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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

#851

Post by Planktonne »

planb wrote: post #815
uni_baconcat wrote: post #754

For quite a while, I like use LLM to refine and fix my grammar issue, but my colleagues and professors reminds me that it was way too obvious. They said they can tolerate some mistakes in my words, but no tolerance for AI generated content.

As a non native speaker, I sometimes use LLMs to search for a way to formulate my thoughts like I intend them to be received by the reader. I'd never just copy the verbatim LLM output somewhere, it always sounds blunt and not like me, but I gladly apply grammar corrections or better phrasing. I'd normally not do this for a text of this length, but just for fun, here's what ChatGPT suggests: As a non-native speaker, I…

Even in that short comment, the LLM has

- Made the prose flatter.

- Slightly changed the sense ('gladly' and 'happy to' are not equivalent, and neither are 'search for' and 'help me find') in ways that do add up

- Not actually improved anything

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

#852

Post by ludicrousdispla »

nkzd wrote: post #114

What if English is my second language? Undoubtedly being well spoken is associated with higher class. Your arguments will come of as stronger to the reader.

Most native English speakers consider 'speaking plainly' to be a better indicator of knowledge and expertise than the alternative.

I can understand the sentiment though, as I am learning a second language and in many of our writing assignments we are expected to use (from my perspective) overly formal and complex grammatic structures when writing simple letters. I have come to accept, or at least hope, that this is simply an exercise to ensure that students have fluency with the grammar.

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

#853

Post by Markoff »

dang wrote: post #755
uni_baconcat wrote: post #754

For quite a while, I like use LLM to refine and fix my grammar issue, but my colleagues and professors reminds me that it was way too obvious. They said they can tolerate some mistakes in my words, but no tolerance for AI generated content.

Thanks for putting this so nicely! We'd much rather hear you in your own voice, and the cost of a few mistakes is far less than the cost of losing that. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

Does this mean (English) grammar Nazis are banned?

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

#854

Post by xxs »

patrakov wrote: post #740
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.

If you cant do the sarcasm yourself (and be witty enough), it's just not fun or improved in any way. Use of corporate speak is sarcasms on its own right, of course - but it only makes sense if it's something your are exposed to (and people can relate), instead of being fake.

Also, if you have to mark the sarcasm, then it's proper bad.

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

#855

Post by streetfighter64 »

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…

> Good writers use semicolons and em-dashes.

I disagree; good writing communicates an idea effectively. Using em dashes and semicolons — even though they have some meaning — confuses the reader because they add unnecessary noise. Surely you wouldn't say that adding such unnecessary punctuation as an interrobang is a sign of a good writer‽

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

#857

Post by zmef »

This policy is incredibly misguided, ableist, neo‑Luddite, technophobic hogwash. Technologically mediated communication has been with us almost as long as communication itself. We already accept writing, printing, telegraphy, phones, keyboards, spellcheckers, compilers, search engines, and autocomplete as legitimate augmentations of human thought. Drawing the line at this particular class of tools feels arbitrary and, frankly, rooted more in fear than in principle. I get it: humans are instinctively protectionist. A tool that operates in the same “space” as what we think makes us special—our intelligence, our language—feels threatening. It looks like competition rather than amplification. But this is just the next step in the same trajectory. Like written language, printing, and telecommunications, generative models are tools that, on the whole, will raise our collective intelligence by reducing the cost of expressing, translating, and recombining ideas. They don’t replace human judgment, curiosity, or responsibility; they change the interface. Generative AI is, in a sense, just very advanced cave painting: humans using whatever is at hand to make marks that carry meaning across time and space. Refusing to engage with those marks because the paint got better doesn’t make the communication more “authentic”; it just makes the medium poorer.

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

#858

Post by p0w3n3d »

It's quite funny how native speakers can recognise the AI voice writing or speaking their tongue.

As a Polish man I am repulsed when I hear AI generated Polish voice in a commercial, but can't see problems in AI generated English speech

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

#859

Post by friendzis »

planb wrote: post #815
uni_baconcat wrote: post #754

For quite a while, I like use LLM to refine and fix my grammar issue, but my colleagues and professors reminds me that it was way too obvious. They said they can tolerate some mistakes in my words, but no tolerance for AI generated content.

As a non native speaker, I sometimes use LLMs to search for a way to formulate my thoughts like I intend them to be received by the reader. I'd never just copy the verbatim LLM output somewhere, it always sounds blunt and not like me, but I gladly apply grammar corrections or better phrasing. I'd normally not do this for a text of this length, but just for fun, here's what ChatGPT suggests: As a non-native speaker, I…

This little experiment of yours highlights the issue at hand quite well. In every language there is a thing called "voice": academic, formal, informal, intimate, etc. The rewritten paragraph sounds written in the notorious "LLM voice". It's less direct, more pandering and removes injection points for further discussion.

To continue the experiment I have fed the above paragraph to Gemini with this prompt "Fix grammar and wording issues in the following paragraphs, if needed reword to fit with and be well received in the hacker news community."

This experiment highlights the core issue. Every language has its own voice—academic, formal, informal, or intimate. Your rewritten paragraph leans into the notorious "LLM voice": it’s less direct, feels slightly pandering, and strips away the hooks that usually spark further discussion.

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

#860

Post by AyanamiKaine »

Mhh while many argue they can recognise the AI in writing. I dont think Humans actually can judge if something is done by ai or not. Many times I saw people 100% believing that an artist created an AI artwork only for that artist to be bullied because they didnt admit it.

Only for them to showing undeniable prove that they actually did create their art themselves.

For someone to be allowed to judge another. He should be doing a test where he can identify AI comments first with high accuracy.

It would be a pain to see real human comments and ideas to be hidden or removed by a mob.

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