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Is this a bot?

by tonymet 2y ago

Is this a bot?

fragmede 2y ago
does it matter if it is?
- wutwutwat 2y ago
  It matters to the person above, which would be why they asked the question. That's generally how question asking goes...
- tonymet 2y ago
  Isn’t this the forum for the technically curious? So yes, it matters.
  - fragmede 2y ago
    and I'm curious on the technical details for why it matters for you. if it's, say, a chrome extension someone whipped up that makes it a button click to generate, or a script someone handcrafted, or somone had an LLM generate, or a fully automated bot doing it off a Cron job, or a billionaire is paying a human in the Philippines to do it by hand, some SV startup millionaire is bored with life and spends too much time here, a college student that has some free time between classes... the end result is a relatively simple post linking back to previous threads. in what manner does having a human in the loop for that specific post affect your broader feelings about this site?
    - tonymet 2y ago
      I’m merely curious.
      - fragmede 2y ago
        so, how does it matter?
        tonymet 2y ago
        I can't possibly explain it any better than "I'm curious, and at hackernews we are here to discuss & understand how things work"
        fragmede 2y ago
        and I'm here to understand how, among other things, how other people (who aren't things) work/think. It was clearly important enough of a question for you to bother to login and post the comment asking if it was a bot, and you wanted some sort of reaction from you posting that message, so I ask, in all earnestly and not confrontationally - there are no wrong answers, what were you thinking?
        tonymet 2y ago
        It's a good idea and I was curious if it was a bot or manual. reply
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
rcarmo 2y ago
Nope. Just someone who also submitted this earlier as well. I think HN’s dupe detection is off these days.
- asicsp 2y ago
  I think the dupe detection works only if there had been substantial discussion before, which none of the previous three had in this case.

Is this a bot?

fragmede 2y ago

does it matter if it is?

wutwutwat 2y ago
It matters to the person above, which would be why they asked the question. That's generally how question asking goes...
tonymet 2y ago
Isn’t this the forum for the technically curious? So yes, it matters.
- fragmede 2y ago
  and I'm curious on the technical details for why it matters for you. if it's, say, a chrome extension someone whipped up that makes it a button click to generate, or a script someone handcrafted, or somone had an LLM generate, or a fully automated bot doing it off a Cron job, or a billionaire is paying a human in the Philippines to do it by hand, some SV startup millionaire is bored with life and spends too much time here, a college student that has some free time between classes... the end result is a relatively simple post linking back to previous threads. in what manner does having a human in the loop for that specific post affect your broader feelings about this site?
  - tonymet 2y ago
    I’m merely curious.
    - fragmede 2y ago
      so, how does it matter?
      - tonymet 2y ago
        I can't possibly explain it any better than "I'm curious, and at hackernews we are here to discuss & understand how things work"
        fragmede 2y ago
        and I'm here to understand how, among other things, how other people (who aren't things) work/think. It was clearly important enough of a question for you to bother to login and post the comment asking if it was a bot, and you wanted some sort of reaction from you posting that message, so I ask, in all earnestly and not confrontationally - there are no wrong answers, what were you thinking?
        tonymet 2y ago
        It's a good idea and I was curious if it was a bot or manual. reply
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

rcarmo 2y ago

Nope. Just someone who also submitted this earlier as well. I think HN’s dupe detection is off these days.

asicsp 2y ago
I think the dupe detection works only if there had been substantial discussion before, which none of the previous three had in this case.