I think his point was that this isn't reddit and the general consensus is to avoid creating punful comment threads.
Might be wrong and misinterpreting.
Might be wrong and misinterpreting.
Did everyone who originally downvoted the "epic fail" post realise the context and just not like jokes on HN, or did a couple of people choose to downvote, and then more people see what looked like a Reddit-esque joke that was being downvoted and just join in without understanding the point of the post?
As others pointed out, a similar mentality could explain the results on the Yelp page we are discussing, even if the entire thing was actually orchestrated by a competitor and/or triggered by a single unhappy customer where we don't know the full story.
On HN, I downvote that comment.
On Reddit, I leave it alone or perhaps upvote it.
On Slashdot, I probably make the joke myself if I'm the first one to get to it.
I appreciate HN's "no class clowns" tone, as I can (and do) easily get my fill of that elsewhere.