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New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes

marginalia.nu

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

#71

Post by esafak »

onion2k wrote: post #5

I’ve had this sense that HN has gotten absolutely innundated with bots last few months. Is it possible to differentiate between a bot, and a human using AI to 'improve' the quality of their comment where some of the content might be AI written but not all? I don't think it is.

I was thinking of how to create a UX around quantifying or qualifying AI use. If products revealed that users had used in-app AI to compose their responses, they might respond by doing it outside the app and pasting it in. If you then labeled pasted text as AI they might use tools to imitate typing. And after all that, you might face a user backlash from the users who rely on AI to write.

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

#72

Post by asplake »

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.

LLM adopting conventions (typographical or otherwise) is what they do, right? The idea that anyone should then have to change their behaviour is ridiculous, as is the whole conversation, really.

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

#73

Post by d4mi3n »

podgorniy wrote: post #38

Poor poor those typography-savvy people who did set a special keyboard in order to type "proper" dashes. I know you are there, I know your pain.

No fancy keyboard required, just a keystroke on Mac (`alt+shift+-`) and Linux (`right alt+something` depending on your distro).

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

#75

Post by yoyohello13 »

onion2k wrote: post #5

I’ve had this sense that HN has gotten absolutely innundated with bots last few months. Is it possible to differentiate between a bot, and a human using AI to 'improve' the quality of their comment where some of the content might be AI written but not all? I don't think it is.

I just assume if any comment sounds like an ad it's a bot. All the comments like "I'm 10x faster with Claude Opus 4.6!" or "Have you tried Codex with ChatGPT 5.X? What a time to be alive!" can be lumped in the bot bin.

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

#76

Post by a4isms »

lapcat wrote: post #36
egypturnash wrote: post #6

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Don’t mind me, just skewing the results. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — results. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —…

The use of em dashes is a human right. I ask that people not discriminate against em-dash users—we should be a protected class—and I refuse to abandon them. Perhaps I’ll have one engraved on my tombstone. He died doing what he loved—dashing.

I encourage people to discriminate against me because I write like an educated African who works annotating AI training material.

Why not? I am a descendant of Africans. I am a mildly successful author by tech nerd standards. I was educated in the British Public School tradition, right down to taking Latin in high school and cheering on our Rugby* and Cricket teams.

If someone doesn't want to read my words or employ me because I must be AI, that's their problem. The truth is, they won't like what I have to say any more than they like the way I say it.

I have made my peace with this.

———

Speaking of Rugby, in 1973 another school's Rugby team played ours, and almost the entire school turned out to watch a celebrity on the other school's team.

His name was Andrew, and he is very much in the news today.

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

#77

Post by marcher »

loeg wrote: post #56
squeefers wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Karma aside, flooding the comments with a chosen narrative via army of bots seems like it's already happening. again with the conspiracy theories

> created: 83 days ago

I dunno, I agree. It sounds conspiratorial.

But who knows, maybe even 17 year old accounts are being hijacked by AI now too.

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

#78

Post by wongarsu »

lapcat wrote: post #36
egypturnash wrote: post #6

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Don’t mind me, just skewing the results. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — results. — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —…

The use of em dashes is a human right. I ask that people not discriminate against em-dash users—we should be a protected class—and I refuse to abandon them. Perhaps I’ll have one engraved on my tombstone. He died doing what he loved—dashing.

En dash for the win – the British are right when it comes to this particular style difference

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

#79

Post by [deleted] »

SkyeCA wrote: post #33

If I see an em-dash in a comment I stop reading and I've seriously considered setting up a filter across multiple sites to remove any comments containing one. I know there are legitimate usecases for the em-dash, but a few paragraphs (at most) of text in an HN/Reddit comment? Into the trash it goes.

[deleted]
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