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Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

petegoldsmith.com

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Re: Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

#31

Post by illegalbyte2 »

7777777phil wrote: post #17
peteforde wrote: post #3

I suspect that this will drive the folks who insist LLM productivity gains are the real hallucinations truly bonkers.

I feel like HN is quite divided about that actually, A couple of days I started a survey which I plan to run monthly to see how the community feels about "LLM productivity etc". Now I have ~250 answers, need a couple more to make it significant but as of now it looks like >90% report productivity gains from AI tools - happy if you participate, only takes a minute: https://agentic-coding-survey.pages.dev/

Really like the ux of that survey - super easy to fill out, is it just a custom web form or you used a library?

Re: Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

#32

Post by rco8786 »

theraven wrote: post #8
captn3m0 wrote: post #5

> Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. HN users can try it out, give you feedback, and ask questions in the thread. This is an interesting post, but not a Show HN.

I didn’t submit it that way, it got auto massaged into that format because of the ‘Show HN’ prefix I believe

The Show HN prefix is submitting it that way.

> To post [to Show HN], submit a story whose title begins with "Show HN".

Re: Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

#33

Post by alberto-m »

jacquesm wrote: post #30
alberto-m wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the reply. I'd strike that part of my comment if I could. Consider it taken back.

You can, click 'edit'. Up to one hour after posting.

I can edit the post and delete that part, but this would make OP's reply seem out of context. But HN markup does not support striking. I put some HTML tags there anyway, the sense should be clear.

Re: Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

#34

Post by jacquesm »

sepositus wrote: post #29
anonymous908213 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the fact that Show HN is spammed with LLM-generated garbage is what drives me bonkers. The Show HNs are in fact living proof of how illusory LLM productivity gains are, because we are overwhelmed with trivial proof-of-concepts that have no merit, not even the merit of a human having put effort into creating something neat, rather than actually interesting software anybody would try or discuss.

This is a valid observation. I wonder though if people who have been coding for decades, but choose to use AI assistance, would fall under the same AI slop category. It’s an interesting dilemma because the overwhelming amount of content getting posted just ends up breeding a ton of negative feelings towards any amount of AI usage.

It will if you let it. The number of times the AI has come up with 'I can write you 'x', 'y' or 'z' in a heartbeat, just say the word' and I keep on having to steer it back to the track of being a repository of knowledge rather than an overeager very junior co-worker that can't help themselves to want to show off their skills.

It's very tiresome. Like an idiot/savant, they're an idiot most of the time and every 10th try you go 'oh, but that's neat and clever'.

Re: Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

#35

Post by 7777777phil »

anonymous908213 wrote: post #28
7777777phil wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like HN is quite divided about that actually, A couple of days I started a survey which I plan to run monthly to see how the community feels about "LLM productivity etc". Now I have ~250 answers, need a couple more to make it significant but as of now it looks like >90% report productivity gains from AI tools - happy if you participate, only takes a minute: https://agentic-coding-survey.pages.dev/

Note that self-reporting productivity gains is a completely unreliable and unscientific metric. One study[1], small in scope but a noteworthy data point, found that over the course of the study that LLMs reduced productivity by ~20% but even after the fact the participants felt that on average their productivity had increased by ~20%. This study is surely not the end-all be-all and you could find ways to criticise it…

If you look at the survey it's not only about productivity it's also about usage, model choice etc. But I agree with you self reported productivity gains is to be taken with a grain of salt. But then what else would you propose? The goal is to not only rely on benchmarks for model performance but develop some kind of TIOBE Index for LLMs.

Re: Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

#36

Post by jacquesm »

alberto-m wrote: post #33
jacquesm wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, click 'edit'. Up to one hour after posting.

I can edit the post and delete that part, but this would make OP's reply seem out of context. But HN markup does not support striking. I put some HTML tags there anyway, the sense should be clear.

Just mark your edit 'edit:'. I often have the same happen where I write a comment and then think 'oh, that's no good, I need to improve on it' and then in the meantime multiple people will comment and hopefully quote the original. That way at least you can see what they replied to rather than the version that I'm finally happy with. I've suggested HN increase the default size of the reply box but so far no takers on that.

Re: Show HN posts p/month more than doubled in the last year

#37

Post by 7777777phil »

illegalbyte2 wrote: post #31
7777777phil wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like HN is quite divided about that actually, A couple of days I started a survey which I plan to run monthly to see how the community feels about "LLM productivity etc". Now I have ~250 answers, need a couple more to make it significant but as of now it looks like >90% report productivity gains from AI tools - happy if you participate, only takes a minute: https://agentic-coding-survey.pages.dev/

Really like the ux of that survey - super easy to fill out, is it just a custom web form or you used a library?

Yes exactly, it's a standalone cloudflare page with some custom html/css that writes to a D1 (Cloudflare SQL DB) for results and rate limits, thats's it. I looked at so many survey tools but none offered what I was looking for (simple single page form, no email, no signup, no tracking) so I built this (with claude) Thanks for the feedback!
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