[notacoward]

Yes. Many commenters on such topics - including at least one in this thread - even identify as members of the 50 Cent Army in their profiles.

[trasz]

A couple of years ago I'd assume that someone who can't tell it's a joke wouldn't be able to create an account on HN, or - if they somehow succeeded - would die of suffocation by forgetting to breathe while writing a comment.

Nowadays I'm not sure anymore, so I tend to add "/s" in all but most obvious cases, like this one.