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Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

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Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#211

Post by egeozcan »

d4mi3n wrote: post #127
nkzd wrote: post #114

What if English is my second language? Undoubtedly being well spoken is associated with higher class. Your arguments will come of as stronger to the reader.

Humans have a tendency to ascribe intelligence to how well spoken a person or thing is—hence all the personification of LLMs.

> Humans have a tendency to ascribe intelligence to how well spoken a person or thing is

That’s true. I’m fluent in German, but there’s still a difference between me and a native speaker. I’ve often seen my ideas dismissed, only for the exact same point to be praised later when a native speaker expresses it more clearly.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#212

Post by jacquesm »

nkzd wrote: post #114

What if English is my second language? Undoubtedly being well spoken is associated with higher class. Your arguments will come of as stronger to the reader.

That's fine. Your arguments will not come of stronger to the reader, they are strong or they are not and we're all clever enough to read through the occasional grammar error.

And that's where I think the guidelines could be expanded a bit more to restore the balance. Something along the line of 'HN is visited by people from all over the world and from many different cultural and linguistical backgrounds. Please respect that and realize that native English and Western background should not be automatically assumed. It is the message that counts, not the form in which it was presented.'.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#213

Post by TomatoCo »

chrisweekly wrote: post #175

I like this guideline, at least in principle. But I have some concerns about suppression of comments from non-native English writers. More selfishly, my personal writing style has significant overlap with so-called "tells" for AI generated prose: things like "it's not X, it's Y", use of em-dashes, a fairly deep vocabulary, and a tendency toward verbosity (which I'm striving to curb). It'd be ironic if I start getting…

I think translation should be the only exception. It might even need to be, given how all automated translators use LLMs these days. The only alternative I see is to have people post in whatever language they're most comfortable in and then everyone else has to translate for them which just feels inefficient.

And of course, a more limited exception for posts about LLM behavior. It might be necessary for people to share prompts and outputs to discuss the topic.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#216

Post by xpe »

Here is one elephant in the room: what is the process behind this guideline / policy? What happens after a comment gets deleted or a person gets banned?

As I understand it, HN moderators are thinking hard about this insane new world.* From my POV, there are a combination of worthy goals: transparency of the process, mechanisms for appeal, overall signal-to-noise ratio, and (something all of us can do better) more empathy and intellectual honestly. It isn't kind to accuse a human being of not being a human being.

If we can't find ways to be kind to people because of the new dynamic, maybe we need to figure out a new dynamic! And it isn't just about individuals; it is about the culture and the system and the technology we're embedded in.

* Aside: I'm not sure that any of us really can grasp the magnitude of what is happening -- this is kuh-ray-Z.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#217

Post by MeetingsBrowser »

daft_pink wrote: post #192

I’m not sure I agree with this, because sometiems it is difficult to figure out the correct way to phrase an idea that is in your head and I like to use ai to help organize my thoughts even though the thing is my own. That being said. Most of my comments are not ai generated.

Learning how to communicate your thoughts clearly is a good skill to have. It might not be worth it in the long run to farm that out to LLMs.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#218

Post by iamnafets »

safog wrote: post #80
iammjm wrote: post #15

I believe the issue of proving who is and who isn't really human on the Internet will be a really important issue in the coming years, especially without sacrificing people's right to privacy and anonymity in the process.

I hope I'm wrong but I don't think a privacy friendly alternative is going to exist. It's going to go the way of show me your drivers license to use my site.

No credential will be sufficient, this is basically an unsolvable enforcement problem. That doesn't obviate the utility of rules and norms, but there's no airtight system which will hold back AI generated content.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#219

Post by unreal6 »

fouronnes3 wrote: post #197
bondarchuk wrote: post #167

All the weak excuses posted here are just making me lean more towards a hardline policy. No I don't want to read a human-generated summary of your llm brainstorming session. No I don't want to read human-written text with wording changes suggested by an llm. No I don't want to read an excerpt from llm output even if you correctly attribute it. I acknowledge this is partly just my personal bias, in some cases really n…

I feel you. I don't think I've ever finished reading a sentence that started with "I asked and he said..."

I find the consistent anthropomorphization to be grating as well

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#220

Post by armchairhacker »

bachittle wrote: post #164

If you want your comments to sound more human — stop using em dashes everywhere. LLMs love them — along with neat structure, “furthermore”-style transitions, and perfectly balanced paragraphs. Humans write a bit messier — commas, short sentences, abrupt turns.

I think em-dashes were once a reliable indicator (though never proof), but recent models have been fine-tuned to use them much less. Lots of recent AI-generated writing I've seen doesn't have em-dashes. Meanwhile, I've heard many people say that they naturally use em-dashes, and were already and/or are afraid of being accused of AI; so ironically this rumor may be causing people to use their own voice less.
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