I'm just going to continue to mis-use the en-dash like I've always done.
New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
151–160 of 643 posts
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#152One pattern I've noticed recently is sort of formulaic comments that look okish on their own, maybe a bit abstract/vague/bland, and not taking a particular side on good/bad in the way people like to do, but really obviously AI when you look at the account history and they're all the same formula: >this is [summary] >not just x, it's y >punchy ending, maybe question Once you know it's AI it's very obvious they told it…
"is real" is another big red flag, go search this in comments. There appear to be at least three accounts posting direct LLM outputs.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#153https://news.ycombinator.com/classic is every day more compelling.
I learned just right now that this isn't the default. I set my bookmark to HN in like 2011 before making an account, and apparently it's that one. I didn't realize that wasn't just the basic homepage but with a weird address for some reason.
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#154[dead]
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#155Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked for GitHub for a time. There was a cultural abhorrence of the diaeresis, it was considered reader-hostile and elitist. I refused to coöperate with that edict internally, although I grant that every company has the right to micro-manage communications with the public.
It is reader hostile and elitist. Is there any good argument in favor of it, or any other house style quirks for that matter, other than in-group signaling?
You’re replying to a troll - their entire argument was circular and self contradictory.
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#157Fwiw I did some more comparisons, looking for words disproportionately favored by noob comments:
word noob new p-value
----------------------------
ai 14.93% 7.87% p=0.00016
actually 12.53% 5.34% p=1.1e-05
code 11.47% 6.04% p=0.00081
real 10.93% 2.95% p=2.6e-08
built 10.93% 2.11% p=2.1e-10
data 8.93% 3.51% p=6.1e-05
tools 7.6% 2.67% p=5.5e-05
agent 7.47% 2.95% p=0.00024
app 7.2% 3.09% p=0.00078
tool 6.8% 1.83% p=8.5e-06
model 6.8% 2.39% p=0.00013
agents 6.67% 2.11% p=5.2e-05
api 6.53% 1.12% p=2.7e-07
building 6.13% 1.54% p=1.3e-05
full 6.0% 1.97% p=0.00017
across 5.87% 1.4% p=1.3e-05
interesting 5.33% 1.54% p=0.00014
answer 5.2% 1.4% p=9.6e-05
simple 4.93% 1.54% p=0.00043
project 4.8% 1.26% p=0.00015Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#158Why? What's the incentive/value to commenting here with AI?
If you control a bunch of established accounts, you can use them to either shill for products, or upvote certain topics.
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#159One pattern I've noticed recently is sort of formulaic comments that look okish on their own, maybe a bit abstract/vague/bland, and not taking a particular side on good/bad in the way people like to do, but really obviously AI when you look at the account history and they're all the same formula: >this is [summary] >not just x, it's y >punchy ending, maybe question Once you know it's AI it's very obvious they told it…
It's wierd because the barrier to not have that in is so low, you can just tack on 'talk like me not AI, dont use em dashes, don't use formulaic structures, be concice' and itll get rid of half of those signals.
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#160Why? What's the incentive/value to commenting here with AI?
- Spam a product/service
- Generate age so spamming a product/service is easier and the account appears more trustworthy
- Influence discussions in a particular direction for monetary gain, i.e. "I got rich on bitcoin, you'd be crazy not to invest".
- Influence discussions in a particular direction for political gain, i.e. "I went to Xinjiang and the Uyghurs couldn't be happier!"