[renewiltord]

These conversations happen so often on HN I wonder if there is some sort of working memory limit on the participants that rapidly removes context from the comment they're replying to:

> > > > > Here are some numbers: [6, 2, 34]

> > > > That's neat, one of them is prime

> > > 6 isn't prime, its factors are 2 and 3

> > Are we reading the same comment? There is a prime there

> 6 was mentioned there and it isn't prime

It's like some sort of weird comedy skit.

[smichel17]

I'd like to propose that we generalize this particular part of the conversation, and coin the term "XY Argument" (unless a name for it already exists?)

> > > > That's neat, one of them is prime

> > > 6 isn't prime, its factors are 2 and 3

I believe it's the equivalent of the [XY Problem], except in the context of an (imagined) disagreement. It happens because the second comment is misinterpreted to be arguing against the first when really it may be in addition. It can be fixed by readers taking a charitable interpretation of the second comment, or by the second commenter's author making it clear that they're not disagreeing, as in,

> > > Yes, and 6 isn't prime, its factors are 2 and 3

I'm pulling out these two comments because it's a much more common pattern than just this comment chain; I think it happens all the time with text in general. Actually, I'm commenting here because it just [happened to me] in a different context. Someone I thought I was arguing with turned out to mostly agree with me — but because we failed to re-affirm the parts of each other's arguments that we agreed with, it seemed like we disagreed more than we did.

[XY Problem]: https://xyproblem.info/

[happened to me]: https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/issues/2565...

[pmiller2]

Third base!

[nvader]

Three is not an anime.

[theawless]

No. 6 definitely is an anime.

[smichel17]

These conversations happen so often about anime I wonder if there is some sort of working memory limit on the participants that rapidly removes context from the comment they're replying to:

> > > > > Here are some waifus: [lenna, 6rem, natsuki]

> > > > That's neet, one of them is best girl

> > > lenna isn't from an anime, she exists irl

> > Are we reading the same comment? That's just your opinion, man

> 6rem is best spacing and material design is justice

It's like some sort of tone-deaf comedy skit.

[smichel17]

I've gotten enough upvotes here (4) that I feel I need to ~~ruin~~ explain the joke, lest HN get the idea that this is upvote-worthy in general.

This is low-effort humor. I took the comment above and replaced words with memes from anime, tech, and earlier in this conversation thread. There's no (intentionally) meaningful relation between rem and Rem, or the number 6, I was just pattern matching things that sounded similar. Basically the equivalent of an "I hardly know her" joke. Funny only for the meme value, and not what I come to HN for.

In this particular thread, ^^that^^ is the joke — that we mistake unrelated comments as meaningful replies.

[renewiltord]

I personally found the metajoke amusing, whether it was intended or not. The comment, low effort as it is is no different from the comment chain it describes. Great stuff.

[pmiller2]

No soap, radio.

[renewiltord]

I am thoroughly entertained.