[alasdair_]

>Implied sarcasm and irony is a troll's game. Not to imply that the poster is a troll, I have no reason to think that, but that's why I never assume sarcasm if it's not explicitly stated.

Sarcasm and irony have been used in an enormous amount of major English-language texts since, well, there WERE English-language texts. Most of these texts don't take the time to spell things out to their less observant readers. Not assuming sarcasm will lead you to miss the point entirely. (This sounds terribly rude and elitist but it's true. And of course, little heed was given to those learning English as a second, or third, language, when these texts were written.)

Take the King James bible, for example. In Exodus, Moses is asked "Were there a lack of graves in Egypt, that you took us away to die in the wilderness?"

Hopefully this doesn't need to be explicitly flagged as sarcasm for you to understand its meaning.