However, your own comments are definitely making the community worse, by arguing on minor points of an unassuming joke. Especially as you eventually admit to assuming yourself that this might be a joke at the expense of women (I don't think anyone else had thought this).
This is the kind of comment that only adds tension within a community.
From the stats I can find slightly more than 50% of the population is unmarried.
How is the joke not at the expense of women? The commenter even said it drew on the cliche of a wife not being interested in a husbands activity?
If it’s not at the expense of women, why not “friend” or “partner” (the commenter rejected both of those).
The joke was at the expense of geeks in general, who often find themselves explaining something with excitement to their partner (in this case, most likely a wife - more importantly, this doesn't matter at all) only to receive a disappointingly laconic answer.
I’d honestly be interested in knowing why this joke is “ok” and why it wouldn’t be better not to make generic assumptions about someone’s sexuality, marital status, and the interests of their spouse...
Yea, possibly doesn’t seem like a big issue to you. But if you’re a member of a minority the message it sends is “we just assume people are heterosexual, married, and wives/women are not interested in this stuff as a default”...
If you really think this thread is wasteful arguing over a triviality then it’s probably better not to engage?
