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.