Creepiness lately in the forums... :(

[Winter Phoenix]

Back in 1983, Jerry Schwarz ( old timey IRC abuser) in a post on Usenet

expressed this early example of POE'S LAW.

'Without the voice inflection and body language of personal communication
these are easily misinterpreted.
A sideways smile, :-), has become widely accepted on the net as an indication that
"I'm only kidding".
If you submit a satiric item without this symbol,
no matter how obvious the satire is to you,
do not be surprised if people take it seriously'.

Totally true.

I tick off at least three people a week who think

some of my most outrageous statements are for real.

I'm sure some of this is due to language differences,

but some people just naturally jump to conclusions.

I had Callie Cline show up once to yell at me for picking on some crazy person.

I was like... " SAY WHAAAAT??? " and then I said,

" hey Callie, if you gimme one of those twenty foot red foxies I'll be yer best friend. "

She did not, and teleported me to the nearest n00b hub for my insolence.

USE THOSE WINKIES!