Classic humor is based on the surprise. The humorist leads you down the garden path, gets you thinking one thing, and then springs something on you. Often times, you have to think a little before, the truth behind the surprise dons on you and you can have your chuckle.
I am not claiming to be a great humorist, but I know for a fact that some of the humorous things I post (or at least what I thought were humourous) are lost by the readers that through divided interest or no interest in paying attention to what I post, did not understand the meaning behind the post. They saw it as odd, and ignored it.
Because this site divides our attention so much, this site makes it difficult for much humor to get across properly. The most obvious case in point is the "I set myself on fire" post. Those that have read fairly regularly what Anthony posts have seen [bold]way[/bold] too much of the skin on his body. Therefore, when he posts "I set myself on fire", it's surprise, moment of though, chuckle, couldn't possibly be so. Anthony knows many have seen the pictures, so he knows how to set up the surprise for the "punch line". I am sure he did not write it to make people pity him, as that perhaps was an unfortunate consequence. Anthony is not the only one that engages in shocking suprises in his posts. Tom Paul does it regularly, and a lot of it is misunderstood. I am sure if anyone were to ask him, Tom would readily tell them that he knows much of his humor goes misunderstood.
Therefore, I would suggest that if you don't understand something that appears odd, either seek out the meaning, or just ignore it and move on. Don't proceed by adopting a dismisive attitude towards the poster.
If you have gotten this far with my post, I thank you for your attention.