Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

marginalia.nu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 643 posts

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#241

Post by afavour »

yorwba wrote: post #213
garganzol wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The user [1] you've mentioned has 160 points being a poster of total four bland messages. This goes against a normal statistical distribution. And this gives away why they do it: the long-term aim is to cultivate voting rings to influence the narratives and rankings in the future. For now, this is only my theory but it may be a real monetization strategy for them. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=snowhale

I gather that you do not have showdead on. The account has a lot more posts than that, but most were flagged. EDIT to correct: most are not [flagged], but [dead] anyway, so probably manual moderator action or an automated anti-bot measure.

I'd be interested to know why those comments were flagged actually. They don't scream AI and no-one has replied calling them out as AI, etc. But the vast majority are dead.

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#242

Post by cgriswald »

randusername wrote: post #219
basch wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are there really places that a comma, super-comma; or (parenthesis) dont work roughly as well? I find the em-dash mildly abhorrent, even before this all.

it's a cadence thing for me Em-dash matches how I speak and think-- frequently a halt, then push onto the digression stack, then pop-- so I use them like that. Em-dash matches how I speak and think (frequently a halt, then push onto the digression stack, then pop) so I use them like that. Em-dash matches how I speak and think, a halt, then push onto the digression stack, then pop, so I use them like that.

A poster commented that he read parenthetical remarks in an old-timey voice (I’d guess the trans-Atlantic accent). I love that idea. But for me they read almost as if you’re saying them under your breath (or a character is breaking the fourth wall and talking to the camera quietly). I read them but my brain assigns them less importance.

Em-dashes keep everything on the same level of importance in my brain.

Commas don’t feel as powerful. To be fair to the comma I’d probably do this:

Em-dash matches how I speak and think: A halt, then push onto the digression stack, then pop. So I use them like that.

Edit: I accidentally used an em-dash in the word em-dash. Interestingly HN didn’t consider changing the dash to be a change in my text so didn’t update it. I had to make a separate change and take that change out for my dash change to stick.

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#244

Post by stmw »

d4mi3n wrote: post #50

I'm still salty that I can't use em-dashes anymore for fear of my writing being flagged as AI generated. Been using them for years—it's just `alt+shift+-` on a Mac keyboard and I find them more legible in many fonts compared to the simple dash on the typical numpad. It's so sad to me that good typographical conventions have been co-opted by the zeitgeist of LLMs.

the destruction of the em-dash is really a shame; and "--" is under suspicion..

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#246

Post by alt227 »

adamsilkey wrote: post #240
d4mi3n wrote: post #50

I'm still salty that I can't use em-dashes anymore for fear of my writing being flagged as AI generated. Been using them for years—it's just `alt+shift+-` on a Mac keyboard and I find them more legible in many fonts compared to the simple dash on the typical numpad. It's so sad to me that good typographical conventions have been co-opted by the zeitgeist of LLMs.

I feel the same way. I've used em-dashes in my writing forever, and I was always particular about making sure they were used properly (from a typography standpoint with no surrounding spaces). But now, I have to be so picky about when I use them, even when I think it's the perfect punctuation mark. I'll often just resort to a single hyphen with spaces around. It's wrong, but it doesn't signal someone to go "AI AI AI!…

Dont worry, soon LLMs will be trained to avoid using em dashes and then all will be right in your world again!

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#247

Post by chasd00 »

mroche wrote: post #134
basch wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are there really places that a comma, super-comma; or (parenthesis) dont work roughly as well? I find the em-dash mildly abhorrent, even before this all.

> super-comma This is the first time I've ever heard the character ";" referred to as such. It's always been "semi-colon" to me, is this a region/culture difference? I'm not saying you're wrong, I find it interesting.

no it's always been semicolon, the "super-comma" comes from describing how to use it. "It's similar to a comma but like a super comma."

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#248

Post by dvt »

afavour wrote: post #241
yorwba wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gather that you do not have showdead on. The account has a lot more posts than that, but most were flagged. EDIT to correct: most are not [flagged], but [dead] anyway, so probably manual moderator action or an automated anti-bot measure.

I'd be interested to know why those comments were flagged actually. They don't scream AI and no-one has replied calling them out as AI, etc. But the vast majority are dead.

> four bland messages

That's why. Boring, bland, etc. That account's M.O. is basically "write a paragraph that says nothing." Fwiw, I do think AI can be indistinguishable from dumb, boring people, but usually those kinds of people won't be on HN.

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#249

Post by alt227 »

jatins wrote: post #243

The part that doesn't make sense to me is: Why? As in what are the incentives to use AI to write comments on HN? This is not a platform like Youtube or X where views get you money. Is this just for internet karma?

Bots need content from somewhre, they either copy something else or use ai to generate.

The incentives to use bots are many.

Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

#250

Post by jedberg »

duxup wrote: post #226
ceejayoz wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some cases, it's probably to establish aged accounts that are more trusted by users and spam algorithms. There's a market for old Reddit accounts, for example.

Yup, reddit is awash in established accounts that suddenly start spamming. Whole pools of them working to the same goal at times.

I receive multiple offers a year to participate in spam rings with the 20 year old high-karma reddit account. I usually just ignore them or report them. I could be making so much money /s

So far it hasn't happed here, but we'll see!

Post reply on HN