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Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

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Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#461

Post by HendrikHensen »

trinsic2 wrote: post #208
HendrikHensen wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rotate accounts on "social media" (mostly Reddit and Hacker News, the others don't interest me) every few weeks or months to make sure not too much of my post history accumulates in one account. I would dislike it very much if there would be high friction to create new accounts. On the other hand my behavior is probably a major outlier.

I think the problem is you can be tracked by your email when you sign up for a new account. So I am not sure how this can be helpful.

On Reddit and Hacker News, I don't need an email address to sign up. But also I use SimpleLogin to have a separate email address per website/account. Quite necessary these days when personal data is leaked by some company or other every day.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#462

Post by HendrikHensen »

srid wrote: post #163
HendrikHensen wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rotate accounts on "social media" (mostly Reddit and Hacker News, the others don't interest me) every few weeks or months to make sure not too much of my post history accumulates in one account. I would dislike it very much if there would be high friction to create new accounts. On the other hand my behavior is probably a major outlier.

> not too much of my post history accumulates in one account I'm curious to hear what benefits you think can be gained from avoiding this.

You can build quite an extensive profile of someone given enough post history. More post history means more details. Especially nowadays with LLMs it's trivial. This can lead to all sorts of issues. One is people I know in real life being able to identify me. Another is that through various means my account may be linked to my personal identity (e.g. through matching usernames or emails across platforms) and oppressive regimes (now or in the feature) may use my post history to take action against me.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#463

Post by HendrikHensen »

Bombthecat wrote: post #176
HendrikHensen wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rotate accounts on "social media" (mostly Reddit and Hacker News, the others don't interest me) every few weeks or months to make sure not too much of my post history accumulates in one account. I would dislike it very much if there would be high friction to create new accounts. On the other hand my behavior is probably a major outlier.

Reddit didn't ban you? I got banned for that lmao

Reddit didn't (yet). Another tech focused community site did though... So I stopped participating in the community.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#464

Post by 3form »

Barbing wrote: post #212
SoftTalker wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd suggest: new accounts are read-only for at least a week. Then they can comment (rate limited at first, gradually relaxed) and vote, and then after some additional amount of time and/or karma they can submit a post. Maybe some of these mechanisms are already in place? Bots can probably game this too but drive-by bots maybe won't be patient enough.

Immediate comment privileges are really important. Lots of examples, but to give a silly one, someone pastes their clipboard without realizing it includes their API key or their email. Good Samaritans should be able to say, "Hey, I just caught something." And, as another commenter mentions, if someone shares your work, you should be able to comment on that thread without delay.

You reminded me how infuriating it was not to be able to post comments on StackOverflow. Felt like getting those few upvotes required was taking forever, and all without ability to ask for clarification.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#465

Post by i_think_so »

i_think_so wrote: post #455
ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guidelines haven't even been updated to say that AI generated posts and submission aren't permitted even though it's been the policy for a couple of years now if one searches for postings by the moderators. So outsiders and new HN users have no reason to know that it's not allowed. I'm sure there are reasons for it but the inaction is all very mysterious from an outsider perspective.

This obviously should have been done years ago. @dang is there a reason it hasn't?

..so updating the guidelines is beyond the pale and suggesting it is downvote worthy?

How very interesting.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#466

Post by fzeroracer »

mapontosevenths wrote: post #33
heavyset_go wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do this with submissions, too. Or at least put some indicator that it's AI generated.

I am more annoyed by the anti-AI luddites filling the comments with low value complaints than I am by quality content written partially by an LLM. Those low value complaints add nothing to the conversation, and the content didnt make it to the front page because it was bad. If the sole objection is "AI bad", keep it to yourself....its boring.

> I am more annoyed by the anti-AI luddites filling the comments with low value complaints than I am by quality content written partially by an LLM.

Low value content is still content, written by a human being with a specific point. I would argue that LLM written content is even worse than that, because what value does it add when you or I can just ask the LLM itself for it? Its existence is solely that of regurgitation.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#467

Post by i_think_so »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #411
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…

When I read comments like this, I think about the average Joe who says: "Most people are terrible drivers." Then, someone asks them: "Are you a terrible driver?" They respond: "Of course not. I am an excellent driver." A few people roll their eyes. > worthy of an instant ban First, it is not always possible to identify an LLM-generated comment. There are too many false-positives. Imagine if this system was implemente…

Maybe we need a reverse Turing test and award -- humans write things that are indistinguishable from AI slop.

I have no idea what that could be useful for, but since the Turing test is now essentially beaten maybe its usefulness has come and gone too.

> Imagine if this system was implemented, and one of your comments was identified as LLM-generated and you were instantly banned. How would you feel about it?

It sounds like a fast, efficient, inexpensive and foolproof recipe for destroying a community. Let's use that as a future test: anyone who advocates for it is undeniably trying to destroy HN, so they get downvoted to 1 karma and permanently blocked from voting on anything else.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#468

Post by i_think_so »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #297
jacquesm wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For now there is already a pretty effective mechanism in place, downvote and/or flag those comments that you think are across the line in that sense. But in principle I agree with you, the rule for me is 'if it wasn't worth your time to write then it certainly isn't worth 1000x times other people's time to read'.

Exactly. If your LLM wrote it, then my LLM can read it. I don't want to.

God help us if we get to the point where we need an LLM agent to do the reading and filtering of all our social content for us. I am completely certain that is a downward spiral that ends with the collapse of our society and I give it 50/50 odds for killing off the entire species.

Re: Ask HN: Please restrict new accounts from posting

#470

Post by i_think_so »

brewdad wrote: post #188
layer8 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately I don’t think that it would solve the problem: https://www.google.com/search?q=handwritten+mail+service&udm...

First interview question is to submit a handwriting sample.

I taught myself to type because most people can't read my handwriting.

I would be so screwed. :-(

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