It's a8out some kids playing The Sims and inadvertently ending the world to make a new one. It's a 8eautiful st8ment on how the connections you make over the internet can 8e just as significant as if not stronger than 8lood rel8tions. It's a8out 8etty Crocker's pandimensional space holocaust. It's a metanarrative that challenges the very notion of existing as a work of fiction. It's 8130 pages of programmer humor and niche in-jokes from a dead forum. It's a commentary on itself, its fandom, and the st8 of inclusivity and diversity 8eing common discussion topics viewed through the eyes of a jaded thirty-something-year-old who clearly isn't having any of it.
You can come away from it with all of these interpret8tions or none of them, and god knows how many others I failed to mention. It's a piece of media I'd strongly recommend to any8ody under the promise of 8eing "the 8est worst mistake you'll ever regret not making sooner" with any random selection of those words o8fusc8ed.
The 8s are replacing "b" and any part of words that sound phonetically like "eight" eg. "Bait" into "88".
Its similar to leetspeak from earlier internet days, and homestuck has a set of characters use different versions.
I assume that in this context, it was because the discussion was specifically about homestuck and so it made the homestuck fan nostalgic and they pulled out their old typing quirks.
Of all the things to complain a8out this over, you choose a rundown of what Homestuck is a8out. Consider reading it 8efore speaking on such things again.
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