[compsciphd]

I understood as a joking reference to the hitchhiker's guide.

[teh_klev]

I got it because I'm probably ancient compared to many readers here. But if you're going to do quotes stick them in quotation marks, that's the normal thing to do, and it serves as a hint to the less well read (apropos Adams) to perhaps google if they don't get it.

[chrisseaton]

Yes but that doesn't mean anything to someone who's never listened to it - as you can see by the confusion in the comments.

[sandworm101]

Only the lazy people. Normal people will see something they do not understand, take that failing as a learning moment, and do some basic research. Any googling would find this instantly. I hazard it would take less time to cut-and-paste the line into google than it would to type out any multi-word comment on HN. Not a day goes by that I do not see some term on HN that I don't understand. What better way to learn?

[madamelic]

Why would I search a comment's text?

Re-reading that comment gives me zero indication that it is referencing a piece of media. This isn't a 'failing' on my part, but a failing on conveying that it is either:

1) a joke

2) a reference

[chrisseaton]

If you look at the comments you can see people think they did understand and replied in good faith.

Quoting like this is unkind - it’s only done to set a trap so people can roll their eyes and say ‘oh didn’t you get it?’

[cardiffspaceman]

I read all the Hitchhiker books, it made me a hoopy frood and I don’t go around without a towel[1], but I thought the bypass reference was the Simpsons for some reason.

I’m not sure the sentence, as terse as it was, was completely unparsable.

[1] all Hitchhiker references