I never have liked this "HN is serious business" mentality that treats minor humor as a negative to be excised. It makes the community seem very dour.
I like dour. That mentality is one of the things that makes HN different from other communities, and one of the reasons I like HN more than those other communities; I'd rather HN retained this distinctiveness than reverting to the mean.
I always thought it was the smart people, and interesting posts, rather than a lack of anything resembling a smile.
I don't think they're so easy to disentangle.
You sound like you wouldn't be much fun to hang out with at parties.
I'm sorry, you are being downvoted for your reference to "parties". Please refer to the HN Discussion Code of Conduct, section 4 subsection 3(c.R) which states that Real Hackers do not participate in, discuss, or even acknowledge social gatherings known as "parties" except when discussing serious scientific reports centered around research into these social phenomena. This is your only warning.