[sph]

NAK.

Hacker News is pretty serious compared to most social media, and I love that. Which makes some rare harmless comments or posts like this one actually good to encounter once in a while.

The seriousness-to-joke ratio of this site is just perfect in my opinion.

[user_7832]

Oh yeah I definitely agree that the jokes here are quite tolerable compared to most/all other sites.

It's just that a lot of joke answers early on in the life of a post may make other users who may otherwise seriously respond, look at the responses and go "Aah it's a joke post/it's filled with joke responses, better not waste my time". Consequently the post may not see many upvotes and die out quickly.

In comparison, a post like this has the potential to easily get a few 100 upvotes with good discussions on the (changing/constant etc) demographics. But if a lot of initial responses are jokey in nature we may lose out on that.

[sph]

Fair enough. But I think in generals polls need a fake answer for bots, trolls or they will contaminate the other results further. See the reference to the Lizardman's Constant someone linked elsewhere in this thread.

[user_7832]

> Lizardman's Constant

Thanks for this, that's a good point.

[BLKNSLVR]

Why did the 105 year old chicken cross the road?

To do a second upvote.