I don't see anything in the comment guidelines banning humor. I do however see that it asks us to be kind, not sneer at the rest of the community here, and to stop the tired comparisons to Reddit.

The voting and flagging systems, along with the work of the moderators, are perfectly capable at managing the comments. No need to try to police them yourself.

You've clearly read the guidelines attentively so I'm surprised that your take is that if shallow jokes are not explicitly banned then they are welcome?

> Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.

I interpret that part as saying that generic jokes and boring puns should be avoided. (The trope being a long chain of commenters trying to one up the previous pun, with zero substance)

Personally I'm neutral when it comes to puns in child comments.

But I really don't like top comments that consist of only a pun. Make an insightful comment and conclude with your pun, if you really must.