[Jez]

I'm all for people joking around, but the thing about sarcasm on the internet is that it's really hard to tell sometimes when you're being sarcastic versus just plain being a jerk. There are no facial "tells", no verbal cues from which to gather an idea of what your aim is when you make comments like you do. (I'm speaking in general terms...not to anyone in particular)
Generally, when I make a sarcastic remark and I want people to know that I am in fact being sarcastic, I give some kind of visual queue to let them know...like adding an [/sarcasm] to the end of the statement. Still, this doesn't always alleviete the problem...
Sometimes when you voice little jokes or opinions, you strike a nerve with people who feel strongly about the person that you are commenting about. You can't just tell people to "lighten up" or "relax, it's only a joke" because people are entitled to have the feelings that they do.....and one can't just turn off and on those feelings at will, for the most part.

*typo