Brr.
Do I really have to follow every reference to stuff someone throws at me ?
No, I really dont.
Of course not, you'd never have time, and most of the time you wouldn't care for what the reference is, nor would a cursory knowledge of the reference add much to the humor in many instances.
However...
Making the effort to complain on an internet forum that you don't get the joke is not an efficient use of scarce resources.
Starting a flame war on an internet forum about how the joke went over you're head does the following:
1. It demonstrates your ignorance. There's nothing wrong wih ignorance, it's the state we all share on the vast majority of human knowledge. But it's not something to be proud of. Personally, I prefer to keep my ignorance to myself. I'm not familiar with Scott Pilgrim. From what I've seen, it's not something that I would be particularly interested in. But I'm not going to proclaim my disinterest as a badge of honor. And I certainly wouldn't poke fun at people who are interested. (that's only appropriate for people who like Twilight. And CAD)
2. It wastes your time. In the time it takes to make a post about how much you didn't get a reference, you could Google whatever it is that you don't get, and maybe find a new creative work to enjoy.
3. It pisses other people off. People who populate internet forums take the things they are fans of very seriously. There was an episode of
The West Wing where forum denizens where compaired to the cast of
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (And yes your irony meter should be going off about now(And don't start about how that wasn't actually ironic.)) I once participated in a discussion about the gross weight and performance of a WWII era jet fighter. That thread went for about 40 pages (!) (hell, it may still be going, and that was four years ago.) The point I'm trying to make is that some things are Serious Business, and maybe it's not worth pissing everybody off just because you spent twenty seconds of your day reading a webcomic that made a reference to something you've never heard of and you felt dumb for a second.
Of course, if you like demonstrating you ignorance, wasting your own time and pissing people off, be my guest. If I were talking about you, which I'm not. Because I'm not talking about anyone specifically. I'm just saying, if one where to engage in behavior like that, what that may or may not accomplish, if anything. (and if it lasts for more than four hours, see your doctor)
You are a very queer minority.
Why thank you, thank you very much.