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Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#41

Post by Gabrys1 »

delichon wrote: post #9
BalinKing wrote: post #7

I furthermore wish that "posting an LLM-generated comment (i.e. and passing it off as your own)" was worthy of an instant ban, because I see this sort of behavior from non-green accounts as well. EDIT: I meant (but totally forgot) to qualify that my "proposal" would only apply when the LLM-ness is self-obvious—idk, make up a "reasonable person" standard or something. Presumably, the moderators would err on the side o…

The moderators are supposed to just know it when they see it? It's that black and white to you? Or are lots of false positives a price we have to pay?

Can use AI to detect that

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#43

Post by robotresearcher »

lokar wrote: post #13
delichon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The moderators are supposed to just know it when they see it? It's that black and white to you? Or are lots of false positives a price we have to pay?

It’s only going to get harder has people continue to model their writing on LLM style.

You're absolutely right.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#44

Post by andai »

_alternator_ wrote: post #11

Devils advocate take: I think the quality of the ShowHN projects are in fact getting higher, at least the ones that land in the front page. The issue is that projects that used to take weeks, months, or even years of work now can be done in a weekend or so. It’s been democratizing, but it also means that when we look at these posts we (rightly) see that these new projects aren’t that much effort _with AI assistance_.…

I was thinking about this the other day. If someone made TempleOS today, people wouldn't be as impressed, because they'd just assume they used AI.

They'd assume this, even if they hadn't used AI, and even if AI didn't have to ability to pull it off.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#45

Post by heavyset_go »

Oras wrote: post #17
_alternator_ wrote: post #11

Devils advocate take: I think the quality of the ShowHN projects are in fact getting higher, at least the ones that land in the front page. The issue is that projects that used to take weeks, months, or even years of work now can be done in a weekend or so. It’s been democratizing, but it also means that when we look at these posts we (rightly) see that these new projects aren’t that much effort _with AI assistance_.…

But the issue is not only show HN, even generic posts are increasingly from new accounts, some of them are reaching front page too. One example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46884481

This made the frontpage two days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47275291

Read the comments and you'll see it took time and effort, from people who know at least a little about what they're saying, to point out that it's AI slop that doesn't live up to the claims written in its own docs.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#46

Post by bakugo »

delichon wrote: post #28

There is an epistemic silver lining. This is in fact a Red Queen's race that cannot be won. So in the end the only solution is to evaluate the text on its own merits without reference to the writer's status, because that status can no longer be reliably detected. For a public feed like this one, the only alternative is to ignore it. The fire hose of data will inevitably become ever more fecal. We can only walk away f…

> So in the end the only solution is to evaluate the text on its own merits

This falls apart as soon as you realize that evaluating the text requires far more effort than generating it. If you're spending 2 minutes reading text that took 2 seconds to generate, you already lost.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#47

Post by dang »

Oras wrote: post #38
dang wrote: post #34

We're going to at least restrict Show HNs for a while. I do think this is relevant though: "HN can't be immune from macro trends" - https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

For all accounts or just new ones?

Just new ones for now.

I don't want to make HN harder for legit new users, but I do think a bit of community participation is reasonable before posting a Show HN, so it isn't just a box on some "how to promote your project" checklist.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#48

Post by monster_truck »

_alternator_ wrote: post #11

Devils advocate take: I think the quality of the ShowHN projects are in fact getting higher, at least the ones that land in the front page. The issue is that projects that used to take weeks, months, or even years of work now can be done in a weekend or so. It’s been democratizing, but it also means that when we look at these posts we (rightly) see that these new projects aren’t that much effort _with AI assistance_.…

I disagree in that the last few I can think of have involved things like services that do not really explain what they do properly and then ask for full permissions to your github account, or claim to be far more than they are (ie "I made this thing" but it's just a shim for someone else's stuff).

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#49

Post by andai »

delichon wrote: post #9
BalinKing wrote: post #7

I furthermore wish that "posting an LLM-generated comment (i.e. and passing it off as your own)" was worthy of an instant ban, because I see this sort of behavior from non-green accounts as well. EDIT: I meant (but totally forgot) to qualify that my "proposal" would only apply when the LLM-ness is self-obvious—idk, make up a "reasonable person" standard or something. Presumably, the moderators would err on the side o…

The moderators are supposed to just know it when they see it? It's that black and white to you? Or are lots of false positives a price we have to pay?

Yeah it's weird, there was one case where I thought it was AI but wasn't sure. Several other comments pointed it out, too. Author claimed he wrote it manually. (Which is honestly even more concerning!)

Maybe there can be a dedicated 'flag botspam' button?

Then again it's a nuanced issue. I see AI used in a large percentage of writing now, so would this rule apply to the article as well?

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#50

Post by elpocko »

Oras wrote: post #25
castral wrote: post #16

I don't understand how this is supposed to solve anything, and I've seen it suggested as a solution multiple times. If you restrict comments to older accounts, all it's going to do is make the bot creators speculatively open and proactively age accounts for future use.

I wish for karma based too if we managed to get filters. I want to see posts only by accounts with {x}+ karma points.

You want other people to deal with the things you don't like and filter stuff for you, to improve your own experience and shield you from the filthy masses. God beware you have to endure a comment you don't like, your royal highness.

I'd rather see you gone than the people you complain about.

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