I'd bet that it was inspired by the Sokal affair. The difference in reaction is probably because people think the purity of Linux is important but the purity of obscure academic journals isn't. (They're probably right, because one fault in Linux will make the whole system insecure, whereas one dumb paper would go in next to the other dumb papers and leave the good papers unharmed.)
The similarities are that reviewers can get sleepy no matter what they're reviewing. Troll doll QC staff get sleepy. Nuclear reactor operators get sleepy too.