[vacri]

It's tradition on HN, in an attempt to lower the chaff and keep things on-topic. It used to be that any attempt at humour would get you canned, but now it seems the pendulum has swung to 'if there's no other content in the comment'. The same goes for comments about people not being able to handle things like in your edit - they don't really contribute anything. Snark is frowned upon.

[philh]

I don't think pure jokes automatically get downvoted, if they're funny enough, though I have no recent examples in mind. But this particular example is more condescending than funny.