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Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

noslopgrenade.com

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Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#221

Post by staindk »

KronisLV wrote: post #90
strken wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as a random internet stranger, it depends entirely on context. Sending me a message saying "Hi, I'm getting a Frobnizzle not found error" is a waste of both our time. Explain what you're doing so that I can reproduce it, even if it takes a few paragraphs. Maybe send me your user ID so I can check our logs. I don't care if you're declaring "these are the facts" because the facts are what I need to help you. I…

I made a basic reference site around similar ideas a while ago: https://quick-answers.kronis.dev/ I think some people just prefer a more conversational format.

Good, realistic examples! Potentially related word/concept: alogia.

The classic "Hi" message never gets old... no wait, sorry, it was always old.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#222

Post by zephen »

ahtihn wrote: post #132
nlawalker wrote: post #128

I've decided that I'm done being pissy about this kind of response, or thinking that it's something that can be coached away. I choose to look at it like any other cultural communication difference - something that you learn about, try to give some grace to, and work a little harder to bridge (unless you're defusing a bomb, performing surgery, flying an airplane etc.). In this person's communication culture, they are…

Copy/pasting a question to LLM and pasting back the output isn't an attempt ar being helpful. It's the equivalent of a lmgtfy link.

Not at all.

A lmgtfy link can be useful, even if rude.

It's teaching someone to fish.

Sharing an LLM output is simultaneously pretentious and unhelpful. To the OP's point, some might not consider it rude, but I'd rather someone be rude and helpful, rather than pretentious and unhelpful.

tl;dr -- No, it's much, much worse than an lmgtfy link

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#223

Post by amelius »

tailscaler2026 wrote: post #183
amelius wrote: post #5

> Should we use Redis or Memcached? Couldn't they have used an example aimed at a broader audience? I'm in IT but even I barely know what Redis or Memcached is about (never used either).

I don't think redis existed back when this industry was called IT

I still think IT is more descriptive than Tech.

And the doctors at the hospital where I work still call us the "IT people".

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#224

Post by zephen »

recursive wrote: post #197
Aurornis wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't really get why some people seem to think that it's somehow better to have their bullet point prompt as a huge text. Simple: It looks like you did more work. Before everyone had ChatGPT, a long document meant that someone sat at their computer and invested more effort than someone rattling off a list of partially formed bullet points. In the process of writing the doc they usually refined the idea. Now anyon…

That's only going to work until people start absorb the fact that you can now generate unlimited amounts of grammatical text for free. Shouldn't be long now.

Yeah, like yesterday, maybe?

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#225

Post by conartist6 »

nlawalker wrote: post #128

I've decided that I'm done being pissy about this kind of response, or thinking that it's something that can be coached away. I choose to look at it like any other cultural communication difference - something that you learn about, try to give some grace to, and work a little harder to bridge (unless you're defusing a bomb, performing surgery, flying an airplane etc.). In this person's communication culture, they are…

I'm the opposite. Trust can only be given so long as it isn't used to facilitate rampant abuse. Open abuse is rampant now. I'll slam the door in your face if you try to slop on me because that's the only way anyone is ever going to learn at the scale a lesson needs to be learned.

And of course I notice the people posting the massive slop screed don't seem to have thought critically about it at all. After all, if they had time to read it thinking critically, they probably would have had time to write it.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#226

Post by onraglanroad »

bluGill wrote: post #72
SwiftyBug wrote: post #8

> Nobody writes essays in Slack I 100% write long texts in Slack. I always try to provide as much context as possible when reaching out to someone with a question or request.

Do you start every response off with "that is a great question"? I don't know any human who does. "that is a great question" is reserved either for really hard questions, or sarcasm. The majority of questions are not great, they are just things the asker needs a simple answer.

I didn't, but then I watched SICP and the guy kept saying it to utterly dumb questions.

And then, somehow, he kept turning the dumb question into a deep and insightful one.

So I've adopted that technique but if I say "that's a great question" think for a while and come up with nothing, it's probably a moronic question. I'm not perfect.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#227

Post by jplusequalt »

nlawalker wrote: post #146
SoftTalker wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd prefer just "I don't know." I can ask Claude on my own.

> To me > I'd prefer This is exactly my point. To some people, direct communication, especially "no", is extremely rude. To some people, a head bob (easily confused for a "yes" in other cultures) merely means acknowledgement, or "maybe". To some people, extended silence indicates deep consideration or respect. Globalization resulted in a need to tolerate these differences, and in my experience, trying to "fix" them i…

Stop using "culture" as a crutch for being inconsiderate.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#228

Post by justsomehnguy »

watwut wrote: post #186
nlawalker wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To me > I'd prefer This is exactly my point. To some people, direct communication, especially "no", is extremely rude. To some people, a head bob (easily confused for a "yes" in other cultures) merely means acknowledgement, or "maybe". To some people, extended silence indicates deep consideration or respect. Globalization resulted in a need to tolerate these differences, and in my experience, trying to "fix" them i…

Common, if you are in indirect culture, you will HINT that you dont know or that the answer is no and the other person will get it. These stories are not about people who are from indirect cultures being frustrating to the direct person. They are about people who paste stuff into claude and unnecessary large wall of text - written in direct style.

IIRC it would be quite rude to poat the wall of clearly not yours/ clearly generated text in the indirct cultures.

Re: Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations

#230

Post by jaredcwhite »

This page rather reeks of LLM slop itself.

If not…well I don't know what to call this style of writing exactly but I see it all the time on LinkedIn (or some annoying startup landing page) and it's very upsetting to me.

"You asked a simple question. They lobbed a document."

"Your wall of text suppresses dialogue. They can't reply, can't push back, can't clarify. It's a weapon disguised as helpfulness."

"Let it sharpen your thinking, not replace it."

Why structure sentences like this? Maybe go read some well-written novels, a solid essay or two…or at the very least, write in a normal conversational style?

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