Marking a Serious Review as Funny

Tended to happen to me a lot, although, like anything that gets overused, it lost whatever marginal effectiveness (and, believe me, it was very marginal at best) it might once have had. Indeed, over time, a troll can become as familiar as an old shoe. I'd sometimes think, "Ah, a funny AND a disagree! Must mean the shift's over at my troll's local McDonald's and he's made it over to the local free library and is firing up that computer they have there." Not to seem swell-headed, but some regular, long-term reviewers have their "fans"-- then there are some (like me) who have their "anti-fans".

It depends how you look at the review. If you look at it as funny, than yea, I guess its funny. But if you look at a truly serious comment and mark it funny anyways, then it is trolling to me.

This is a lot less of a problem now that there's a disagree button, but some people have a strange sense of humor, and folks need to accept that. Maybe they're picturing you reading your review out loud in that funny voice you have. What's next, a requirement that you must actually laugh before you can write "lol" in a review?

Good afternoon. My name is Huntsworth Randolph IV and I am here to express my genuine delight with what you quaint North Americans endearingly refer to as Ol' Roy. Later this afternoon, I shall give an in depth analysis of Grizzly Wintergreen chewing tobacco, and perhaps later in the day I shall engage in what is known to the lay person as a flame war, I shall do my very best to not only uphold the Randolph family spirit of pugnacious combat in the best " stiff upper lip" tradition, but I shall also attempt to make one seek parallels with the firm resolve of Hector from the immortal Homer's Iliad.

Some of the funniest reviews I have read are quite serious, and I do mean funny in a clever way. If I ever get funny votes on a review I write without any intended funny elements, I may feel a bit surprised for a fraction of a second, and after that I might feel pretty good being considered as funny without trying. Especially after the disagree button is introduced, I don't have a reason to think people give funny votes as a form of negative opinion.

I dunno that this is trolling so much as a difference of opinion in most cases. My default mode is amusement. I suppose in some cases it's just vaguely passive aggressive, but I feel like that's true of the internet in general. See the following link for unanticipated usage of the "like" button on facebook, for example: (http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2009/03/16/sn aps-for-schadenfreude/). I swear it's some other Lena... (hilarious) coincidence.

Again, this is something that depends on the intent. If somebody leaves a review that says something like "I have cancer" and it gets voted funny, then yeah, possible troll. However, If somebody left a serious review but they stated it in a way that can be construed as funny, then its probably not a troll. Some people have really weird senses of humor.

People try to defend this habit in numerous ways, but marking a serious review as funny is trolling. The funny vote abuse has decreased with the introduction of the disagree vote, but it still happens. If I remember correctly, I've only given one funny vote for a serious review, and yeah, I guess I was trolling. I left a comment on a ridiculous dog food review that was obviously written by someone who worked for that company (their username was the name of the company, and they referred to the company with words like "we" and "us"). This company has dog food that sells for over $8.60 a pound! So I called them out on it in a comment, but the RIA powers that be felt my comment was inappropriate, and deleted it from the system two times. So with no other options to express how much they were ripping people off, I voted funny and disagree.

Sometimes this is obvious, but sometimes what appears to be serious, also has a humorous side. Besides, define serious. I`ve written about some pretty nasty stuff, some of it personal, and done it with a sense of sardonic irony, so a funny vote doesn`t seem inappropriate. Laughter is one way of easing pain.

The new form of whining and aggression from the easily offended. Some outright stupidity and ignorance is certainly funny no matter what the intention of the author is. (Someone please mark this as funny to prove my point.)

Its annoying and I can see how it gets people worked up. I'm more likely to consider this trolling if a comment is left, but those who spend enough time on this website know that there are certain individuals who they can rattle with a well placed funny vote.

This was before the disagree button came along, but what used to really upset me is when people would mark funny on comments that were serious, such as death or any other tragedy. In a way, to me that would be no better than spitting in someone's face, just because of the seriousness of it. When you love someone very much, and you're writing a review about that person, it's cruel when somebody will do something like that. It's careless, not to mention thoughtless.

Serious is often in the eye of the beholder.

it can be trolling now that the disagree button is back. i have seen some funny marked still on raters when the person was clearly trying to be serious. can be hurtful to someone who was trying to say something that was heartfelt to them and a "troller" marks funny. just mean spirited. too bad but some people get their pleasure by doing something like this.

If only people would do this for me. I'm trying to pass LM this year, damnit! Chop chop, mark this drivel!

I haven't been getting as many FUNNY votes from my "fan club" as I used to before the DISAGREE button was reinstated, and I AM NOT HAPPY ABOUT THE SITUATION!!! MORE FUNNY VOTES, PLEASE!!! THANK YOU!!!

It does look pretty bad to see that someone pours his/her heart out in a review of something of a serious nature and to see that someone else has marked "funny" on that comment, which is somewhat akin to laughing at someone's misfortunes. But whoever does such a thing are only preceding to make themselves look foolish.