Poe's law

English Alternative forms en Poe's Law Etymology Formulated in 2005 by a user named “Nathan Poe” on the website christianforums.com, originally in the context of creationism.Christian Forums Nathan Poe 2005-08-10 Big contradictions in the evolution theory https://www.christianforums.com/threads/big-contradictions-in-the-evolution-theory.1962980/page-3#post-17606580 https://web.archive.org/web/20150923203040/http://www.christianforums.com/threads/big-contradictions-in-the-evolution-theory.1962980/page-3 2015-09-23 POE'S LAW: Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is uttrerly impossible to parody a Creationist in such a way that someone won't mistake for the genuine article. Proper noun The observation that, on the Internet, without a clear indication of the author's intent, it is impossible to tell the difference between sincere extremism and a parody of extremism. en 2013 Scott F. Aikin; Robert B. Talisse Why We Argue (And How We Should): A Guide to Political Disagreement Routledge 9781135123291 130 https://books.google.com/books?id=1EIVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA130&dq=%22Poe%27s+law%22&hl=&cd=1&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q=%22Poe's%20law%22&f=false If you accept Poe's Law, you hold that religious believers are indistinguishable from their parodies. en 2017-06-05 Emma Grey Ellis Can't Take a Joke? That's Just Poe's Law, 2017's Most Important Internet Phenomenon w:WIRED https://www.wired.com/2017/06/poes-law-troll-cultures-central-rule/ 1059-1028 But Poe's Law isn't only useful as a defense against pearl-clutching reactions. It's also a diagnosis of exactly how the troll mentality has weakened internet culture. But because the internet has changed in innumerable ways since 2005, expanding and accelerating all the while, Poe's Law applies to more and more internet interactions. https://web.archive.org/web/20180713230926/https://www.wired.com/2017/06/poes-law-troll-cultures-central-rule/ en 2018 Whitney Phillips; Ryan M. Milner The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online John Wiley & Sons 9781509501281 121 https://books.google.com/books?id=-p9RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA121&dq=%22Poe%27s+law%22&hl=&cd=7&source=gbs_api#v=onepage&q=%22Poe's%20law%22&f=false It's not just digital media tools that amplify the ambivalence of humor online. The familiar combination of context collapse and Poe's Law is equally impactive. See also en context collapse References en Internet en adages ending in "law" eponyms