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Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

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Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#151

Post by idoubtit »

koiueo wrote: post #98
gardnr wrote: post #34

You can use a local instance of LanguageTool in a docker container for this: https://github.com/gardner/LocalLanguageTool

Gosh people love complicating things. You don't need docker (a Linux-only piece of tech) to run a java application. Even though I'm on Linux, and docker experience is waaaaay better here than on any other platform, I wouldn't in my life consider using it to run LanguageTool. java -cp languagetool-server.jar org.languagetool.server.HTTPServer

A command without context is not very useful. If anyone wants to run LanguageTool locally, I suggest reading the official documentation page: https://dev.languagetool.org/http-server

Their recommended process is :

1. Install fasttext (it's an official Debian package, but you have to compile it on Windows).

2. Download and uncompress the LanguageTool release.

3. Create a config file.

4. Launch the server with the java command (of course, a JRE must be installed).

5. Connect to the API, e.g. with the browser extension.

Running a ready-made docker image replaces steps 1-4 and removes the need to install Java globally. Some will prefer it this way.

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#153

Post by satvikpendem »

cjs_ac wrote: post #25

The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In American/Simplified English, this is grammatically correct. However, in 'full fat' English, practice is a noun, whereas practise is a verb; e.g. : > I go to my practice to practise medicine. The problem I have with this website is that it's…

There is a great comment I read about a decade ago from anthony_franco [0] about exactly this issue with many "open source alternatives to X", this one specifically about an alternative to Product Hunt that then failed:

> OpenHunt tried solving a problem for the content makers without providing any additional benefit to the content consumers. It's a nice, heart-warming mission. But in the end of the day, content is king, that's what consumers want.

> There have been many examples of people rallying around a "free and open" version of a service. They fail to realize that the end consumer barely cares. Look at voat (Reddit), app.net (Twitter), Diaspora (Facebook), even ycreject.com (Y Combinator) tried to be a thing for a while.

> If someone is able to make it "free and open" while also making it a better experience than the alternative, then it'll be a big success. But so far everyone gets that wrong.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10934465#10940729

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#154

Post by [deleted] »

idoubtit wrote: post #151
koiueo wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gosh people love complicating things. You don't need docker (a Linux-only piece of tech) to run a java application. Even though I'm on Linux, and docker experience is waaaaay better here than on any other platform, I wouldn't in my life consider using it to run LanguageTool. java -cp languagetool-server.jar org.languagetool.server.HTTPServer

A command without context is not very useful. If anyone wants to run LanguageTool locally, I suggest reading the official documentation page: https://dev.languagetool.org/http-server Their recommended process is : 1. Install fasttext (it's an official Debian package, but you have to compile it on Windows). 2. Download and uncompress the LanguageTool release. 3. Create a config file. 4. Launch the server with the java…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#155

Post by gamegod »

smcleod wrote: post #114
larnon wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is actually correct. I am neither American nor English.

That's certainly not the case in the majority of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, East Africa, West Africa, South Africa, PNG, Fiji, Philippines, South Asia and South East Asia. Really it's mostly just America and Canada that use American. I could cite many sources but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_s... provides a simple view.

We don't use American English in Canada either.

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#156

Post by JustBreath »

satvikpendem wrote: post #153
cjs_ac wrote: post #25

The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In American/Simplified English, this is grammatically correct. However, in 'full fat' English, practice is a noun, whereas practise is a verb; e.g. : > I go to my practice to practise medicine. The problem I have with this website is that it's…

There is a great comment I read about a decade ago from anthony_franco [0] about exactly this issue with many "open source alternatives to X", this one specifically about an alternative to Product Hunt that then failed: > OpenHunt tried solving a problem for the content makers without providing any additional benefit to the content consumers. It's a nice, heart-warming mission. But in the end of the day, content is k…

The elephant in the room here is how you ethically get people to onboard without an existing community / fomo / money.

The trick is getting the content creators there, but most of them are ultimately and fairly interested in making money, and your new platform wont have that for them.

Bluesky has done alright, but that was a black swan event Elon Musk inspired.

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#157

Post by anonymous_sorry »

18172828286177 wrote: post #127
cjs_ac wrote: post #25

The screenshot shows the (corrected) example sentence: > Sometimes I still make mistakes with articles and prepositions, but my grammar is getting better every day I practice. In American/Simplified English, this is grammatically correct. However, in 'full fat' English, practice is a noun, whereas practise is a verb; e.g. : > I go to my practice to practise medicine. The problem I have with this website is that it's…

For what it’s worth, I’m a native British English speaker and don’t instinctively consider “practice” “grammatically incorrect”. Indeed, I would probably write “practice” myself.

Pretty sure I had this corrected on more than one occasion when I was at school. Also licence/license. I remember one day figuring out the parallel with advice/advise as a way to remember which was which. So C for the noun and S for the verb.

Weirdly (to my brain), Americans always spell practice with a C, but always spell license with an S.

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#158

Post by [deleted] »

JLCarveth wrote: post #65
dreamcompiler wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So apparently the tool is slanted toward American English where the non-word practise is properly treated as a spelling error like colour . If you use these words in writing for Americans and you are not a citizen of the British Commonwealth, you instantly mark yourself as arrogant.

Americans finding anyone else arrogant is quite rich.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#159

Post by tossandthrow »

tobylane wrote: post #79
tossandthrow wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get this. > ... in 'full fat' English ... English is a bastard of a language and getting messier every day as new nations adopt it is their standard language. Setting the bar where it is well written and unambiguously understandable is IMHO completely fine for a 15$ product. Having a text spell checked to comply with contemporary Oxford English is likely not the goal of this product.

> contemporary Oxford English If you chose Oxford because of the Oxford English Dictionary, note that it's not regular en-gb, it's en-gb-oxendict. "the OED often favo[u]rs "-ize" (and its derivatives) over "-ise" for words derived from Greek roots, and may also include historical or less common usages."

I was not aware of this, thanks!

Re: Show HN: Refine – A Local Alternative to Grammarly

#160

Post by Forgeties79 »

vintagedave wrote: post #53
dreamcompiler wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So apparently the tool is slanted toward American English where the non-word practise is properly treated as a spelling error like colour . If you use these words in writing for Americans and you are not a citizen of the British Commonwealth, you instantly mark yourself as arrogant.

I'm interested in this - I am from the Commonwealth and I do use those words, including when I forget with American colleagues. It never occurred to me that this could ever be perceived as arrogant (even if only when referring to someone with a different background.) And I wouldn't have thought it would mean anything more than a certain language cosmopolitanism, lah ;) (Hope that joke comes through! It's been decades…

I have always been "aware" of the concept that they can be perceived as arrogant, but really only "colour" - it sounds kind of deliberate and like some attempt to sound "fancy," like enunciating "theater" as "thee-AY-tour" But even so, I usually see it as a humorous thing. The person is purposely trying to sound over the top arrogant/refined as a joke. I've never actually read "british" spellings and gone "what an ass." I usually assume that's how they write or it's a joke.
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