471–480 of 643 posts
Prior to the rise of LLM-written posts and the natural reaction of hair-trigger suspicion, I used to em and en dash fairly often in posts on HN. No reason really other than being a bit of a typography geek who happens to have always used dashes in casual writing instead of semicolons. So when I was setting up a modifier-key keyboard layer with AHK many years ago I put the em dash on modifier+dash just because I could…
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> Requiring proof of identity is the only solution I can think of, despite how unappealing it is Same. I agree that it is unappealing but it can be done in a way that respects anonymity. I built this and talk about it here: https://blog.picheta.me/post/the-future-of-social-media-is-h... I think we’re on the precipice of this being a requirement to have any faith you’re talking to another human. As a side effect it al…
> I think we’re on the precipice of this being a requirement to have any faith you’re talking to another human. Except that it doesn't prove you're talking to a human - it just increases the hurdles for bot operators (buy or steal verified accounts).
Several factors: 1. Em dashes are common use in the Queens English 2. People with dyslexia and dysgraphia can more easily interact online 3. People who speak a primary language other than English can more easily interact online The last 2 options mean people who previously would have been more reluctant to participate now have less of a barrier. So while there may be AI generated content, we should just assume it is…
I also don't think the first point is correct at all.
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unrelated but I've never understood how to put a smiley at the end of parenthetical sentences (which comes up surprisingly often for me since I use smileys a lot and also like using parentheses). Just the smiley as an end parentheses (like this :) feels off but adding another parentheses (like this :) ) makes it look like it should be nested which causes problems since I also tend to nest parenthetical sentences (lik…
Your comment made me realise that there's logic to this (like this :) , since in HTML we can: do this and this instead of: ... and instead of You might like Lisp, but what you're saying reminds me of the late 00s/early 2010s xHTML2 vs. HTML5 debate :)
As a typography nerd, I’m upset that my pedantism may get me labelled as a bot. (Yes, I just used a typographic apostrophe instead of a straight single quote.)
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Have the same problem but with bullet points, which I learned to type years ago and have used on HN for a long time: • Like • This (option-8 on a Mac US keyboard layout). Now it looks like something only an LLM would do.
I love using ° with is the opt-shift-8 when posting temps to indicate I'm on a real keyboard and not some device. Plus, it's just faster than typing degrees
Prior to the rise of LLM-written posts and the natural reaction of hair-trigger suspicion, I used to em and en dash fairly often in posts on HN. No reason really other than being a bit of a typography geek who happens to have always used dashes in casual writing instead of semicolons. So when I was setting up a modifier-key keyboard layer with AHK many years ago I put the em dash on modifier+dash just because I could…
My phone lets me long-press the hyphen key to get an em-dash so sometimes I'll use it.
Probably the biggest tell that I'm not AI is that I'm probably not using it in the appropriate circumstances!
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It's funny - some months ago I noticed that I use the word "actually" lot, and started trying to curb it from my writing. Not for any AI-related reason, but because it is almost always a meaningless filler word, and I find that being concise helps get my points across more clearly. e.g. "The body of the template is parsed, but not actually type-checked until the template is used." -> "but not typechecked until the te…
I try to curb my usage of 'actually' too. Like you I came to think of it as an indirect, fluffy discourse marker that should be replaced with more direct language. I'm totally fine with the word itself, but not with overuse of it or placing it where it clearly doesn't belong. And I did that a lot, I think. I suspect if you reviewed my HN comments, it's littered with 'actually' a ton. Also "I think...", "I feel like..…
I agree but it's not always clear whether you're stating an opinion or attempting to state a fact. Some folks would reply to a comment like this with "citation needed" but wouldn't otherwise have said that if the comment had opened with "I think."
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Just do it anyway—I always have, and always will. Well, I haven't always —just for maybe 20 years.
i've always used double dashes -- because i once i setup a osx shortcut to change those into em-dashes, but i never bother to setup this again in other computers. so now, i just use double dashes for everything. (shit, i wonder when llms will start doing this instead of normal em)
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Genuine question -- Is it allowed for me to keep creating new accounts? I can leave if you want me to.
That's covered here: "Throwaway accounts are ok for sensitive information, but please don't create accounts routinely. HN is a community—users should have an identity that others can relate to." - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html If you want to review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the intended spirit of the site to heart, then you're welcome here. But if you don't want to p…