[memetichazard]

Actually the initial reception of MoR from what I was was that it was a crackfic/humor piece. The first few chapters are, after all, hilarious. And people expected more of the same. There was quite a bit of confusion later on when it became apparent that the story was meant to be serious.

[MBlume]

Heh, I seem to recall Eliezer saying something about how the story was going to be played completely straight, and then out of nowhere, Harry bit his teacher, and he realized it was going to be a humor piece.