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Copilot edited an ad into my PR

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Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#621

Post by TonyStr »

timrogers wrote: post #250

Tim from the Copilot coding agent team here. We've now disabled these tips in pull requests created by or touched by Copilot, so you won't see this happen again for future PRs. We've been including product tips in PRs created by Copilot coding agent. The goal was to help developers learn new ways to use the agent in their workflow. But hearing the feedback here, and on reflection, this was the wrong judgement call. W…

Thank you, Tim.

You should gather together your team and look through the responses to this thread together. There are a lot of emotions in these comments, but it could be a very constructive experience if you're able to put that aside. I'm sure you're aware that customer-sentiment toward Github has been poor lately, but these commenters are your customers. I believe Github has the potential to win back loyalty, but it will require a deeper understanding of your customer segment.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#622

Post by namrog84 »

justinclift wrote: post #296
timrogers wrote: post #250

Tim from the Copilot coding agent team here. We've now disabled these tips in pull requests created by or touched by Copilot, so you won't see this happen again for future PRs. We've been including product tips in PRs created by Copilot coding agent. The goal was to help developers learn new ways to use the agent in their workflow. But hearing the feedback here, and on reflection, this was the wrong judgement call. W…

> We won't do something like this again. Microsoft has been pulling user hostile crap for decades, so either "we" or "like this" (or both) is probably not super accurate. ;)

Having worked in such environments. This particular team will try not to do it again But many other teams didn't make the commitment or learn any lesson. And even the original team will churn over people and people will forget or new leadership comes in.

I believe they were being sincere but reality is often more complicated than 1 persons statement.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#624

Post by gloosx »

Gigachad wrote: post #184
plastic041 wrote: post #118

This "ad" is not exactly new. Looks like MS thinks it's a "tip" rather than an ad. I don't know if Raycast team even knows about this. https://github.com/PlagueHO/plagueho.github.io/pull/24#issue... Copilot has been adding "(emoji) (tip)" thing since May 2025. GitHub copilot was released in May 2025, so basically it has had an ad since beginning. There are 1.5m of these things in GitHub. https://github.com/search?q=%…

Microslop for a while now seems to be testing exactly how much you can abuse the user before they move somewhere else. Windows is a prime example. Everything is ads, tracking, popups, annoyances, etc. They have got away with it for a while because a lot of users have largely been stuck, but they are in real trouble now with Apple providing meaningful competition.

Microsoft can show a screen-wide dick enlarger ad instead of everyone's wallpaper and people will still be using windows for decades. They already know it.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#625

Post by dang »

wswope wrote: post #604
dang wrote: post #598

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand, and I don't want to see ads in such contexts either. But "nobody believes this" is of course a personal attack, and "you don't have the power to [do what you just said you will do]" is pretty aggressive too. The impulse to hit back against what is perceived as a "transparently dishonest corporate actor" is natural and human. I feel it also, and in fact my first response when I read such comments is alwa…

> The impulse to hit back against what is perceived as a "transparently dishonest corporate actor" is natural and human. Honest question: If we agree that the transparent dishonesty and the lynch mob behavior are both undesirable, how do you think the two should be balanced in operative terms? I don’t want to put words in your mouth — but are you saying you won’t allow direct pushback to dishonest corporate actors??…

Two thoughts:

(1) the long-term health of the community has to be the priority here. Otherwise it won't survive—all the default internet vectors point the other way;

(2) it's possible to push back, express skepticism, etc., in way that respects the person on the other side of the conversation and isn't just venting the impulse to shame the other.

You guys (Like I said upthread, I agree with you on the underlying issue. But we also have to preserve the container, and the latter has to take precedence.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#626

Post by dang »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #603
dang wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the reply. As mentioned, it happens unintentionally. One way to describe the (desired) HN community is everyone learning together how to avoid unintended effects.

> everyone learning together how to avoid unintended effects. Okay, but when will Microsoft? Or is it a more charitable interpretation to suggest they did intend this to be the effect?

No, I wouldn't argue that. The point is we need to do this for ourselves, regardless of what some company or other group of people do.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#627

Post by wswope »

dang wrote: post #625
wswope wrote: post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The impulse to hit back against what is perceived as a "transparently dishonest corporate actor" is natural and human. Honest question: If we agree that the transparent dishonesty and the lynch mob behavior are both undesirable, how do you think the two should be balanced in operative terms? I don’t want to put words in your mouth — but are you saying you won’t allow direct pushback to dishonest corporate actors??…

Two thoughts: (1) the long-term health of the community has to be the priority here. Otherwise it won't survive—all the default internet vectors point the other way; (2) it's possible to push back, express skepticism, etc., in way that respects the person on the other side of the conversation and isn't just venting the impulse to shame the other. You guys ( Like I said upthread, I agree with you on the underlying iss…

It’s not about bigco at all in my eyes.

At the end of the day, if you want intellectual curiosity and openness, bad-faith dishonesty needs to be weeded out; thought-provoking and honest conversation should be promoted, regardless of where the contributor is employed.

The problem isn’t working for Microsoft. The problem is dishonesty.

You’re treating the root comment with kid gloves because it’s from a Microsoft employee. Please don’t do that.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#628

Post by burnte »

ChadNauseam wrote: post #544
burnte wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We've now disabled these tips in pull requests created by or touched by Copilot, so you won't see this happen again for future PRs. It's appreciated, but these weren't tips, these were ads. Tips are "Save time with keyboard shortcuts" or "Check out the latest features under 'Whats New' in the help menu!" When you name other products, that's an ad.

That doesn't really make sense. So it's an ad for raycast? But raycast said they didn't know about it. To me the explanation makes perfect sense. "You can use this tool with raycast" seems like a very reasonable tip.

> That doesn't really make sense. So it's an ad for raycast?

It's an ad for using CoPilot and for Raycast.

> But raycast said they didn't know about it.

If I buy a billboard that tells people to go eat at a nearby restaurant, that's ad regardless of whether or not the restaurant knows that I bought that ad.

> To me the explanation makes perfect sense. "You can use this tool with raycast" seems like a very reasonable tip.

Raycast is a paid product. Even though they have a free tier, they only have that to get people to use and like the tool enough to pay for it. They want you to use Raycast so you use CoPilot and pay for it. It's an ad.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#629

Post by skywhopper »

ChadNauseam wrote: post #544
burnte wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We've now disabled these tips in pull requests created by or touched by Copilot, so you won't see this happen again for future PRs. It's appreciated, but these weren't tips, these were ads. Tips are "Save time with keyboard shortcuts" or "Check out the latest features under 'Whats New' in the help menu!" When you name other products, that's an ad.

That doesn't really make sense. So it's an ad for raycast? But raycast said they didn't know about it. To me the explanation makes perfect sense. "You can use this tool with raycast" seems like a very reasonable tip.

Tips are also not acceptable to add to PR text. It’s like the definition of a “weed”. A “tip” in the GitHub UI would make sense. But “tips” injected into my own PR text become unwelcome ads. In any case, what may be helpful “tips” today are only a gateway to straight up paid ads tomorrow. After all, I get told all the time by adtech folks that actually, the ads and all the tracking behind them are good because aren’t I glad the ads are relevant to my interests and that I’m supporting small businesses online whose shops can only exist because of the ad infrastructure. To which I say, no, they aren’t, and that’s a lie.

Re: Copilot edited an ad into my PR

#630

Post by skywhopper »

NekkoDroid wrote: post #575
ChadNauseam wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't really make sense. So it's an ad for raycast? But raycast said they didn't know about it. To me the explanation makes perfect sense. "You can use this tool with raycast" seems like a very reasonable tip.

Cambridge Dictionary defines and ad as: a picture, short film, song, etc. that tries to persuade people to buy a product or service My short search really didn't bring up any definition that included the need of the product/service owner knowning that the advertising is happening. And the message very much qualifies as trying to bring people to buy raycast (or at minimum to use it which usually want people to also pa…

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