This hilarious. Some people wouldn't know a good joke if it mugged them in an alley.

It's hard to tell these days. Anyone can now say "what if..." And have an agent build something that either looks a lot like (or is) that thing.

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

The same can be applied to jokes. Almost no one recognizes them :)

So authors had to write it at the bottom of the page.

That's because most devs are so overwhelmed with having to keep up with XYZ that the joke isn't even funny.