Back in MY DAY, nobody tagged their sarcasm on BBS or IRC and we ALL UNDERSTOOD AAAAA (but srsly for folks who have trouble with tone you’re fully right.)

[–] candybrie@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

What are you talking about? Even usenet in the 80s recommended using emoticons to mark sarcasm/joking remarks.

Avoid sarcasm and facetious remarks.

Without the voice inflection and body language of personal communication these are easily misinterpreted. A sideways smile, :-), has become widely accepted on the net as an indication that "I'm only kidding". If you submit a satiric item without this symbol, no matter how obvious the satire is to you, do not be surprised if people take it seriously.

Source

[–] Veraxus@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

This. I remember having a text file of emoticons back in the day because I couldn't remember what they were supposed to mean (and often didn't mean what I thought). :-/

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 11 months ago

That’s a valid point! I forgot now many emoticons I’d use back then. I’ve always hated pointing out my sarcasm using extra things, though… I prefer to do it using italics, which is reeeeal helpful on Reddit where it goes over nobody’s heads at all.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee -5 points 11 months ago (3 children)

As someone with autism, I’m here to say that it is actually the opposite of helpful.

People need challenges in order to grow. They need opportunities to fail.

Putting training wheels on sarcasm makes autistic people even further behind the social curve by depriving us of opportunities to fail.

Much like a sterile childhood environment has been scientifically proven to be a causal factor in developing allergies as an adult, I predict that science will eventually establish a causal link between lack of ambiguous communication during developmental years, and reduced intelligence in life.

Human society is so fucking hard to understand for an autistic person, and I really appreciate your looking out for me, but the struggle is worth it, and human culture is intricate and beautiful, and that’s why I chose this username.

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 11 months ago

Okay but lots of other autistic people I know really appreciate tone indicators so you cannot really speak for everyone. Not to mention, why does knowing that something was meant to be sarcastic hinder learning instead of essentially guessing?

[–] kitedemon@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You misunderstand, this is from my own perspective as an autistic person. Plus, the lack of tone of voice over text can make communication harder, for everyone. It’s literally just a tool for communication, clearing up what you mean.

[–] Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works -1 points 11 months ago

But that's the point of sarcasm. Jonathan Swift got lots of death threats by mail after writing "A Modest Proposal," and he expected it! If someone doesn't want to risk being misunderstood, they should not write the opposite of what they mean.

[–] themajesticdodo@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How ever did autistic people survive before the internet to help them cope?

[–] starman2112@lemmy.world 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I mean a lot of neurodivergent people literally didn't survive until a few decades ago

[–] themajesticdodo@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Well that's a massively gross exaggeration.