couldn't remember what they were supposed to mean (and often didn't mean what I thought). :-/

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

That’s a valid point! I forgot now many emoticons I’d use back then. I’ve always hated pointing out my sarcasm using extra things, though… I prefer to do it using italics, which is reeeeal helpful on Reddit where it goes over nobody’s heads at all.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

To me it's born out of this moment: "Wait, will someone see this joke and think I'm serious? If they did they'd think I'm a psycho..."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People on Reddit are scared of downvotes affecting their karma score, so they have to tag controversial comments to make it absolutely clear if their comment is sarcasm.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I have used it because my sarcastic comment, read at face value, might encourage someone to support something I despise. I'm not interested in creating or bolstering that shit, I just want to make fun of it. Karma points never had anything to do with it. I had millions but what's a million nothings, still nothing. Reddit Karma is just multiplying by zero.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Am i wooshing myself??

That is literally the point of sarcasm. People legitimately wanted to murder Jonathan Swift.

If you write "/s", just write the direct unironic statement in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If that were holistically true the concept of a "sarcastic tone" wouldn't exist in verbal speech.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Yes, the /s and sarcastic tone both exist and are used by people.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sarcasm doesn’t require tone to operate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Declaring confusion to exist is a way of creating confusion.

[–] Lethtor 2 points 1 year ago

There are a lot of comments where I think "yeah, that has got to be satirical, there's no way someone actually thinks that" only to find out, no, they actually do.

So yeah, /s definitely has it's place

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That's the whole point of sarcasm though, that the delivery seems genuine. Don't write the opposite of what you mean if you aren't willing to have some people misunderstand you.

And yes, people who use sarcastic tone in conversation are also missing the point. They also should not say the opposite of what they mean.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Sarcasm was developed in spoken word. If you are using the written word, it needs to be painfully obvious if you want the meaning to come across. But due to Poe's Law, that's becoming harder and harder these days. Especially in the political and human rights discussion.

No one is forcing you to use /s. But shitting on people using it because you don't think it's "pure" is asinine and also abelism.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

iT Is tHE oNlY OpTiOn!

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

/S Is aN ExCeLlEnT MoDiFiEr fOr sArCaSm. ThErE'S No tOnE In tExT AnD BoLd/iTaLiC CaN OnLy dO So mUcH. aNd wItH HoW MaNy aBsOlUtE CrAcKpOtS ArE PoStInG AlL OvEr tHe iNtErNeT, i'd pReFeR To bE SuRe tO NoT LuMp iN A JoKeStEr wItH ThE AbSoLuTe nUtJoBs.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I definitely prefer /s over this style of sarcasm.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I'd much rather "/s" than this. Though the difference may be small, this text reads as sardonic, while sarcasm may not always be meant in a mocking tone. Plus readability is important to me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

tHiS is only useful for short phrases. Saying more than one sentence in this style makes me just skip the paragraph because it's annoying to try to read.