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Interesting article, I disagree with several points, most notably the blanket statement that anyone who uses fail is an asshole. It seems like the author is too busy being butt-hurt about (one can only assume) someone calling fail to grok the fact that quite often "fail" (much like fuck) carries substantial irony, or otherwise conveys subtext in a very condensed form.

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Hmm, I do kind of see the point he's trying to make though - 'Fail' seems to be like a fratboy in-joke, the kind of thing that's OK to shout out because it's funny, but that is actually a little thoughtless and sometimes cruel. The tabloid press and TV are full of that already; the article author obviously thought that the internet could do better, and is disappointed to see it isn't.

If that's true then clearly the author hasn't spent any actual time on the Internet. Compared to the average dose of caustic bile dispensed on usenet or irc, "fail" is downright cheery in comparison.

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