I think some folks are confusing &quot;parody&quot; and &quot;tabloid style&quot;.<p>The definition of parody is:<p><i>&quot;a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of satiric or ironic imitation.&quot;</i> [0]<p>Websites that would fall into the &quot;parody&quot; category would be The Onion, The Daily Mash, Landover Baptist Church, The Poke etc. Another word to describe these types of sites would be satire.<p>The Register is not really a &quot;parody&quot; website because it&#x27;s reporting on actual things that have happened (direct from source or through recycling), but the reporting and writing style is in the same vein or <i>riffs off</i> of the &quot;tabloid journalism&quot; style.<p>Tabloid journalism can be characterised as sensationalist, ridiculing and hyperbolic, with headlines designed to appeal to your more base instincts.<p>What <i>The Register</i> does, or attempts to do is inject humour into its reporting by using the tabloid style, it tries not to take itself too seriously. There is as you rightly point out a lot of &quot;tongue in cheek&quot; phrasing in many articles. For example, as I&#x27;ve mentioned elsewhere, I enjoy their headlines and bylines, e.g.:<p>&quot;Criminal records checks &#x27;unlawful&#x27; and &#x27;arbitrary&#x27; rules High Court - <i>Disclosing minor silliness no longer required, say judges&quot;</i> [1]<p>&quot;Rust 1.6 released, complete with a stabilised libcore - <i>A world without buffer overflows is what our children shall inherit&quot;</i> [2]<p>&quot;Boeing just about gives up on the 747 - <i>Even the cargo market&#x27;s dried up for the Jumbo Jet. Next stop, elephant&#x27;s graveyard?</i>&quot; [3]<p>Anyway, I wouldn&#x27;t get too bogged down, in over analysing El Reg, you either get their sense of humour or you don&#x27;t.<p>There are also an offshoot by ex-Register founder Mike Magee which reports in a similar style:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theinquirer.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theinquirer.net&#x2F;</a><p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Parody" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Parody</a><p>[1]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;22&#x2F;criminal_record_checks_unlawful&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;22&#x2F;criminal_record_chec...</a><p>[2]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;22&#x2F;rust_16&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;22&#x2F;rust_16&#x2F;</a><p>[3]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;22&#x2F;boeing_747_production_reduction&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theregister.co.uk&#x2F;2016&#x2F;01&#x2F;22&#x2F;boeing_747_productio...</a>