Here is the general guideline for when you need to use a sarcasm tag:
If your comment could be plausibly stated as genuine instead of sarcastic by someone reading your comment, then your comment needs to be denoted as sarcastic.
This is to say, if you're in a group chat with your friends and all of them are like-minded, then typing something sarcastic probably doesn't need a sarcasm tag, since no one in the group chat would plausibly type that comment as genuine. However, if you're in a more-or-less public forum and you type something sarcastically, it becomes far more likely that your comment could be typed out as a genuine stance instead of a sarcastic one, and therefore it is wise to make it clear that you are not one of those people.
It is possible, even in 2023, to craft a comment that is so obviously sarcastic that it does not need a sarcasm tag even when posted in public, but this is pretty rare-- most people are typing stuff that could easily be typed genuinely.
/s has been around forever, but zoomer/tumblr types have taken it and built an entire tone indicator system around it. So yes, it exists; the tag you'd want is /gen.
But... tone indicators are not well known or commonly used outside that demographic, so using them will make people assume you're a certain age or type of person, and you may not be comfortable with that.
Mmm could you say a bit more? I'm too exhausted tonight to commit to an 18-minute watch based only on "somewhat relevant."
From my POV, as a person coming up on 40, I just don't want to make myself seem younger than I am to such a degree that teens and tweens might feel more comfortable approaching me as a casual friend.
Totally, fair enough. It's specifically about the /hj tone indicator, how it is mostly useless because of its ambiguity and it not being known by people in general, and how that extends to most tone indicators. It's basically what you said but goes way more in depth (almost crazily so but that's sorta their thing)
Personally, I don't use tone indicators for pretty much the same reasons as what you said above. I also think that anything that could be conveyed using them is probably just better off being spelled out
I saw your comment in the wild, and it seemed pretty obvious considering the context and the references to North Korea, so I don't think it was necessary.
Having said that, the tag helps when tone of voice is missing in text, and for people with autism who may struggle to pick up on the clues, so it is a useful tag to avoid confusion. Use if you feel it's necessary. Edits work in other instances when needed.
As a person in a world where some people honestly believe crazy things like that the Earth is flat, it’s entirely reasonable for non-disabled people to have trouble telling sarcasm from a genuine reply too! Some time ago, a long screed on why the Earth is flat would be taken as sarcasm because it’s so outlandish, but nowadays I need the /s tag to determine whether you’re joking or if you’re a flat-Earther genuinely holding this belief. Remember Poe’s Law (warning for TVTropes link): satire of extreme views becomes indistinguishable from genuinely holding extreme views.
As an autistic person, I will admit that I can usually pick up on sarcasm, both in real life and online. But a good deal of us struggle with that, so it’s disheartening to see people calling others idiots for needing an /s tag. And I’m sure most people who can usually detect sarcasm have still encountered situations where it’s ambiguous. Clarification is always nice.
If I interpret a post as sarcastic, the addition or omission of an /s does nothing for me. Doesn’t make it less funny if I already knew it was sarcastic. I guess I’ll personally never see how including the /s makes it less funny, but given so many attest to it as a reason why they won’t use /s I figure it’s a real phenomenon.
I don’t use /s unless I think it might be ambiguous to most people as to whether I am being sarcastic or not. I’m fine with people who do use it and don’t use it. My only objection is to passing judgment on those who want an /s or use one. Some people are disabled. Some people are learning English as a second language. Some peoples’ sarcasm is incredibly ambiguous. Some people rely on tone of voice, body language, and context to determine sarcasm; and we lose the first two in online communication. Sometimes the context you post in is not enough to make it clear you are being sarcastic. People who use /s may have these people in mind, and prefer being clear to potentially being misunderstood. Not sure how clarifying your intention is an indicator of any kind of bad trait, such as cowardice. At most, I’ll it means you aren’t well-versed enough in communication or English to let your words speak for themselves without an explicit statement of intent.
No cause it’s like a inside joke so it works with people who know me and my humour and I feel sarcasm is better used in some form of criticism like quoting something hypocritical.
Don't tailor your speech for people who can't read or think.
If someone wants to misunderstand you they'll do so no matter how hard you try to accommodate them .
I can barely speak my native language of English. But I am fluent in sarcasm and cynicism. I would become tired and bored with adding some kind of trigger warning on every post.
Maybe we need to revert to old forum posts, and include a signature like the good 'ol days? Mine might say;
"In order to insult me, I must first value your opinion. No chance of that happening."
I think a better way to convey the intended sarcasm is to make it hyperbole or exaggerated. I saw your comment and one would have to be pretty dense to not see the sarcasm, so you did that well.
this works until you come across people that actually think that hyperbole is normal. Every time you think "oh, they can't be that idiotic...." that's when the knuckledraggers take as a challenge.
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