People come to HN to feel smart, and to discuss things that make them feel smart. Things nobody else in their house understands, like JSON and Node.js and jQuery.
They don't feel smart when they can't tell if you're being facetious or literal.
It's pervasive aspergers. Generally people don't appreciate humour here, which is sad, but for the reason above, that many here find conversational implicature hard, and prefer clear, logical steps.
But anecdotally Trudeau was worried about carbon footprints from a camp fire he once attended, but these wildfires don't bother him.