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Don't paste the AI, please

dontpastetheai.com

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Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#371

Post by kspacewalk2 »

biztos wrote: post #287
blensor wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially I also hate if someone answers with a voice message. I can understand that there are situations where you just can't type out the answer and those exceptions are of course fine, but if you post a voice message or god forbid a video message in a group chat you are forcing everyone to take the time and sit through it.

The WhatsApp voice message is very common in Spain. I always find it jarring when I'm there, mostly because I'm not used to it, but also because it seems to defeat the purpose of the messaging app: I can't listen to your voice message on the bus, for instance. It's so normalized there that I wonder whether this is a particularly Spanish habit. Maybe there are a bunch of countries where people routinely leave each oth…

Maybe it's a cultural thing in the Spanish speaking world? Had the same experience in Colombia.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#372

Post by pixl97 »

john_strinlai wrote: post #364
mhaberl wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Back in the day I learned the hard way that sending a long reply to an email just ensures the other side won't read it. You can't assume that you dealt with their request effectively that way Then I guess you didn't deal with much of the empty-headed-managment type much. I learned a different lesson: Write a long email that took time to reason and write, precise and complete text. You get a short reply that is a re…

> This is true 100% I would even say: "Never reply on anything instantly that is not an absolute emergency, ever" you can shorten this to "never reply instantly", because an "absolute emergency" will never be communicated by email.

When someones only contact with you is email, then that's how you'll get news of the emergency.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#373

Post by throwforfeds »

disillusioned wrote: post #17

Heh. Just got done writing (by hand!) a Principles of AI Use document for my (ironically) AI enablement firm, the first of which is: Write as yourself. You’re being paid for your expertise and insights. Communicate them directly to us. Copying and pasting Claude responses into Slack or an email directly shifts the burden of comprehension and understanding to everyone else, and worse, risks skipping that step for your…

I was having a Slack convo with a dev on another team a month ago as I had a question about that system's support for OTEL, and it became clear really quick that I was just having a convo with an LLM proxied through this person.

It was wild, as it had never even occurred to me to just copy/paste out of an LLM while having a convo with someone else.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#374

Post by AnimalMuppet »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #319
jillesvangurp wrote: post #308

The complaint here is about lazy answers. But what about all the lazy questions? What's the equivalent of "Google it yourself" these days? When you ask something of somebody, the expectation of the other side to drop everything and do work for you isn't always appropriate/balanced/appreciated. The underlying problem here is that communication is hard; especially if it's not face to face. People can't read your mind o…

> what’s the equivalent of “google it yourself” these days? Do you actually say that to people? Edit: i’ve hit the comment limit per given time, but all I have to say is “what have you found so far?” And “Google it yourself” are radically different responses man. The former is far more reasonable, it shows you are willing to be helpful and is a productive question. The other is just rude and implies your time is too…

"RTFM" was a common answer to an obvious question, back in the day.

If your question shows that you haven't done basic research, because your question would be answered by the most basic of research (like reading that entry in the manual), then you're wasting my time with your laziness. That might be regarded as deserving a bit of rudeness in the answer. (The exception is with someone who is so new that they don't even realize that there is a manual, but that should be very rare.)

I mean, hopefully I've grown up a bit, and grown more patient a bit, but I still understand why people reply that way.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#376

Post by john_strinlai »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #308

The complaint here is about lazy answers. But what about all the lazy questions? What's the equivalent of "Google it yourself" these days? When you ask something of somebody, the expectation of the other side to drop everything and do work for you isn't always appropriate/balanced/appreciated. The underlying problem here is that communication is hard; especially if it's not face to face. People can't read your mind o…

>3) that talking to people is almost always the better choice when you get tempted to write a long reply.

indeed! but i would add (in corporate environments):

4) follow up your phone call/face-to-face chat with a brief email summary, so you have something in writing.

it has saved me countless times over my career.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#378

Post by logicallee »

khaosdoctor wrote: post #140
Aerolfos wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deeply ironic that it sure looks like taking the original post, pasting it to an AI with the message "make this angrier" and then simply copy-pasting the output back to the website. In direct violation of their own (supposed) principles. And the result isn't even very angry at all. It's like mildly peeved internal company communication (also in direct violation of "don't send this to your manager")

I actually wrote it all myself... The original version was the angrier one only, but people complained that it was too angry, so I tried to smooth it out with another version people could use.

the parts you wrote aren't what people are complaining about.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#379

Post by john_strinlai »

pixl97 wrote: post #372
john_strinlai wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is true 100% I would even say: "Never reply on anything instantly that is not an absolute emergency, ever" you can shorten this to "never reply instantly", because an "absolute emergency" will never be communicated by email.

When someones only contact with you is email, then that's how you'll get news of the emergency.

i can't think of a situation where both the following are true:

1) someone having an emergency needs to contact me specifically.

2) that someone only has my email, and no other possible way of contacting me (or someone else that can contact me).

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#380

Post by chrisweekly »

mhaberl wrote: post #353
jillesvangurp wrote: post #308

The complaint here is about lazy answers. But what about all the lazy questions? What's the equivalent of "Google it yourself" these days? When you ask something of somebody, the expectation of the other side to drop everything and do work for you isn't always appropriate/balanced/appreciated. The underlying problem here is that communication is hard; especially if it's not face to face. People can't read your mind o…

> Back in the day I learned the hard way that sending a long reply to an email just ensures the other side won't read it. You can't assume that you dealt with their request effectively that way Then I guess you didn't deal with much of the empty-headed-managment type much. I learned a different lesson: Write a long email that took time to reason and write, precise and complete text. You get a short reply that is a re…

> "Write a long email that took time to reason and write, precise and complete text."

Respectful hard disagree. Emails should be limited to five sentences. "I didn't have time to make a shorter reply" as an apology / disclaimer for rare exceptions. In virtually every case, anything longer belongs somewhere better than email (Slack, wiki / knowledgebase, docs site) or merits a realtime conversation. My PoV is shaped by over 20 years in the industry working at startups, SMBs and huge enterprises.

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