I'm a cypher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce. Also, my name is Kev and I own this here website.

Alright, I'm just a guy (though an admittedly awesome one at that -- oh, and humble) who likes to blog. Sarcasm, quick wit and gorilla dust are my tools of the trade. Feel free to browse my blog and follow me. It's okay. I won't call the cops. Click here if you'd like to write a guest blog for SKOS.


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Say Hello to Mr. Grumpy Pants
November 17, 2008
Blog
7

I am a pretty laid-back individual. I think it comes across in my writing, which is probably why I rarely receive negative comments here at SKOS. I don’t like drama and I don’t go looking for drama, and so I do a pretty good job avoiding drama.  Of course, the small number of negative comments could be a direct result of a small number of readers, but I digress.

Apparently, one morning last week, I was grumpy. It might have been because I had not yet had any caffeine. It might have been because I was depressed by the distinct possibility we had just elected a Marxist who isn’t even a natural-born citizen as president. It might have been because I was having a bad hair day. Whatever the reason, I had a not-so-good-natured reaction to a particularly ridicilous comment someone had left me.

The comment had been for my satirical He’s All That (How Obama Won the Election) blog post. To those who did not read the post, it was a fake news article that had political commentator Keith Olbermann and VP-elect Joe Biden telling the story of how Barack Obama was ultimately elected president after the two of them watched the Freddie Prinze Jr. movie She’s All That and decided to make a bet of their own.

It was a sarcastic, completely over-the-top humor post that combined made up facts and quotes with real facts and quotes. Anyone with half a brain could easily see it was fake and meant to entertain.

With that said, here is the comment in question:

Let me just say that it’s important to check out facts before commenting on them. Even with the press, you cannot always believe what you read, but there are places on web that verify claims like this. It’s these types of website time to research the data, making sure they give you a valid answer, meaning if the article or facts or true or false. My point here is I would verify the information before I would believe or comment on it.

At first, I thought this was a spam comment. “Check out facts before commenting on them?” One, this was extremely generic. Two, clearly this was not a comment from an actual person who actually read the blog post. No one is that dense.

But then I noticed that no URLs were included in the comment. Spam comments almost always have a URL they want readers to click. Could this comment be real? Could there be someone in the world that oblivious and humorless?

Rather than ignore or delete this comment, I chose to respond to it. Inexplicably, I also chose to take a jab at the individual who left it.

This is (clearly) your first visit to this site. First, let me welcome you. It’s always nice to have new readers. Secondly, as the site’s name suggests, this is a humor site. Everyone who left a comment to this blog post (well, everyone except you) thought it was an attempt at humor with a few real facts/quotes sprinkled amongst fake ones.

I also included a more detailed explanation for how many of the facts and quotes used in the post were real.

To my surprise, the person came back to SKOS, read my response and left another comment.

Thank you for continuing to make me be the exception. I consider that a compliment as I like to be unique – always! And you’re absolutely correct, that was my first post and thank you for giving me 2 paragraphs of comments. You’re too kind.

Sarcasm. The individual who was apparently oblivious to the fact the blog post of mine was fake responds to me with sarcasm. In hindsight, I should have been happy by the realization this person was dense, but not completely devoid of humor.

Instead, I took another jab at the person.

You’re welcome. However, you shouldn’t be too flattered since much of those two paragraphs was at your expense. But I am happy you’ve stopped by. :-)

The last sentence and smiley face was my attempt at lightening my comment, but they probably just came across as sarcastic and insincere.

Amazingly, the commenter came back. Again.

But no, I am extremely flattered. As I totally get that (DUH), but I don’t let people like you get to me, so again, thank you, you’re too kind.

Obviously, you don’t get my humor. It’s called dry and passive aggressive. I appreciate that you find it in your heart to comment, yet again, on me. I am so flattered. What a guy….. (from my humor)

PS> Regarding “your comedy” lol – don’t quit your day job!

To recap, I took two jabs at the person even though the person hadn’t really done anything to warrant them. The person left a clueless “check the facts before commenting” comment and I took a jab. The person responded with sarcasm and I took a bigger jab.

So, any guess as to how I responded when the person put down my sense of humor and said I simply did not get his? That’s right. I got extra cranky.

You know why I (or anyone else here) don’t “get” your humor? Because it doesn’t exist. I “get” your humor the same way I “get” Big Foot, Nessie or any other mythical creature.

Besides, I’m still convinced your first comment was the confused ramblings of someone who did not realize she had stumbled upon a humor blog.

BTW: This IS my blog, so I wouldn’t be too appreciative or flattered by the fact I am responding to your comments. It’s what blog owners do. People leave us comments and we respond to them. It’s the circle of life, Simba.

P.S. Did you seriously just tell me not to quit my day job? What’s next, knock-knock jokes? Polish jokes? I bow down to you, Queen of Dry and Passive Aggressive Humor. Please tell us all a “why did the chicken cross the road” joke. My readers are DYING to read that kind of cutting edge comedy.

The person, thankfully, didn’t return that day and hasn’t returned since. I say “thankfully” because as cranky as I was that day I was probably going to get more and more sarcastic with my responses.

Now, some of you reading this likely will wonder what the big deal is. “You didn’t say anything bad,” some will think. “You didn’t even cuss or call her names.”

Regarding the profanity, it’s just not something I do. If you ever read a post or comment of mine with profanity in it, you can be certain that I didn’t write it and that someone has hacked my account.

No, the issue is I don’t think, looking back on it, the person did anything to warrant my sarcastic jabs. I overreacted. And for that, I apologize.

However, I still maintain this person didn’t know my blog post was fake when she left her first comment. If that first comment was “dry” and “passive aggressive” humor, I’ll take Paris Hilton out on a date and not to ditch her until she’s said the word “hot” ten times.

In other words, I won’t ditch her for at least thirty seconds.

Have any of you ever overreacted to a comment someone has left you? What did the person say and how did you react? If you could go back, what would you do differently? As always feel free to leave a comment or two or ten.

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