Bluesky Users Debate Whether Article Published By Satirical Publication Is Satire

NEW YORK, NY—A group of approximately 25 scientists on the social media platform Bluesky engaged in a vigorous debate Tuesday over whether an article published by a satirical publication was satire, ultimately reaching consensus of “maybe” after one user suggested scrolling down.

“OK—is this satire???” wrote a Bluesky user, adding three question marks to a question whose answer was visible upon scrolling.

The publication, In Preparation, identifies itself as satire in the following locations: its homepage, its About page, its other homepage, its landing page, and the content of the articles themselves, which include stories about EHS drone strikes, graduate students being sentenced to hard labor for wearing sandals, and mentoring advocate Jen Heemstra knocking food out of trainees’ hands.

One user attempted to resolve the matter by screenshotting the disclaimer and posting it in the thread. “It is clearly marked as satire,” the user wrote, appending the screenshot. The next three replies continued to debate whether it was satire.

At press time, the writing staff of In Preparation was reviewing options for making the satire label larger, bolder, or possibly adding it to the methods section of your favorite manuscript, which no one reads either.