@clacke@datamost.com It's all about the specifics. E.g., it's perfectly fine to joke about what someone says, but not to joke about a physical disability — at least I think we would all agree on such a boundary condition. Humor has a really wide berth, imho, when that's your purpose, but where you set the line differs if what you're writing is intended to be journalism or to be persuasive speech. That's my premise, anyway. The public shouting matches of social media are an ill-defined gray area, so the goal would be "if you make these kinds of put-downs when you are trying to make an argument, people will dismiss you and not hear what you have to say."