Someone on the internet posted, “The Earth is actually flat, and the view from an airplane window only looks curved because the window is bent.” Was it written in earnest, or is it a joke mocking that kind of claim? Very often you simply can’t tell from the text alone, and in practice many people get angry at jokes or brush off sincere statements as jokes.
The internet rule of thumb that, without a clear sign of the author’s intent, satire imitating extreme views will inevitably be read as sincere by someone is called ‘Poe’s Law’. Put simply, it means ‘online, it is hard to tell satire from sincerity’.
In this article, we will look in turn at how Poe’s Law came about, why satire is hard to get across in writing, cases where satire was passed off as real news, and ways to write and read with fewer misunderstandings.
Between Satire and Sincerity: Poe’s Law
How Poe’s Law Came About
Poe’s Law emerged in August 2005 from a debate over evolution and creationism on an internet forum devoted to Christian topics. After an earlier user told another, “Good thing you included the winky. Otherwise people might think you are serious,” a user named Nathan Poe replied as follows.
“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to write a parody of a creationist that someone won’t mistake for the real thing,” he said.
Although it was originally about creationism, the statement came to be called ‘Poe’s Law’ after him and soon became a phrase applied to all kinds of extreme claims. In 2017, the American magazine Wired even named Poe’s Law the most important internet phenomenon of the year.
Why Satire Is Hard to Get Across in Writing
Jokes told face to face usually land well. But when the same words are put into writing, things change.
(1) The Missing Voice and Facial Expression
When we speak, pitch, a hint of laughter, and glances all send the signal ‘I’m joking’. Writing lacks these signals, so the reader has to guess the intent.
(2) Extreme Claims That Really Exist
No matter how absurd a statement is, somewhere there is someone who seriously believes it. As a result, exaggerated satire can look almost identical to genuine claims.
(3) Conversations with Strangers
If a friend says something, you can judge it by recalling their usual personality, but on the internet you usually don’t know who the author is.
(4) The Habit of Reading Quickly and Moving On
When you skim through short posts, it is easy to take in a single sentence without considering the surrounding context.
This problem was pointed out long before Poe. In September 1982, Scott Fahlman, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, proposed the sideways smiley face ‘:-)’ as a marker for jokes after arguments kept breaking out on a department bulletin board because people had taken a joke seriously. The following year, an etiquette guide for Usenet, an early internet discussion network, also advised that if you post satire without this marker, people may take it seriously no matter how obvious it seems.
Cases Where Satire Was Passed Off as Real News
Poe’s Law does not apply only to conversations between individuals. The press, which is supposed to verify things, makes the same mistake.
The 2012 ‘Sexiest Man’ Incident
In November 2012, the American satirical outlet The Onion ran a fake article claiming that North Korea’s Kim Jong-un had been named that year’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’. However, the online edition of People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reported it as if it were real news, even adding 55 photos.
The story is said to have been passed along through various Chinese internet outlets with the explanation that it was a ‘satirical article’ dropped along the way. When netizens poured on the ridicule, People’s Daily took the article down within a day, and The Onion kept the joke going by calling People’s Daily its ‘proud subsidiary’.
This case shows that the context present in the original post can easily disappear after being passed along only a few times.
Ways to Write and Read with Fewer Misunderstandings
Poe’s Law cannot be avoided entirely, but if writers and readers each take a little care, misunderstandings can be greatly reduced.
- Tone Indicator: Add a marker such as a smiling emoticon or ‘just kidding’ to jokes or sarcastic remarks. On English-language forums, people sometimes add ‘/s’ at the end of a post to signal sarcasm.
- Source Check: The more surprising the news, the more you should check where it first appeared and whether it comes from a satirical outlet.
- Context Reading: Judge the intent by looking at the author’s other posts or the surrounding conversation.
- Charitable Reading: Before getting angry, think once more, ‘Could this be a joke?’
However, some people use this law in reverse. They say something hateful and, when criticized, slip away by saying, “It was a joke.” So, just as important as working out whether something is satire is considering who it actually hurts and how.
Poe’s Law reminds us that the conversations we have in writing go wrong far more easily than we think. On the other side of the screen is someone who knows nothing of our intent.
Making your intent clear once more when you write, and holding off judgment for a beat when you read: that is the first step in communication that truly reads the minds on the other side of the screen.
