"I just want a bit of confirmation this was a bizarre (as well as weirdly popular) response to a webcomic"

Kinda but I feel like it's more of a last straw situation, they say it's frequent in the community so they were exposed to it in some way, so when they find yet another case but can express themselves on it they say their piece. The webcomic is more of an excuse to speak of a topic they couldn't (or didn't want to) find a thread for.