On jul-25 at 11am pdt, charles_f was standing out to comment on an interesting aviation story. Seeing in passing a reference to issues regarding imperial and metric systems confusion, and given the popularity of this kind of debates on the internet, they decided to set course on a "joke".
The joke was thusly constructed: the metric system is commonly used across the world and much more sensical than outdated imperial system, and people commonly announce their discontent for the latter and ask to discontinue its use. Therefore commenting using the opposite point of view as if it were an evidence, and in a serious tone, had a chance to trigger surprise and interrogation in the reader's mind, quickly resolved by the idea that the author wasn't being serious and making fun of this debate, and triggering a chuckle. This type of jokes is commonly referenced as "sarcasm" in the professional jokers world.
But before the joke took flight, the joke funniness sensor wasn't working, as well as the joke and sarcasm announcement systems. The author sent Robert, their left moustachioed fat finger, to dip in the joky tank, and check if it was fun. Robert answered "yo bro yain't starting to finish all your jokes by 'just kidding' like a brainless soccer dad".
Based on this manual reading the author was reinforced in their certainty that the joke would work and maybe make someone else's life a little brighter for a half second (500 time thaus, for those using imperial), and decided to take off.
We all know the result. The joke worked, as some people understood it, but not all detected that it was one.
The author would like to apologize for, and retract the "<joke/>" that they added as a comment to their original comment, since adding a revelation that a joke is, indeed, a joke, undercuts the element of doubt and surprise necessary to maximize its effect and duration. The same goes for lengthy, rational discussions about said joke and should be avoided. (It turns out that this particular type of joke can be delivered in their lengthier form, which get ruined if its actual, underlying agenda is revealed in plain text). As such the author would like to also immediately retract this statement and apologize for it.