Personally there's nothing I can't stand more than people who take life too seriously and can't find the absurdity in every day matters. If someone manages to make me spit out my coffee, give a chuckle or even just a smile then I am eternally grateful. After all, I'm usually on HN because I need a temporary mental break from work.
Value comes in many shapes and forms. But is also in the eye of the beholder. I just ask that you and others don't assume for a second that someone trying to make others laugh is doing it for "internet points." Some people genuinely like trying to bring a smile to the faces of others. Those who succeed are my heroes.
Spot on!! I personally couldn’t care less about these brownie points, my whole life been (and still) using alt/nicknames accounts and mostly in sites/chats where the whole upvote system isn’t there, when I help someone in something or make a joke, because it makes me feel better to know I helped someone or brought some smile, I don’t care about your fake coins or whatever, but some people are so fixated about it for some reason, and that’s why I don’t like “influencers” culture in general, they are usually slaves to these thumbs up!
There have certainly been occasions -- albeit rare -- when a humorous HN comment has made me laugh out loud, or at least grin.
But most of the time I find attempts at humor here to be annoying and distracting. Especially when it devolves into a deep thread of few-word or one-line responses that reminds me very much of things I dislike about Reddit.
Put another way: I don't come here for humor. That doesn't mean I won't appreciate it sometimes, but that's not what I'm here for, and the majority of the time I find it to be an unwelcome distraction from what I actually come here for. I come here for discussion, whether just to read it, or to participate in it. Short, humorous comments almost never lead to discussion.
For small values of eternity.