Poe's law

American  

[pohz law] / ˈpoʊz ˈlɔ /

noun

1. an adage of internet culture stating that unless some tone indicator is used, it is impossible to tell the difference between an extreme view being sincerely espoused and an extreme view being satirized.

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Etymology

Origin of Poe's law

First recorded in 2015–20; named after Nathan Poe, who posted a comment in 2005 on a Christian internet forum, noting almost certain ambiguity when satirizing a creationist

Example Sentences

Participants even provided Poe’s law justifications when describing their behavior.

From Slate • Dec. 28, 2016

Content subsumed by Poe’s law is inherently disorienting, not unlike trying to have an intense emotional conversation with someone wearing dark sunglasses.

From Slate • Dec. 28, 2016

But 2016 was also marked—besieged, even—by Poe’s law, a decade-old internet adage articulated by Nathan Poe, a commentator on a creationism discussion thread.

From Slate • Dec. 28, 2016

A prominent example of Poe’s law in action is the March 2016 contest to name a British research vessel that cost almost $300 million.

From Slate • Dec. 28, 2016

A wandering minstrel makes ballads, not epics; for him Poe's law applies: that is a poem which can be read or recited at a single sitting.

From The Crest-Wave of Evolution A Course of Lectures in History, Given to the Graduates' Class in the Raja-Yoga College, Point Loma, in the College-Year 1918-19 by Morris, Kenneth