Some of the issue is that we apparently are not allowed to make fun of them anymore.
I think you are over-thinking it. Off topic comments have never been allowed in Project Threads but our management has been liberal with us and allowed/tolerated the simple stuff. It was only recently that things changed a bit. If they came to off topic looking, as long as we’re not trolling them to be mean purposely and with harmful intent, I can’t imagine a little fun would be frowned upon.