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Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

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Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#731

Post by Springtime »

Supermancho wrote: post #716

I use AI for the elements I feel are weak or unclear in the transcription. Sometimes I copy-paste a paragraph into ChatGPT or whatever, to ensure my (aging) thoughts are being communicated in a crystal clear manner. I cannot always point out why I think they are unclear or jumbled. I don't feel this is an imposition on others. I think it's the opposite. It enhances signal by reducing nitpicking, spelling/grammar erro…

I get the sense the point of the HN rule is to preserve unique human expression, regardless of how someone's communication skills are at a given point. Like, I periodically see articles on HN which have stale turns of phrase and signs of poor LLM use (which then becomes distracting while reading) and then the author sometimes mentioning in the HN comments they used an LLM to 'help' with their post based on some list of points they wanted to communicate. Yet when it's relied on too heavily like that it smothers the author's own voice.

If an opinion/idea is being communicated in the voice of another then something unique to that user has been lost. Like if I were to have a germ of an premise and told someone else about it and I found their thoughts clearer and how they expressed it and then copied how they'd expressed it then I think I'd be at least crediting them. Otherwise our own growth with self-editing and clarity will just atrophy and the internet will be a soup of homogenized ways of expressing things.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#733

Post by travisgriggs »

TIL: definition fulminate

fulminated, fulminating to explode with a loud noise; detonate. to issue denunciations or the like (usually followed byagainst ).

(Because “don’t fulminate” is the rule that follows the referenced one :) )

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#735

Post by ninjagoo »

tyg13 wrote: post #409
jedberg wrote: post #359

I'm absolutely 100% for this policy. My only caution is that good writers and LLMs look very similar, because LLMs were trained on a corpus of good writers. Good writers use semicolons and em-dashes. Sometimes we used bulleted lists or Oxford commas. So we should make sure to follow that other HN rule, and assume the person on the other end is a good faith actor, and be cautious about accusing someone of using AI. (I…

I don't really think that good writing and LLM writing looks all that similar. It's not always easy to spot (and maybe HN users aren't always doing a great job at it), but even the best LLM output tends to have an "LLM smell" to it that's hard to avoid. Like, sure, LLM writing is almost always grammatically correct, spelled correctly, formatted correctly, etc., which tends to be true of good writing. But there's a ce…

> It's the short, punchy sentences, with few-to-no asides or digressions.

Uhh, isn't that how senior management in larger corporations communicates ...

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#736

Post by hsbauauvhabzb »

ChaitanyaSai wrote: post #729

AI has made it easier for me not to worry about how pretty or polished my comments are. What used to be a sign you cared has now been devalued nearly completely by AI. This is freeing and allows me to think about the substance. I still do read it, but don't care too much about the typos. It's now a a proud badge for artisanal thinking!

This is clearly an AI written comment and is poor form.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#737

Post by kindkang2024 »

Supermancho wrote: post #716

I use AI for the elements I feel are weak or unclear in the transcription. Sometimes I copy-paste a paragraph into ChatGPT or whatever, to ensure my (aging) thoughts are being communicated in a crystal clear manner. I cannot always point out why I think they are unclear or jumbled. I don't feel this is an imposition on others. I think it's the opposite. It enhances signal by reducing nitpicking, spelling/grammar erro…

> Sometimes I copy-paste a paragraph into ChatGPT or whatever, to ensure my (aging) thoughts are being communicated in a crystal clear manner. I

Same here. And sometimes, I got downvoted and treated as an LLM — in the name of valuing the human.

To me, what matters is the will behind the words. Ideas and words themselves are cheap (this becomes clearer every day in the AI age) — they're almost nothing until they're executed and actually help someone.

> "The Dao can be told, but what is told is not the eternal Dao. The Name can be named, but what is named is not the true Name." — Laozi, Dao De Jing

Like code we write — it's dead text on a screen until it's running. And what we really care about is the running effect — and that is exactly the reason, the will, behind why we write the code in the first place.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#738

Post by caditinpiscinam »

travisgriggs wrote: post #733

TIL: definition fulminate fulminated, fulminating to explode with a loud noise; detonate. to issue denunciations or the like (usually followed byagainst ). (Because “don’t fulminate” is the rule that follows the referenced one :) )

Same. I vaguely remembered "fulmen" from Latin class but I didn't know there was a derived English word.

> from Latin fulminatus, past participle of fulminare "hurl lightning, lighten," figuratively "to thunder," from fulmen (genitive fulminis) "lightning flash," -- from etymonline.com

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#739

Post by brailsafe »

ninjagoo wrote: post #730

Lot of folks on here saying they only want to converse with other humans, for various reasons. But here's the funny thing. I'm pretty sure the frontier models are now smarter than I am, more eloquent, and definitely more knowledgeable, especially the paid versions with built-in search/research capability. I'm also fairly certain that the number of original thoughts in a given discourse on the Internet is fairly small…

Would you hang out with a friend over coffee or something who, rather than conversing with you, recorded your side of the conversation directly into an LLM and then played you back the result? Seems like a good way to kill a relationship.

Re: Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans

#740

Post by patrakov »

schopra909 wrote: post #548

Honest question, why were folks posting AI generated comments in the first place? There's such a high inertia to comment. I only comment when I have something to contribute OR find something incredibly interesting. So I'm just baffled, why anyone was using AI to generate comments. Like what was the incentive driving the behavior?

On HN, I sometimes used AI to change the tone of my comments - e.g., to add sarcasm or extra-polished corporate-speak for comical effect. OK, now I won't.
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