[Veen]

It's not really sarcasm (which usually connotes contempt or mockery, which I suspect the blog writer didn't intend). It's irony, and irony has been widely used in written communication since we stopped using writing exclusively for record-keeping.

It can and does work on the internet, provided (i) the writer is prepared to accept that a subset of readers won't "get it"; they'll fail to pick up on contextual clues that signal irony and (ii) you have to be a good enough writer to include those clues so that at least your intended audience knows not to take it literally.

EDIT: To clarify, in this case, irony was a bad idea because it was badly executed. The context that would allow readers to interpret "The solution is trivial" as ironic was only available to people who were privy to the original conversation, while the blog post was intended to be read and understood by a much wider audience who lacked that context.

[jgwil2]

Irony should not really be used in technical communication at all, though. The goal of technical writing is that as many readers "get it" as possible. Therefore, any rhetorical technique for which you have to "accept that a subset of readers won't 'get it'" is a bad technique for technical writing.

[cptskippy]

Writing is hard. Writing for a multi-lingual audience is harder. Writing in your non-native tongue is harder still.

> EDIT: To clarify, in this case, irony was a bad idea because it was badly executed.

That was exactly how I felt reading it. Had it been the last statement of a long and complex explanation, it would have landed differently and warranted a chuckle.

[kodah]

imo, sarcasm only works over text if your text can be taken sarcastically and non-sarcastically.

[johnwheeler]

Everyone knows you’re supposed to denote sarcasm with </sarcasm>. </sarcasm>

[Nexxxeh]

There's a (renewed?) push from Autistic/Ally TikTok users to use Tone Tags / Tone Indicators, especially when communicating with ND people.

https://tonetags.carrd.co/#masterlist

A number of creators, especially cosplayers, have recently shared posts encouraging their use.

I don't know how widespread it is, because TikTok and IG both tend to feed you content relating to your niches. So I may be seeing a disproportionate number.

(I had to Google what NBH was about, it means "This isn't aimed at anyone specific reading this".)

[samhw]

Gosh this seems like a brilliantly effective next step in the TikTokers’ campaign to drain life of any and all colour and playfulness and spontaneity. As an autistic person, I’d cast my vote for ‘occasionally misunderstand things’ over ‘have ridiculous sarcasm warnings on everything so that you can’t actually be sarcastic, or anything but grimly solemn and annoyingly earnest 100% of the time’.

(Also, Lord save me from people who call themselves “allies”. It’s just called being a normal decent person, but that doesn’t let you brag about it or use autistic/black/etc people as fashion accessories, so I s’pose that’s off the menu..)

[Nexxxeh]

I think it's about writing for one's audience, and being inclusive.

I've got autistic friends who struggle with open questions. They strongly dislike opening greetings without quickly taking the conversation somewhere.

They often miss stuff that's implied in conversation. It has to be explicitly stated.

They suck at gauging tone and intent in written language. They worry about the feelings and opinions of others. It can be upsetting and stressful for them.

But they're smart, capable, fun, artistic and creative, kind, thoughtful and inclusive.

They are certainly not lacking in colour or playfulness. (Possibly lacking in spontaneity to a degree, but I don't think that's a deal-breaker.)

And it's great that you're comfortable enough with misunderstanding things for it to be preferable to an alternative.

I choose to change my language to suit them. If using /s and /nbh or whatever helps them to correctly parse what I write, and assists in me communicating, why would I choose not to do that?

When using spoken language, I denote sarcasm through tone of voice. Does that render it pointless? If not, why would using /s?

[kingcharles]

Wait! Where's your opening tag? You monster!

[marcosdumay]

It's like those people that open a parenthesis (for a short sentence, and then go 5 paragraphs without bothering to close it!