It may be related to the fact that some non-native English speakers (including myself) would sometimes use AI based tools to revise or translate their writings before posting online
New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
531–540 of 643 posts
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#532Fwiw 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…
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Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#533Earlier quoted context omitted.
I switched to semicolons... They look similar enough in use to string things together. I'm sure AI is coming for those too though, and that will be a grim day because those are my last stand.
There are times when an em dash can be used in place of a semicolon, but I don't think that's the usual LLM usage. Instead it's replacing a replacing a comma, colon, or period. Unless you're talking about restructuring your sentences to allow for a semicolon; that's fine. For example that semicolon could have been an em dash, but I don't think it's the type that LLMs over favor.
My interpretation of LLM em-dash use is that it's like an aside, which is pretty much always going to be weird if converted to a comma since the punctuation was providing un-relatedness information.
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#534Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I dislike parens because they're hard to read, mostly. Em-dashes are so open and legible.
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#535Shoutout to my English Major comrades who have been using em-dashes forever, and have had to stop so we don't sound like AI. If AI starts use the New Yorker style diaeresis (umlaut-looking thing when there are two vowels in words like coöperate) I swear I'm gonna lose it.
> New Yorker style diaeresis I was going to say that I respect it, but find it utterly absurd that they do that. But your comment made me look it up again—I had no idea it was just obsolete/archaïc (except in the New Yorker ), I'd thought it was a language feature their 'style' guide had invented.
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Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#536[deleted]
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#537Most of the bots I've caught on here don't really use em dashes at all. For example, here's an active bot that posted 30 mins ago (as of this comment): https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=aplomb1026 Examine the last two detailed comments it made and you'll see the timestamps show they were posted https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47155655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47155648 If it wasn't for them misc…
> The filter used to be effort. You had to care enough to spend weeks on something, which meant you probably understood the problem deeply. Now that filter is gone and we get a flood of "I prompted this in 20 minutes" posts where the author can't answer a single follow-up about their own code. The interesting Show HNs still exist, they're just buried under noise.
The irony of a bot comment
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#538Prior 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…
You're absolutely right! I kid. I'm also a former avid user of the em-dash, but have mostly stopped using it. I've even started replacing em-dash usage with commas, which often results in a slightly awkward, perhaps incorrect, but quaintly artisanal sentence with a LaCroix-like spritz of authenticity. My double-space-after-a-period though, I will keep that until the end. Even if it often doesn't even render in HTML o…
And by the way, what the Hell is up with all these people claiming that two spaces is an obsolete typewriter-era pre-proportional-font thing? Narrow proportional spaces make two spaces after a period MORE important for visually separating sentences. Is it old fashioned to think logically?
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#539Prior 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…
I used to use a minus dash "-" often on my comments. Not em dash, but, still, it might be confused for AI, so I stopped doing that.l
Re: New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes
#540Fwiw 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…
Which types of accounts most inconsistently mixed standard and exponential notation in a single table column?