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Profiling Hacker News users based on their comments

simonwillison.net

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Re: Profiling Hacker News users based on their comments

#91

Post by alexpotato »

ethbr1 wrote: post #80
alexpotato wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny because someone asked me about this on Twitter too. Specifically, how was I able to reply to tweets of other people with a relevant Twitter thread I had already written. It’s all manual and I guess just how my brain works. My wife actually calls it “the database” because I can quickly access stories and I apparently tell them in a very similar way. I’m just as impressed that you noticed and had the Déjà vu…

Out of curiosity, did you come from a family where older generations were storytellers? E.g. parents, extended, or grandparents? In the sense that there were stories you heard retold (sometimes by the same person) over the years, mutating a bit in each retelling? I think some brains get wired so that oral (or at least reproductive in some medium) story transmission is effortless, but affinity does seem to differ pers…

> In the sense that there were stories you heard retold (sometimes by the same person) over the years, mutating a bit in each retelling?

It's funny you mention this b/c "yes". Both of my parents are big storytellers.

Never realized this so thanks for pointing it out!

Re: Profiling Hacker News users based on their comments

#92

Post by alexpotato »

em-bee wrote: post #75
alexpotato wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny because someone asked me about this on Twitter too. Specifically, how was I able to reply to tweets of other people with a relevant Twitter thread I had already written. It’s all manual and I guess just how my brain works. My wife actually calls it “the database” because I can quickly access stories and I apparently tell them in a very similar way. I’m just as impressed that you noticed and had the Déjà vu…

if it's a good story, it is worth retelling. my personal approach is to try to link to the old post or at least mention that i told this before. i don't know if that is better or not though. but certainly if the story fits, then it should be posted, and here it fits.

> my personal approach is to try to link to the old post or at least mention that i told this before. i don't know if that is better or not though

I do this on Twitter.

Specifically, I'll retweet the thread or tweet I already have written on the topic.

Retweeting is, IMHO, the best part of twitter as it lets you "weave" a narrative of old tweets and threads. It's also why I think articles are dumb b/c you can't like to the specific part of an article like you can with a tweet thread.

Re: Profiling Hacker News users based on their comments

#93

Post by alexpotato »

martin-t wrote: post #88
alexpotato wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny because someone asked me about this on Twitter too. Specifically, how was I able to reply to tweets of other people with a relevant Twitter thread I had already written. It’s all manual and I guess just how my brain works. My wife actually calls it “the database” because I can quickly access stories and I apparently tell them in a very similar way. I’m just as impressed that you noticed and had the Déjà vu…

Thanks for the reply. > reply to tweets of other people with a relevant Twitter thread I had already written I noticed I also have topics I talk about regularly and this would be really nice. Some things only need one high-effort explanation and then linking to that. Using LLMs would in theory save some effort by rephrasing to it doesn't look copy pasted but I am strongly opposed to the mild reality distortion they a…

> Some things only need one high-effort explanation and then linking to that.

I mentioned in a sibling thread that I do this on Twitter (and it's a lot of fun to get to re-use old threads for new audiences).

> Using LLMs would in theory save some effort by rephrasing to it doesn't look copy pasted but I am strongly opposed to the mild reality distortion they are prone to doing

Same thoughts from me. There is also a bit of "John Henry" [0] in that I want to keep my brain strong in this skill versus letting the machines take it away.

0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_(folklore)

Re: Profiling Hacker News users based on their comments

#94

Post by toomuchtodo »

ethbr1 wrote: post #79
nunez wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People search engines do a lot of the heavy lifting and can give you that data on a platter for a few dollars. I pay for a service that employs people to periodically do data removal requests with them. It's not great that _they_ have a bunch of data about me, but I'd rather it be in one place that tries to safeguard it than in a bunch of places all over the Internet. (There are A LOT of people search engines.) As fo…

> I pay for a service that employs people to periodically do data removal requests with them. Curious about any recommendations from you or others. > Most people don't think about cybersecurity outside of "oh, I need to change my password now." Cyber anonymity is a concept that most people don't think about at all , especially post-Facebook normalization of real names ~10s. In many ways, it feels like Eternal Septemb…

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10Vi38ZtHTyR0_LFEz-ON...

Data might be a bit stale, but a helpful resource imho.

Re: Profiling Hacker News users based on their comments

#96

Post by nunez »

ethbr1 wrote: post #79
nunez wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People search engines do a lot of the heavy lifting and can give you that data on a platter for a few dollars. I pay for a service that employs people to periodically do data removal requests with them. It's not great that _they_ have a bunch of data about me, but I'd rather it be in one place that tries to safeguard it than in a bunch of places all over the Internet. (There are A LOT of people search engines.) As fo…

> I pay for a service that employs people to periodically do data removal requests with them. Curious about any recommendations from you or others. > Most people don't think about cybersecurity outside of "oh, I need to change my password now." Cyber anonymity is a concept that most people don't think about at all , especially post-Facebook normalization of real names ~10s. In many ways, it feels like Eternal Septemb…

I use justdelete.me. $120/year, deletes all your info from 400+ people search engines. Works pretty well.
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