The misinterpreted irony/sarcasm bug--who's suffered from it on DU?

[jpgray]

You know what I mean--you post your sardonic or satirical response, expecting to be greeted with many a "LOL" or "ROFL", and instead you are taken at face value and forced to sheepishly explain yourself. Has it happened to YOU? I believe it can be contagious.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. Yeah. Some posts I've been unable to tell whether a person is joking

or totally humourless. I've done it myself too. Irony and sarcasm really on the tone of the voice as much as anything, which is why we have so much trouble with it at DU.
You're all a bunch of wankers by the way.
I was being ironic.
Or was I?
I JUST DON'T KNOW ANY MORE!

[jpgray]

2. Yeah, I just came from the "tell about your abortion" thread

You'd think Frank's raised eyebrow would help RKZ out in his satire, but I suppose some people take everything seriously. :)

edit: (what a weird thread that was)

[blondeatlast]

16. I had to take a shower in Purell!

[NicoleM]

5. The problem is

that some people really suck at sarcasm. Sometimes it's not you, it's them.

[underpants]

3. I ran into that today in GD 2004

'nuff said

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. One time I was reacting to some borderline racists posts and started

a thread with the stereotypes in the other thread that had the borderline racist posts. The black Du'ers that KNEW me and KNEW my record on the issue were glad I posted it but some that did NOT know me thought I was being a racist and it caused a HUGE problem until I explained myself (which was about an hour later since I had left the office and headed home)

I (sort of) learned my lesson after that. The great thing was an African American male that had gotten really angry at me sent me a series of PM's and I was able to communicate my real intent and we became great friends out of it.

[jpgray]

6. You're pretty talented at blundering when you make your friends that way

:)

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. Oh yeah..how could I forget about US honey :-)

I have cooled my jets a bit haven't I?

But ya gotta admit..you love me MORE now..don't you? :scared:

[arwalden]

8. Ohhh Noooo! That's Neeever Happened To Meeeee!

People can AAAALWAYS tell when I-I-I'm being sarcastic.

== Allen

[Kamika]

9. I can't

I find it pretty hard sometimes, sorry to say.

[Insider]

10. POOTW

option #3 gets poll option of the week. priceless

[SOteric]

11. It's not limited to DU and it's not limited to just a few folks.

Sarcasm is quite difficult in a text-only medium. In face-to-face conversation it tends to rely heavily on tone and inflection for conveyance.

It actually takes quite a lot of writing skill to consistently communicate the sardonic/sarcastic without the use of facial expression and tone of voice.

While there are many here with the kind of skill to effectively utilize those qualities, most of our posts are quick, poorly thought out and using only the most fundamental skills in an informal, conversational style.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

12. Ah, knee-jerk posts.

I've done not a few and thought 'why the hell did I post that? that makes no sense whatsoever'

[Solly Mack]

13. The trials and tribulations of a smartass.....they are many

I'd have a pity party but I'm too busy snickering

[blondeatlast]

17. Me too!

[philosophie_en_rose]

14. Sarcasm is my enemy.

I try to make it obvious that I'm not serious, but a look at freeperville shows that sometimes people really believe the things that we think are ridiculous.

"Yeah, sure George W Bush is a great war hero." is just funny on DU, but its gospel on Free Republic.

[DrWeird]

15. I've been freeping this board for the last 10 months.

But everybody thinks I'm just being sarcastic.